Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Folsom Prison
Rifle Range
Soldiers
from McClellen Field firing Remington-Eddystone M1917 .30 caliber
rifles at the Folsom Prison Rifle Range
For several years Folsom State Prison
maintained an outdoor pistol and rifle range just east of the
prison and the staff housing area. The Corps of Engineers Real
Estate Map indicates that the US Army took formal possiion of
the range in 1943 as per Corps of Engineers Real Estate Acquisition
Authorization RE-D773 dated 10 April 1942. Contol of 40 acres
of land were permitted to the US Army by the State Board of Prison
Directors on 1 October 1943.
However, there is evidence that the Army
was using the site before the start of the war. The 2 October
1941 edition of the Torrance Herald stated in an article
titled, Army Using Prison Pistol, Rifle Ranges:
Warden Clyde Plummer of Folsom Prison
today revealed that officers and enlisted men at McClellan Field
near Sacramento are using the prison pistol and rifle ranges
to improve
their marksmanship.
The Army Corps of Engineers documentation
show that the permit was still in effect as late as 1949. It
is not known when the permit was terminated. The area in which
the range existed is now been built over by the California State
Prison, Sacramento.
Corps of Engineers Real Estate
Map
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