The History of West Oregon Electric Cooperative
The history of West Oregon Electric and rural electrification
is one of the finest examples of the cooperative spirit.
People on farms and small communities joined forces to bring
electricity to their homes and businesses.
Rural life in the 1920's and '30's was fixed in a cycle
of hardship and drudgery. The country was in the throws of
the Depression. Only the most affluent farmers and ranchers,
or those near large towns, could get electricity. Private
power companies of the day would not go to the expense of
bringing the conveniences of electricity to sparsely populated
areas.
Beginning in 1935 a new hope dawned on the horizon. The
federal government would soon embark on possibly the most
successful federal program ever developed. The program called
for rural people to help themselves and bring electricity
into their lives. They could organize cooperatively and receive
low interest federal loans to electrify the rural areas.
It was the beginning of the full-scale electrification of
America. People called it the "REA."
President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification
Administration (REA) with an executive order. While the government
was needed to get such an ambitious program off the ground,
it was the rural people who proved to be the real catalysts
for the program's success. Private power companies would
not take advantage of the loans, so farmer-owned cooperatives
were organized.
This same spirit of determination created West Oregon Electric.
The cooperative came into existence on March 9, 1944, when
seven men met in Vernonia's Bush Hall. REA loans provided
the capital needed to consolidate several small electric
co-ops in the Nehalem Valley and Timber areas. Additional
facilities were purchased from the Clatskanie PUD in 1944.
The co-op also purchased the Oregon Gas & Electric company,
which provided service to the Vernonia area. The new cooperative
started clearing trees and brush, placing new poles, and
stringing wire to the isolated towns and valleys of northwest
Oregon. Farmers and homeowners helped dig holes and cut trees
so they too could receive "the electric." Lights began to
dot the landscape as electric lines weaved their way through
the fields and forests.
Today, West Oregon Electric continues to build new lines
to a growing membership. However, the electric needs of our
members have changed dramatically since the 1940's. Sophisticated
stereos replace the tube-style radios of the big-band era.
Computers open our homes to new electronic vistas. We will
continue to meet the challenges of a twenty-first century
membership, while providing an efficient and reliable system
at the lowest possible cost.
Why Electric Cooperatives?
In the early 1930’s, prior to the establishment of
electric cooperatives such as West Oregon Electric, rural America
was almost in total darkness. Nearly 90 percent of our nation’s
rural areas were without electricity.
In 1936, Congress acted to remove rural areas from the “Dark
Ages” by creating the Rural Utilities Service (RUS),
formerly the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). Initially,
low-interest REA loans were made available to commercial power
companies for the purpose of electrifying rural areas.
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