The Fabulous Flathead by J. F. McAlear Sharon Bergman

Author:J. F. McAlear, Sharon Bergman [J. F. McAlear, Sharon Bergman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, Wars & Conflicts (Other), United States, 20th Century, Civil War Period (1850-1877)
ISBN: 9781789124187
Google: gImbDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2018-12-01T00:44:51+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE—More Power To You

When the reservation was opened in 1910, there was a lot of horsepower but it was generated by four-legged creatures. Electricity on the farms was unheard of, the homes being lighted with kerosene lamps and the yards illuminated with lanterns. Power generated for the lighting of homes and businesses in the towns of the reservation was provided by steam or gasoline engines.

In Polson, the Northern Idaho-Montana Power Company operated a steam power plant which used wood for fuel. This plant was in operation all day and up until twelve o’clock, when they shut it down until morning. A fifteen minute warning was given the residents that the “string would be pulled” at midnight. The rates charged were 20c per kilowatt hour for a residence, and 6c per kilowatt hour for commercial use. The minimum monthly rate charged by the company for city-dwellers was $1.50 per month.

As the reservation grew in population, the demand for power became more urgent and acute. This demand was magnified with the opening and operation of a flour mill, the first major industry to enter the reservation requiring electrical power for operation. When J. H. Cline of Concordia, Kansas, began negotiations to open the mill in 1911, he was assured that there would be enough power to keep the mill in operation. But when the mill went into production in December, 1912, there was not enough electricity to operate all the equipment efficiently.

Power officials proposed that Cline put on a full night shift, and operate with limited services during the day. Orders for flour had to be filled, however, and this necessitated around-the-clock operation of the mill.

F. F. Faucett, an engineer working for J. H. Cline, located a stream of water, the Hellroaring Creek, five miles east of Polson. Hoping to use the water for a power plant, he filed a water-right on the stream and then discovered that Charles Allard, Jr. had a prior right filed on the stream for irrigation purposes. Negotiating with Allard, Cline agreed to furnish the Allard ranch with electricity for twenty-five years in return for the right to use the water for the proposed power plant. Then the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, stepped in and claimed absolute rights to the water. More negotiations, which included a trip to Washington, D.C., for J. H. Cline, produced the formation of the Mission Range Power Company and the granting of a lease for the use of the water. The officers of the company, organized in July, 1915, included J. H. Cline, president; J. A. Johnson, vice-president, and C. E. Wood of North Dakota, secretary and general manager.

The company immediately started construction on a dam for a water reservoir; the power plant, with its turbines and machinery, was located 588 feet below the dam. F. F. Faucett was the supervising engineer. The Hellroaring Creek Power Project was completed on November 21, 1916, and the first electricity flowed through the newly constructed power lines into Polson.

The completion of the power plant brought about several changes affecting the reservation.

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