Eighteen years or more ago, I was out exploring with my children and we came across something unusual. We were driving along the Sacramento River when I saw a wide, inviting bridge out to a ship-like structure in the middle of the river. We had seen the structure while swimming in the river on the other side, and wanted to know more about it. There were a couple of parking spaces, so we parked and walked over the bridge.
What we found was the Sacramento River Water Intake Structure, a facility that pumps water out of the river for the City of Sacramento. It was open to the public. We went in it and were able to explore the station. There were wide, well-lit stairways up and down. Everything was brightly painted. You could see and appreciate the mechanical industrial design wrapped in a visually stunning architectural design.
We tried to go back several times, but there was never parking anywhere close and there seemed to be a lot of construction going on. We weren’t averse to walking, but it was kind of rough terrain with no sidewalks.
As it turns out, during my extremely brief stay in Sacramento yesterday, I was practically across the street from the structure. I walked over and discovered that the adjacent PG&E Powerhouse — abandoned since the early 1960’s — has been turned into the Museum of Science and Curiosity and the area in front of the water intake has been developed into the Robert Matsui Park. All very nice, but the Structure itself is gated off, as you can see above, and the gates are topped with razor spikes and a sign warns that it is a federal offense to trespass. Presumably, it was considered too dangerous to allow public access to this bit of critical infrastructure. It’s sad, as it was one of my more fun discoveries when exploring with my children.
—2p