Windmill Auction 3/27/21

[Overpass60]

The Bill and Alta Dalley Windmill collection will sell at auction on Saturday March 27 . The sale is at Roosevelt County Fair Grounds at Portales NM. Bill Johnston Auction will sell the windmills. Sale time is 9:00.

[windybob]

Thank you for the notice.

[PaulV]

https://www.bjayucca.net/PCS321%201.htm

[Wayne]

Might have been a trip planned if had known of the auction a week ago. Did the county give up on moving the collection to a new location or is this stuff they didn't want?

[Gregg]

I found an article online from the Roosevelt County Fair Board meeting dated October 2019. They voted to sell 45 of the 70 windmills with the hopes of using the funds to the upkeep of the remaining windmills. Don't know if they are selling all or not. I guess if a collection like this is accepted by an organization, they need a plan for upkeep expenses.
For some of the newer members, Bill & Alta Dally of Portales, New Mexico collected windmills for 30 years. They founded and started the Windmillers Trade Fairs and held the 1st, Trade Fair in June 1989. They also hosted the 2nd & 3rd trade fairs. Bill & Alta donated their collection to the Roosevelt County Fair Grounds for everyone to enjoy. Bill passed away in 2018 at the age of 87.
I was lucky enough to stop and visit Bill & Alta at their home and get a private tour of their collection several years ago. Glad I did.
Gregg

[Terry]

I got a call from a friend about 9:30 Friday morning. That the sale was happening Saturday morning at 9:00. Ruby and I loaded up and left about 3:00 Friday afternoon drove down to Portales. We went to the sale Saturday morning bought several mills loaded them up and headed back home. Got home about 5:00 Sunday evening.
The mills they sold were the ones that needed a whole lot of work. Most of them were wood need a new blades new tails just a whole lot of general maintenance. There had been little or no maintenance on them since they were put out at the fairgrounds about 10 years ago I think. Ruby and I were in Portales about a year ago and it was very sad to see the shape those mills were in. There was 70 or so meals in about a hundred by 150 ft area with a chain link fence around it they were just crammed in there tight they couldn't even turn the wheels or orient into the wind. Which tore them with worse than they were already. Even the steel bladed mills were tore up blade sections missing and bolts out and tails off. It was very sad to see.

[Terry]

IMG_20200306_142816306_HDR.jpg

IMG_20200306_140600560_HDR.jpg

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[PaulV]

That is very sad

[JBarker]

I posted pictures back on this forum in January 2019 after visiting the site on my way to the NMSU workshop. You can search for "Daley Windmill Museum Portales, NM" on this forum and you can see all the pics I posted. What a sad site to behold, it made me and my wife sick to see how they were all damaged and neglected. I honor the Dally family for collecting them and trying to pass them on to the next generation. But, this should be a lesson to all of us not to trust the local government with windmill collections. Most local politicians and officials don't share our passion for windmills and will fight over the funding and in the end will neglect the vision of the donors. These mills sat too long with very little care and funds to keep them in good working shape. Too bad the American Windmill Museum didn't get them instead. Hopefully the new owners will restore them for future generations to enjoy and learn from. Just my opinion, sorry for the long post.

https://www.portales.com/dalley-windmill-museum




Jerry

[windybob]

Jerry, your post reminded me of the scariest words I ever heard. " Hello, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help".