History: Clark County-Clark Electric Cooperative (Apr - 1937)

Contact: Betty Comstock

Email:  betty@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Blair, Luchterhand, Landry, Page, Humke, Maloney, Wilson, Melby, Rabe, Klein, Baldwin, Copper, Voigt, Howard, Klarich,  

---- Source: Greenwood Public Library Scrapbook

Headline: Clark Electric Co-op Organized

Rural electrification took a long step forward at a lively all day and evening meeting held at Loyal, Monday when the Clark Electric Cooperative was officially organized. 40 men representing the area to be served by the largest electric cooperative to the state met with the signers of the Articles of Incorporation of the REA Co-op and proceeded with the business necessary to get this project under way.  The Articles of Incorporation were recently signed by Herman Blair, Ed Luchterhand, Wallace J. Landry, Milton Page and Theodore Humke, all Clark County men.

The Government Loan Contract was fully explained by Mr. Norris Maloney, Madison Attorney.  Mr. Maloney has been acting as counsel for several REA projects in this state, and has been giving assistance with the legal set up for the newly organized Clark Electric Cooperative.

Mr. J.M. Wilson and H.O. Melby of the Statewide Electric Cooperative addressed the group, giving a discussion of the work being done by their organization which acts as a clearing house for legal and engineering advice to the cooperatives in the state working on rural electrification.  Mr. W.E. Rabe of Monroe County, president of the Oakdale Cooperative discussed the problems of line building.

The meeting went on record as favoring the borrowing of $700,000 from the federal government for the construction of approximately 700 miles of line to serve about 2100 farmers living in Clark, and a portion of Marathon and Taylor counties.  The matter of borrowing $150,000 for the construction of a generator to supply the current for this project was left open until a future meeting of the Board of Directors.

The first annual meeting of the newly organized cooperative will be held the second Tuesday in June 1938.  This will be a big picnic celebration and will be held at the Fair Grounds, Neillsville.  The survey and mapping of the territory to be served by this project is expected to get under way within the next ten days.  Farmers who have signed up for membership but who have not paid in the one dollar toward their membership fee and anyone interested in getting a line to their place may still become a member by getting their one dollar in to the County Agent’s office at once.  As soon as the survey work is done the contracts for building the lines will be let to the lowest bidder acceptable to the government.  Local men will be employed in the construction of the lines wherever possible.

The following men were elected to the Board of Directors (1 year term) Wallace Landry, L.T. Klein, and C.F. Baldwin; (2 year term) Ed Klein, Rex Copper and Gustave Voigt; (3 year term) Milton Page, Vern Howard and Martin Klarich.

The Board of Directors elected the following officers for the coming year – President, Vern G. Howard, Granton; Vice-President, Martin Klarich, Willard; and Secretary-Treasurer, Wallace J. Landry, Neillsville.

Headline: REA Now Working Near Greenwood - Nov 1937

Vern Howard, president of the Clark County REA, mad an inspection trip of 100 miles along completed lines last week as a guest of the Ulen Construction Co.  This company is the largest in the United States as befits building the largest REA project in the USA.  They are working on 10 REA jobs now, including 5 in Indiana.

The Clark County REA project with lines, poles and transformers is to be completed and ready for government inspection Dec. 20.  Near Owen the Ulen Company set 667 poles in 1 day and also strung the tied 304,000 feet of wire in 1 day. The company is moving its headquarters from Owen to Neillsville and Greenwood this week.

Headline: County Electric Co-op Office Will Be in Greenwood - Dec 1937

Subheadline: Office Manager and a Bookkeeper Will Be Selected by Board This Week

Friday of this week the Clark County Electric Cooperative will select an office manager and bookkeeper for the new power cooperative headquarters which will be located at Greenwood as soon as the old bank building there can be fixed up for office purposes.  About 250 applications for the office job came in to Sec’y W.J. Landry and other officers as a result of ads placed in the county papers recently, so it will require some work to look them all over.  Later on Supervisor William Dallman who is in charge of the field activities, will also have office quarters in the building at Greenwood.

In reply to a question today as to when power might be expected from the REA Diesel plant north of Chippewa Falls, Sec’y Landry stated it would not be before Feb. 1.  Over 2,100 farmers are members of the cooperative, which is the largest in the United States.

Seven of the nine directors of the Clark Electric Cooperative voted to place the office headquarters at Greenwood, because of being most centrally located and easily accessible on well maintained highways.  Two directors, living near Loyal, voted against the Greenwood site.  In the last issue of The Loyal Tribune appeared an unsigned communication with some serious misstatements of fact because the office was not located in that village and unfair criticism of Sec’y Landry and the other directors.  The Co-op has option to purchase on or before 5 years the building at Greenwood at $2,800 and not $3,500 as stated in the Loyal paper.  The rent is $25 per month, and will be $10 additional when a 4-stall garage is completed next summer.  This building is located on Main Street and has a vault and is otherwise better equipped for use than the old garage at Loyal, we are told.

