The Early Years

The history of Red River Valley Cooperative Power Association began back in the 1930's when the citizens of six villages along the Red River became dissatisfied with the electrical services they were receiving. In 1937, the six villages met to discuss their problem and formed a committee with one representative from each village. Serving on that committee were C.M. Davidson, Climax; William T. Redland, Shelly; A. M. Hastad, Halstad; Theodore Roe, Hendrum; E. E. Erickson, Perly; and Mr. Swenson, Nielsville. Mr. Hastad was named chairman and Mr. Redland, secretary.

The committee's first idea was to approach the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in Washington for assistance in building a generating plant for the villages. They contacted Federated Electric Cooperative, a Minneapolis engineering firm that specialized in electrical projects. They were told, in essence, that no money was available if they already had electricity, even if service was poor and the cost high. They were told that the farmers in the area were entitled to REA money, but only if they had a proper organization, a Board of Directors and a reasonably priced source of wholesale power.

The first task was to make a survey of the area townships to determine how many people would use electricity if it was available. The results showed overwhelming support for the idea and plans were made to continue the project. In February 1938, the proposed boundaries were extended into Clay County to the south and Polk County to the north, because of the growing interest in neighboring townships.

The committee called a mass meeting at Halstad and invited A. L. Howalt of Federated Electric Cooperative to address the group and answer the many questions about organizing the Cooperative, building lines, gaining easements, and so on.

On January 6, 1938, Chairman A. M. Hastad called an organizational meeting in Halstad. Mr. E. E. Selvig, from the auditing division of the Department of Agriculture at St. Paul, was present to help with organizing. Elected to the first board of the Red River Valley Cooperative were: E. D. Anderson, Perley, president; William T. Redland, Shelly, vice president; George Henderson, Halstad, secretary; C. K. Olson, Anthony, treasurer; and directors Adolf Zeigler, Georgetown; Carl Snustad, Hendrum; and Iver Rude, Perley. At the same meeting, 393 shares at $5.00 each were turned over to the newly formed Board of Directors. At about the same time, the board hired Edgar E. Sharpe of Moorhead as project attorney.

One of the main questions facing the infant cooperative was finding a source of wholesale power. This problem was solved by the citizens of the village of Halstad when, in the fall of 1938, they voted almost unanimously to build and operate a municipal generating plant at Halstad. G. M. Orre and Company of Minneapolis drew the plans and specifications for the plant and for replacing the old distribution lines. The plant and lines were built by L. A. Kepp Contracting Company of Rochester. Fairbanks Morse and company installed the generating equipment.

Within a few years, Red River had joined with several other cooperatives in northwestern Minnesota and northeastern North Dakota to form Minnkota Power Cooperative. Minnkota is a generation and transmission cooperative based in Grand Forks, N.D. and Red River has purchased power from Minnkota since that time.

Now that the Cooperative has a source of power, REA gave the board and membership its support and urged them to proceed with the planning of the distribution system. To do so, in February 1939, the board hired C. J. Hastad of Halstad as consulting engineer. Mr. Hastad had been with Bell Telephone Laboratories, Federated Electric Cooperative, and REA before going into business as a consulting engineer. Mr. Hastad and his wife, Anne, worked tirelessly to explain the REA program and sign up new members. In fact, the Hastad's profided office space in their home for the first few months of operation. On June 5, 1939, the Cooperative leased a building from L. C. Onsgaard in Halstad and the operation moved to its first official headquarters.

The first annual meeting was held on June 6, 1938, and few changes were made in the Board of Directors. E. D. Anderson remained as president; H. M. Trowbridge of Comstock was elected vice president; George Henderson remained as secretary; Carl Snustad took over as treasurer; and directors were G. K. Dale, Climax; William T. Redland; and O. E. Studlien, Georgetown.

The second annual meeting was held on June 5, 1939. By this time, all necessary maps, reports and other documents had been sent to REA for approval, over 700 memberships had been sold, and REA had allocated $270,000 for the first 270 miles of line. A telegram from REA was read at the annual meeting urging the members to "wire up and use electricity liberally, so that your Cooperative will get in the black and stay there."

On July 18, 1939, George Henderson was hired as project superintendent at a salary of $125 per month; his board position was occupied by George Aamodt, also of Halstad. Working with Mr. Henderson were Miss Mildred Hoverstein, bookkeeper-stenographer, and Mrs. Anne Hastad, project coordinator and secretary. Later that year, Mr. Henderson resigned his post to devote more time to his farming operation. He was replaced by Don McDonald, a Fargo, N.D. native.

Summer and fall of 1939 were busy construction months for the new Cooperative. The first pole was set on October 20, 1939, and by February 19, 1940, the first 160 miles of line were ready to be energized. Mrs. M. Nervig, the Ole Rusdahls, and the Martin Meltings, three families in the area known as "Little Chicago", west of Halstad, were the first to receive electricity from the Cooperative.