West River Electric Association, Pennington Co., SD This chapter is from "Eastern Pennington County Memories", published by The American Legion Auxilliary, Carrol McDonald Unit, Wall, South Dakota And is uploaded with their kind permission. Page 31-33 Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net, 1999. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm West River Electric Association "It shall be the aim of West River Electric Association, Inc., to make electric energy available to its members at the lowest cost consistent with sound economy and good management." The foregoing is the Preamble to the West River Electric Is By-laws which reflects the attitude your cooperative has had toward its consumers since its inception in 1939. Not once has West River Electric deviated from the course set by REA and the original nine directors -- to help its members improve living standards, reduce drudgery, and achieve more efficient farm production through the use of "Your Rural Electric Servant", Willie Wiredhand. Most of the older members on our lines will probably remember the year 1936. The country was just beginning to emerge from the most economically destructive depressions in the nation's history. It was during this transition year of 1936 that thoughts of better and cheaper electric power were being formed among some of the members of the Wall Commercial Club. On May 20, Mr. Beeler, a representative from the International Harvester Company, met with the Commercial Club and quoted figures for a 440-volt electric generating and distribution system. No positive action was taken on his proposals. On July 19, 1937, Walter Walkling stopped in Wall on his way to Pierre and said that he would find out definitely if REA assistance could be obtained for a Wall light plant. More committees were appointed to complete a distribution survey to tabulate the results of a recent house-to-house canvass of electric users. By the end of September, 1938, prospective customers had been signed up in Quinn, Wall, Wasta, Owanka and the rural areas; and the application, complete with maps and membership tabulation, was sent in to REA the latter part of December, 1938. On March 14, 1939, a mass meeting was held at Wasta for the purpose of deciding on the general plan of the electric system, Citizens of New Underwood, Box Elder, Owanka, Wasta, and Wall were present at the meeting, and Quinn sent notice that they would be on the job. At this meeting, an organization was started with R. F. Lewis of Wall, as chairman and a director from each of the represented localities as the body. Signers of the incorporation papers were: Earl Brownson, Quinn; G. W. Mills, J. A. Galbraith, and R. F. Lewis of Wall; J. R. Killian, Wasta; A. P. Willhoite, Owanka; and F. H. Rector, A. N. Nelson and James Forest of New Underwood. A week later, the incorporation papers were returned by the Secretary of State at Pierre; and the directors elected officers for the cooperative which was named West River Electric Association, Inc. F. H. Rector, New Underwood, was elected president, Earl Brownson, Quinn, vice-president, and R. F. Lewis, Wall, as secretary-treasurer. On July 15, 1939, the long-awaited REA approval of the application was received in the form of a telegram from the then Congressman, Francis Case. In August, 1939, the directors chose Walter Walkling to be the project engineer and submitted this choice to REA for approval. Walkling soon received a sample contract from REA, conditions of which, he advised, were acceptable to him. In September, 1939, a meeting of the directors was held at Wasta for the purpose of selecting men to contact signed and unsigned prospective customers to obtain easement and signed membership applications. The men selected were F. C. Morgan, Wall area; A. P. Willhoite, Owanka; Elmer M. Olson, Wasta; George Boydston, New Underwood to Wicksville; William Heil, Box Elder; B. A. Dawkins and Victor E. Anderson, Rapid City; and William Wallin, New Underwood, R. F. Lewis of Wall acted as coordinator of the activities. The first Annual Meeting of the West River Electric Association was held at the Community Hut in Wall, March 11, 1940. Two reels of free movies were shown on the uses of electricity on the farm, and local merchants and organizations provided free coffee and donuts. A new Board of Directors was elected which chose F. H. Rector as president; J. E. Forest, vicepresident; Earl E. Brownson, secretary; and J. A. Galbraith, treasurer. The other directors elected were A. P. Willhoite, Robert Bruce, William Wallin, V. E. Anderson, and C. M. Best. Over $100 in prizes were given away at this first meeting. By July 11, 1940 (a little over eight months after the final plans had been submitted to REA) West River Electric Association was ready to supply energy to its customers. No time was lost in doing this. Mr. Rounds, with the able assistance of Jack Owens and Erik Onberg, began the tiring task of energizing the lines and hooking on consumers. Edwin Swanson, Rapid City, holds the distinction of being the first customer to receive electric service from an REA financed cooperative in Western South Dakota. Mr. Swanson was hooked on to West River Electric Association's lines July 13, 1940. War clouds began appearing over the horizon, but on April 15, 1941, a new application was approved by REA in the amount of $134,000 for the construction of 175 miles of line to serve 351 new consumers. Because of war-time restrictions on material (approvals for purchase and use of materials had to go through WPB, OPA and numerous other alphabetical agencies), completion of the "B" section took several years. On July 15, 1942, and May 23, 1946, other applications were approved by REA in the amount of $89,300 for rehabilitation and reconstruction of existing lines for completion of the "B" section. In January, 1953, the cooperative moved into its new Headquarters Building in Wall, which was completed in December, 1952. An open house was held in April, 1953, for all the members, their families and friends. A good time was had by all and many prizes were donated by well wishing merchants throughout the system and the West River Electric Association. A new sub-headquarters was built in 1955 in Rapid Valley, the purpose of which is to allow the cooperative to better serve the many consumers in the Rapid City area. Yes, it was June, 1939, that the first loan from REA was made to the West River Electric Association. From a struggling little association in 1939 with 122 miles of line, one 225 KVA substation and 445 consumers, the West River Electric Association has progressed rapidly to a prosperous cooperative today with over 1700 miles of line, seven substations with a combined capacity of 20,000 KVA, and over 3,000 consumers. The men responsible for its inception, its progress, and its prosperity (the members) may feel justly proud of their accomplishments, a difficult job well done. [Photo – Shown above are pictures of the board of West River Electric Association. On the left are: front row: Don Carstensen, Rueben Deutscher, Warren Paulsen, Harold “Gabby” Hayes, Sid Soma. Back row: George Crouch, Art Shaeffer, Harold Bauer, Clarence Wisehart and Clarence Johnson.] [Photo – On the right is the board at work; Art Shaeffer is absent.] [Photo – An Annual Meeting] [Photo – George Crouch, President, and Louis Freiberg, legal consultant for WREA.] [Photo – Sid Soma, former WREA manager] [Photo – Stringing line.] [Photo – Door Prize at Annual Meeting Sid Soma, George Crouch, Bert Meyer, Emilia Geigle] [Photo – Registration line at an annual meeting.] [Photo – Calf Show] [Photo – Roxie Deutscher showing her calf at Calf Show.] [Photo – One of the displays at an annual meeting of the WREA and a group of interested persons.] [Photo – Sid Soma, Harold Hayes, George Crouch; seated Charlie Best.]