Editing Columbus, Nebraska (section)

===Hydro power===
The most expensive and ambitious of Columbus's Depression-era public-works efforts was the construction of the [[Loup Canal|Loup Project]].  This was a {{convert|35|mi|adj=on}} canal running from a diversion weir on the Loup River in [[Nance County, Nebraska|Nance County]] to the Platte River about {{convert|1|mi}} below the mouth of the Loup.<ref name=publicpower>Firth, Robert E. (1962).  ''Public Power in Nebraska''.  Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.</ref>{{rp|130–33}}
The waters of the canal run through two [[Hydroelectricity|hydroelectric]] generating stations: one north of [[Monroe, Nebraska|Monroe]] with a capacity of 7,800&nbsp;kW; and one at Columbus with a capacity of 45,600&nbsp;kW.<ref>[http://www.loup.com/aboutus/hydroelec.asp "Hydroelectric system".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100605025101/http://www.loup.com/aboutus/hydroelec.asp |date=2010-06-05 }}  [http://www.loup.com/ Loup Power District.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060612203332/http://www.loup.com/ |date=2006-06-12 }}  Retrieved 2010-04-14.</ref>

[[File:Columbus hydroelectric plant (Nebraska) 2.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Powerhouse with tailrace canal running out of base; electrical transformers on canal bank at right|Loup Canal hydroelectric plant and tailrace canal at Columbus]]

Initially financed with a loan and grant of $7.3 million from the [[Public Works Administration]],<ref name=publicpower />{{rp|124}}
construction of the diversion structure, canal, and powerhouses began in August 1934<ref name=lpdbook>Farritor, Sharon (2006).  ''Power and Progress: The History of Loup Power District 1933-2006''.  Published by Loup Power District.</ref>{{rp|78}}
and was finished, apart from some final details, in September 1938.<ref name=publicpower />{{rp|129}}
At its peak, in October 1936, the project directly employed 1,352 people.<ref name=olson />{{rp|222}}

To make payments on the Loup Project bonds, the Loup River Public Power District had to find a market for its electricity.  Rural electrification was not expanding rapidly, and private power companies in Nebraska were only willing to buy a small fraction of the project's power.  Although the provisions of the [[Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935]] gave East Coast holding companies an incentive to sell off their Nebraska subsidiaries, bankers were unwilling to finance their sale to the Loup District because of its debts from the canal project.<ref name=publicpower />{{rp|139–40}}

In 1939, Consumers Public Power District was formed in Columbus.  The new organization's purpose was to buy power from the Loup Project and from the Tri-County and Sutherland projects on the Platte in central Nebraska, and to market it to consumers and municipal utilities.  To this end, it was authorized to issue revenue bonds for the purchase of privately held power companies.  By 1942, it had purchased all of the private electrical utilities in Nebraska outside of the immediate vicinity of Omaha;<ref name=publicpower />{{rp|139–47}} 
by 1949, the last of the private utilities had been bought up, making Nebraska the only state in the nation to be served entirely by public power.<ref>[http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/stories/0801_0505.html "The Tri-County Project: Public Power in Nebraska".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227193218/http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/frameset_reset.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nebraskastudies.org%2F0800%2Fstories%2F0801_0505.html |date=2016-12-27 }}  [http://www.nebraskastudies.org/ NebraskaStudies.org.]  Retrieved 2010-04-15.</ref>