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Show The First Electric Power For People In Wayne Co. George Teasdale Eckertley When I decided to put the power in Loa Town, we held a meeting with the people of Loa, to find out how many wanted to have power and we decided on a system that everyone could have power. I told them that I would generate the power if we could build the lines to the power plant. So we decided that the way that we could work it out was that I would charge $75 for a hookup and they would pay for that hookup 10 percent each month from their bill and their light bill would be $1.50 a month. After I had been successful in electrifying Loa by putting in a small power plant which had a 25 KW generator, (Just a 25 KW generator which now 3 stoves would take all of the power it would generate,) I realized that I would soon have to have more power. I So it was up to Elsie Eckersley and I to go ahead and build the power plant down at the Hiskey Ranch to get additional power. This we completed in the Fall of 1930. It was a small rock power plant. I had Lorenzo Heaps build the stone building, which was a very artistic power plant. This was a 150 KW power plant, and it was directly connected to a power wheel which was a horizontal turbine. This seemed to give plenty of power, especially when I tied the 24 KW that was already operating in Loa in with this power plant. The two power plants gave me sufficient power for the county and then plenty to spare at that time. At the time the first Torrey plant was built on the Hiskey Ranch near Torrey and the large horizontal water turbine generator was brought into Wayne county, there was not a track large enough in the state of Utah to bring it over the mountains into Wayne county and to the Hiskey Ranch. I was obligged to get the largest truck the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company had in Utah, at an insured price. When they unloaded the truck near a bridge near the power plant building with block and tackle, pulled by a team of horses, my job commenced. It took us over a week to move the water turbine and generator by block and tackle with a good team of horses and pipe rollers to get same into the power plant building and set on bases prepared for same. I had only three days left to weld the penstock pipe to the turbine flange as I promised Ben Brinkerhoff of Bicknell and the other towps ready for electric power, that the power would be on at a certain date. After working three nights and days without sleep with my brother Lyman Eckersley at my side, it was about 10:30 D.m. when I had finished wiring the switchboard the night before I was to turn on the power for all those wired up in the county, working by gas lantern light. After I had completed the switch, we opened up the water turbine and brought the generator up to speed, but no electric light came on. My heart beat with disappointment. I was worn out; so was my wonderful brother Lyman. He then made me get into the car and we went home to get some food and sleep. As I offered my usual evening prayer, I asked for help. I had spent my last dollar and needed to get the Oil Switch which was in the Loa Post Office, C.O.D. before I could turn the lights on for the town, and find out why the generator would not work. I had been asleep about two hours when I dreamed about the Switch Board, and as I was tracing the wires on the Switch Board, I came to where I had ommitted one wire going to the Exciter D.C. Generator. I Immediately awakened, went to my brother Lyman's bed and awakened him and told him what I had done wrong on the switch board and for him to go with me to the power plant at once. This he did, and at approximately 4 a.m. we entered the power house. I went to the switch board and as my dream had indicated, the Exciter D.C. Generator had not been properly connected, which I immediately did. We then opened up the water turbine and the generators commenced to rotate. Even at low speed, on come the electric power and at the proper R.P.M. The lights were full and beautiful for us to behold. I then left my brother at the plant and went to the small plant at Loa, which I had wired into the county power line, so I could synchronize the same with the larger plant in Torrey. I put the switch in to test the county lines, and all was clear. Ben Brinkerhoff had his lights on ; the street lights in Bicknell came on to stay. The street lights in all the towns came on. Ben Brinkerhoff came to the power plant with approximately $500 to give to me which he had collected in checks which were not good until the power came on in Bicknell. However, he told me that some of the houses in Bicknell were not getting power which were near the large transformer. I returned to Bicknell with him, only to find that one transformer circuit breaker had not been pushed in. I was so excited and happy when I climbed the pole to put the circuit breaker in and I pushed the breaker and I could see the lights come on in the dark houses that I forgot what I was doing on the pole, released my safety belt and stepped into space, falling about 32 feet to the ground. However, no bones were broken but I was skinned up and badly bruised, hardly feeling same until later that night at the power plant where Lyman and I rested all night. After electrifying Wayne County (all but Fruita and Hanksville) and Koosharem and Box Creek and Burrville, the load was getting more than I could take care of so it was necessary for me to either go to Telluride Power and pay the price that they required and get additional power; or else I had to organize a company and get additional money. So at this stage I organized what they called the People's Light and Power Company. Later when I sold to Garkane Power Company I had built 3 power plants to try to keep up with the load. |