Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1960)
off EILECTF30C LOVIMGc 5s & l Heppner, 19, Ai Miracle of Electricity Changes Life The miracle ot yMterday oon hoeome the commonrlac of to dayand thl I true of electric livine. In 1S79. mcrlcana Jammed KpiTial traint bound lor Memo Tark. N. J. to Thomas A Kdisnn's marvel, the Incandes cmt llrht bulb the practical be ginning of electric living In this iuntr' Yet today we flick a handy switch and bathe a room with lipht as casually as blinking our eyes. We accept all the wonders of electric living Invented and mass produced in the 80 years since Edison Ingeniously revo lutior.lzed our lives. n-e difficult to envision life without electricity. Our "sky scrapers' would be four stories hish as high as we wouia oe wiHfne to climb. Our homes u.nni.i inrk the more than 60 electrical appliances and devices kitchen ranges to hair dryers now serving homeowners. Our factories still would use oniy steam engines; our hospitals unn l.l have no x-ravs. Today, a resident of Taclflc p.i-nri.mrt llvps in the most .iivtrifid reclon In the nation His home uses twice as much electricity each year as the nat ional average, supplying him nnrt his family with electric la- hnr pnual to over 100 human household servants. a ri'jtL customer In a rural area can adapt electricity to 450 different uses about nis iarm and home. If lie works In a factory with electric-powered machinery he has an average energy equiv alent of 210 men at his finger tip control In an 8-hour shift. We can look forward to many more miracles In our electric way of life. Tomorrow's home will t'e illuminated by solid walls of light. We will sleep under an electric blanket that cool-, us in summer and warms us in winter. The homemaker will slip a punched card into a tiny kitchen electronic computer and it will prepare the entire meal. Clothing will be washed without water, soil being whis ked away by use of static elec tricity. The wonders of electric living are ours because of the efforts of leaders in the electric in dustry, typified by the men who direct the plans and pioneering of Pacific Power & light Com pany. The myriad services of electricity which provide the ul timate in comfort, convenience and enjoyment of our daily lives are the resuix oi ou yen ui gress by an industry which has been paceu uy mc . ' Tax Payments Large As a taxpaylng citizen and snnnorter of local government services Pacific Power & Light Company paid $6,295,000 in state ana iuctti waco , ' m The outomobUe sedans of th generating P"" rrZSiir 7 ford was trpical of the line miarter-centurr. Ubiauitous Model T Fora was tjp 5lu" . ...... ' m C DDT. I CAltlnn f . . , . --rill; ; i-. , . . , , : ,-. . '-tlJk' . r 'V 5 " ' ..;. . . i . . " : : ... . vr-r-ilt ''' i .... ... . "'-'- If - . . .MU -wwu imn.mi.slon and iied lntallatlon. In tho Northwe.t Hug tramformer U a 230X00- Heppner's The maelc of electricity first ; brightened the night sky in Heppner in the year 1893. Energy for the light strung along the town's main business stn-pt. and orobably adorning the bars In the best thlrst-slack- j tne oars in me Des,i uuiM-mui- ine emporiums of this wheat-! i i ..t coot ramo frnm i ldllU t-uumj . v-.w - ) small steam engine electric ft- Pacif ic Twer's early promotion electric irons uuu . itioo Nnn Hrensed salesman Rav Turnbull leffc was enthusiastic about electric living conveniences he later became nregldent of the Edison General Electric Appliance Com- nuiM ion riodni iron u'ced jirst electric washing machines to PP4L customers. His iaon Drennan, Is PP&L manager for the Pendleton district. which Includes neppner, 1920-. double-parked in front of the old Heppner steam-electric W - ld etxS service landmark. Plant .erred area for a T Tnrrl was tYDlcar OI uu uim L . gazette-Time rn . UJ o.neratinc fadlitlei built by Pacific Power & Light Companf to Pioneer Plants Had Problems generating plant. Founder of this system was . V. Gates, who had been gran- ted a c ty irancn se ,o .uppjy the service, a year earlier, and uer, ana then organizea me neppner . . ft Light and .Water Company. H s . associates In the enterprise were Thnmas W. Avers ana James D. Hamilton. of appliances brought the lirst 1b Georaa I. Drennan. who In- service trucks of the era, covering a eu stomerm. kitk. uuim w u i Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, October If A! WW A- . I ' '-4 X.I t 1 i t-H .sv 'TfTfrjyr Mjf M't.r" Tolt giant, typical ot ualti ot lood I The idea of gettlhg rid of the coa -oil lamps tor me incKermg 1 rJ L before w3 was i auArv Firtncn in nonnnpr anu nit? j ... l"' " - .. . . KVtpm the new lighting system. at Hares lor stmn Like many of the pioneering svstems of-that era electricity was sold in Heppner at a flat rate per month. A single 16 candlepower globe, equivalent to a 20-watt bulb oi todays stan dard, was $1.45 per month if