New Almaden (Images of America)

By Michael Boulland, Arthur L Boudreault, Arthur Boudeault

Book Overview

In a rocky, wooded canyon south of San Jose lies New Almaden, a settlement that grew near the oldest and richest mine in California. Discovered in 1845, its quicksilver payload was once crucial for gold and silver processing and manufacturing munitions. It produced over $75 million from the deepest network of quicksilver shafts on earth. Diverse laborers populated this thriving town, creating neighborhoods called Hacienda, Englishtown, and Spanishtown, along with the mine manager's stately home, Casa Grande. Although the mines are now closed and the great ore furnace cold, the Casa Grande still stands along with a residential community that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1963.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738531316
• ISBN13: 9780738531311
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing (SC)
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.6" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Best History of New Almaden

The best work available on the historic New Almaden community of San Jose. The rugged topography and long mining settlement history have shaped this area uniquely, which is still evident today. This books tells the story in amazing detail, a priceless resource that is not found elsewhere. The photos, a historical treasure in themselves, are skillfully woven into the text. This book is a truly authentic history work, accurately recording the conditions as they were, uncluttered by revisionist thinking of what they should have been. I was fascinated and inspired by this book. Highly recommended.

Pictorial Delight with great captions

You will spend a lot of time just meditating about each page. I keep going back all day long to read another page. The pictures are great and an explanation is given with each one that makes is very interesting. It gives you a great feel of what it was like to live in the New Almaden area thoroughout the 150 years covered in this book. I enjoyed every page very much. By the way, you can still go to New Almaden and see a lot of the views mentioned in this book.

California History: Easy to see

These authors have put together an easy to read and more to the point, easy to see book. A very informative history lesson about the the small mining town of New Almaden and it's rich mercury mining history mostly told via wonderful pictures circa: 1860, of the people, the area, the creeks and the homes. Also shows the pictures of many of the nineteenth century homes which still exist in New Almaden today. The book is rich in the mining lore with stories of the early characters who kick started the gold and silver processing for the California gold rush with the discovery of vast amounts of cinnabar ore in California. JLJ