When I first started working in the electrical trade we paid no attention to licensing, permits, inspection or unions.  Mostly we worked on farms.  Farmers are great innovators!  They usually do anything that needs to be done.  Most of the farm wind chargers were wired by the farmers themselves.  We were just an extension of that do-it-yourself mentality.

When the R.E. A. (Rural Electrical Administration) came to the farms, bringing power to the outlying areas, electrical work came under the auspices and oversight of the Federal Government.  It was difficult for many individuals to submit to that oversight.  Even today after many decades there is still a deep seated resentment towards electrical oversight, especially regarding permits, licenses, and registration.

The National Electric Code was first implemented in the 1800s.  Most of the time, it had only been enforced in cities.  Starting there we have become more and more regulated.  As an electrician, starting in North Dakota and moving into Montana and then on to Washington and Idaho, I had to have more and more licenses.

It was also necessary to become familiar (QUITE familiar) with the NEC code book.  Just as soon as you get it figured out, it is adjusted and revised, every three years.  The changes involve new regulations and laws, and dropping or rewording regulations.  There have been times where after three years of considering, discussing, offering amendments etc. a new code change is implemented.  A great deal of people whine and complain about it, and three years later the code is changed again; back to its original form.  And you have to keep up with the whole process.

After about 35 years experience in the trade, work dropped off considerably.  Instead of choosing to travel around the country (have electrical tool box – will travel), my wife and I decided to start our own business.  We were tired of being broke and out of work.  Starting our own business cured the “out of work” part of the equation.

It was easier said than done.  To get my Washington Electrical Administrators license I had to pass 4 sections with a passing grade.  I had to test a total of 8 times to get the final O.K. to run an electrical contracting business.  It cost about $500.00.

At one time I was keeping seven licenses current.  Keeping inspectors satisfied, customers satisfied, and general contractors satisfied came to be a major part of my life.  To this day, I have to take “up-dates” on a regular basis to keep my licenses existent.

I did manage to build up a good customer base before I turned the business over to my sons.

Some inspectors have been a joy to work with.  Others, not so much.  Then one day one of my daughters married an exceptionally sharp man.  He studied the code book and became an inspector.  Now he teaches electricians and inspectors.  Our company now has the respect of inspectors and customers alike.  The inspectors have come to trust our understanding of the code.

My how things have changed for this barefooted North Dakota farm boy!

Over in Eastern Montana they built the largest (at the time – and maybe still) earth constructed dam.  The Fort Peck Dam is, coincidently enough, located near Fort Peck, Montana.  Fort Peck is located near Wheeler, Montana which is named after one of my wife’s relatives.  However that’s not the point of the story.

Outside Wheeler, Montana was a sign that read; “The best Dam town by a Dam site.”

Many years later, I bid, and was awarded, the work on a job at the Grand Coulee Dam.  It was one of the most interesting jobs I had ever had, “by a Dam site.”

I got to see the generators in action.  It is dumb-founding to see the size of them.  If you have ever had to use a stand-by generator for your residence, you may have noticed the lights flickering a bit.  Yet the electricity from the huge generators on the dam does not flicker at all.  The electricity is steady as can be.

If you have seen the control module on a Boeing 727 you probably feel, as do I, that the controls are mind-boggling; with dials, knobs, levers, lights, etc.  Multiply that control board by 10 or 20 (it’s not an exact mathematical equation), and you will see how many controls there are for one of these large generators.

At the time I was doing the job on the Grand Coulee Dam the controls were monitored, adjusted, and checked on night and day.  I suppose by now they are controlled by computers.

When I worked on the university campus in Pullman, Washington, I would drive the 2 hour trip back and forth each day.  However the job at Grand Coulee was more distance than I wanted to travel on a daily basis.  I rented a small “bachelor pad” in someone’s basement and would come home on weekends.

Every so often Becky would come up and stay with me to make sure I was well fed and that the cleaning got done.  It was the first time in forty years that I had batched.  She wasn’t able to do it often because of family obligations.  One of the bonuses was that we got to see the light show that the Dam would put on every year.

One weekend when I got home from Grand Coulee, I didn’t have my wallet with my driver’s license, electrical licenses, credit cards and insurance cards.  I looked everywhere and worried.  I had to get a copy of my driver’s license, cancel the credit cards, call the insurance company, etc.

The next week when I went back on the job I searched everywhere.  I couldn’t find the wallet anywhere.

Before I came home the next weekend I was sitting on the bed changing my clothes.  I slipped my hand down between the mattress and the foot of the bed and there it was.  Now I had two licenses!  I thought; “this could be handy in case I lost it again.”  I found out that wasn’t legal.

I guess my short term memory was slipping even then.  By a Dam site.

The Sacred Heart Hospital building project involved using cranes on the inside of the building as it went up.  The building had concrete floors.  There was a slight conflict involved with pouring concrete where the crane was set up.  The project used a procedure that I found interesting.

A square hole in the concrete floor was left open where the crane was set up.  The crane was used to hoist concrete up to each floor.  When about three floors had been completed, the crane would lift itself up and reset itself on an unfinished floor.  The square openings in the lower floors would be poured using wheel barrows and then the process would start all over again.

(Just to be clear, when I say that the “crane would lift itself up and reset itself on an unfinished floor”, I don’t mean to imply that the piece of machinery was self-aware.  It’s just simpler than describing all that the operators did to accomplish the feat.)

As the project proceeded, I wondered what the plan was when the building crane reached the roof top.  How would it be removed when all of the access holes were filled with concrete?

One weekend I went by the job site just out of curiosity and found that a huge crane had been transported in and was lying in an ally next to the project.  That crane was so large that it took up a whole block in the ally.  That crane was just lying there waiting for someone to build it.

The next week the newest crane was assembled and used to lift the building crane off the top of the building and down to the street.

It made sense that the larger crane was transported in a disassembled state.  Sometimes when you see large construction sites in a large city you will see a forest of cranes.  In the past, crane operators and ground personnel would use hand signals to communicate.  Often times a crane operator would sit for long stretches of time waiting for his next lift.

I heard the story of one crane operator that took the National Electric Code book with him up in his crane cab.  He studied it during his wait times.  He completely read the book, took and passed the required testing, and became a licensed Electrical Administrator.  And he knew practically nothing about hands on electrical work.