you kept It burning until 10 p. m. ir vnu wanted service until mid nirht vou Daid $2. Business firms, like the hotel and the saloons, could have service all night at $2.80 for each bulb. The whirring of the power generator and the hiss of steam nf tho old Heopner company plant kept the lights burning most of the time. But the fre outages often stretched In to days while the plant was shut down for repairs or emergencies. There were no interconnections of systems such as assure de pendable service for customers of today's electric service com- nanips. That was to come along later, as the Industry expanded and the men who pioneered the fnrinstrv learned how to trans port power over longer and lon ger transmission lines. Small Plants Overtaxed During the first decade or tne now renturv the growth of the business taxed the capacity of th. initial Dlant. and the firm rebuilt Its power station in 1911, adding two 125-horse p o we r steam engines and two General Electric generators. The units were capable of pro rhirlne 50 and 100 kilowatts of electricity, a mere fraction of the n.noo kilowatt units at racinc Pnwpr's nuarter-million kilowatt Swift plant on the Lewis River. The two generators gave the company alternate machines in pvpnt nf trouble, and the greater dependability of service helped attract more business. Jtsy laia the company was able to expand again by extending an 11,000 volt transmission line to lone. It ilt a distribution system for the neighboring community of Lexington. Sale of the Heppner Light ana Water Company to the Sherman Electric Company in 1927 was a part of a trend of the 1920's when growth of the small systems pushed them beyond their abil Ity to meet the customer's needs and larger plants were required One of the plans of the new combined operation was for a hydroelectric plant on the John Day River, but this was aban- doned in tavor oi an nierconnec tlon with the Pacific Power i . ... . 77th Year, ij o tupplY iU cu.tomer. Includ. rocord- centert tor PF&Li Wm. Light Co. r u was xnen . v.ng -" aa wmw " " !, ThT'next" vea tt! Sherman ElecUlc Company fa - - ",,,, , fh- i run li's wi1 c yuiv.i"u j t ,h. mm nan v. " taier Pacific Power and Light came to Hep- i , - . pner when It fed the re sponslbllltics for the services to communities or Morrow, oner man and Gilliam counties. Tacific Power began to build transmission lines to connect the newly acquired properties with the remainder of Its system. Gradually, the small obsolete generating plants was retired from service. Interconnections Aid Service Bringing the struggling sys tems into an Interconnected op eration was a milestone In the progress of the utility Industry In this area. From then on, when one plant broke down service could be supplied from a neigh boring plant, or power brought In over an interconnection oi me loon circuit. Use of electricity has con tinued to grow through the Pa cific Power system, and today the area known- as Pacific Power land is one of the most electri fied in the nation. During the first decade of the company's services, the average household used about 200-klIowatt hours of electricity. This Is less $iti a modern "electric living" house hold uses in a week In most of the PP&L area. And with the Increased use and the larger power systems making possible greater econ omies In operation, the cost of the service has gradually de clined from the 20 and 30 cents ner kilowatt hour of the earlier years to slightly more than one cent a kilowatt hour for resi dential service In the Heppner area. Farm Uses Many Rpspnrfhers in the United States Denartment of Agricul ture point to more than 450 dif ferent applications of electricty on the farm and in the farm home. In Pacific Powerland, one of the nation's most electrified re gions, continuing rural electrl firation efforts of PP&L have OToria it rwicclhlA fnr farm fami- lies to live better electrically. There have been many jcai early days changes from the when us of electricity on the farm was limited to lighting and pumping water From burglar alarms to barn cleaners. Reddy Kilowatt sup- plies the power of many "red hands on the farms of Pacific . 