Clark Public Utilities
public utility district in Clark County, Washington
Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County, doing business as Clark Public Utilities
and commonly referred to as Clark PUD, is a public utility district in Clark County, Washington. Clark PUD provides electric service to all of Clark County except for the Georgia-Pacific Camas Paper Mill in the City of Camas, and its water service area covers the majority of the county, except the Cities of Battle Ground, Camas, Ridgefield, Washougal, and Vancouver, which have their own municipal water systems.
Organization
After previous attempts in 1934 and again in 1936 failed, Clark PUD was formed by referendum in 1938, when the citizens of Clark County approved a proposal to create a municipal nonprofit organization to provide electric service to the County under the laws of the State of Washington. At the time, Clark County's electric service was being provided by two private utility companies, Portland General Electric (PGE) served the Vancouver area, and the Northwest Electric Company (NEC) served the remainder of rural Clark County. Both companies had waged vigorous campaigns to defeat the measure, and did not readily withdraw from the County even after the measure was approved.
As a public entity, Clark PUD was to be led by a three-member county commission charged with overseeing the utility. Clark PUD's first commissioners were elected simultaneously to the creation of the district, they were Heye H. Meyer, L. M. Jones, and Adolf Ast.
Clark PUD is overseen by the Board of Commissioners, who hire and supervise a General Manager, set policy, approve budgets, establish rates, and approve major expenses. The General Manager oversees day-to-day operations of the District.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Clark Public Utilities” is public utility district in Clark County, Washington. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Clark, Public and Utilities, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “public utility district in Clark County, Washington” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20712245. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1934, 1936 and 1938.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Clark Public Utilities”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Clark Public Utilities primary sources, Clark Public Utilities archive and Clark research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Clark Public Utilities”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Clark Public Utilities” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.