For generations the Ohlone Indians followed the path along Alamitos Creek to find cinnabar in a cave in the nearby hills, trading the mineral, using it in religious ceremonies, and decorating their bodies with it. Quicksilver, another name for mercury and the end product of processing cinnabar, was important in the amalgamation of gold, silver, and other precious metals, and the Rothschilds, owners of the Almaden mines in Spain, held a monopoly on quicksilver and controlled its world price. In 1845 Captain Andres Castillero, a Mexican soldier, diplomat, and scholar sent to Alta California on a mission to Sutter’s Fort, returned to Mission Santa Clara after failed meetings with Sutter and noticed red paint in the mission church artwork and on the bodies of the Ohlones. Recognizing the color as probably cinnabar or silver, he tested the ore, confirmed it was cinnabar, and was taken by Indians to its source. He filed a denouncement on 3,000 vara of land around the cave mouth, at the site that became the richest mine in California and the largest quicksilver mining area in the Americas. Castillero’s recognition of cinnabar ore helped break the Rothschilds’ quicksilver monopoly. Twenty-eight months later, the discovery of gold sparked the great overland migration to California, and miners soon realized they needed quicksilver to amalgamate with gold. The community of New Almaden became an integral part of the gold rush because its quicksilver was readily available and inexpensive to ship to the Mother Lode. Wagons loaded with flasks traveled to the port of Alviso, where the flasks were shipped to San Francisco for worldwide distribution, and this local source of quicksilver made mining lucrative for gold miners. By 1865 life on Mine Hill was wild and dangerous, with criminals including Tiburico Vasquez hiding out, drinking rampant, and shootings common. To control the criminal element, mine manager Samuel F. Butterworth built a toll gate at the entrance to the Hacienda Mine works at the narrows of the canyon where Almaden Road and Almaden Way meet. The toll collector lived in the far apartment, collecting tolls and inspecting wagons, and residents of Mine Hill were not allowed to bring in alcohol and guns and were fined if caught with unacceptable goods. Over the years the three apartments were rented to a number of Californios, including Berryessas and Narvaezes, descendants of members of the 1776 Anza expedition; Frank Lewis, son-in-law of James Frazier Reed and husband of Patty Reed of the Donner Party, was a tenant in 1866; and Antonio Soto, a Mutsun Indian, lived there in 1880. The story of New Almaden’s quicksilver and the overland pioneers’ dreams of a better life became a rewarding and tragic human experience that helped settle the Santa Clara Valley, California, and the American West.
