Eighty Years of Power
Life in Oregon Vastly Easier Than in (Old) Days
When Grandfather H ad Only Horses and Muscle
Oregonians of the Centennial year
are supermen of energy.
They perform almost miraculous
feats of labor in a few minutes
rather than days, and live in dream
hcmes-washing clothes, preparing
meals and cleaning house in hours
ret her than in days of a week.
The energy today s Oregonians
use so matter-of-factly is electri
city.
In terms of its use at work and
at home, a single kilowatt-hour,
which is one thousand watts used
for one hour, is the measure of
a giant.
The muscle energy an average
man can exert in one eight-hour
working day for example has been
calculated as equivalent to that of
a mere 35 minutes of electricity.
How much work electricity per
forms is reflected by industrial
applications. In terms of human
energy equivalents, the average
per-man use of 69 kilowatt-hours
every day means that 240 men
stand beside every worker at a
sawmill head-rig in Prineville, a
trailer assembly line in McMinn
ville, and a furniture factory in
Filot Rock. And throughout the
state, based on average household
use of electricity, the homemakers
busily operate equipment equal to
90 servants at work each day in
each home.
Great - grandfather could have
used those extra hands in an early-
day woolen mill at Brownsville or
at clearing the Barlow Road, and
grandmother would have welcomed
the help in the homestead on the
Tualatin plain.
Region Tse High
Oregonians of today live in a
region that enjoys the advantages
of more electricity at use in their
homes than anywhere else, twice
as much as the national average
and at a cost less than half the
U.S. average. Forecasts are for con
sumption to double every ten years.
The family that now uses between
7,000 and 10,000 kilowatt-hours an
nually will likely be using 14,000
cr 20,000 in a decade.
Growth of the electric utility in
dustry in the state has included
eras of pioneering typical of the
spirit that motivated the stalwart
emigrants and their sons whose en
terprise has marked the state's
progress.
The earliest adoption in the state
of the awe-inspiring idea that some
thing invisible could make a motor
turn faster than a steam engine,
or produce a light brighter than a
whale-oil lamp, was linked with a r
rival of ships in Willamette River
ports.
Arcs from a bare-wire circuit
I hiked to a dynamo aboard the
steamship California introduced the
magic of electricity to Portland in
1X79. The next year, the United
States Electric Lighting and Power
Ccmpany was formed in the city.
Shortly thereafter a string of
lamps served by a sawmill dynamo
lit up Astoria on a Christmas Eve
for the start of a service that
eventually grew into the present
utility there.
Other pioneering ventures includ
ed the first long-distance transmis
sion of power, from the Willam
ette Falls hydroelectric plant.
winch in 1X89 was a pioneer in the
west, to Portland, a distance of
14 miles. Then in 1905 the mag-
n.ficencp of 80,000 electric globes
lighting the Lewis & Clark Expos
ition became the talk of the nation.
Pioneering of rural electrification
into Hood River and Wallowa val
leys by predecessors of Pacific
Power & Light Company was an
achievement of 1906
Electric service for homes and
factories became almost universal
ir. later years, when power systems
began linking larger areas to cen
tral station generating- plants.
During World War 11 these’ systems
became interconnected and grew
into the first regional power pool,
oi which the Oregon utilities are a
part.
Because of these activities by
the industry, Oregon has long en
joyed the benefits of ample elec
tric supplies of light and power.
Large dams now dot the state and
tne great rivers on its borders,
and transmission networks link
tneir powerhouses to farms, homes,
and factories. Expansions are con
tinuing, to provide for the years
ahead.
The utilities serving Oregon share
with the federal government in the
greatest hydroelectric program ever
advanced by any region. The con
N O T A C E N T E N N IA L POSED SHOT it the above picture, taken
struction caps more than a half-
• n 1906. of Ezra Meeker and hit oxen in Pendleton.
century of progress that rapidly
is utilizing the remaining good
In the middle of the 19th cen
hydroelectric sites in the region. sought and fought. And, strange as
Consequently, the electric utility it may seem to many Easterners, tury. the immigrants flooded to
it
is
none
the
less
true
that
most
of
ward the Pacific Ocean and the
companies are looking to thermal-
type plants for the future power this 'extra room' is in an area with rich Willamette valley that lay
a
mild,
equable
climate
and
some
sheltered just this side of the goal.
supplies. These may use fossil,
fuels, such as Coos County coal, of the nation's finest scenery and Reaching there they crowded to
gether until the inevitable back
or the unlimited enegy of nu- natural recreations lands.”
wash began.
Impact Significant
cleai fuel ores being mined from
the earth in Lake County.
Curry County Reporter. Gold
For a centuiy those who flowed
Beach: ‘‘Oregon does not have the hack from the first surge, who set
large population centers of eastern tled on less favorable land in the
states so the smaller towns here great eastern portion of the state,
serve a much more important pur built a prosperity unforeseen by
pose than similar-sized towns else those headed for quicker rewards
where. A town with no more than
Now, the second great wave of
About Smaller Cities and the
two or three thousand persons may immigrants has begun. With Calif
be the trading center for a large ornia filling up. with Oregon begin
Future of Them in Oregon
area. This tends to place a strain ning to want her share, the flood
on the small towns since they are.