Headline:  REA Directors Choose Bergeman for Position - Dec 1937

Neillsville – Harland Bergeman, Granton, was named bookkeeper – office manager of the Clark Electric Cooperative, at a meeting of the directors held last Friday at the courthouse.

Mr. Bergeman , who was one of the more than 200 applicants for the position, was special deputy banking commissioner in the liquidation of the Loyal, Granton and Chili banks following the banking holiday and until a few months ago.

Headline: Electric Lines Await Current - Dec 1937

Subheadline: Chippewa Generating Plant Not to be Finished Before Feb 1

Neillsville – Clark County’s new rural electrification unit, the largest in the United States, will not be ready to supply current to its 2,300 farmer members until Feb. 1, Wallace J. Landry, secretary-treasurer of the unit, said today.

Work has been pushed rapidly to insure completion of the county network of transmission lines before the beginning of the new year and the announcement that service will not be available before Christmas comes as a disappointment to many farm families.

Landry explained that delay in the completion of the central generating plant at Chippewa Falls, which will supply the Clark County Cooperative, is responsible for the inability of the local system to obtain current on schedule.

Headline: Clark REA Set-Up Nearly Complete - Dec 1937

Subheadline: Over Half Million Dollars Advanced, Turn Over Lines Jan. 6

Neillsville – A check for $156,519.97 was received by County Agent W.J. Landry, secretary-treasurer of the Clark Electric Co-Operative from the REA offices, Washington, D.C., as an installment payment on the allotment of federal funds made on the county REA project.  With the above amount, approximately $500,000 has been advanced to the county cooperative on the $800,000 federal loan.

On Jan. 6 the Ulen Construction Company, Lebanon, Ind., builders of Clark County’s 715 mile REA line, will be ready to turn the project over to the county cooperative officers complete, and government engineers will then make an inspection of the completed line.

If the line passes the inspection of the engineers and is approved, the final 10 percent payment on the contractor’s bid will be made.

Only about a week’s work of hanging transformers and completing yard lines remain to be done in the eastern townships of the county by the contractor to complete the contract.

Headlines: Clark Co. REA Set For Power - Jan 1938

Sunheadlines: Ulen Company Finishes Construction of 690 Miles of Power Lines

Construction work on the Clark Electric Co-operative has been completed by the Ulen Construction Co. of Lebanon, Ind., and all that remains now is for the government to inspect the work before acceptance, and for power to be transmitted from Chippewa Falls to give the patrons service.  W.J. Landry, while at Eau Claire last week, was told that one of the large Diesel engines would be ready for service in about a month, and that work on assembling the three Diesel units north of Chippewa Falls was under way.

The Ulen Company still has a small crew and also some equipment including trucks at Greenwood, which was the last headquarters after moving down from Owen.  The company will be liable for such damages as may result from sleet until the lines are accepted and taken over by the government.

To date the Ulen Company has been paid a total of $499,426.69 and still has a balance due which will be paid upon acceptance of the work done.  The company furnished poles, wires, transformers and all other materials and also the labor on the Clark County REA project, the largest in the USA, and the company also is one of the largest in the country Mr. Landry states the cost was lower than anticipated and leaves funds for  other extensions to serve patrons.

The payments to the Ulen Company were as follows:  Nov. 9, $52,646.62; Nov. 12, $38,121.84; Nov. 20, $133,769.11; Dec. 27, $152,303.64; Jan. 7, $100,000.00; Jan. 19, $22,585.48, making a total of $499,426.69.  There were other smaller expenses, leaving a balance out of the $700,000 for the local REA project allotted in Marcy, 1937.  The total amount forwarded to here has been $539,000, leaving $161,000 more to be sent.

The Clark Electric Co-operative was organized just about a year and a half ago to serve 2,078 customers in Clark, Taylor and Marathon counties, along 690 miles of lines.

The Chippewa Diesel oil plant is to serve over 225 miles of transmission lines.  Last week $100,740.87 was forwarded there from Washington, which brings the total advanced to date to $329,000.  Last July $500,000 was allotted and in December an additional $55,000.

The Taylor County Co-operative, which is to serve 899 customers along 233 miles of lines in Taylor, Clark and Marathon Counties, was allotted $235,000.  A loan of $10,000 was executed with the sponsors to be used for plumbing and wiring installations.

Headline: Largest REA Co-op in U.S. is Formed - 31 Dec 1937

Subheadline: Huge Transmission System Will be Turned Over Next Week

Neillsville –What is without a doubt the best contribution to Clark County’s rural progress during the year 1937, will be the rural electrification program now nearing completion.  The project, a part of the national REA program, is reported to be the largest cooperative REA program in the United States, having 2,450 signed up members and embracing 715 miles of electrical lines.

The line is practically completed in its area, which covers Clark County like a network and extends for a number of miles into the adjoining counties of Taylor and Marathon, and is scheduled to be turned over to the government and the Clark Electric cooperative on Jan. 6 by the Ulen Construction Company, Lebanon, Ind., builders of the lines.

Electrical current for the Clark REA project will be furnished by the central generating plant now being built and located north of Chippewa Falls, which plant will also serve six other cooperatives in nine northern counties.  Completion of the plant is expected by Feb. 1, and electrical energy will be available by the Clark Electric cooperative customers on that date.

