By late 1985, it was obvious that electricity was needed to run the telescope because it was very user-unfriendly pushing the tube to follow celestial objects. At that time, our local electric supplier suggested it would cost at least $2,000 to put in the poles and lines. (As of 2001, another inquiry produced a ridiculous $13,000 quote).

In 1986, one of our members, Ed Winslow, hauled a huge diesel generator back from Elmira, New York in his van. We couldn't get it started so we sold it 6 months later. Of course, the buyer got it started the next day. Still without a solution and being cheap,we decided to do the work on our own. The plan was to bury 750 foot of cable from Keith's house to the observatory. We hired a local farmer, John Adams, to dig the trench. Work began in the summer of 1987, while the inside wiring was completed several months later.