Marion Co TOC

       (Page 286) For three quarters of a century after Marion County became a county, its people were without electric service. The tallow candles, the kerosene lamp, and gasoline lantern were used as the source to light the offices, businesses, and the homes. "They that sat in darkness" had heard of the wonders of electric lights and longed for the day when electricity might be made available.
       It is thought that the first electrical plant, probably a Delco Unit, in Marion County was installed by the Blue Moon Mining Company in the Kingdon Springs area prior to the beginning of World War I in 1914 and that this unit served some of the homes and businesses, and, perhaps, the Elkhorn Hotel in the then flourishing mining town of Kingdon Springs.
       The town of Yellville had its first electric plant installed in 1916. This was a 32 KW steam driven generator installed as a part of the business operations of Ike Emery, Sr., whose business operations consisted of a flour mill, a cotton gin, a carbonated bottling plant, and an ice plant. In time, this plant furnished electric service, lighting only, to other customers. The plant operated only from dark until 11 RM.
       In January, 1923, Mr. Emery sold the electric system to J. V. Allen and H. B. Numer. In July of 1924, Mr. Allen sold his interest in the system to Mr. Nunier.
       Soon after the purchase in 1924, the new company secured a 92 year electric franchise from the town of Yellville and replaced the steam engine with a 371/2 horsepower internal combustion unit driving the 32 KW generator. Prior to this, only limited service had been available to customers; and in early 1925, a policy of twenty-four hour service for customers was made available. The following year, a 32 KW diesel engine driven generator was added to the system, and a 6.9KV line was extended to the Summit Community, and electric service was supplied to customers there.
       In 1928, ownership of the facilities was acquired by an agent of the Arkansas Power and Light Company and was operated under a lease arrangement until December 1, 1929, at which time, the facilities were acquired directly by Arkansas Power and Light Company.
       In 1929, Arkansas Power and Light constructed a 6.9KV line from Flippin to Yellville in order to supply service to Yellville and Summit from an internal combustion generating plant at Cotter constructed earlier by the Wolf Brothers of Mountain Home, whose generating plant was at the time (Page 287 Top) furnishing electric service to the towns of Cotter, Gassville, Mountain Home, and Flippin. The Cotter plant was also operated under a lease arrangement by Arkansas Power and Light. After Yellville and Summit were tied into the Cotter generating station, the prior connecting line and the distribution system lines in the two communities were completely rebuilt to modem construction standards, and operation of the Yellville generating plant was discontinued.
       The earliest electric service in Flippin was supplied to the home and business of Ed Parnell on Main Street by a Delco Unit installed by Mr. Parnell in the early 1920's. Mr. M. A. (Uncle Dick) Mean also had a Delco Unit installed on his farm a mile north of Flippin a short time after Mr. Parnell's installation. A few other Delco Systems were installed and one of these served Bruno Vocational School. Central electric service to the rural areas of Marion County was practically unknown prior to 1941 and limited thereafter until about 1950.
       A 35 KY line from Harrison by way of Pyatt to Summit was constructed by-Arkansas Power and Light in 1930, and this line supplied electric service to the Pyatt Community for the first time. This line also connected the Summit, Yellville, Flippin, Cotter, Gassville, and Mountain Home electric service requirements to the 35 KV source at Harrison. Service along the 35 KV line was not available to farms because there were no step-down sub stations except at Pyatt and Summit. The step-down station at Summit made connections there with the 6.9 KW line extending service eastward to Mountain Home.
       In order to supply electric service needed for the construction of the Norfork Dam, Arkansas Power and Light in 1941 completed a high voltage transmission line from Batesville to the Norfork Dam site. Soon after completion of this line, a 35 KY line was completed from the terminal at the Dam to connect with the 35 KY line from Harrison to Summit. The completion of this line gave a greater degree of continuity of service to the towns then being served as it provided service from either the West or the East.
       In order to supply the continuing load growth for electric service in Marion County, Arkansas Power and light Company in 1950 constructed a 161 KV step-down substation near Summit from the newly constructed inter-connecting line with Empire District Electric Company in Missouri; and from this 161 KY substation, electric service became available now to rural areas in Marion County as transmission and distribution lines were built into the rural areas. This substation near Summit is still the chief source of electric service to the towns of Yellville, Flippin, Summit, Bull Shoals, and Pyatt, as well as to the rural areas served by Arkansas Power and Light in Marion County.
       The town of Oakland and the rural area north of Bull Shoals Lake is supplied with electric service by the North Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation of Salem, Arkansas. This is a rapidly developing recreational and tourist area and is experiencing a growing demand for electrical service which the cooperative is able to supply.
       The United States Department of the Interior, Southwestern Power Administration, in 1946 began the construction of a 164 KY transmission line from the Norfork Dam to the Dennison Dam in Texas. This line enters (Page 288 Top) Marion County below Cotter, passing through the Rea Valley community, across Hall Mountain, through Cowan Barrens, Freck community, and enters Searcy County near Tomahawk. Although this high voltage transmission line does not supply any direct electric service in Marion County, by inter connection with the Arkansas Power and Light Company which secures a considerable amount of the energy generated at both Norfork and Bull Shoals hydro-plants, Marion County becomes the beneficiary of this low cost hydro-electric energy. It might be added that the Southwestern Power Administration also built a steel tower 164 KY line from Bull Shoals to inter connect with the Norfork-Dennison line near Rea Valley.
       Another high voltage line from the Bull Shoals Hydro generating plant was built by the Northwestern Electric Power Cooperative in the early 1950's. This line, running generally in a northwesterly direction, crosses Marion County and exits near Lead Hill in Boone County. It connects with the Cooperative's own generating plants in Northwestern Missouri and serves no customers in Marion or Boone County.
       Electric service is now available to customers, domestic and industrial, in practically every section of the County; and this available electric energy has had an important part in the industrial development as well as the population growth of the County in the past decade.