For almost a year, County Agent W.J. Landry devoted his working and spare time in an electrification educational program, holding numerous meetings in practically every township in the county, and attempted to organize the farmers into a cooperative to build their own electric line under the national REA program.  Some success was attained in the summer of 1936, when the Willare Electric cooperative was organized.

The idea of electricity in their own homes and on their own farms appealed to many a listener and the seeds planted by County agent Landry began to bear fruit when other farmers in townships not intended to be served by the proposed Willard cooperative began asking for membership.

As a result of the preliminary educational work, nearly 1,600 members were signed up for a county wide electric cooperative by the end of the year 1936.  About this time, a number of farmers residing east of Spencer, in Marathon County, were also organizing their own electric cooperative and had a tentative membership of several hundred in their fold.

Realizing that the Clark County cooperative was assuming large proportions and that the success of any utility cooperative would lie in its numerical strength, the Spencer cooperative members proposed joining the Clark Cooperative and as a result on Jan. 25, the complete application of 2,318 members, embracing electrical line mileage of 690 miles, was submitted by County Agent Landry to the Madison and Washington REA offices.

Realizing that this would be the largest cooperative in the state and comparing favorably with any in the nation, the state offices of the REA hastened to approve it and forward it on to Washington, for their approval.  On March 16, a telegraphic approval of the project was made by the Washington office, and an allotment of $700,000 for the lines and $150,000 for a Diesel generating plant made.

About this time, the Willard cooperative was dissolved and at an organization meeting held at Greenwood, the Clark Electric cooperative was formed to serve members in Clark, Taylor and Marathon Counties.  Officers were elected and on May 20 the note and mortgage covering a loan of $700,000 by the local cooperative from the government was filed in the office of register of deeds.  The note and mortgage covered a 30 year period at an annual interest rate of 2.77 percent.

Plans for the building of its generating plant were discarded by the Clark Cooperative, when other electrical cooperatives in adjoining northern counties, proposed a central generating plant, large enough to serve all of the cooperatives being built in the northern area.

Following a meeting of these cooperative leaders at Chippewa Falls, the Wisconsin Power Cooperative was formed and plans for a central generating plant was approved.  An allotment of $500,000 from REA offices, Washington, was obtained for its construction to which was added the $150,000 allotted to the Clark County cooperative for its proposed generating plant.

Bids for the construction of the plant building proper, the three Diesel generating units and the high power transmission lines from the plant to each cooperative substation were let and construction started.

On July 15, with 12 of the largest contractors in the country bidding, the Clark County project was let, with th Cater Contracting Company, Kansas City, MO., and the Ulen Construction Company, Lebanon, Ind., bids being the lowest.  Only $93 separated the two bidders, and both bids were submitted to Washington for rechecking and elimination.  A re-check of the bids at Washington resulted in the awarding of the contract to the Ulen Company, at their bid of $578,910.

Within a few days after the awarding of the bid, the successful contractors moved their equipment into the county, making their headquarters at Owen.  On Aug. 31 the first post holes were dug in the town of Worden, followed by the setting of the first poles in the town of Reseburg on Sept. 8.

By that time the contractors had their full crews in the field and mile after mile of poles were set, 18 to the mile, and wiring crews were following in the wake of the pole setting crews.  When all of the northern townships were complete with poles and wiring, the contractors moved their equipment to Greenwood and Neillsville and construction work started in the southern half of the county shortly after Thanksgiving.

Other crews started hanging transformers and erecting yard lines where necessary, and only a few days remain until the contractor can write “finis” to his work and turn it over to the cooperative as completed.

Several hundred farm homes and buildings have been sired or are being wired and many more will be wired within the next few months and the expectation is that practically the entire membership of 1,450 will be wired and connected for service within the coming year.

The 102 miles of transmission lines leading from the generating plant near Chippewa Falls to the sub-stations for the Taylor Electric Cooperative and the Clark Cooperative have been completed and both cooperatives are awaiting the completion of the central generating plant by Feb. 1, so that energy can start coming over the transmission lines to their respective sub-stations, and in turn be made available for their membership.

Clark County’s two sub-stations will be located at Longwood and Spokeville, both being in the central part of the cooperative’s operating area.  The offices of the cooperative will be maintained at Greenwood, that city having been selected at a meeting of the cooperative directors two weeks ago.

Vern Howard, Granton, is president of the cooperative, and County Agent Landry, secretary-treasurer, William Dallman, Colby, was named project superintendent several months ago and undoubtedly will continue as the cooperative superintendent when the line is completed and in operation.

The old saying that “tall oaks from little acorns grow” was never more true than in this instance, where the electrical education seeds of County Agent Landry have, in the course of 18 months, realistically grown into an electric cooperative, the largest in the state and second to no other electric cooperative in the nation.

“Electricity in our own home,” the dream of these same cooperative member farmers a few years ago, will soon be realized and this necessity of life and convenience, considered a luxury only a few years back, will be made available to them by the touch of their finger tips.