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Folsom State Prison

Folsom State Prison might not be so well known if it weren't for the fact that Johnny Cash played a concert there for the inmates back in 1968, which secured the prison's place in pop culture.

Located along the American River, FSP officially opened in 1880. Much of the prison was constructed from granite blocks, hammered out by prison labor. It was the first prison in the world to have electric power which was supplied from the nearby hydroelectric plant.

While much of the prison is off limits to the public, there are some areas accessible for viewing. This is the east gate, and the FSP museum sits just across the driveway from here.

Here's a closer view of the east gate. Notice the detail on the granite arch, along with the industrial ironwork. Johnny Cash had his picture taken in front of this gate which appears on one of his album covers.

Nearby the parking lot of the east gate is this guard tower built into the wall of the prison.

Moving across to the north side of the American River, much of the prison is visible. The river at this point travels in a fairly steep canyon which acts as a natural obstacle to any potential escapees.

While there are many structures at the prison today, this is the original cell block constructed in the 1800's. In the center is the granite stairway leading to the main entrance.

This is a view from slightly upstream. The American River is to the right, with the prison in the background. The wall in the foreground is the old diversion dam built to divert water into the hydroelectric plant.

At the bottom of this long granite wall is the railroad gate. At one time a railroad passed through this gate to transport supplies to and from the prison.

The railroad accessed the prison from the south side. This is as close as one dare get today. While the tracks are long gone, the rail bed still exists, and runs parallel to the canal which supplied the powerhouse with water.

Labels: folsom, johnny cash, prison

posted Thursday, January 15, 2009 | permalink

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Folsom Powerhouse

Looking for a journey back in time, then the Folsom Powerhouse is the place to go.

In operation from 1895 to 1952, it was the first hydroelectric power plant in California and supplied electricity to the growing city of Sacramento. In case you haven't been there, or even if you have, here's a photo tour of this amazing historical treasure.

Let's start at the beginning. The structure in the foreground is the diversion dam for which construction started in 1867. It diverted water out of the American River, which is visible to the right, for the short journey down to the powerhouse. The structures in the background are those of Folsom Prison. Prison labor was used in the construction of the diversion dam and canal.

These are hydraulic lifts which operated headgates along the canal. It hard to see here, but the canal runs behind and parallel to these lifts. The headgates were like doors that could be opened to release excess water back into the American River.

This is the forebay to the powerhouse. Back in the day this would have been full of water. At the far end the headgates and hydraulic lifts are visible, which controlled the flow of water into the penstocks leading to the generators. The roof of the powerhouse can be seen beyond the forebay. The forebay not only stored water for the generators, but also served as a settling area for sediment and debris.

Moving inside the powerhouse building these large vertical tubes called penstocks carried the water down onto the generator turbines. The turbines were connected via driveshafts to the electrical generators which were housed in a separate room.

Here we are in the generator room which contains four, 30 ton General Electric generators. Each generator stands over 8 feet tall and had a combined output of 3000 kilowatts.

This is a wider view to give a better sense of overall scale.

These generators were shipped around Cape Horn, South America. The apparatus to the left is the governor which controlled the speed of the generator in response to electrical demand.

Each generator bears one of these plates. Check out the patent dates!

And here is a closeup of the governor assembly. It was a feedback system which controlled the generator speed by adjusting the flow of water over the turbine.

This is a level indicator for the forebay, which resides high on the wall in the powerhouse.

After the water passed through the turbines, it exited in the afterbay to be returned to the American River. The water looks green here beacuse today it is stagnant and loaded with green alge.