The Great Strike

We are standing in front of the Grootslag II steam pumping station and national monument, which was in operation between 1907 and 1974. It initially pumped into the Zuiderzee and, from 1932, into the IJsselmeer. That year saw the completion of the Afsluitdijk, the kilometre sea wall and road between North Holland and Friesland. This divided the Zuiderzee into the Wadden Sea and the IJsselmeer, which became freshwater within a few years. 

The pumping station owes its name to the Het Grootslag polder, a partnership that dates back to 1423. At that time, the towns of Enkhuizen and Grootebroek and the surrounding villages joined forces to combat flooding. They built dikes and improved drainage. The polder stretches from Andijk in the north to Broekerhaven in the south. Until the last century, it was a water-rich area. Farmers had small plots of land scattered here and there. To get there, they took a boat. 

As was the case throughout West Friesland, drainage of the Grootslag was becoming increasingly problematic. Land subsidence made it increasingly difficult to discharge water via the sea locks. In 1452, the polder board decided to build two mills near Enkhuizen. Eventually, mills were built at three locations along the Omringdijk as a link between the polder and the sluice: at Andijk, Enkhuizen, and here on the Zuiderdijk. They pumped the water up into a whirlpool, which ended up at a sluice in the dike. 

The disadvantage of windmills was their dependence on the wind. If it rained heavily for a week without any wind, it took a few days to get the ditches back to the desired level. In 1863, Het Grootslag decided to build a steam pumping station near Andijk. It worked so well that in 1871, a larger pumping station was put into operation in the same village, Grootslag I (photo). The windmills remained in operation, although a few were demolished near Andijk and Enkhuizen. The five on the Zuiderdijk remained standing for the time being. 

In 1906, Het Grootslag was ready to abandon wind drainage and switch entirely to steam power. A year later, it built a new steam pumping station here on the Zuiderdijk, aptly named Grootslag II. The nine windmills that had not yet been demolished were torn down. And so the windmills on the Zuiderdijk disappeared. In the photo, they can still be seen, partially dismantled, behind the construction site of the pumping station. 

Just before the war, an electric motor was installed in Grootslag II. The steam engine remained in use as a backup drive. In 1974, Grootslag I and II were replaced by a more powerful pumping station, Het Grootslag in Andijk (photo). The reason for this was land consolidation, whereby the numerous small plots of farmland were merged into large, productive fields. The polder changed its appearance. Many ditches were filled in and, with the water, the traditional farm boat disappeared.