THE REA STORY

[Music] the electrification of Rural America not so long ago this magic Force electricity was available to City people and City people alone yes as recently as 1935 nine out of 10 farmers were without electricity many of them along with lots of other rural people had given up hope of getting it in their lifetime but they did get it and about 97 out of every 100 Farms have it now how did this happen well more than half of them got it from Electric Systems which they built with money borrowed from the rural electrification Administration Rea there's quite a story behind those early days when Rea was first put on the job by the president and the Congress a human personal story that happened in many places all over the country let's meet some of the people who are familiar with this great American story Miss Sarah Lee puit poultry woman Dan Walker dairman Ernie Thomas manager of an Electric Cooperative Ed Barnes Co-op lineman Al Hansen rural mailman yes they all share in the Rea [Music] story this meter is measuring kilowatt hours that might mean more if you know exactly what a kilowatt hour can do it can run a TV set for 3 hours a washing machine for nearly 4 hours and a clock for 20 days what the average Farm worker can do on a working day an electric motor can do in a matter of minutes life in rural America has not only been changed by Cheap electricity it's been revolutionized let's see how electricity has changed life for a farm family in the South Miss Sarah Lee puit and her brother Gary are in business together raising laying hens but Sarah Lee remembers those days before rural electrification came along those drab color less days I sure do remember I was much younger then of course just a mere child some of the kids around us had to quit school too early including my brother and me we were needed here on the [Music] farm what good was education when there didn't seem to be any hope for a better [Music] life and I remember dad trying to raise corn and cotton to make a living for us mother's chores began its Sun up she had a lot of miles to feed and what did we eat in Winter grits salt pork and whatever we had been able to can ourselves in summer there was hardly any meat at all wouldn't keep without a refrigerator when the weather turned cold the only way we had to keep warm was by the wood range but when the temperature climbed to 102 is it surprising we called those things sad irons in fact life in general was pretty sad and then one day Wonder of Wonders It Happened magic magic from nowhere and everywhere the magic of electricity light whenever we needed it day or night our neighbor George Andre could hardly wait till he had his lights and even dad himself couldn't quite believe the miracle and then he let mother have the thrill of turning on the lights herself all that power right at the touch of our fingertips and music music all the way from Atlantic [Music] City when mother first got her new electric iron she was a little suspicous icious of it but it didn't take long before she couldn't do without it my cousin Louise puit didn't quite trust her electric range either not until her cornbread took the Blue Ribbon at the Cy Fair for the first few days Miss Phelps left the life burning day and night just to convince herself that electricity had really come Joe Kelly Dear Soul kept all the sockets full scared the electricity would leak out but he caught on and little by little we all did caught on to the many different things electricity could do running water right in our own home even Niagara Falls never look so pretty wasn't long after that when lots of us kids could go back to school good light made studying easier and having water indoors meant that we didn't have to run outoors on bad days so we had fewer coals our attendance records got [Music] better and so did our grades for a change we were really proud to bring our report cards home to the folks when our church got its lights people seemed to come more often and you know what the singing was better too guess folks could finally make out the [Music] words it was electricity that put my brother Gary and me into the Poulter business today thanks to new electrical inventions we are able to water and feed larger and larger [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] flocks electricity weighs out the Feld Blends it and literally serves it to the chickens in the short days of winter an electric light fools the hins into thinking it's still daytime so they keep right on laying but that isn't all just look at some of the other things that electricity does for us electricity keeps hins comfortable and a contended hin cooperates electricity cleans candles GRS and it keeps eggs cool [Applause] yes between Gary and me we look after 8,000 [Applause] H just the two of us and they lay almost 500 dozen eggs a [Music] day that means deliveries almost every day and money in the bank but surely Gary and I aren't the only ones who have profited in Rainbow County Pi Charlie Holmes holds a responsible position in town and on his farm turns out 10,000 Brawlers at a clip four times a year yes wherever I go I see a lot of changes in Rainbow County our electric coopera has the biggest payroll in these parts and even though folks here in town don't get their electricity from the co-op it's still done a lot for [Music] them it's created an entirely new farmer market for any number of things things the farmer has come to use only since his farm became electrified food freezers hot and cold running water electric heing throughout the [Music] house and an electric blanket in every [Music] bedroom as for myself I'm happy for what I see around me a comfortable home with all electric conveniences time of my own to take things a little easy and a young niece who actually thinks an electric dishwasher is fun washing dishes certainly wasn't fun when I was that [Music] age now let's go to Adams County in the Midwest for another part of our story I'm Dan Walker member of the Adams Electric Cooperative this is my part of the story and this is my dairy farm in the midwest it's modern it's efficient it's electric [Music] electricity also does the cleaning for us better and faster than we could do it ourselves couple of hours and the whole job's done for the morning now I'm going to take care of one of the easiest chores of them all today is the day to read the meter ever hear of a customer figuring his own bill well that's the point we don't consider ourselves customers no we're all member owners of