NLI Historic Moments
Photos from Northern Lights Inc. archives.
- In 1967, a forest fire burning 62,000 acres swept through Sundance Mountain. Lions, Pack River and Snow Creek base camps were set up to rebuild and restore power to the area. Northern Lights’ Senior Engineer Gordon Garrison watches as lineworkers Aubrey Bennett, top, and George Cassidy install a temporary light atop a tree.
- NLI General Manager William Nordeen—on the ground—watches as lineworker Aubrey Bennett prepares to lower a transformer to the ground and install a larger transformer for the Pack River fire camp after the devastating Sundance Mountain forest fire in 1967, which burned 62,000 acres of timber and recreation land.
- NLI first began providing electric power to area homes in 1935, and there was no longer a need for kerosene lamps.
- In the early 1960s, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Grush consider their many options in electric appliances when power was extended to the Yaak Valley for the first time.
- For many years, Northern Lights Inc. hosted its annual meetings at the Bonner County Fairgrounds.
- Workers building Schweitzer chair lifts in 1963 rushed to finish 20 towers on the slope.
- In the early 1960s, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Grush consider their many options in electric appliances when power was extended to the Yaak Valley for the first time. Farmers activate a new electric pump in Laclede in the late 1940s.
- Forestry student Richard McEwan, left, and Aubrey inspect a switchbox installation to provide power to the Lions base camp after the fire.