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April 2012


Southwest Rural Electric Coopera- tive was not built overnight. The process of organizing the co-op, signing up members, forming power agreements, and building lines took years. One step at a time, though – one mile of line at a time – the job was done. SWRE was incorporated as a busi- ness in December 1937. By that time, many farm families had already made commitments that they wanted to be members of the new co-op. The first SWRE board consisted of five men: W.S. Laing, S.H. Bell, J.H. Wiseman, George Gant, and H.N. Seymour.


During 1938, the co-op built its first lines – 26 miles of power lines in the Altus, Oklahoma area. Those lines were energized on December 13, 1938. In the years that followed, more lines were built, one area at a time. Lines were expanded into Tillman and Kiowa Counties in 1939. Build- ing of lines in Wilbarger and Foard Counties began in 1939 and they were energized in 1940.


It is important to consider that building power lines was an incred- ibly complicated, manual process. Unlike today, the new co-op did not have big bucket trucks with hydraulic winches and power diggers. Holes for poles were dug by hand or with crude diggers. Posts were lifted by crank winches or, often, by men lifting and pulling on ropes. Building new lines or repairing damaged lines was a difficult, laborious process.


Before bucket trucks, linemen worked at the top of poles by climbing them – in all kinds of weather condi- tions.


The job of linemen was particularly hazardous in the early days. Linemen


Volume 59


Number 4 SWRE’s early days presented challenges


SWRE headquarters were built in 1942 north of Tipton, Oklahoma. The building has grown and changed significantly since this early photo was taken, but the building is still used by SWRE today.


of the 1930s and ‘40s lacked today’s safety equipment and much of their training was on-the-job.


Another part of the early process that took a great deal of time was wiring farmhouses and barns to use electricity. In addition to building lines to the farms, SWRE personnel went to each home to install wiring for lights and outlets for appliances.


The home wiring was usually done in preparation weeks or months before the electrical lines were actually ener- gized. Installers provided one electric light socket in each room and a few electrical outlets. Fact is… far fewer electric appliances were available in the 1930s than today.


For most early SWRE residents, co-op power meant bright, clear elec- tric lights – a vast improvement from dim, dirty kerosene lamps. Electricity would also mean running water, indoor


bathrooms, easier laundry, better cooking, radio entertainment, and countless other improvements that made life better.


From those first 26 miles of dif- ficult SWRE lines in 1938, SWRE has grown. The co-op now serves ap- proximately 3,000 miles of line (with more than 9,200 meters) over a 6,000 square mile area.


Do you remember when SWRE delivered its first electricity? Or, do you remember stories that your parents or grandparents told about those days? Share those stories with SWRE. Write them down and send them to SWRE, Attn Joe Wynn, P.O. Box 310, Tipton, OK 73570. Sometime this year SWRE will post those stories to the co-op website or use them in SWRE News.


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