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Powerhouse State Historic Park |
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| Webmaster Note:
This is a reprint of the brochure given to all visitors at the Folsom Powerhouse. |
The Folsom story began with Horatio Gates Livermore, a Maine native who came to California with thousands of others gold seekers in 1850. Livermore was elected to the State Senate in 1854. In his visits to the state capitol, he was impressed by the possibilities of the American River for logging and for development of water power to operate sawmills and other industrial plants. He envisioned an industrial city at Folsom similar to Lowell, Massachusetts, where water wheels had long been used to operate mills and factories. H.G. Livermore became interested in forming a company for the purpose of diverting American River water to placer workings in the foothills. By 1862 he and his sons, Horatio Putnam and Charles Edward Livermore, had obtained control of the existing Natoma Water and Mining Company. |
The constructed dam & canal at Stoney Bar gorge on the American River |
The First Folsom Dam The Livermores added some 9,000 acres of land that had been part of the Rancho de Los Americanos to the company's assets in order to have river rights that would permit them to float logs down the stream. But to fulfill the elder Livermore's dream for developing the area, a dam above Folsom at Stony Bar gorge was needed to create a holding area for logs, provide water for factories and store water to irrigate farmland. Work on the dam began in 1867. The Natoma Company spent $119,000 in constructing a two-mile railroad from Folsom up to the damsite and in laying the foundation of the dam itself. |
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In order to minimize remaining construction costs, in 1868 the Livermores entered into a contract with the State Prison Board under which convict labor would be used to complete the dam. In exchange for the convicts' services, valued at $15,000, the Livermores were to turn over 350 acres of land on the east side of the river adjacent to the dam for the proposed Folsom prison. Unfortunately for the determined Livermores, no convict labor would be available until the prison was built, so construction was not completed until 1880. |
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In 1881, the stockholders of the Natoma Water and Mining Company formed the Folsom Water Power Company to take over from Natoma all its properties and rights related to water power. The new organization demanded the prison labor due and instead on a more generous agreement providing for double payment in convict labor. The state sued and lost in an attempt to force the company to abide by its old offer, and work on the dam was stopped. Under a new agreement reached in 1888, the prison acquired the use of the railroad and enough "fall" from the powerhouse canal to operate a prison power plant. In return the prison was to provide 60,000 man-days of convict labor annually for five years. The dam was at last completed in January 1893, one year after the death of Horatio Gates Livermore. |
Looking downstream from the dam- Note the watchtower of Folsom Prison on the hillside |
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The Folsom Powerhouse H.P. Livermore had gradually assumed leadership of the enterprise started by his father. In 1888, he launched a lumber enterprise similar to the timbering plan formulated many years before by the elder Livermore, but the log drives were difficult in the boulder-strewn river, and the costly experiment was abandoned. Yet in another project the young man's determination paid off.
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| In late 1880s, Livermore began to realize that instead of using water power
as a direct motive force, the water of the American River could turn generators
for electricity in Sacramento, 22 miles downstream. Although up to
that time power had never been transmitted for than about five miles, Livermore persuaded manufactures to try to design a workable system.
In 1892, he incorporated the Sacramento Electric Power and Light Company to build the Powerhouse and construct the long-distance power line and a distribution station in the Capital City. |
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Principle partners in Livermore's venture were his brother Charles and businessman Albert Gallatin, president and general manager of Huntington and Hopkins Hardware. Gallatin became a major stockholder and president of Sacramento Electric. Though skeptics scoffed at the project, and electrical engineers were doubtful, Gallatin persuaded the General Electric Company to invest in the project. G.E. put $20,000 into the Powerhouse in the form of machinery and equipment. The Electrical Securities Company, a firm with which G.E. had close financial relations, agreed to underwrite a block of the Livermore company's bonds. |
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Work on the Powerhouse began immediately. A transmission line to a new substation at Sixth and H streets in Sacramento was completed and equipped to deliver direct current to a street railway system for which Livermore had obtained the franchise. During work on the powerhouse, Sacramento Electric also purchased street railways from the Central Electric Railway, which had been operating its cars on batteries. After extensive testing, the Folsom Powerhouse began delivery of electric power on July 13, 1895. In honor of the event, a detachment of soldiers formed near the substation to fire a 100-gun salute. |
 Water flow through the Powerhouse |
