■I 



the REA. This money will be spent on 

 the construction of 180 additional miles 

 of line which will serve nearly 600 more 

 members. 



Each member of the Menard Electric 

 Co-operative pays $2.50 when he signs 

 up to take current and a minimum of 

 $3.50 per month thereafter. As soon as 

 the debt has been paid off, the co-opera- 

 tive expects to pay patronage dividends 

 which will, in effect, reduce the cost of 

 the service still more. 



Farm Adviser Chalcraft reports that as 

 the project moves along more and more 

 folks are becoming interested. Many 

 who did not join the co-op at first came 

 in when they learned that they can have 

 power almost as soon as their wiring is 

 finished. 



The Menard Electric Co-operative is, 

 in many respects, pioneering the way for 

 similar groups. It is bringing power 

 to folks who had all but given up hope 

 of enjoying the advantages of electricity. 

 It is planning to bring power to farmers 

 at a cost they can well afford. And above 

 all, it is owned and operated by the folks 

 who will get the most good from it. 



As A. H. Roegge, Menard County 

 Farm Bureau member observed. "Peo- 

 ple in town wouldn't do without current 

 and I don't see why country folks need 

 do without it." 



Eastern Illinois 

 Organizing 



^^4 _ HAT may well develop into 

 ^^yl/ the biggest rural electrifica- 

 Q j tion project in the country for 

 the territory covered is in prospect in 

 Iroquois, Livingston, Ford, and Vermil- 

 ion counties. 



In Iroquois county alone 1824 prospec- 

 tive patrons requiring an estimated 675 

 miles of lines have signed application 

 blanks in the preliminary survey. Add- 

 ing this prospective mileage to that 

 planned in the other three counties makes 

 nearly 1000 miles. The project may 

 easily develop into one requiring a mil- 

 lion dollars and more investment par- 

 ticularly if a generating plant is erected. 



Farm Bureau Committees are active in 

 each of the four counties. Numerous 

 meetings are being held. In Iroquois 

 county where H. W. Danforth is chair- 

 man of the committee, so enthusiastic 

 was E. W. Sass of Hoopeston, a leader 

 in the movement, that he drove 25 miles 

 to a meeting that lasted until after mid- 

 night, then walked a mile and a half 

 over mud roads to get home. 



In Pike, Morgan, and Scott and Greene 

 counties active building of co-operative 

 electric lines is expected to get under 



way this spring. The Pike county co- 

 operative, it is reported, has applied for 

 an REA loan to erect a generating plant. 

 For a time it was thought that power 

 could be obtained on satisfactory terms 

 from the municipal plant at Hannibal, 

 Mo. 



In its March bulletin the State Rural 

 Electrification Committee says: 



"The past two weeks have seen definite 

 progress among the cooperative projects 

 in Illinois. 



The Henry County Cooperative has resumed 

 line construction and is nearing completion. 



The Sangamon and Menard projects have 

 held pole-raising ceremonies and started con- 

 struction. 



The Wayne-White project will start build- 

 ing early in March. 



A three-county cooperative project in Ford, 

 Livingston, and Iroquois Counties is being 

 submitted to the REA in Washington for 

 allotment of funds. 



Three counties (Vermilion, Champaign and 

 McLean) have begun surveys to determine 

 whether or not they may tie on to the above 

 project. 



Many other counties are making preliminary 

 county-wide surveys. 



"The log-jam on cooperatives seems to 

 be broken. For almost two years prog- 

 ress has been slow. Now the preparatory 

 work seems to be done, and the coopera- 

 tives are going forward rapidly, with 

 plans for construction completed in many 

 cases. There are several reasons why 

 this appears to be happening all at once. 



1. The REA announced that it would fi- 

 nance the building of generating stations. 



2. The Attorney General advised the Di- 

 vision of Highways that under Illinois law the 

 cooperatives might secure highway permits 

 just the same as public utilities do. 



3. The Illinois Agricultural Association 

 decided to sponsor cooperatives. 



4. At the request of the State, the REA 

 sent a development man to Illinois to ex- 

 plain the Government's plans of financing co- 

 operatives and to help conduct surveys. 



