History
Excerpt…
The formation of the Yellowhead Gas Co-operative became a reality in I973. I, Ernie Fahrion, was a Region 5 director of Unifarm (an organization of farmers) from I966 to I982. I also was serving on the provincial Council of Unifarm. I had the opportunity to discuss the co-op movement with natural gas co-ops. At this time Mr. Helmut Entrup , employed by Unifarm was the first Farmer’s Advocate. I had many discussions with Helmut regarding rural gas co-ops and he indicated that if we wanted to organize one, he would gladly attend a meeting. He would also bring along a good engineer.
Being a director and later chairman of the Edson Fulham Rural Electrification Association, the subject of natural gas was raised at one of our REA board of directors meetings. This, you may think, was an odd topic to discuss at a meeting regarding power.
After some deliberation, the board felt that a gas co-op would be an asset to our area and we agreed to sponsor the initial meeting, which was held in Peers School on June 14, I973. We invited Mr. Helmut Entrup as suggested and a representative from an engineering firm.
The REA ran ads in the Edson papers to announce the meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to determine the interest in supplying natural gas to rural residents of Carrot Creek, Edson west, north and south.
Over 120 enthusiastic people attended to listen to Mr. Entrup as he gave a very informative talk outlining the natural gas policy. Mr. Tom Christie of Palmer Engineering outlined ways in which he could assist with the formation of a natural gas co-op and the construction of the pipelines. The chairman at this meeting was Ernie Fahrion and Frances Mellersh acted as Secretary.
Interest was keen and Louis Baudin made a motion that a natural gas co-operative be formed. The motion was seconded by Del Block and passed.
