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by Robert W. Piwarzyk
Copyright 1997 Robert W. Piwarzyk
[Editor's notes: This article on the New Almaden
Quicksilver Mines is
reprinted with the permission of the author and the Journal
of the
International Brick Collectors Association.
The tour was organized with help from William Burr, Park
Ranger with
the County of Santa Clara. Ranger Burr was able to get
Mike Cox to lead
our tour of this park. Mike is an environmental engineer
who is intimately
familiar with this park since the County contracted with
him to understand
how to remediate the large amounts of mercury contamination
within the
park.]
Members of the Samuel Knight Chapter of SIA visited this
historical site on
Saturday, 3 August 1997, and were led on a very informative
tour by
geologist and park volunteer Mike Cox.
Background and history were presented at the "Hacienda"
site of the
Reductions Works, and proceeded up the mountain by vehicle
to various
mine shafts. The Buena Vista Shaft with foundations of
granite, shipped
from the Sierra, for mounting the Cornish pump; and the
Powder House,
rebuilt after collapse in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake,
were particularly
interesting.
The story of the quicksilver mines began before European
contact. In their
explorations of the east slopes of the coastal range, on
the south end of the
San Francisco Bay, the Spaniards found the Ohlones, the
native people,
adorned in body paint they called mohetka. This was made
from a
vermilion-colored rock, which they ground up and applied to
ward off
evil.
Secundino Robles was the first Spaniard to discover the
source of the red
rock. In 1824, he shared his knowledge with Antonio Sunol
and Luis
Chabolla. Like Robles, they were looking for gold or
silver and did not
know enough about minerals to recognize the real bonanza.
Captain Andres Castillero, a graduate of the College of
Mines in Mexico
City, came to Mission Santa Clara in 1845. Trained in
geology, chemistry,
and metallurgy he was eager to gain fortune and fame. As
an incentive the
Mexican government had offered $100,000 for the discovery
of mineral
riches. He too was hoping for gold or silver, but pieces of
red rock
gathered at the mission reminded him of a similar kind he
had seen back
home in La Mancha, Spain, at the quicksilver mines.
Crushing the rock, he
then "cooked" some fine particles on a piece of floor tile,
and collected
little globules of liquid silver condensed from the vapors
onto a glass, thus
proving it was cinnabar, the ore of mercury.
Ohlones from the mission guided him to the source, and
after more tests,
Castillero filed a claim at Pueblo San Jose, twelve miles
to the north. "I'm
rich!" he told everyone, as he knew Spain was choking the
Mexican
economy by denying mercury to get even for the revolution
and that news
of his discovery would be most welcome. Realizing the need
for money to
develop the site, he returned to Mexico to seek financing .
His services as
Captain in the Mexican Calvary were needed there as the
Mexican-
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