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| An employee manually feeds coal into the large
furnaces at the Pluma Plant. - Date unknown. |
History: Black Hills Corporation Traces Roots to 1883
Thank you for your interest in Black Hills Corporation.
We have grown from a small utility with roots in the Black Hills
since 1883 to serve a diversified energy company taking energy from
its raw state to its most sophisticated uses. "Energy, for
the west" signifies both our products and our commitment to
service. We are a retail energy provider in South Dakota, Wyoming,
and Montana, and a wholesale energy provider to much of the West.
We take raw energy materials, from coal to gas and oil, and turn
them into electricity and other useable energy products. Our customers,
from large utilities or refineries to small businesses and families,
count on us to deliver quality products and services. They, along
with our employees, have made us the strong company we are today.
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| 1917: Dakota Power company line truck and
crew. Dakota Power was purchased by Black Hills Power in 1941. |
Black Hills Power, our flagship regulated utility, has been
very successful over the years at providing reliable electric service
at a reasonable cost, thus creating a loyal, satisfied customer
base. Black Hills Electric Light Company traces its roots back to
1883, when electricity was needed for the booming gold mining industry
in Lead and Deadwood. In 1941 Black Hills Power and Light Company
was incorporated through the consolidation of several smaller electric
suppliers in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Now we proudly serve
over 62,000 customers in a 9,300-square-mile area of western South
Dakota, northeastern Wyoming, and southeastern Montana.
Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power, which we aquired in January
2005, provides the same high level of service to 38,000 electric
customers and 31,000 natural gas customers in the Cheyenne, Wyoming
area. Cheyenne Light's roots trace back to 1900, when Cheyenne was
a new town on the Western frontier.
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Black Hills Power was organized in August 1941. The first
Board of Directors was: (L to R): J.B. French, President and
chair of the board; Llewellyn Heinke, Henry Nesbitt, Louis
Meyers, Judge William Rice, Jarvis Davenport, and B.B. Neel. |
Energy extraction, production, and marketing are core components
of Black Hills Corporation’s strength. In 1956, the
company purchased the Wyodak Mine, the oldest coal mine in Wyoming’s
Powder River Basin. Using coal from the mine to generate power on-site,
the company brought air-cooled condenser technology to the United
States. Now Black Hills Energy, our non-regulated wholesale
business group headquartered in Golden, Colorado, is our largest
business unit, and generates power, mines coal, produces natural
gas and crude oil, and markets energy throughout the West.
Black Hills Generation now owns over 1000 MW of generation
capacity in Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming and California, and Massachusettes,
and Wyodak Resources mines around 5 million tons of coal
each year.
Our gas and oil production company, Black Hills Exploration and
Production, purchased in 1986, has oil and natural gas interests
in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska,
Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, the Gulf of Mexico and California.
In 1996, we entered the energy marketing business by forming Enserco
Energy to market gas in the Rocky Mountain region. Focusing
on energy delivery, we market and move natural gas and oil to markets
primarily in the West.
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| The Redwater No. 1 Plant operated from 1907
until June of 1966 and played an important part in the lives
of the Black Hills pioneers. |
Our deep roots and rich history provide a solid basis for our
company’s future. Today's energy markets are full of opportunities,
with new ideas, new services, and new choices. As we position ourselves
for the future, we build upon our heritage of solid value and commitment
to our customers, shareholders, employees, and the environment in
which we live and work.
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"We must have adequate financing, provide good
service, and have excellent public relations. These are the
ingredients for a successful Company."
-1941, J.B. French, founder and first President and
Chairman of the Board of Black Hills Power. |
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