Newport Wakes Up to Daylight Electricity
A Spokane conference clears the way for daytime electric power in Newport, with the local mill’s refuse as fuel and cheaper water power on the horizon.
Superintendent L. J. Kimmel, of the local light plant, was at Spokane Tuesday in consultation with the Northern Electric Company, owners of the plant, and as a result of the conference the announcement is made that Newport will soon have daylight electric service.
The day service will be started some time this month, as soon as the Buttons Coulter planer resumes operations, as the light company furnishes the power for the planer and uses the refuse of the mill for fuel.
A day service has been needed for some time for the furnishing of power to drive light machinery about town, and there are several parties who have been anxiously awaiting its installation.
The company is also contemplating numerous improvements in the plant, which will give Newport a better service. Water power prospects may also be investigated, with the idea of getting cheaper and more reliable power with consequent benefit to the consumers.
“A day service has been needed for some time for the furnishing of power to drive light machinery about town, and there are several parties who have been anxiously awaiting its installation.”
The fight for reliable, affordable power is older than the grid: a private utility, mill waste as fuel and hopes for water power. Modern rural broadband and electric reliability debates follow the same script of promised service and outside ownership.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.