27, 1960 0) Number 34 Company Corn in 1910 Serves Growing Area Fifty years of electric utility service pioneering and power supply development, and the role of Taclflc Tower h Light Com pany In helping to build the areas It serves, are being recognized during 1900 In observance of the Company's 50th anniversary year. The first half-century of progress of the company, now one of the region's leading Industries, also hlghllghta the vigorous growth of the extensive territory served by IT1L In five statea of the Northwest cinnirirant rhnniiTi in th utiirv of how the "made of electricity came to the farms., factories and featured in this special news- naner suDolement edition Formed of four small local power companies that were struggling in 1910 to stay In the business of providing electricity to Illuminate streets and stores and homes. Pacific Uower start ed with 10.780 customers In 14 towns and rural areas of Wash ington and Oregon. With growth of the Northwest, and as a re sult of mergers with neighbor ing utilities, the company now serves over 317500 customers. LIGHTS WENT OFr EARLY WHEN DAD "SPOONED" MOM When the newly-founded TP&L too over the pioneering systems the Idea of regular 24-hour elec tric service was a rarity In the Industry. Power plant break downs often stretched Into days. House and street lights usually went off at midnight, when the plant operator went home to sleep. If Dad was still spooning Mom, they lit an oil lamp, ad ding to our Janguage the apt expression "burning the mid night oil." Compared with the large hy droelectric and steam-electric power plant capacities required for today's modern system, the total of 10,600 kilowatts of gen erating capacity needed for the fledgling power company was a mere drop of supply. But In those days the average household "burned" only a few elobes. A laundry Iron was a cherished gift to a bride. Clothes washers were wooden-tub af fairs. Service was sold for 15 to 20 " ov..v. - ppnts a ktlowatt-nour in xnose days. Some companies provided l a 16-watt bulb and kept it iignt- ed for 75 cents a month. An extra globe for the front porch was supplied for an additional 25 cents a month. The malor industrial consumer of electricity In 1910 was usu?lly . . .-i i -ii.4i f fi- -fZtl J first commercial iuiuu - aboard S.S. Columbia, shown above In an old Scientific American drawing. Vessel reached Portland. July. 1880; showed off its lighting. the town's street railway, often an affiliate of the utility system itself. urw COMPANY DEVELOPS RELIABLE POWER SUPPLIES The minion kilowatts or power nnr nrnvidpd customers by Paci fic Power could not have been envisioned by its founders in that first decade of the 20th century. But they believed addi tional investments in new iaciu ties could offer the growing Northwest a dependable electric service. That was thp challenge then confronting the electric Industry everywhere. During the first year or rrau s life the company built 200 miles of transmission line to link to- opthpr its scatered systems, rne lines assured more reliable Serv ian hv pxehanelne power when any one plant broke down. Next the company began to modernize 11 hvdroelectric and steam-electric plants and build larger ones. Several or those new plants of the first decade are still part of the power supply system. homes of Taclflc Towerland are Kmployees also kept busy sell ing new appliances to more homes and farms, and electric service to factories, then largely powered by their own steam en gines. Although electricity now Is used universally, Pacific Power continuously engages In a broad scaled program to stimulate greater use of its service com modity and also aid the econo mic development of its service areas. PP&L PIONEERS FARM ELECTRIFICATION IDEAS The company's interest In agri cultural research, 411 youth pro jects and the growth of crop and livestock industries are a result of the recognition In 1910 that the success of the company would depend upon tne pros perity of agriculture In Its re gion. Over the years, the com pany's pioneering of farm elec trification has received national recognition. - - The company's farm agents drove the countryside's dusty and muddy roads helping farm ers build tneir rirst eiecuic brooders and pump-lrrl g a 1 1 o n evstom.q. As a result, four-fifths of all of PP&L's present distri bution circuits are serving rural areas and farms One rural area circuit is still known as the "Moo Cow" line because It powered some or the first electrified dairy barns In the nation. METER MEN CARRIED IRONS TO HELP BOOST APPLIANCES i Boosting uac vi. c.-v.i-4ij sni, Qf aDDllances called for in- ' rrflann'a Incandescent light WOS genulty and hard work in those days. In the towns the meter read ers carried the new-fangled "electrlc-lrons" under their arm to Introduce the convenience to housewives on their route. The new appliances then were placed In homes on a trial demonstra tlon. One advertisement In that era suggested brides could help their husbands to success by using more work-saving electric appliances. The idea was she wouldn't be as weary when hub by came home, and could help entertain his friends, go party Ing, play bridge. A measure of the extent which households now are enjoying the convenience and comforts of electric living is indicated by the amount used in the average home served by PP&L. When the company was founded, the "modern home" used about 200 kilowatt-hours annually. That wasn't as much in a full year as many homes now use In one week. The residential use ' of electricity in Pacific Powerland (Continued on Page 2) I Mm
