Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-04-16
AN IMPORTANT PROPOSITION F0R.
THE STATE AND THE CITY.

Elsewhere IN this issue oi the RECORD
UNION viii be found an elaborate account |
of proposition to utilize power Tor ma
chinery at Folsom, in this County, which,
if carried out viii work industrial |
benefits to this community of the highest !
importance, and almost Immediately after |
the resolution to adopt it is agreed to, will
create new business activity in Sacra-
mento.
The fact thss an unsurpassed water-pOwer
ran to waste at Folsom which, if taken up,
would be Of immense advantage to the
State, determined the location Of the Branch
Prison in favor of Folsom. The State Sc
cured from the Nsoma Water and Mining
Company $50 acres of land covering the
granite quarries, and secured also the
right to the frs. fiye-foot fall Of the canal
the company was then building. This
was in 1858, ten years after the State first
began to legislate upon the subject For
the land and right the State was to pay in
convict labor upon the canal and neces-
sary dam. Subsequently the State desir-
ing more land at the site, purchased of the
same company 1873 acres additional, to be
also paid for in convict izbor.
A dispute arose between the Directors and
the company as to the amount of labor due
in payment for the tive tracts OF land and
the water power The State held that it
was to pay in 10000 days labor; the
company held that it was to have 10000
days labor for each grant. Thereupon the
company ceased work, unwilling to go on
under that issue. The State sued it to
compel it to complete the dam and canal.
But 1t lost the case, the Courts holding
that as the State had the land, and as
there was no time specified for the COM
pletion of the canal the company could not
be required to accept the convict labor and
go on with the work.
The water rights subsequently passed to
new company, now known as the Folsom
Water Power Company. This company has
now reached a point in its history where it
Is prepared to go on with the plan of utiliz-
ing the water power. 1t now proposes to
construct the canal on an enlarged plan
from the original dam, a few rods above
the prison down to Folsom, where it is de-
sirous Of erecting factories, to be operated
under the seventy-two feet of fall the canal
will give. Il proposes to the State to
waive all the old contracts and wipe out
the old issues, and give it at the prison
six-foot instead of fiye-foot fall, from a
canal of forty-feet instead of thirty feet,
if the State will-since it has now been
called upon to furnish the labor which was
to be the consideration for the lands it re-
ceiyed and the right to the water power
now furnish the convict labor necessary to
complete the dam, and also the canal
to the prison, distance of 400 yards
1t is held that 10000 days convict labor
viii do the work.
The new proposition viii be seen to be
one of no exaction, and that will give the
State what it originally started to obtain,
with the addition Of much greater water
power and larger canal by one-third than
at first contemplated. It is shown in our
reporters article this morning that the
power to be secured will equal G00-horse
power and the saving in power by
water fall over that produced by steam is
equal to the interest upon 100000 per
annum.
The benefits to accrue from the compile
tion of the work are almost incalculable
and the chief need not even be more than
recapitulated for the intelligent reader.
Prisoners must be made to do labor sufficient
TO pay for their support and to secure them
in good health The worst use to which
convict can be put is to support him in
idleness. With water power such as the
American river furnishes, the granite quar-
ries owned by the State can be operated to
vastly better advantage; and the State, if re-
solved upon pursuing its jute manufacturing
industry can eliminate wholly the cost off fuel
and engines for operating jute machinery,
factors that will put the whole question of
the manufacture in a new and far more eco
monte light. If she resolves, as she may,
to fully employ our prisoners, in other
manufacturing industries, she will be en-
abled to do so at Folsom without the ex-
penditure of dollar for motive power,
beyond construction Of the additional water
wheels the simplest and least expensive
motor known 10 mechanics, since it con-
sumes not and involves none of the costs
or risks Of steam power.
As an incident to the use of the power,
the State viii secure Immediately 10000
days labor for convicts of kind that will
not be given free labor, since without the
convict labor the work Will not be done at
all. As another incident to the use of the
power, she viii be able to light her prison
and grounds with electric lights without
any current cost and at an outlay only
for dynamos. She will thus greatly lessen
the liability of escapes, and be enabled to
work her convicts in day and night shifts,
and thus reduce the necessity for ma
oH-N iipuoOS W HfOOtSStN
one-half Moreover, she will be enabled
to derive q revenue-by the mere invest
ment for dynamos and line-for the sup
port of he, prisons by selling power to
electric light companies in the county and
towns near by, thus enabling the local
supply agencies to immensely extend their
industry and reduce dhe cost of operat-
ing it.
But, more than this, the completion of
the canal to Folsom TIVE miles below the
prison will insure the erection of fact [.
Dries that will Invite population and give
employment to free labor, eventually by
thousands of hands. where not wheel nov
turns. Thus convict labor will be made
TO contribute really to create an immense
demand for free, skilled labor. In the train
of SUCH industry Will follow at once rapid