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 Rush, since mercury was used to extract gold from ore. By the time Santa Clara County 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 miners in the 1860s. Some structures were built later by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and there is a memorial honoring the Civilian Conservation Corps firefighters that were stationed there for a time.
Read more about this topic: Almaden Quicksilver County Park
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