The Mill City enterprise., April 23, 1959, Page 17, Image 17

Eighty Years of Power
Life in Oregon Vastly Easier Than in (Old) Days
When Grandfather Had Only Horses and Muscle
Oregonians of the Centennial year
are supermen of energy.
They perform almost miracu.ous
feats of labor in a feu minutes
rather than days, and live in dream
hcmes-washing clothes, preparing
meals and cleaning house in hours
n.'lher than in days of a week
The energy today’s Oregonians
use so matter-of-factly is electri-
citj.
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 Use 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
arid 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 ar­
rival of ships in Willamette River
ports.
Arcs from a bare-wire circuit
linked to a dynamo aboard the
steamship California introduced the
m.igic of electricity to Portland in
1879 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
tor the start of a service that
eventually grew into the present
utility there.
Other pioneering ventures indud
i*d the first long-distance transmis­
sion of power, from th«’ Willam­
ette Falls hydroelectric plant.
which in 1889 was a pioneer in the
west, to Portland, a distance of
14 miles. Then in 1905 the mag­
nificence of 80,000 electric globes
lighting the Lewis 4 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
in 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-
trie supplies of light and power.
Large dams now dot the state and
the great rivers on its borders,
and transmission networks link
their powerhouses to farms, homes,
ar.d 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
struction caps more than a half-
century of progress that rapidly
is utilizing the remaining good
hydroelectric sites in the region.
Consequently, the electric utility
companies are looking to thermal­
type plants for the future power
supplies. These may use fossil,
fuels, such as Coos County coal,
or the unlimited enegy of nu-
cleai fuel ores being mined from
•die earth in Lake County.
Editors Comment
About Smaller Cities and the
Future of Them in Oregon
People differ widely as to what
sized town they like (or city, if
you please)- all the way from the
metropolis to the village. They dif­
fer, too, as to their favorite types
of town. Some like the so-called
"bedroom” subuib, close to the big
town; some prefer the rural town,
the market-spot for the outlying
country; still others are happiest
to be in the little factory town,
where they work at good jobs while
their home towns grow into some­
thing different. All these are good
weekly newspaper towns. The edit­
ors and their readers agree, gener­
ally, that these various types and
sizes of towns are the backbone of
Oregon, at once a supply depot and
market for the producers on farm
and in factory.
Following are some comments of
editors about what the smaller
cities and towns mean to Oregon
;.nd the outlook for the future
Rural Life
Benefits
Woodbum Independent: The
smaller cities and towns mean that
Oregon will continue to be a part­
icularly desirable state in which to
live. They provide the benefits of
rural life but in most cases are
close enough to big cities or met­
ropolitan areas to make possible
the sports and cultural advantages
Valley Herald. Milton-Freewater:
"The smaller towns and cities of
Oregon furnish real 'grassroots’
background for the State of Ore­
gon. These smaller places are the
provisioning points, the suppliers for
much ranch and timberland area ”
Madras Pioneer: "The smaller
cities and towns of Oregon are
rallying points for groups and in­
dividuals bent on finding ways to
improve themselves and their com­
munities."
Stayton Mail: “....smaller cities
and towns offer the best living con­
ditions.... with pure air to breathe,
elbow room to move about, no con­
gestion to fight, picturesque natural
setting to enjoy, and warm and
friendly community relationships
SMITH ROCKS ON CROOKED RIVER, seven mile» north of
Redmond, it being promoted for a state park by the city of Red
mond and the Redmond Chamber of Commerce.
Many of our best citizens develop
in the pleasant atmosphere of the
small town.”
Seaside Signal: "To a great many
residents of metropolitan areas
towns mean Recreation. This is
particularly true of the towns on
the scenic Oregon Coast. The fam­
ous Clatsop beaches. Seaside, Can­
non Beach, and Gearhart have held
the interest of millions of persons
seeking recreation over a period of
75 years. They still constitute one
of the most popular recreational
areas on the Pacific Coast because
of a rare combination of ocean, ex­
tensive beaches, natural scenic
beauty, and recreational develop­
ment."
Newberg Graphic: "Families of
today frequently prefer to live in
smaller cities and towns, where
they enter into community life.
Towns close to larger cities and
metropolitan centers attract people
who commute to and from work
but prefer the neighborliness of the
smaller city to life in the metropo­
lis. Suburban life is becoming
more popular, and even in the
smaller cities there is a tendenev
for many to build homes in the
f'mge area or on small acreages
and subdivisions.”
Small Towns Vital
Hermiston Herald: "The smaller
cities and towns are just as import­
ant to the growth of our state as
the large cities are-and just as vi­
tal as an aid to the continued
growth of each ..."
