DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Now, picture the Texas Hill Country in the 1930s. Not the postcard version — the real one.
Farms carved out of caliche and cedar, families working the land with their hands, crop returns already meager in the grip of the Depression. And at night? Dark.
The kind of dark that swallows a house whole. By that same era, city folks across the United States were flipping switches like it was nothing, electric light spilling out of windows up and down Main Streets all over the country. But the Hill Country?
The Hill Country was still waiting. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Administration — the REA — specifically to make loans to cooperatives that farmers themselves would organize.
It moved fast. Rural America started lighting up. But the Texas Hill Country didn't qualify.
The sparse population out here didn't meet the REA's requirements, and that was that. The lights stayed off. Then comes 1937, and a young man named Lyndon B.
Johnson is runnin' for the United States Congress. He made a promise during that successful campaign: he would bring electricity to this country. And he meant it.
His plan centered on two dams down on the lower Colorado River — Buchanan Dam, up in Burnet County, and Marshall Ford Dam over in Travis County, the one that's now called Mansfield. Power was sitting right there in that river. The problem was getting it to the people.
Johnson went to work. He made appeals directly to Roosevelt, to government agencies, pushing and maneuvering until the REA eased its requirements for the Hill Country. But here's the thing about lighting up 1,700 miles of territory — you need more than just a congressman.
You need somebody willing to knock on doors. Rancher E. Babe Smith joined Johnson in canvassing the district, going farm to farm, neighbor to neighbor, convincing families to put down five-dollar deposits.
Five dollars. That was the buy-in that would allow the Pedernales Electric Cooperative — the PEC — to build its infrastructure and actually sell power. And people signed up.
About 3,300 families all told. That number mattered, because in 1938, with those families committed, the REA awarded the PEC a loan to build over 1,700 miles of electric lines. The largest single allotment the administration had ever made.
Largest. Ever. Then came the fall of 1939, and electricity began to flow into the Hill Country.
The Pedernales Electric Cooperative went on to become the nation's largest electric cooperative, and it remains to this day among the dozens of such cooperatives operating across Texas. And the marker is clear on this point: Lyndon Johnson's work was essential — essential — in their formation and in the expansion of electrification across this whole stretch of country. Some promises are made on the campaign trail and quietly forgotten.
This one lit up the Hill Country.
What the marker says
LYNDON B. JOHNSON AND HILL COUNTRY ELECTRIFICATION BY THE 1930s, MANY RESIDENTS OF CITIES ACROSS THE U.S. WERE BENEFITING FROM THE COMMON USE OF ELECTRICITY. HOWEVER, A VAST MAJORITY OF RURAL AREAS LACKED ELECTRIC SERVICE, WHICH COMPOUNDED DEPRESSION-ERA PROBLEMS FOR FARMERS WHOSE CROP RETURNS WERE ALREADY MEAGER. IN 1935, PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT ESTABLISHED THE RURAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION (REA) TO MAKE LOANS TO COOPERATIVES ESTABLISHED BY THE FARMERS THEMSELVES. ALTHOUGH THE REA QUICKLY HELPED BRING ELECTRICITY TO RURAL AMERICA, ITS PROGRAM DID NOT EXTEND TO THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY, WHOSE SPARSE POPULATION DID NOT MEET QUALIFICATIONS. IN 1937, FUTURE PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON WORKED TO BRING ELECTRICITY TO THE AREA, A PROMISE HE MADE DURING HIS SUCCESSFUL RUN FOR THE U.S. CONGRESS THAT YEAR. HIS PLAN FOCUSED ON TWO LOWER COLORADO RIVER DAMS: BUCHANAN IN BURNET COUNTY AND MARSHALL FORD (NOW MANSFIELD) IN TRAVIS COUNTY. JOHNSON'S APPEALS TO ROOSEVELT AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES LED TO AN EASING OF THE REA'S REQUIREMENTS. RANCHER E. BABE SMITH JOINED JOHNSON IN CANVASSING HIS DISTRICT TO CONVINCE FARMERS TO PAY $5 DEPOSITS, WHICH WOULD ALLOW THE PEDERNALES ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE (PEC) TO BUILD INFRASTRUCTURE AND SELL POWER. IN 1938, WITH ABOUT 3,300 FAMILIES SIGNED FOR ELECTRIC SERVICE, THE REA AWARDED THE PEC A LOAN TO BUILD OVER 1,700 MILES OF ELECTRIC LINES, THE LARGEST ALLOTMENT EVER MADE BY THE ADMINISTRATION. IN THE FALL OF 1939, ELECTRICITY BEGAN TO FLOW. THE PEC BECAME THE NATION'S LARGEST ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE AND REMAINS AMONG THE DOZENS OF OTHER SUCH COOPERATIVES ACROSS TEXAS. LYNDON JOHNSON'S WORK WAS ESSENTIAL IN THEIR FORMATION AND THE EXPANSION OF ELECTRIFICATION IN THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY. 175 YEARS OF TEXAS INDEPENDENCE * 1836-2011