(see Demitors)

The story of power coming to Joe Rich is well told by Ann Morrison in How power came to Joe Rich by Ann Morrison and Families Build Own Power Line (Oct. 5 1965) . Mrs. Gerry Demitor has saved a fascinating pile of letters starting from 1961 requesting power and telephone service from the BC Government, the Public Utilities Commission, West Kootenay Power, and Okanagan Telephone Company. She also has the replies from these institutions, negative at first and then reluctantly positive after 1964, when they learned that Joe Rich residents were prepared to put the poles in themselves. Then in 1965, there are all the letters regarding customers in Joe Rich who will agree to sign on for power and telephone and more importantly to pay $1100 each. Then, there are the lists of all those Joe Rich residents who worked putting in the line. Finally, there are letters from 1973 and 1975 requesting a lowering of rates because more customers have moved into Joe Rich and so the power and telephone companies are able to spread their costs over a larger number of billings.

Some lists of the people involved are interesting. Those requesting power in 1964 were:

Howard Demitor

Michael Feniak

E.R. Christianson

T.R. Prior

C.H. Philpott

C.E. Philpott

L.C. Fazan

Mary M. Weddell

Jas. Henderson

R.V. McKenzie

C. Serwa

J.A. Olinger

Olinger Lumber Co., Carmi

Barbara Elsdon

S.L. Swart

R.C. Parkes

Those who were signed on by April 1965 were:

R.A. Philpott

Cecil E. Philpott

Charles Philpott

James Weddell

H. Demitor

Edgar Christianson

W. Anderson

Veronica McKenzie

Terry Fazan

K. Hathaway

J. Henderson

E. Ritchey

Mrs. Parkin

Kelowna Ranches: House Irrigation

O. Folz

L.C. Fazan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1965 Ron Philpott clearing the line

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1965 Moving poles

By the late fall of 1965, it was possible to draw up a list of residents who had worked putting in the line and what they were to be paid at 23.44 cents per hour. Because he worked the longest, Howard earned the most, a whole $58.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monti was paid an extra $350 for fuel for the skidder. Whillis-Harding got $25 for insurance. Further fuel charges and dynamite were $102. Durnin Bros. who dug all the holes with a back hoe were paid $580.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1965 Ron and Howard drilling poles

West Kootnenay Names New GM (1968)

1965 Ron and Howard drilling poles

Ten years later in 1975, a list of power customers compiled to negotiate for lower rates shows how the population in the valley had grown.

Randy Barber

Leo Griswold

P. Griffith

C.E. Philpott

C.H. Philpott

R.A. Philpott

Alan James

Garth Stevenson

Fred McKinnon

P.J. Nan

Ron Doege

George Hume-Smith

Macia Aitkens

Leo Kleimair

Don Mullen

Frank Russell

Ken Hryshiu

Roy Travers

Wayne Henney

Okanagan Telephone

Rosco Heuser

Norman Fast

Dan Van Heest

Claude Pearce

Ruth Sjodin

Mel Carlson

Albert Carlson

H.G. Anderson

Doug Hecko

Robert Snodgrass

Dion Subdivision

Don Dion

Claude Dion

Gary Stubbington

Berkley Hall

Neil Benner

Vern Emmerson

David Pollard

J. Weddell

H. Demitor

M. O’Connell

C. Marteinson

Karl Strocher

Joe Huson

G. Mortenson

Geo. Saunders

J. Murphy

Tom Frances

D. Simpson

Budge Winter

Ken Ross Strutz

Bruce Pearce

In ten years, the number of customers had increased from the original 16 to 55, an increase of nearly 350%. The number has continued to increase almost as rapidly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1965 Putting up guy wires

After the Joe Rich power line was originally installed in 1965, it remained relatively unchanged, except for some pole replacements, until recently. At present, both Joe Rich and Big White are supplied by the power line which runs along Highway 33 from the Joe Rich Substation. The requirement for power in Aquila’s service area is expected to increase by 40% over the next 20 years and due to Big White’s current growth rate of 8 to 9% per year, may increase even more here. Already, growing power demands are increasing the number of our power outages. In order to assure more reliable service, Aquila began upgrading the line in 1999 starting from the Joe Rich Substation. They are replacing the old poles with poles 20 feet higher which will carry two large circuits; one for Joe Rich and the other for Big White. At present, the new line has been completed as far as Dion Road. This fall it should be finished through the last southeast portion of Joe Rich. It is anticipated that by the winter of 2007 – 2008 the power demand at Big White will necessitate another upgrading of that circuit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1965 Philpott's skidder at work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1965 Philpott's skidder at work