The Mercury Mine That Built a Boomtown Near San Jose

Bay Curious

KQED

Places & Travel, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Before Silicon Valley, before the Valley of Heart’s Delight, the hills south of San Jose were home to one of the world’s richest mercury mines: New Almaden. Its quicksilver powered the California Gold Rush, but today, few traces of those boom boom days remain, other than the toxic legacy still circulating in the San Francisco Bay. In today's episode we answer three listener questions about the mine and it's history. Additional Resources: New Almaden: The Mercury Mine That Built a Boomtown South of San José Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcastsThis story was reported by Rachael Myrow. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:24.5	Whether it's everyone at yours for a Sunday roast or after-school sausage and mash.
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0:32.4	One thing brings it all together.
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0:45.4	When the gravy makes the dish, make the gravy.
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0:51.2	From KQED.
0:53.6	This story starts with three things that don't seem like they belong together.
0:58.8	Cornish miners, mercury poisoning, and Abraham Lincoln.
1:03.4	They are, however, all connected to a mine in the foothills south of San Jose.
1:07.8	We're talking about the Almaden Quicksilver mine.
1:12.9	Its glory days are long gone,
1:18.9	and so Bay Curious gets a lot of questions about it. KQaeda's Rachel Myro knows all sorts of things South Bay, so we called her up to answer some of those questions. Hey, Rachel. Hey, Olivia.
1:24.3	So the Almaden Quicksilver Mine sits in what is today, Almaden Quicksilver County Park.
1:29.7	I visited some years ago and I remember a sprawling park with rolling hills. I think I went in the
1:35.7	summertime so it was very, very hot and quite dry. But I can't say I remember the mine.
	...

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