The waterway on which this windmill stands, and which you currently see, is the Kostverlorenvaart or “lost money canal”. In the 17th century this was a well-known windmill district of Amsterdam, with at least 49 sawmills. Molen De Otter is the only one remaining. It is the oldest post mill in the Netherlands. A post mill (or paltrokmolen) gets its name from a loose-fitting gentleman’s jacket, called a paltrok. From a distance the silhouette of a post mill looks like a person wearing a paltrok. The location of windmills on waterways not only helped them catch plenty of wind, but aided in delivery of the wood. A hoisting crane, powered by the mill would lift the trunks out of the water onto the sawing floor, where they were sawn into planks and then dried and stored in the neighboring sheds. Large orders were typically for shipbuilding and housing construction. Due to the rise of steam sawmills, these windmills became redundant in the second half of the 19th century. Because of high buildings in the surroundings, the sails today catch very little wind and the windmill remains still. In 1994 De Otter was restored, but unfortunately it is not open to the public.
