Rural Electrification – Blachly OR

Description

The Western Construction News of June 1937 notes REA work in rural South West Oregon.

” The REA has alloted $108,000 to the Blachly-Lane County Cooperative Electric Association, Blachly Oregon, for construction of 87 miles of transmission lines in Lane County Oregon.” Lane county in 1930 was very sparsely populated with only 54,493 people.

“In 1934, one of the first people’s utility districts in Oregon was formed, Lake Creek Public Utility District. But before the state and federal governments acted on the application, the Rural Electrification Act was passed and members of the Lake Creek PUD voted to go with the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). On April 28, 1937, the Articles of Incorporation were filed in Salem and Blachly-Lane County Cooperative Electric Association came into existence. Blachly-Lane became the first REA-financed cooperative to operate in Oregon.

REA provided loans for constructing a diversion dam on Lake Creek, a flume, pipeline, powerhouse, and generator. The plant was constructed west of the point where Lake Creek flows from Triangle Lake. It had a head of 226 feet and a single generator with peaking capacity of 150 kilowatts. Blachly-Lane began serving 125 members on November 4, 1938 with 46 miles of energized line.

The Cooperative still exists today.