Wise Power House - Newcastle, California

DATE VISITED:  03/15/2015

HISTORICAL SITE:  Wise Power House

LOCATION:  Cross roads of Ophir & Wise, Newcastle, Placer Co., CA

MARKER #:  65001094

DEDICATED:  March 13, 1984

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS: My next stop was to be the town of Auburn where there are several national, state and county landmarks. The road from Ophir to Auburn is very, very windy and on goes my air conditioner.  I was telling Dirk that it isn't fair that someone who likes travelling should suffer so much from motion sickness. Someday I'll have to tell the story of my Mexican cruise.

I pass by an old building that says something about a powerhouse but I didn't stop. I got to Auburn and quickly realized that everyone else decided the day was perfect for a trip to Auburn and there was no parking to be found.  There was even an article in the Sacramento Bee that day, talking about the parking nightmare in Auburn because of the popularity of Hidden Falls Park. While this park isn't in Auburn proper, people who get turned away or who want to spend time nearby end up in Auburn with all the rest of us who just want to visit. Needless to say, I turned around and headed out of Auburn.

I wasn't ready to go home quite yet and decided I wanted to go back to the powerhouse I had seen earlier. My GPS was trying to take me back to Ophir so I turned it off and made my way back...with no problems! Sometimes my internal GPS is great.

You know how they say a little knowledge is dangerous...well, since getting the tour at the Folsom Powerhouse, I understand a bit more about the production of electricity, so I need to make sure not to get boring here with details.

Building of the Wise Powerhouse started in 1913. The site for these Powerhouses was not random. Since hydraulic mining or hydraulicking for gold had been outlawed, there were lots of creeks, streams, rivers that opened up for other uses and the locals were thrilled. The hydraulicking  run off had caused lots of problems for downstream homes and farms.

The facility started producing electricity in 1917. The thing that makes this powerhouse unique was that PG&E installed the largest single discharge turbine in existence; one that, up until its installation, had only been viewed Panama-Pacific Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915.

 

Folsom Powerhouse - Folsom, California

DATE VISITED: 03/01/2015

HISTORICAL SITE:  Folsom Powerhouse

LOCATION:  Folsom Powerhouse St. Park, Greenback Lane, Folsom, Sacramento Co., CA

MARKER #:  1973000426 (Federal) & 633 (State)

 

DEDICATED:  1981 (Federal) & August 22, 1958 (State)

"This site possesses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America" (Federal)

"National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. Folsom Hydroelectric Power System" (Federal)

"National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. Folsom Power House No. 1. 1895. First hydroelectric station to supply commercial electrical energy to the city of Sacramento. Henry T. Knight, Chief Engineer, Folsom Water Power Company" (Federal)

"In the 1850s, Horatio Gates Livermore and later his sons, Horatio P. and Charles E., pioneered the development of ditches and dams on the American River for industry and agriculture. One historic result was Folsom Powerhouse, which began operations in July 1895. Power was delivered to Sacramento at 11,000 volts, a new achievement in long-distance high-voltage transmission which the capital celebrated by a grand electric carnival September 9, 1895. The original generating plant, still in place, remained in continuous operation until 1952. The plant was donated by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to the State of California to preserve its historical values." (State)

**closer look below

 

Marker Placed By: National Park Service United States Department of the Interior (Federal)

The California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Sacramento Section, American Institute of Electrical Engineers (State)

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:  Finally, my sister, Dana, accompanied me! Actually she drove because I opened my garage to find a U-Haul blocking my way and the guys sitting having lunch. I hate when she drives, she whips the car all over the place and I end up sick. She hates when I drive because I don't drive like her...I'm fast, just not jerky... (Kidding Dana...well, no, I'm not). I am also terrible at parking and we end up walking farther than most. 

When we arrived at the Powerhouse, Dana parked in the handicapped spot...it's ok, she has a placard. The spot was the farthest from the visitor's center. Odd! When we went inside, we were asked if we had paid for parking...of course not, we didn't see anything that said we had to. When we walked back out we noticed 2 handicap spots right in front but we were already parked so we went back to our car to get the money needed...which was $10.00. We walked down to the parking kiosk which was right next to the aforementioned handicapped parking. Pulling an envelope, we see that we have to fill out some information. Any idea where our purses, and pens, were? Yep, back at the car. This was like the "3 stooges minus one park a car". And yes, we were laughing at this point. Back my sister went to her car but this time she came back with the car.

Having taken care of the essentials, we went back to the visitor's center. It was fun walking around the exhibit with Dana. Whenever there was anything interactive to be done, I would just look at her. Loved the part where she had to crank a wheel to produce enough energy to light one...then two...then three light bulbs.  Ok, it must be a genetic thing to watch your sibling work hard to do something so simple, but I have to admit, as spotty as it was, she was able to get all 3 bulbs lit. How do you get out of doing it yourself? You say "nice job" and walk away.

 

We then walked down to the Powerhouse itself and one of the docents gives us a tour. Thankfully, he recognized that he could give out so much knowledge on electricity that we would probably tune out. I have to say, he was very good at keeping things simple enough for us to understand.

 Once finished, I mentioned that I had heard the lower powerhouse might be open and he said sure; there were enough docents around that he'd take us down there. Our guide had to unlock a gate and open the lower facility and we felt we were seeing something not everyone gets to. I mentioned the special tour to a friend and they said most people would have been satisfied with the tour of the big powerhouse and muttered something about "nerd".