An old proverb tells us, “It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Randal Stewart and his father didn’t just light a candle; they turned on the electric lights for an entire town!

Randal’s father had come to Fairview in the spring of 1913 to set up an electric light plant – the first light plant to supply electricity to the Lower Yellowstone on a commercial basis. Randal and his younger brother joined him that fall, and Randal immediately went to work helping on the light plant.

The two young Stewarts came to Fairview by way of the Great Northern Railroad as far as Mondak. From Mondak a “taxi,” a Model T Ford, transported them to Fairview.

courtesy | MonDak Heritage Center The first light plant to supply electricity to the Lower Yellowstone on a commercial basis.

When they reached the bustling little town of Fairview, unemployment was no problem. In addition to the light plant that was in the process of construction and the coal mine that was being developed, Fairview also had the flour mill and the brickyard. It was because of these industries that Jennison needed more power instead of working with the kerosene lamps and the giddy gasoline light they used.

The Stewards had come from Sioux City, Iowa. The elder Steward, an engineer, had gone to Williston first where he was chief engineer in the C.W. Jennison’s flourmill. Jennison decided Fairview would be a good site for another flourmill, along with a light plant and the possibilities for developing a coal mine.

While Steward was building the light plant, setting up the boilers, engines and generators, Jennison was sinking a mineshaft ready to start operation. By the time the light plant was ready to start operation, the mine was ready to supply the fuel.

The plant was located in the northern part of town on Central Avenue and grouped around the plant were enough buildings to make a small town. Among the buildings the company erected that summer was a large boarding house, barn, two bunkhouses, cement, powder house and numerous other small buildings. Jennison also completed his house nearby in which to live.

The plant consisted of a 100 KW generator driven by an 850 horsepower Corliss engine which connected with two 250 horsepower boilers. The switchboard and other electrical devices were made by the General Electric Company.

Fuel for the plant was secured from the company’s own mine which was located just back of the plant, and while operations in the mine had not begun yet, they were already getting out nearly 100 tons per day of the very best quality of lignite coal. The vein they were working was six feet thick, and there was enough coal in sight to last the entire city for years.

Jennison had worked out a handy setup for loading coal and fueling the boilers. The coal came from the mine in cars attached to a cable that wound on a drum driven by an electric motor. From the mouth of the mine was a trestle that elevates to a tipple where the coal was dumped into a huge bin, and when the customer wanted coal, they just set down the chute, and in about five minutes the coal was loaded and ready to go with no shoveling.

All the screenings fell into the light plant’s boiler room and supplied the fuel for firing the boilers.

By November the light plant was ready to go. Randal Stewart was the engineer who opened the throttle to start the engines, and his father threw the switches to put Fairview on the electric line.

Stewart has added reason for remembering that day, the same day they turned on the electricity for Fairview, he lost part of his finger. “I put my finger in a place where it shouldn’t have been, it was cut off,” explained Stewart.

Superintendent Wooldridge was in charge of the company’s construction. It was noted he did excellent work. It was noted the poles that were planted in the city were in perfect alignment. Not one in the city was an inch out of line, and the poles did not vary in size or length.

With Fairview “all lit up” Sidney had to have electricity, too, so when Glendive built a new light plant, Sidney bought their old one (1914), and the Stewarts put up a light plant for Sidney also. This plant was used about six years, but it wasn’t very satisfactory. An investigation convinced them they could buy electricity from Fairview more cheaply than they could make their own, so a line was built from Fairview to Sidney – the first highline in the valley.

A busy time for the Stewarts, father and son, followed the introduction of electricity as they wired houses so the new power could be used. People said goodbye to the dim kerosene lamp and to the chore of cleaning lamp chimneys each morning.

Jennison owned the Fairview electric plant for some years, but later the Glendive Company bought it and modernized it. This was the beginning of the Montana-Dakota Utilities Company.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Information compiled from the Fairview Times and “As I Remember Stories” of Eastern Montana Pioneer, Glendive.