Electricity on the Farm

On Armistice Day, November 11,1945,I tipped a kerosene lantern over in the hay loft of our dairy barn, burning it to the ground. This was at the end of World War II. Up to this time no power lines had been installed since 1939 because of the war. Everything was rationed or kept for the war.

The electric company approached my father the winter of '45 and '46 asking him to help put up a power line. This line would run from North Street, along Plank Road, up Lime Kiln Road and across lots to Pea Ridge Road in Ferrisburg. We had sold the cattle in December and we had no income. The winter had brought a lot of snow so he decided to work for them.

He took a horse and skidded all the poles to the surveyor stakes for setting. They were thirty foot cedar poles cut from a swamp located in Salisbury, Vermont. He was paid one dollar for each skidded pole. After that he dug holes with a telephone spoon and bar. The holes were dug five feet deep for the poles to set in. He received three dollars a hole and four dollars for digging a dead man or anchor hole. This hole was three feet long and three feet deep. A piece of wood laid crosswise was used to anchor the poles to keep them tight.

That summer they put up the wires and on July 26,1946 they turned on the power. What a day that was!! It was like going from the dark ages to the light. The hurricane of November 1950 left us without power for eight days. Dad and I milked forty cows by hand. We cooled our milk in a spring right here on the farm.

As of today, 1998, two of the original poles on Plank Road are still there holding up the lines!

Earl Bessette
February, 1998