Windmills

The windmill has always been very successful in our flat and windy country. They have been used for many different purposes: grinding wheat and spices, sawing wood, crushing oil from linseed and rape, making mustard and producing paper. In the open air museum of The Zaanse Schans we can still find some of these industrial windmills. In the Netherlands, the drainage system is an important matter, because half of the country is below sea level. In the low lands problems with water became more and more apparent in the 13th century. Large canals were dug to get rid of the excess water in the polders. However, this method was sufficient only for a short period of time. The ground started to lower again because of its structure and the level of the river began to rise at the same time. An additional way of maintaining the level of the water in the polders was required. At this time a clever engineer changed the interior of a windmill in such a way that it could drain water out of lakes and once the lake was dry to maintain the water level. There are two important sites where you can admire these windmills: Kinderdijk and Schermerhorn. Today in the Netherlands there are only 1000 of the original 10.000 windmills remaining. They were made largely redundant with the invention of the steam engine. The Haarlemmermeer, was the first lake to be drained using steam power alone. Three steam engines, the Leeghwater, the Cruquius, and the Lynden, were built for the purpose. Pumpingcommenced in 1848, and within four years 800 million tons was discharged and the lake was dry.