Craig Learoyd's Images of Folsom

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December 2008
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February 2010
March 2010
April 2010

Chinese Diggings

With the future of the Chinese Diggings site in question I figured it to be a good time to check out this interesting piece of history.

The Diggings are a series of maze like trenches resulting from ground sluice mining operations. This is one of many entry points into the trench system which can become quite deep at some points.

The mining operations were believed to have been active during the 1890's and early 1900. Since the entire area is essentially ancient river bed, one can see river cobble far below ground.

Although called Chinese Diggings, there is no record of who actually did the digging. The environment in the depths of the trench is markedly different from the surface. Cool and damp it sustains different types of plant life than the Oak trees and abundant Poison Oak found above.

Intersecting trenches covered in moss

In some spots, the trench reaches depths of 20 to 30 feet.

Artifacts!

The way out

The Chinese Diggings is flanked by Hwy 50.

Labels: chinese, diggings, folsom, historic

posted Sunday, March 21, 2010 | permalink

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Sacramento Railyard

With groundbreaking commencing this month on the Sacramento Railyards Revitalization Effort, I figured this would be a great time to take one last look at this piece of history.

The first railroad in Sacramento as well as California was the Sacramento Valley Railroad finished in 1856 and engineered by Theodore Judah.

Judah's efforts to realize a transcontinental railroad was transferred to the power of "The Big Four" investors, who created the Central Pacific Railroad.

The First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, when Central Pacific's line joined Union Pacific's at Promontory Summit. Sacramento's terminus was the primary departure station for the railroad until 1883.

Central Pacific merged with Southern Pacific in 1870, and the former's maintenance yards were expanded with the addition of the Southern Pacific shops.

The shops were used for locomotive repairs, general maintenance and, occasionally, creation.

The yards steadily expanded, becoming the biggest railroad facility west of the Mississippi River and employing approximately one-third of all Sacramento workers in the early decades of the 20th century.

The Dynamometer Car is used for measuring the various aspects of a locomotive's performance. Measurements include pulling force, power, top speed, etc. With the proliferation of computers, the dynamometer car joined the ranks of obsolete equipment like the caboose and steam locomotive.

Labels: historic, locomtive, railroad, railyard, Sacramento, train

posted Wednesday, June 10, 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.