Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Bullets
A little more modern but still interesting...
Most rural Albertans couldn't imagine running a house or kids or their farm without electricity today. And most people wouldn't realize that as late as 1948 only 4% of rural Alberta had electricity. Some farmers had windmill or gasoline powered generators for power but most didn't have what they considered to be a 'frivolous luxury".
Alberta Rural Electrification was decided by gov't in 1948 and by 1961 87% of rural Alberta had electricity.
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Electricity wasn't run to the area I grew up in until 1988.
The first school house was built in 1959, I was six years old.
The first all weather road to the area was completed in 1964, I was 10 years old.
The highway from Manning to Keg River was paved over the span of five summers, from 1964 to 1969. I left home to go to high school the fall of 1968
Telephones arrived in 1966, a centennial year project. The lines were underground. I watched the cats plow in line.
1965 our school was closed and all kids were bused to Keg River for school every day. A thirty mile ride, after all the kids were on board.