During North Dakota’s centennial year in 1989, the rural people of this region marked 50 years of electrification and honored the pioneers of rural electrification and the community leaders who sought a better way of life in the stark days from 1935 to 1940. In 1939, four individual projects struggled to obtain a secure source of power and to build power lines in the rural areas of northeastern North Dakota: the Walsh Project in the Walsh County area, the Five Star Project in the Ramsey and Nelson County area, the Red River project in the Traill County area, and the Forks Project in the Grand Forks County area. Because of the difficulty of obtaining a firm source of power, these four projects were merged to form Nodak Rural Electric Cooperative, which was incorporated on January 17, 1940. Later that year, Nodak Rural Electric Cooperative became one of several cooperatives in North Dakota and Minnesota that would jointly own and purchase all power requirements from Minnkota Power Cooperative in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Financing for the construction of power generation and distribution lines was furnished by the Rural Electrification Administration in accordance with the Rural Electrification Act signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 11, 1935. World War II virtually brought line construction to a halt because of a lack of materials and manpower. Following the war, Nodak embarked on a rapid expansion program to provide complete area coverage. In this centennial year, Nodak provided power to over 11,000 consumer members in the North Dakota counties of Pembina, Walsh, Ramsey, Nelson, Steele, Grand Forks, and Traill. This period of rural electrification was a time when farmers found themselves in the dark, and neighbors joined with neighbors to organize their own business and provide themselves with electric power.