A Folsom land deal sparked worlds first electrified prison

(KTXL) — Folsom State Prison is one of the most famous California prisons, but the story behind it becoming the first in the world with electrically powered lights is little known. Originally slated to be built in Rocklin, land owner Horatio Gates Livermore of the Natoma Land Mining Company was able to persuade the government to build the earliest maximum security prisons in Folsom along the American River, according to the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Livermore offered 350 acres of his land along the river for the prison to be located and in exchange prisoner labor would be provided to build a dam about a mile up-river from the prison, according to Parks When Livermore had made the deal with the State Prison Board in 1868 the family had already begun construction of the dam in 1867 and spent $119,000 building a two-mile railroad from Folsom to the dam site.