People differ widely as to what Many oi our best citizens develop in a sense, playing over their tide of new residents should over
run the state within another cen
sized town they like (or city, if in the pleasant atmosphere of the heads.’ In Gold Beach, for example tury.
you please)- all the way from the small town."
with a population of 1,900 then» is
For non-metropolitan Oregon, that
metropolis to the village. They dif
Seaside Signal: "To a great many a general hospital, yet we have seen boom w iir hold the real promise
fer, too, as to their favorite types
mid-western
cities
with
populations
of town. Some like the so-called residents of metropolitan areas of over 5,000 that do not have hos of the future. Rural communities
‘ bedroom’’ suburb, close to the big towns mean Recreation. This is pitals. Because of these factors, the face a hard choice between their
town; some prefer the rural town, particularly true of the towns on small towns of Oregon have a sig natural beauties they cherish and
the market-spot for the outlying the scenic Oregon Coast. The fam nificant impact on the state as a the economic benefits of mow
people and mow businesses.
country; still others are happiest ous Clatsop beaches, Seaside, Can whole.”
to be in the little factory town, non Beach, and Gearhart have held
Into the smaller town and cities
Influx Kxpeetcd
where they work at good jobs while the interest of millions of persons
of the state will come industry,
Redmond
Spokesman:
“With
de
their home towns grow into some seeking recreation over a period of centralization of population evi wanting a place to grow in the
thing different. All these are good 75 years. They still constitute one dent on every hand, rural Oregon favorable setting built over the
weekly newspaper towns. The edit of the most popular recreational can expect an influx of new resi past 100 years. Towns which fail
ors and their readers agree, gener areas on the Pacific Coast because dents within the next dozen or so now to protect themselves by care
ally, that these various types and of a rare combination of ocean, ex years such as it never saw in the ful zoning, by modern industrial
sizes of towns are the backbone of tensive beaches, natural scenic last 50."
planning, by long-range social im
Oregon, at once a supply depot and beauty, and recreational develop
provements may well be ground in
Malheur Enterprise, Vale: ", . . to industrial slag heaps by the
market for the producers on farm ment.”
It is not so much what the future
and in factory.
Newberg Graphic: ’ Families of holds for non-metropolitan Oregon pressure due to come.
The industrial worm is finally due
Following are some comments of today frequently prefer to live in as that in the non-metropolitan Ore
to turn towards the rural part of
editors about what the smaller smaller cities and towns, where gon lies the future."
Oregon. The early birds will find
Cities and towns mean to Oregon they enter into community life.
Madras Pioneer; "Industry, at the choicest chunks await them -
Towns close to larger cities and least
and the outlook for the future.
light
industry
will
find
it
R.C.H., Hood River News
metropolitan centers attract people
Rural Life Benefits
to locate in small towns,
who commute to and from work desirable
No Need To Die
Woodburn Independent: T h e
where
employees
can
live
a
n
d
but prefer the neighborliness of the work in an atmosphere conducive
smaller cities and towns mean that smaller
Port Umpqua Courier: "Some
city
to
life
in
»he
metropo
Oregon will continue to be a part- lis, Suburban life is becoming to agreeable relations, permanent people think the building of great
super-highways, the tendency of in
icularly desirable state in which to more popular, and even in the
residence, and low turnover."
dustries to congregate and concen
live. They provide the benefits of smaller
I’aer
Accelerated
cities there is a tendency
rural life but in most cases are
Polk County Itemlzer-Observer, trate will spell the doom of little
many to build homes in t h e
close enough to big cities or met for
Dallas:
"The growth of non-metro towns. Some will die as some have
fringe area or on small acreages
ropolitan areas to make possible and
politan
communities in western always died because they were
subdivisions.”
the sports and cultural advantages
Oregon during the past 15 years founded on pure opportunism, but
Small Town* Vital
Las been consistent and is bound to those small cities which have
Valley Herald, Milton-Freewater:
REASONS for being will continue
The smaller towns and cities of
Hermiston Herald: ‘‘The smaller continue at an accelerated pace. to
grow and prosper, and there are
Oregon furnish real ‘grassroots' cities and tow nsare just as import The day is here when comparative
background for the State of Ore ant to the growth of our state as ly small communities will be the many industries and many people
gon. These smaller places are the the large cities are-and just as vi center of manufacturing in various who will seek them out because of
lines, where workmen are not com what they can offer. A good exam
provisioning points* the suppliers for tal as an aid to the c o n t i n u e d
pelled to travel long distances in ple is the City of Bend, which did
much ranch and timherland area.” growth of each . . . "
crowded traffic. The expansion of not die (as many feared) when
Madras Pioneer: “The smaller
one of the mills closed some years
Myrtle Creek Mail: ‘The future
cities and towns of Oregon are of non-metropolitan Oregon? It is the fruit and vegetable.canning in ago for lack of timber.”
rallying points for groups and in Opportunity, unlimited. For. as this dustry. together with valley irri
Lincoln County Leader, Toledo:
dividuals bent on finding ways to nation’s population grows, here in gation to make this possible, means
“Small cities and towns are the
improve themselves and their com Oregon are the untapped row re much for the entire valley. It means
higher land production, market for backbone of American economy -
munities.”
sources of timber, minerals, and needed pnxlucts, employment for and
nowhere is this more important
Stayton Mail:
smaller cities water power, the sites for industry youths
and women as well as men. than in Oregon. Most towns and
and towns offer the best living con and homebuilding—the ’lebensraum’ The small
towns of the area will cities in Oregon are small, each
ditions...with pure air to breathe, or living space, for which the people see continued
rapid growth and bet with its own business area, serving
elbow room to move about, no con in many nations of the work Id have ter local business.”
its own trade area.”
gestion to fight, picturesque natural
setting to enjoy, and warm and
friendly community relationships.
Editors Comment
S M ITH ROCKS ON CROOKED RIVER, u *« n mil«« north of
Redmond, 1« being promoted for a state park by the city of Red
mond and the Redmond Chamber of Commerce.
OSWALD WEST STATE PARK preserves typically wild ocean shore upon which no developments
are to be made to enroach upon the spectacularly scenic beach of three miles. Ths park also In-
duds« storied Nsshkahni« mountain which rises V M feet from ths Pacific ocean on ths northern
Oregon coast.
♦