Amargosa Valley Coop. Start Electrification with Surveys

The days of the diesel engine as the prime power source on the Amargosa Desert and in Pahrump and 
Death Valleys are numbered according to E. S. Bowman, president of the Amargosa Valley 
Cooperative, Inc.

The farmer-owned power system will bring central station electric service to unserved rural areas 
of western Clark county, southern Nye county and southeastern Inyo county before the end of 1962, 
drawing power from Colorado River dams.  The cooperative will build a 110-mile 138,000-volt 
transmission line into its service areas and to an AEC substation at Jackass Flats.  Survey crews 
began work Monday, June 18, in preparation for actual construction of the system.  A temporary 
office has been opened at 1818 Industrial Road in Las Vegas.

Release of funds from the $3,940,000 REA loan June 1 capped a long struggle by ranchers in the Pahrump-Amargosa areas to get highline service.  Turned down by the Nevada Power Co. when they 
sought service, separate groups in Pahrump and Amargosa applied for construction loans from the 
Rural Electrification Administration.  Loan negotiations led to merger of the two membership 
corporations and a single loan request.  The REA loan, approved March 2, 1962, included funds to 
serve the Death Valley area in California.

This action apparently stirred two commercial power companies located outside the immediate area 
to take steps to kill the young cooperative off, Bowman said.  The Nevada Power Co. of Las Vegas 
moved crews into Amargosa to erect several poles before a meeting with Amargosa residents late 
in April.  More recently the Los Angeles-based Southern California Edison Co. notified Death 
Valley area residents that it would hop-skip 55 miles into the area past its nearest service 
point.

"The timing and the areas picked for these spite-line actions show that the commercial power 
companies want to take our most promising areas away from us in order to cripple or kill the 
cooperative." Bowman said.  "In both cases the power companies plan to serve only the heart of 
the territory which the cooperative has mapped out for complete area coverage.

"This would mean that many residents in the more remote rural areas would never get electric 
service, if the power companies prevailed.  In justice to all who have placed their faith in 
us to give them modern electric service, we shall fight to win."  Bowman declared.

At stake is a new irrigated farm areas now developing in the Amargosa Desert west of Lathrop 
Wells.  This long-barren arm of Nevada's Great Basin is dotted with alfalfa, wheat and oat 
field irrigated from 300 to 400-foot wells tapping the underground Amargosa River.  Diesels 
drive the pumps, which bring the high-purity water to the surface for sprinkler irrigation.  
Some diesels also drive electric generators for lighting and small motors.

Area residents are anxious to get free of the noise, trouble and expense of their present 
pumping systems and the inadequate power generators.  Availability of lower cost, dependable 
power from the Amargosa Cooperative will bring a new era of expansion and living in the 
entire area.

Families now based anywhere from Las Vegas to Los Angeles will be able to live on ranches 
the year around.  Bowman stated further.  Present settlers look forward to having many 
electrical conveniences missing under today's rugged living conditions.  Food freezers, for 
example, are impractical with present generators, as are electric water heaters, ranges and 
television sets.

Other officers and directors of the Amargosa Cooperative are H.H. Records, Lathrop Wells, 
chairman of the board of directors; Walter Williams, Las Vegas, vice-president: Edwin 
Mankinen, Lathrop Wells, secretary-treasurer; and Gene Esterbrook, Lathrop Wells, director.  
A representative from California is to be added to the board.

The Inyo Register
Bishop, Inyo County, California
Thursday July 5, 1962 - Page 5

Transcribed by Pat Houser for Inyo County GenWeb, September 15, 2004