Throughout May, FOX40 is celebrating the United States ahead of the country’s 250th birthday by spotlighting some of the most influential moments in Northern California history.
On July 13, 1895, a switch flipped in American history as electricity flowed through copper cables at the Folsom Powerhouse and traveled 22 miles to Sacramento.
“This was the first place to transmit commercial three-phase 60 cycle power long distance,” California State Parks interpreter Zakary Adams told FOX40. “What’s important about that it is the kind of electricity that we use to run along our big power lines today. This was the first plant to prove that you could do something like this at this scale.”…