5. The Springfield City Council approved 

 the sale of electricity at wholesale by the 

 Springfield Municipal Light Plant to the 

 Menard and Sangamon County projects. 



"This cooperative activity has great 

 significance to Illinois farmers. It marks 

 the beginning of a new era in farming. 

 As REA officials see it. Congress di- 

 rected the REA to find a way to bring 

 electricity to more farm homes than had 

 ever had it before. If this was to be 

 done, the REA could not accept the 

 figures used by power companies as the 

 beginning and end of the possibilities 

 for rural electrification. In order to make 

 electricity available to greater numbers of 

 farmers, it was necessary for the REA to 

 employ vision and determination. REA 

 felt that the uses of electricity on the 

 farm had barely been touched, and that 

 if costs could be lowered in getting 

 power to the farms, usage would follow." 



The first step, then, was to cut con- 

 struction costs. The second step was to 

 cut the price of electricity itself. The 

 third was to show farmers the practically 



unlimited possibilities for use of electric 

 power on farms. All three of these 

 things are being done. In addition to 

 this, wiring and equipment are being 

 financed through longtime Government 

 loans offered by REA and EHFA. 



It is thought that the REA is in large 

 measure responsible for the renewed ac- 

 tivity in rural line construction by the 

 power companies themselves. It is true 

 that improvements in business conditions 

 and the scientific advances in line con- 

 struction and distribution of power have 

 played their part. Whatever the cause, 

 utility companies built more lines in Il- 

 linois during 1936 than in any previous 

 year. 



One of the great advantages of the 

 cooperative movement is that it is based 

 up>on the development of entire com- 

 munities. For example, the three-county 

 project in Iroquois, Ford, and Livingston 

 Counties will build lines in each of the 

 26 townships in Iroquois and the 14 

 townships in Ford. In addition it will 

 serve 16 adjacent townships in Living- 

 ston, Vermilion, and McLean Counties. 



REA Co-ops 

 Progress 



HENRY COUNTY. Farmers Mutual Elec- 

 tric Company will complete its lines within 

 the next few weeks. The construction was 

 temporarily held up pending the granting of 

 highway permits. 'These have now been 

 secured and construction resumed. A loan of 

 $60,000 has been obtained to build 69 miles 

 of line serving 184 customers. Power will be 

 supplied by the Genesee Municipal Light 

 Plant. M. A. Clark is manager of the co- 

 operative. 



SANGAMON COUNTY. The Rural Elec- 

 tric Convenience Cooperative Company. The 

 first pole was dedicated on Tuesday afternoon, 

 February 16, 1956, one mile northwest of 

 Divernon. Over ten carloads of poles are on 

 hand and a gang is at work operating a pole- 

 hole digger and a pole-setting machine. 



This project was granted $260,000 and is 

 building 232 miles to serve 739 farms. Young 

 & Stanley of Muscatine, Iowa, are the engi- 

 neers and the Federal Engineering and Con- 

 struction Company of Kansas Qty is the con- 

 tractor. The attorney is Coy Overaker of 

 Springfield and the manager is Charles Masters 

 of Divernon. 



Officers and Directors of the cooperative 

 are: E. C. Keplinger, president, Virden; Fred 

 W. Harms, vice president. Auburn; George S. 

 Sloman, Pawnee, secretary-treasurer; Otto J. 

 Often, Modesto; Lester R. Miller, Girard; Joe 

 Dowson, Divernon; Ernest R. Davis, Pawnee; 

 E. W. Lowry, Loami; and George Simons, 

 Farmersville. 



Power will be supplied by the Springfield 

 Municipal Plant. The project will serve 

 southern Sangamon County and adjacent parts 

 of Christian, Montgomery and Macoupin 

 Counties. 



WAYNE-WHITE COUNTIES ELECTRIC 

 COOPERATIVE. Construction will start be- 

 fore March 20, according to Mr. R. E. Martin. 

 President of the cooperative, and will be 

 (Continued on page 33) ■-'■■■ 



L A. A. RECORD 



