The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-01-10
Boone POWER
TO Be READY
! ABOUT FEB. |
First Five Miles of Rural
Electric Program to Be
Completed Then.
BY ARCH STEINEL
Times Staff Writer

LEBANON, Ind., Jan. 1O.-Elec-
trio current to permit irons to skim
swiftly over the blue jeans of Boone
County farmers, 20 operate labor
saving water pumps and to perform
every task that city folk take for
granted will be turned on early in
February.
A creosoted utility pole standing
today at the intersection of Leb-
anon and Noble-sts, in South Leb-
anon, heralds identification of this
county's farms as the first in Indi-
ana to become "city-fied."
Dedicatory exercises under aus
pices of the Indiana Rural Electric
Membership Corp. were held yes
terday afternoon at the site of the
first pole and in the high school
auditorium.
Prepare for Extra Load
Today the Public Service Co. of
Indiana began equipping it's Leba-
non substation with transformers
and switches to care for the in
creased load. The A. A. Electric Co.,
Cicero, ILL.,, began bringing in poles
and supplies for the first five miles
OF the line.
The first cables are to be strung
from farmhouse to farmhouse, On
State Road 80, west of Lebanon.
With completion of the first five
miles, the current is to be turned
on. The first 161 miles of the SGT
miles to be electrified will be ready
by May l.
Statesmen Invade County
The demand for immediate use of
the power brought electric appliance
statesmen flocking to Boone County
to sell washers, water systems,
coasters. Some radio and electrical
equipment firms resorted to old
time door to-door" peddling.
Rates submitted to the Public
Service Commission call for a min
imum rate of $3.50 monthly with a
scale that will permit identification
OF barns, homes and farm equip
ment at cost not to exceed So
monthly.
The kilowatt hour rate will be less
than that paid by Marion County
suburban residents, electrical engi-
neers say.
Speech Is Broadcast
Dedication speech of Morris L.
Cooke, Washington administrator of
the Rural Identification Admins
traitor, was carried over a radio net
work yesterday. After the exercises
farmers in the lobby of the Boone
County Courthouse discussed infor-
mally the far-reaching effects of the
project.
Electricity will add $25 an acre
to the value of my farm" vouched
a bewhiskered ard weather. beaten
veteran of the plow.
Yep" spoke up another. "And
it's going to mean I'll use the juice
to grind my own feed, get rid of my
battery radio, give my wife that
electric washer she's been wanting,
raise my chicks by electricity in
stead Of coal oil. Maybe I can in
stall a bathroom"
Agree on Benefits
Republicans and Democrats joined
in declaring that the $567,00o Fed
eral grant for the project eventual
ly will send more people back to the
farms and prove a boon to farm
wife as well farmer.
Those on the dedicatory program
as the first post-hole was dug in
cluded James K. Mason, president
of the Indiana RENO; Lieut.. Gov
M. Clifford Townsend; I. H. Hull,
general manager of the Indiana
Farm Bureau Cooperative Associa-
ton; Mr.. Cooke; The Rev. Ellis
Cowley of Thorntown; Mayor Carl
Dale, Lebanon, and the Thorntown
High School Band. The pioneer
mother was represented by Mrs.
Eliza Routh, of Dover, 90, who
knitted beside lighted candle at
the rites in the high school audi
forum.