A Brief History of the “Electrification” of San Juan County
Ninety percent of America’s rural areas were still “living in the dark,” not connected to electric power, as late as 1935. The high cost of serving these remote and sparsely populated areas discouraged urban utilities from extending their lines outward. This climate of “electrical deprivation” moved the federal government to create the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), on May 11, 1935 by executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. REA’s purpose was to make long term, low interest loans to electric utilities for construction of power facilities into rural areas.
Recognizing the need for reliable electric power in San Juan County, a group of twelve Orcas Island residents met in March of 1937 and formed the Orcas Electric Association. Their names are important: F.H. Boddington, W.E. Boyer, Amos Coffelt, Rev. F. Eastman, Charles S. Gerard (Project Supervisor), Dr. A.B. Harrison, J.E. Harrison, Chester R. Martin, Mrs. Opperman, Carl Templin, H.P. Walrath and E.J. Young.
Two months later, directors of the newly incorporated and renamed Orcas Power & Light Company authorized the cooperative’s first REA loan in the amount of $87,000 (at 2.77% interest), for construction of generation and distribution facilities. Land for the generating plant was purchased from H.T. Cayou and 53 miles of distribution lines were energized in August of 1938, delivering the miracle of central station electricity to OPALCO’s earliest consumers.
OPALCO purchased Mr. L.T. Mulvaney’s Friday Harbor Light and Power Company in September of 1941, and a year later acquired five acres from a Mrs. Riviere on Lopez as the site for a new power station there. Expensive, localized diesel generation continued until 1951 when the first submarine cable was laid from the mainland by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), providing San Juan County with the stable, inexpensive power source it needed to thrive.
E.W. Johnson was OPALCO’s first manager, followed by John E. Harrison in 1939. Eber Bruns served as Chief Engineer from 1939-1967. The Bruns family lived in the office building at the plant (now the dentist office on Mt. Baker Rd) and Eber’s son-in-law Buyral Madan served as Apparatus Serviceman and then Superintendent until 1990. Frank Cucksey, Fred Holmes and Jack Cadden were some of OPALCO’s first linemen, and Jack went on to serve as Foreman of Construction, Maintenance and Operations. George Goff took over supervision of the San Juan Island crew when Eber retired.
The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) was formed in 1969 to provide supplemental financing for rural electrification from private, nongovernment sources and has replaced REA as OPALCO’s primary lender. Additional lending is provided by the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC).
As of December 2008, there are six submarine cable crossings for transmission (all but one have duplicate back-up cables), 15 cable crossings for distribution and 1,138 miles of transmission line. OPALCO serves 20 islands and more than 11,000 members with power supplied by BPA. And, as it was in 1937, it still costs $5 to become a member