Small Towns Hope High-Tension Power Line Will Bring Them Electricity, May 21, 1926

Power Line to Follow Route of Most Profit. . . Super Power Engineers Surveying Entire Territory—Materials to be Ordered at Once

While a score of small towns and villages in Currituck, Camden, Chowan and Gates counties are wondering is they are to be favored by the high tension power line of the Virginia Electric & Power Co., which is to serve Elizabeth City, Herford and Edenton with super-power, engineers of the power company are surveying the entire territory and making no promises.

Whether the line will come thru Gates County from Suffolk to Edenton, or whether it will come thru Currituck and Camden Counties from Norfolk to Elizabeth City will be determined by the amount of prospective business apparent to the power company after its surveys have been completed.

If the power company can foresee a greater possible consumption of electric current in Currituck and Camden Counties than in Gates and Chowan, it is a safe bet that the line will follow the Norfolk Southern R.R. thru the villages of Moyock, Snowden, Shawboro, Beleross and Camden. This would make super-power easily available for almost all points in Camden and Currituck.

In the meantime the purchasing department of the Virginia Electric & Power Co. is busy securing prices for all materials required for the new high tension power line and will be placing its orders for these material at an early date, Frank McLaughlin vice president of the company assures this newspaper that no time will be lost in locating and building the line. Super-power for Elizabeth City, Herford and Edenton will be a fact before the Christmas holidays.

From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, May 21, 1926

newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83025812/1926-05-21/ed-1/seq-1/

According to AI, coastal communities wanted the large, high-voltage, regionally interconnected electric power system which promised more reliable, cheaper, long-distance electricity. This new generation of electric power networks was characterized by high-tension transmission lines, interconnected utility systems, large central generating stations that provided economies of scale. Thanks, Copilot.