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The newcomer to the Great Plains shook his head. “This would be fine country if we just had water.”
“Yep,” drawled the weatherbeaten ranch hand. “So would Hell.”

Wind is one of the greatest natural resources that our nation has. Used by pioneers to pull water from underground aquifers, it was the principal energy source that made settlement of the Great Plains possible.

In the 21st Century, wind has been harnessed to create electrical energy, powering an increasingly larger and larger percentage of the power grid.The Wind Power Trail is an interpretive driving loop that takes you to commercial wind farms, vintage windmill collections, and interesting waypoints along the highways and backroads of Texas and Oklahoma. The trail is currently under construction, and will consist of an interpretive driving map, an audio CD, and an informational web site.

Project goals:

1. Bring visitors to rural and urban High Plains communities
2. Educate people about wind energy
3. Educate people about vintage windmills and pioneer history

Click here for map.

The trail's stops include:

Granbury, TX:The Windmill Farm
Lawton, OK: Blue Canyon Wind Farm, power purchased by Western Farmers' Electric Cooperative
Norman, OK: Tour Bergey Wind Power, a company that makes home and small-wind energy turbines, as well as the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center
Elk City, OK: Visit the outdoor vintage windmill collection, and unique wind-powered devices inside the farm and ranch museum
Wheeler, TX: Take a tour of the wind-turbine wind pumping installation and see the beautiful countryside
Woodward, OK: visit the Wind Energy Center, a commercial wind farm owned by the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority, and Florida Power and Light, with interpretive kiosks that explain the operation of the turbines and use of wind energy
Shattuck, OK: visit the outdoor Windmill Museum, one of the best collections of vintage windmills, along with a pioneer sod house and other pioneer displays
Guymon, OK: visit the vintage 1905 Dempster at the park/rest area on US 54 and OK 3
Boise City, OK: visit the heritage center with its dugout home, vintage mill, and building designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright
Spearman, TX: visit the first collection of vintage windmills in America, begun by J.B. Buchanan, founder of the modern windmill preservation and conservation movement
White Deer, TX: visit the commercial wind energy farm just outside the town
Panhandle, TX:
Canyon, TX: visit the Alternative Energy Institute at West Texas A&M University, which features research on wind energy. Also visit the vintage windmill collection and interpretive displays at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum.
Plainview, TX: visit vintage windmills and a water drilling display at the Llano Estacado Museum.
Littlefield, TX: visit the tallest vintage windmill in Texas. Formerly located in a deep draw on the XIT Ranch, this tower now "towers" above the town of Littlefied.
Lubbock, TX: visit the nation's largest and most varied collection of vintage windmills at the American Wind Power Center, and the vintage collection at the National Ranch Heritage Center.
Big Spring, TX: visit a massive wind farm conveniently located off Interstate 20
San Angelo, TX: take a factory tour of the world's most famous windmill company, Aermotor

PO Box 240247, Houston, Texas, 77025
713-865-0416
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