Documentary History of American Water-works

Folsom

Folsom, California

Folsom was originally named Granite City and was renamed Folsom about 1856, it was incorporated as a city in 1946.

The Natoma Water and Mining Company was incorporated in 1853 and build a ditch that reached Folsom in 1854. The first water works was built in 1857 and a new system was built in 1889. The system was transferred several times between subsidiaries of the Natoma company, ending up with the Natomas Water Company being formed in 1912 to own the system.

The system was sold to the Southern California Water Company in late 1963.

The City of Folsom bought the system on December 1, 1967 at a cost of about $950,000.

Water is provided by the city of Folsom.

References
1857 "Water Works," Oroville Daily Butte Record (Oroville, California), October 10, 1857, Page 2.
Folsom is provided with water works, so says the Dispatch. Hydrants have been placed along the streets, and other precautions against fire.

1859 Daily National Democrat (Marysville, California), November 1, 1859, Page 3.
The Natoma Ditch Company have gone to work to supply the town of Folsom with an abundance of water for the use of the inhabitants, and as a protection against fire.

1869 Resources of the Pacific Slope: A Statistical and Descriptive Summary of the Mines and Minerals, Climate, Topography, Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures, and Miscellaneous Productions, of the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains, by John Ross Browne
Page 196: Notorna Ditch. In 1857 the company purchased 9,000 acres of land, most of it auriferous ground covered by their ditches. Having thus a large amount of land which it becomes important to improve, the company have undertaken to build up a large manufacturing town at Folsom, to which they are about to bring 250,000 inches of water, with a fall of 80 feet. A canal is being cut a mile and a half long; 40 feet wide at the top, 25 at the bottom, and seven feet deep, with a grade of four feet to the mile; and a dam is to be built in the American river, of granite laid in cement, 400 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 57 feet high. The whole work will be finished in 1868, and with its assistance Folsom will become the most important manufacturing town of the coast, next to San Francisco. Water power can be furnished here at one-third the cost of steam, and no other town on the State coast can have power so cheap or so much of it, or so near San Francisco.

1889 "A Good Water System," The Folsom Telegraph, October 26, 1889, Page 3.
Test of new water system.

1891 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Folsom, Sacramento County, California. January 1891

1891 "Folsom," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.

1897 "Folsom," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.

1899 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Folsom, Sacramento County, California. July 1899

1904 "Wooden Pipe to Replace Iron," The Folsom Telegraph, December 17, 1904, Page 2.

1913 History of Sacramento County, California: With Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present, by William Ladd Willis
Pages 346-353: Granite Township

1917 Decisions of the Railroad Commission of the State of California 13:8
In the matter of the application of the Natomas Water Company for an order authorizing the issue of certain promissory notes. April 3, 1917.

1923 Decisions of the Railroad Commission of the State of California 22:809
In the matter of the application of the Natomas Water Company, a corporation, for the ascertainment of the state of California of the value of its property, and for an order of the Railroad Commission fixing a just and reasonable schedule of rates and charges for the public services rendered by the said corporation. January 3, 1923.

1960 "Utilities Commission Report on Folsom's Water Supply Operation," The Folsom Telegraph, August 17, 1960, Page 1 | Part 2 |
In 1893 the water system and certain lands were transferred to the Natoma Vineyard Company, which in turn was transferred to the Natoma Development Company in 1907. In December, 1908 Natomas Consolidated Company, now known as Natomas Company of California, acquired these properties, and in March, 1912 formed a subsidiary company, the Natomas Water Company and transferred the water system to the new corporation.

1963 "Natomas Company Confirms Water System For Sale," The Folsom Telegraph, October 31, 1963, Page 1.

1964 "Water Company Era Ends After Life of 113 Years," The Folsom Telegraph, October 1, 1964, Page 10.
Sold to a southern California concern.

1967 "City Will Assume Water System Ownership Friday," The Folsom Telegraph, November 30, 1967, Page 1.
Formerly owned by the Southern California Water Company. Sale price about $950,000.

1983 "Water Rights during the California Gold Rush: Conflicts over Economic Points of View," by Douglas R. Littlefield, Western Historical Quarterly 14(4):415-434 (October, 1983)