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"...It was 4 a.m. in Sacramento when a 100 gun salute shattered the quiet. People not planning on getting up early that morning never forgot it. But it was a memorable day for other reasons, too. It was when electric power arrived in Sacramento over 22 miles of lines from the new Folsom Powerhouse." -San Francisco Chronicle, July 13, 1895 |
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The Electric Carnival A more extensive celebration was held on September 9, 1895, in conjunction with the annual State Fair and California Admission Day. The gala was dubbed a "Grand Electric Carnival," and indeed it was- a night parade of illuminated floats mounted on electric streetcars rolled down streets ablaze with electric lights. The Capital building itself was outlined by lights that could be seen for 50 miles. By October 1895, the plant's four generators were producing 3,000 kilowatts to be used by the electric street railway and by industrial and commercial establishments. The Powerhouse still looks much as it did in 1896, when the Journal of Electricity described it as "Thoroughly fire-proof with walls of brick and stone, the floors are of concrete , on steel beams supporting terra cotta tile arches. All floors have woods surfacing. The roof is of iron." |
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From 1896 to 1898, the waterflow in the river fell to unexpected lows during a dry season; the need for more electric power resources became acute. Sacramento Electric's increased business during this time made it necessary to construct an additional powerhouse in 1897 to produce more electricity by taking advantage of the 28-foot drop between the tailrace and the river. The turbine in this powerhouse was set low to get as much drop as possible, but the generator was set high to keep it safe from floods. A unique rope drive (pictured at right) using 2,200 feet of continuous-strand hemp with a system of wheels and drums was created to connect them. Consolidation of the related Livermore companies was accomplished in 1896 under the newly incorporated Sacramento Electric, Gas and Railway Company, and a bond issue of $1,500,00 was authorized. But the move failed to cure the financial ills of the business or lessen the increasing pressure of competition from the well-established Capital Gas Company and the newly formed Central California Electric Company. |
The generator in the second powerhouse- driven by a 2,200 ft. strand of hemp. |
| By the turn of the century, the financial picture improved
for the company and business was expanding, but the struggle had been long
and grueling for the Livermores and their associates. In 1903, the firm
sold out to the California Gas and Electric Corporation (immediate
predecessor of Pacific Gas and Electric), which operated the powerhouse
until November 1952.
That year the old dam was destroyed during construction of the new present day Folsom Dam (which in turn created Folsom Lake), and the Powerhouse was shut down after 57 years of continuous service. In 1958, PG&E presented the building to the California State Park System for preservation and interpretation of its historic values. |
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Operation of the Powerhouse Electric current is generated by the relative movement between coils of wire and magnets. A turbine, or water-driven engine, is one of several power sources that can be used to impart the spinning motion. A pipeline, or penstock, was built to carry water from the forebay to the turbines of the Folsom Powerhouse. The units at Folsom- called reaction turbines- have a series of blades mounted on the turning element, or runner. Water is directed to the turbine blades by fixed guide vanes. |
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When the water enters through the guide vanes, the direction of its flow is at right angles to the shaft of the turbine. The water is deflected and leaves the runner nearly at an angle to the turbine. The great force exerted on the blades as the water flow changes direction turns the shaft and drives the connected generator shaft. When the Folsom plant was in operation, the water was directed to the turbines by penstocks, each eight feet in diameter. The four pairs of McCormick turbines were run under a head (water pressure) of 55 feet of water and at a speed of 300 revolutions per minute. Waterflow through the turbines was regulated to match the fluctuating demand for electric energy by regulating flow at the turbine inlet. |
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The turbines are directly connected to the six-inch armature shafts of
Folsom's generators. In 1895, these units were reported to be the
largest three-phase dynamos ever constructed. Each stands 8 feet,
8-1/2 inches and weighs almost 30 tons. Their combined capacity is
3,000 kilowatts. Brought to California by ship around Cape Horn, the
vintage generators are still in place at the Powerhouse. The
controls switchboard at Folsom, faced with Tennessee marble, is another
part of the original equipment that is still intact. When you tour the Powerhouse's grounds, you will see the massive General Electric transformers, each capable of increasing the voltage from 800 to 60,000 and 100,000 volts of electricity, and the forebays and canal system that brought the water from the dam. Powerhouse visiting hours are from noon to 4:00 p.m., Wednesday though Sunday. A volunteer docent can answer any questions you may have. Group tours are available throughout the week by special arrangement. For tour reservations, call 916-985-4843. Webmaster Note: This is a reprint of the brochure given to all visitors at the Folsom Powerhouse. |
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