If David Shrum's collection of 21 windmills could talk, they would churn out a century's worth of tales about how the wind-driven machines helped settle the Southwest.
"What a story they could tell of each family they kept alive, who stopped by for a drink, whose cows were saved because another one wasn't working," Shrum said. "They're a real part of American history."Shrum wants to open a museum in St. George to display what he claims is one of the top windmill collections in the country and would be one of the few open to the public.
"Someone needs to carry this on," he said. "It's a fascinating hobby."
Shrum is shopping for a suitable parcel of land and could display the pieces on an acre in front of his house but would need a zone change to open it to the public.
He's convinced the region's rich heritage would draw tourists and act as a history lesson for children.
"There's not a family in this town that didn't have a grandpa or someone using a windmill," Shrum said. "Everyone loves to hear the creak and watch them go around."
Shrum ran a surplus brokerage for several years and clients often requested windmills, but he couldn't find any for sale. He finally bought his first windmill in Texas four years ago and has been actively collecting ever since.
"It kind of gets in your blood, like gambling," Shrum said.
His collection includes a "poor man's windmill" made with hard rock maple bearings, boiled in oil, instead of metal bearings, he said. The first windmill in the United States designed in a wind tunnel has also found its way to Shrum's yard.
He purchased the oldest windmill in his collection, an 1887 model, in New Mexico a few weeks ago.
Shrum scopes out the market at local coffee shops, then visits the windmill owner.
He often sits through hours of old timers' stories in exchange for access to the windmills. He said by the time he's done, they're "chasing your car out the front gate with another jar of jam and a picture of their grandchildren."
He goes windmill hunting only during the winter season.
"The reason I like to go out in the winter to get the windmills is every time I go to the Southwest and pick up a windmill in a field, it's either got a snake or an armadillo in it," he said.
Shrum's yard is full of metal pinwheels waiting for restoration. Most of the sails are from what Shrum calls "beaters" - windmills made from the 1930s and later that are missing parts - that he'll restore for display. The beaters bring in enough money to support Shrum's habit of collecting the rare and older models.
A restored windmill with all its working parts could pump water for another 100 years, he said. The first American windmill was built out of necessity and patented in 1854, Shrum said.