REA

My grandfather Ole had built the big Swedish style house in Lowry in 1929 with a loan from the Sogaaden brothers, bachelor farmers. You might recall that 1929 was a bad year for the stock market, ushering in the Great Depression. Foreclosure on that loan was avoided only through the goodness of the hearts of those brothers. There were many missed payments and the loan was not fully paid off until after WWII. The second thing that saved the family from destitution was the New Deal program, Rural Electrification Association (REA).

In the mid-30's, 90% of rural farms were without electricity. This was not true in towns and cities where electrical service was becoming common. In fact, the 1929 Hoplin's Lowry house had knob-and-tube wiring and a radio antenna wired into every room of the house - never used by the way. (See my 304 Drury Avenue post). But on the farm, candles and kerosene lamps were the norm and were carried from room to room, particularly in the long, dark Minnesota winters. Kerosene lamps were hung from the ceiling, required regular cleaning but even so, the kerosene aroma was pervasive in a farm house.  A kerosene lamp was carried to the barn and hung from the rafters at milking time. Hoplin & Nelson did a fine business in kerosene, wicks, mantles and chimneys. 

President Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Association in 1935 under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture, but individual states were left to create co-ops and organize the effort. The REA role was to provide federal loans to electrical co-ops to install the distribution systems to serve rural areas of the US. 

Farmers paid $5 to join a co-op but of course needed to have the electrical services installed - and pay the subsequent light bill. 

REA crews traveled the countryside with local teams of electricians. REA teams brought power to a central location in a farmyard - the "yard pole" - and the electricians added wiring to houses, barn & perhaps out-buildings. A standard REA installation in a house usually consisted of a 60 amp service, 230 volt panel with:

1. A 60 amp range circuit
2. A 20 amp kitchen circuit
3. Two or three 15 amp lighting circuits

My grandfather was partner in Hoplin & Nelson and had a Master Electrician's license, a requirement to lead a REA installer team. This work provided a steady income when the hardware, furniture and undertaking business was operating but carrying many accounts receivables with few, scattered payments.

The average price for installation was $70, which seems small by today's standards, but these were depression days. Lights were the first priority - no farm family mourned the passing of the kerosene lamp.  After lights, a radio was the next most wanted appliance.  It was an end to isolation.

Ceiling mount light fixtures were installed in each room, usually controlled with a single-pole switch near a door. At most, one outlet was installed per room since plug-in appliances were expensive and rare. Wire was 'NM' (nonmetallic) sheathed cable insulated with asbestos reinforced rubber covered with jute and tar.

Many of these installations still exist today, though most have been upgraded. After World War II "...the number of rural electric systems doubled within four years, the number of consumers connected more than tripled, and the miles of energized line grew more than five fold.  By 1953, more than 90 percent of the U.S. farms had electricity."

{Editor note: What follows are memories of John Erickson, the oldest son of Axel Erickson, who I remember as the Watkin’s man}

John Erickson worked as an electrical helper for Ole Hoplin's electrical crew during the summers while he was in high school plus Saturdays during school. This was just after WWII. His mother, Judith, also worked for Ole preparing the forms that the government required for each farmer to get his farm wired for electricity. Also, the Erickson's rented and eventually bought the first Hoplin home up the street from the 1929 home on Drury Avenue.

John Erickson writes:

"After REA had brought electrical power lines to the farmstead, terminating them at a yard pole somewhere in the center of the farm yard, it was then the job of the Hoplin & Nelson electrical wiring crew to run power lines from this pole to the various farm buildings. At each building the entrance cable would be run into the building switch box, and the building wired to accommodate the various power receptacles, switches, outlets, and lights and fixtures installed. Each farmstead project would take from 3 to 5 days depending on the size, and number of buildings, and size of the work crew.

There were generally three, and sometimes four, people in the work crew. Clarence “Erick” Erickson was the journeyman electrician; he knew all of the code requirements and was the experienced electrician on the crew. In addition, Clarence Anderson, a retired farmer from Lowry was a helper, and I was also a helper. Occasionally, Hank Grondahl, another journeyman, was a part of the crew. Ole Hoplin was a master electrician and was the person responsible for all the work, the government requiring that a master electrician be responsible. Ole, however, didn't feel it necessary to show up on most jobs; he trusted his crew to do the right thing.

The work week was generally ten hours per day, six days per week. My assigned tasks gradually increased to cover most of the job tasks: cutting holes in walls and ceilings for receptacles, switches and lights; removing and restoring second story flooring in the process of drilling holes in joists for concealed wires; stringing wires in ceilings and walls; connecting up receptacles etc.; plaster patching around the outlets; making hookups at switch boxes; stringing outside wires between the center pole and the buildings; and installing the entry cables into the buildings. It was usually my job to do any required work in the hot attic or upstairs crawl space, a very hot location during the summer months. When working during the winter vacation, it was also seemingly my job to make the outside installations; an extension ladder against a wall can just accentuate the subzero temperature.

Hoplin’s good reputation in the area was enhanced in that they had a second Hoplin & Nelson Hardware store in Brandon, about 20 miles north of Lowry. The farm projects worked by Ole Hoplin thus covered quite a wide area - from south of Starbuck to well north of Brandon, and from Elbow Lake on the west to Villard on the east - an area with 40-50 miles on a side. In addition to farm projects, Hoplin also did some commercial work. I recall being involved in the electrical work for a new movie theater in Elbow Lake and for a new grain elevator in Kensington. The code requirements for such installations were much more demanding than for the farm installations. All wires had to be installed in metal conduits; some had to be explosion proof etc. In the theater, again I drew the duty in the workspace above the theater ceiling. Spending most of one day in the sweltering heat of this area, my belt and billfold had both essentially been ruined by the salty perspiration

Hoplin & Nelson was also involved with plumbing and heating work, although not to the extent of their electrical work. Ole Hoplin himself and his son Glenn were the principals involved with this work. This work was usually done in connection with a new home or a major remodeling of a home, with the territory covering the same as their electrical projects. In any case, I frequently had the chance to work with Glenn or Ole in such installations. This would involve cutting and threading pipes, sweating copper joints, packing and pouring lead into sewer pipe installations, running ductwork for furnace installations etc.

Ole Hoplin was “Mr. Outside” in this business but Dave Nelson was “Mr. Inside”. Dave not only ran the store, but handled all of the billing, paying, and other finance matters. At the start of my employment with Hoplin & Nelson, Dave told me that my pay would be $0.45 per hour. After working for some period -1 or more seasons - I recall asking Dave for a raise. After a few days, he came back to tell me that I would be raised to $0.70 per hour. The last season at Hoplin & Nelson, I believe the pay was $1.25 per hour. Working for Hoplin & Nelson was a great opportunity and a wonderful experience. Not only did it provide money that could be saved toward college expenses, it was a great practical learning experience for several of the building trades. It was, no doubt, a big motivating factor in my choosing - or falling into - electrical engineering as a college and career choice."

John A. Erickson 

Copyright © 2016 Dave Hoplin