our Cooperative Uncle Sam loaned us the money to build it but we're paying him back with interest so you see I don't think of this thing as a bill it's a paycheck a paycheck for the best worker I could hire Electric yes the way we look at it electricity works for us like a Hired Hand no not until electricity came along or should I say Rea did we know what we were missing around these [Music] parts and I'm Al Hansen mailman on this route for nearly 41 years in that time I've seen more changes around here than I can count what's brought him about for my money it's been these paved roads and the coming of [Music] electricity well look who's home for Thanksgiving Bert Shannon a senior at agricultural engineering school when he graduates he'll be back to help run the Shannon Farm nowadays lots of kids are staying on the farm wasn't that way before [Music] electricity here on the Ferguson Farm an air conditioner being delivered Joe's trucks are plenty busy these days delivering one electric thing after [Music] another Dr Williams he set up business out here cuz he could get electric and telephone service he's a real country doctor and we're sure glad we got [Music] him before Paul Jarnigan built this dress Factory he made sure that he could get all the power he needed if you ask me they turn out some mighty nice looking Styles here I know my daughter sure likes to wear them [Music] let me tell you we're Mighty grateful for all the jobs his Factory's given [Music] us seems like everywhere I look in Adam Scotty I see another new home [Music] that population explosion they keep talking about is sure an Evidence around here they say in the past 10 years demand for power is doubled and I understand before long it's going to double again our Co-op has has sure got a job cut out for [Music] it let's go farther west for another chapter in the Rea story Ernie Thomas is my name I manage an Electric Cooperative here in Montana surprised I'm doing my job at the controls of a plane well it's all in a day's work today for instance I've got to fly over 500 miles to discuss business with a member of our co-op in this country flying is the easiest way to visit our members the territory we serve is that spread out on the way I Patrol our lines on the lookout for anything that might cause us trouble later on we call this preventive maintenance yes there are nearly 3,000 M of power lines down there our Co-op furnishes power to even the most isolated Rancher and at reasonable rates this is what Rea calls area coverage and nearly all co-ops in every part of the country have achieved it that's the Peterson Wheat Farm up ahead bill and his family use close to 800 kilowatt hours a month every month as Town residents the Petersons wouldn't use nearly half that much you see in operating their Farm they use a lot of electricity when one of Bill's machines breaks down he can't afford to wait around for parts or a repairman so he and Bill Jr are do-it-yourself men they have to be self-reliant and they're might be proud of their complete service shop right on their Farm several miles to the North in cattle country lives their Good Neighbor Ted Forester Ted's a prosperous Cattleman and he's pretty independent too independent of everything that is except [Music] electricity electric motors pump water for his cattle while electric heaters keep it from [Music] freezing labor and time-saving devices like these every one of them run by electricity sure take the drudgery out of cattle feeding on Ted forester's farm and that electric infrared heat is good for raising healthy pigs too we're farther along now approaching sheep country most of them by the way were broed by infrared lamps and they're sheared by electricity as well down there is the Indian Reservation they're putting up a new school yes Cooperative power is making it possible to expand these important educational facilities out here you know come summer and this will be dry country so water conservation is a must that Reservoir stores water till spring and then many of our members use irrigation systems electrically powered to help grow their crops now there's an oil refinery a good example of how our Co-op serves industry different Industries I'm especially proud of the part our Co-op plays in the National Defense System we we are one of several who Supply electrical energy to these strategic remote warning outposts and now for the business at hand my appointment on the ranch of one of our members Hal Murray [Music] as I pointed out earlier Hal's Ranch is located in one of the outlying counties over 500 mil miles away from The Cooperative office and I don't believe that any member uses more power than Hal does in fact he and his family consume about as much electricity as four average city families now Hal wants even more so that he can hook up some new electrical equipment he's just bought and he'll get it yes our way of life has certainly become dependent upon [Music] electricity so you can readily understand how helpless we can be and here's the latest bulletin on the Storm closing in on our area heavy snows continue to move across the border accompanied by Gales up to 70 mph the storm is expected to inct more Statewide damage than the severe blizzard of 7 years ago a power failure has been reported directly north of the city stand by for the next bullet a power failure or outage as we call it rarely happens because our lines are engineered to withstand the rugged weather in this part of the country but when we do have an outage we're out of business [Music] 53 51 over the two-way radios dispatch our crews to a troubled area no time [Music] flat why you fellas coming out [Music] there I see uh you figure You' be through by 2:00 anyway uh mov okay fine Ed you give us a call if you need anything our crews go to work in a hurry in fact even before the news breaks over the air we're on the job it's a tough job and a dangerous one but our men are well trained and know how to handle [Music] it then just a suddenly we're back in business [Music] again well that's pretty much what it's like these days in Montana if you get the idea that we think Rea and area coverage are the most important things that ever hit our estate you're [Music] right you haven't seen the whole story of Rural electrification and the reason is simple the end isn't Insight countless chapters such as these remain to be written and they will be they will be because electrified Rural America has a future ahead of [Music] it a Big Bright Beautiful future la a [Music]