Almaden Quicksilver County Park
Encyclopedia
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
that includes the grounds of former mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
("quicksilver") mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
s adjacent to south San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The park's elevation
Elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....
varies greatly: the most used entrances (on the east side of the park) are less than 600 feet (183 m) above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
, while the highest point in the park is over 1,700 feet (518 m) above sea level.
The park is owned and managed by the County of Santa Clara and its grounds also include the Guadalupe Reservoir
Guadalupe Reservoir
Guadalupe Reservoir is a reservoir in Santa Clara County, California, about east of the city of San Jose, California. It is at an elevation of . It has a capacity of . The dam is located on the Guadalupe River adjacent to Hicks Road...
; adjacent to park is the Almaden Reservoir
Almaden Reservoir
Almaden Reservoir is an artificial lake in the hills south of San Jose, California, U.S.A.. It borders on Almaden Quicksilver County Park.The lake is formed by Almaden Dam, built in 1936 across Los Alamitos Creek. and its waters reach the San Francisco Bay by way of the Guadalupe River.- Almaden...
. The Casa Grande Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum is located in nearby New Almaden
New Almaden
The New Almaden quicksilver mine in the Santa Teresa Hills in Santa Clara County, California, United States, is the oldest and most productive quicksilver mine in the U.S. The site was known to the Ohlone Indians for its cinnabar long before a Mexican settler discovered the ores in 1820...
.
History of the property
The park's New Almaden Mines were in operation from 1847 to 1976. The mines were highly important during the California Gold RushCalifornia Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
, since mercury was used to extract gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
from ore
Ore
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....
. By the time Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
bought the mines in 1976 and ended operations, 83,974,076 pounds (37,388 metric tons) of mercury (worth more than US$70 million) had been extracted.
The remains of a variety of structures left over from the 135 years of mining activity, including housing for the up to 1,800 miners, are scattered about the park, with the biggest concentration at what was known as English Camp, established by Cornish
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
miners in the 1860s. Some structures were built later by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
and there is a memorial honoring the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
s that were stationed there for a time.
Conversion from mines to park
In the period 1976 to 1978 the county developed a number of new large parks in rapid succession including Grant Ranch ParkGrant Ranch Park
Grant Ranch Park is the largest park in Santa Clara County, California, USA. Also known as Joseph D. Grant County Park, this site is situated in the eastern foothills of Santa Clara Valley....
, Sanborn Park
Sanborn Park
Sanborn Park is a public park situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains owned and managed by the county of Santa Clara, California. The park, originally named Sanborn-Skyline County Park is also known as Sanborn Skyline Park or Sanborn County Park. The holding is heavily forested and offers hiking...
and Almaden Quicksilver County Park. Very soon after buying the mining property in 1976, Santa Clara County began planning for park usage, in an era where the county parks program was aggressively expanding.
The county parks director envisioned a historic park where visitors could experience the mining past and also enjoy the biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
of the natural setting. Facilities plans were created and an Environmental Impact Report was prepared.
Principal issues assessed in the park proposal were:
- biological impacts upon habitat by park users
- water quality impacts to creeks draining the watershed
- visual and drainage impacts of road improvements
- historical analysis of mine usage
See also
- Shaft miningShaft miningShaft mining or shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom....
- Surface runoffSurface runoffSurface runoff is the water flow that occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, meltwater, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle. Runoff that occurs on surfaces before reaching a channel is also called a nonpoint source...
- New Almaden town and quicksilver minesNew AlmadenThe New Almaden quicksilver mine in the Santa Teresa Hills in Santa Clara County, California, United States, is the oldest and most productive quicksilver mine in the U.S. The site was known to the Ohlone Indians for its cinnabar long before a Mexican settler discovered the ores in 1820...