Almaden Quicksilver County Park

Almaden Quicksilver County Park is a 4,163 acres (17 km²) park that includes the grounds of former mercury ("quicksilver") mines adjacent to south San Jose, California, USA. The park's elevation varies greatly: the most used entrances (on the east side of the park) are less than 600 feet (183 m) above sea level, while the highest point in the park is over 1,700 feet (518 m) above sea level.

The park is owned by the County of Santa Clara and managed by the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department. Its grounds include the Guadalupe Reservoir and features sweeping views of San Jose. Adjacent to the park is the Almaden Reservoir. The Casa Grande Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum is located in nearby New Almaden. The park is named after the New Almaden Quicksilver Mines, which were named after the mercury mine in (old) Almadén, Spain, and produced mercury that was used to process ore during the Gold Rush.

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.

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