JOHN DAY – Approximately 2,100 Oregon Trail Electric Co-op customers were without power for nearly two hours Tuesday morning, Jan. 25, when a fault occurred on a power line at about 7:12 a.m.

Locations effected by the blackout included the City of John Day, Canyon City, Canyon Creek, Marysville and an area along Dog Creek east of John Day.

The reason for the power line fault was under investigation.

“During the restoration of power, a breaker in the West John Day Substation failed. That breaker is now out of service and will be repaired as soon as possible,” OTEC supervisor John Stearns said.

Power was out at the Shell gasoline station west of downtown and to about four miles east.

A trip around town found Chester’s Thriftway ready for business after powering up its emergency generator, which meant that free ice cream wasn’t going to be available, and the bottom floor at the courthouse in Canyon City was nearly pitch black in many offices, since there aren’t many windows to allow in natural light down there.

Michelle Walker was behind the counter at the Shell station figuring prices on a battery-powered calculator, when a man asked her about getting gas.

“The power’s out,” Walker said.