Myrtle Creek Mail. "The future
of non-metropolitan Oregon? It is
Opportunity, unlimited. For. as this
nation’s population grows, here in
Oregon are the untapped raw re­
sources of timber, minerals, and
water power, the sites for industry
and homebuilding—the Tebensraum’
or living space, for which the people
in many nations of the world have
NOT A CENTENNIAL POSED SHOT is the above picture, taken
in 1906, of Ezra Meeker and his oxen in Pendleton.
sought and fought. And. strange as
it may seem to many Easterners,
it is none the less true that most of
this ’extra room’ is in an area with
a mild, equable climate and some
of the nation’s finest scenery and
natural recreations lands."
Impact significant
Curry County Reporter, Gold
Beach: "Oregon does not have the
large population centers of eastern
states so the smaller towns here
serve a much more important pur­
pose than similar-sized towns else­
where. A town with no more than
two or three thousand persons may
be the trading center for a large
area. This tends to place a strain
on the small towns since they are.
in a sense, ‘playing over their
heads.’ In Gold Beach, for example
with a population of 1.900 there is
a general hospital, yet we have seen
mid-western cities with populations
of over 5.000 that do not have hos­
pitals. Because of these factors, the
small towns of Oregon have a sig­
nificant impact on the state as a
whole.”
Influx Expected
Redmond Spokesman: "With de­
centralization of population evi­
dent on every hand, rural Oregon
can expect an influx of new resi­
dents within the next dozen or so
years such as it never saw in the
last 50."
Malheur Enterprise. Vale: ", . .
It is not so much what the future
holds for non-metropolitan Oregon
as that in the non-metropolitan Ore­
gon lies the future."
Madras Pioneer: “Industry, at
least light industry will find it
desirable to locate in small towns,
where employees can live and
work in an atmosphere conducive
to agreeable relations, permanent
residence, and low turnover."
Pace Accelerated
Polk County Itemizer-Observei
Dallas: "The growth of non-metro­
politan communities in western
Oregon during the past 15 years
las been consistent and is bound to
continue at an accelerated pace.
The day is here when comparative­
ly small communities will be the
center of manufacturing in various
lines, where workmen are not com
polled to travel long distances in
crowded traffic. The expansion of
the fruit and vegetable canning in­
dustry. together with valley irri­
gation to make this possible, means
much for the entire valley. It means
higher land production, market for
needed products, employment for
youths and women as well as men.
The small towns of the area will
see continued rapid growth and bet­
ter local business.”
In the middle of the 19th cen­
tury. the immigrants flooded to­
ward the Pacific Ocean and the
rich Willamette valley that lay
sheltered just this side of the goal.
Reaching there they crowded to­
gether until the inevitable back­
wash began.
For a centuiy those who flowed
back from the first surge, who set
tied on less favorable land in the
great eastern portion of the state,
built a prosperity unforeseen by
those headed for quicker rewards
Now, the second great wave of
immigrants has begun. With Calif­
ornia filling up, with Oregon begin­
ning to want her share, the floixl
tide of new residents should over­
run the state within another cen­
tury.
For non-metropolitan Oregon, that
lxx>m will bold the real promise
of the future. Rural communities
face a hard choice between their
natural beauties they cherish and
the economic benefits of mon'
people and more businesses.
Into the smaller town and cities
of the state will come industry,
wanting a place to grow in the
favorable setting built over the
past 100 years. Towns which fail
now to protect themselves by care­
ful zoning, by modern industrial
planning, by long-range social im­
provements may well be ground in
to industrial slag heaps by the
pressure due to come.
The industrial worm is finally due
to turn towards the rural part of
Oregon. The eafly birds will find
the choicest chunks await them -
R.C.H., Hood River News
No Need To Die
Port Umpqua Courier: "Some
people think the building of great
super-highways, the tendency of in­
dustries to congregate and concen­
trate will sp**li th«- doom of little
towns. Some will die as some have
always died because they were
founded on pure opportunism, but
those small cities which have
REASONS for being will continue
to grow and prosper, and there are
many industries and many people
who will seek them out because of
what they can offer. A gixxi exam
pie is the City of Bend, which did
not die las many feared» when
one of the mills closed some years
ago for lack of timber.”
Lincoln County Leader, Toledo:
"Small cities and towns are th«-
backbone of American economy -
and nowhere is this more important
than in Oregon. Most towns and
cities in Oregon are small, each
with its own business area, serving
its own trade area.”
OSWALD WEST STATE PARK pretervet typically wild ocean thore upon which no developments
are to be made to enroach upon the spectacularly scenic beach of three miles. The park also in­
cludes storied Neahkahnie mountain which rises 1795 feet from the Pacific ocean on the northern
Oregon coast.