# @sachistorymuseum on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DeC020ChKpS
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/71158531-sachistorymuseum-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/f3c6925c4d.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-10-03T19:39:47.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Sacramento History Museum (@sachistorymuseum) — https://gondola.cc/sachistorymuseum

## Caption

On October 3, 1849, the bark “La Grange” arrived in Sacramento City. The La Grange, owned by the Salem and California Mining and Trading Expedition, left Massachusetts with 61 men in March 1849 bound for California during the Gold Rush. Upon its arrival in Sacramento City, it was moored (secured) near the foot of I Street on the Sacramento River. It was soon purchased by Sacramento County officials to be used as a “prison brig.” In preparation for its new role, the ship’s masts were removed and cells were built in its hold.

Sacramento City lacked having adequate facilities and formal jails for holding prisoners. Ships served as a solution to the jail problem. The prison ship was neither secure, nor humane, during its service. Sanitary conditions were horrid. Perpetrators of the Squatters Riot on August 14, 1850 were later imprisoned aboard the La Grange. 

The La Grange was the third and last ship to be used as a jail in Sacramento, but it served as a jail from June 1850 until November 1859 when it sank during a flood. All 33 prisoners survived the flood and were relocated to the city’s station house. The ship sank during the flood but was later salvaged and sold to T. A. Talbot, who scrapped it for parts. 

Reproduction of a photograph of the bark La Grange in the late 1850s, courtesy of the California State Library. 

#OnThisDay #TodayInHistory #sacramento #sachistorymuseum

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## Credits

No public credits are recorded here. This does not identify who made the post.

## Tags

sacramento, todayinhistory, onthisday, sachistorymuseum

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