Archive Record
Images
Additional Images [6]
Metadata
Catalog number |
1997.2.2590 |
Object Name |
Newsletter |
Date |
1988 |
Description |
TITLE: Quicksilver County Park News SUBTITLE: Newsletter of the New Almaden Quicksilver County Park Association Issue # 17 July 1988 QUICKSILVER COUNTY PARK NEWS Newsletter of the New Almaden Quicksilver County Park Association ISSUE #17 JULY, 1988 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE: You ask, "How is the museum going?" Terrific. Since opening in May of 1987 we have had 1,021 visitors. Most of these are from the Silicon Valley area but we have registered tourists from 45 different cities in California, 14 different states and 5 different countries. The response is so great that we are presently writing a grant request to I. B. M. to help us with financing support for a full-time director so that we can lengthen the open time on Saturday and increase the open days to 5 days a week to accommodate school children during the school year and summer school next summer. Tours in the restricted area of the Park are conducted almost every Saturday (by request) and then return to tour the Museum. You also ask "When will construction begin on the Mine office at the reduction site for the permanent Museum?" Not terrific !!!. The county has put the study out to bid, so the directive of having the study completed during the month of August will have to wait until next August, 1989. That means we have been put off since 1985 in having an August sampling of the "air" around the site. At the printing of this newsletter, the bids will be in and the selection process will begin, but too late for August 1988. To date, July 1988, $160,995 has been spent on this issue. This was taken from the Museum Construction, Park Ranger Residence and Toxic Mitigation Money. You ask "What was this $160,995 used for?" The answer perhaps will be forthcoming at an important August meeting. On Wednesday, August 24th, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. at the Casa Grande, we will. hold a general meeting with the Association membership, New Almaden Community Club, Almaden residents and general public on: 1. The toxic issue 2. Open Space District vote 3. Fire danger in the park 4. City Council race, Head vs. Minutillo; and 5. Other issues that may concern us Representatives from the State, County and local entities will be on hand to discuss issues and answer questions. Join us on August 24th for wine tasting-cheek and crackers, new video's put together by your Association and answers to today's timely topics. KITTY MONAHAN ***ISSUE ALERT*** If you care about Santa Clara County's open spaces -- its green hillsides, fertile farmlands, lush creek corridors, and wetlands teeming with life -- you need to contact your State Assembly member and the Governor THIS MONTH! This August, the California State Assembly and Governor Deukmejian will decide the fate of Senate Bill 2581 , legislation critical to preserving south and east Santa Clara County's open spaces. What they decide may well depend on whether they hear from you. What is SB 2581? SB 2581, authored by Senator Henry Mello (D-Gilroy) and already passed by the State Senate, would allow voters in south and east Santa Clara County to decide in a June 1989 election whether they would be willing to pay roughly $25 per parcel per year to acquire threatened open space lands The acquired lands would be open to all of us for low impact recreational uses such as picnicking, hiking, horseback riding and bicycling. Sound simple? it ,:But unless SB 2581 passes, local officials have no authority to put this proposal on the ballot in June And we the voters lose a unique opportunity to save our open spaces. SB 2581 may fail if Sacramento doesn't hear from you. Please take just five minutes to call or write to your State Assembly member and the Governor THIS MONTH in support of SB 2581 Tell them why you want to see Santa Clara County's open spaces preserved Addresses, phone numbers and a map to help you identify your Assembly member are on the other side of this alert. Santa Clara County Assembly members who have not yet signed on as co-sponsors of SB 2581 are I listed in bold face on the other side of this alert THEY NEED TO KNOW THAT WITHOUT THEIR SPONSORSHIP AND ACTIVE SUPPORT, SB 2581 WILL FAIL. Even if the bill passes the Assembly, the Governor will probably veto it unless he sees broad bi-partisan support for it among our county's legislators. Co-sponsors are listed in normal type THEY NEED YOUR THANKS AND ENCOURAGEMENT TO CONVINCE THEIR COLLEAGUES TO SUPPORT THE BILL. Why is SB 2581 important? * South and east Santa Clara County have no permanent, stable source of funding for open space or preservation. SB 2581 Is the first step In providing that funding. Pressures to develop the Coyote Valley and the foothills of San Jose, Milpitas, Morgan Hill and Gilroy are intense. We need an open space preservation program to balance these pressures. The kind of proposal that SB 2581 would put before the voters has been proven successful Southern San Mateo; and north western Santa Clara counties, the East Bay, and Marin and Monterey counties all have successful open space preservation programs modeled along the same lines. * SB 2581 has garnered a diverse base of community support. In addition to the Santa Clara County Greenbelt Coalition, among the groups endorsing SB 2581 are the local chapters s of the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society, the County Board of Supervisors, Farm Bureau, Manufacturing group and Chamber of Commence, and the City Councils of Gilroy, Milpitas, Morgan Hill, San Jose and Santa Clara. STATE LEGISLATORS FOR SANTA CLARA COUNTY The address for a letter to any member of the legislature at his or her Sacramento office is: The Honorable Jane Doe. State Capitol, Sacramento CA DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION Following is the organizational setup for County Parks and Recreation. Each person contributes to your enjoyment of Quicksilver Park as well as the other county parks. 1. Doug Gaynor - Director 2. Dave Eakin - Deputy Director of Operations. Tom Smith - summer assistant to Mr. Eakin 3. Ray Garcia - Regional Park Manager of all south county units. 4. Ben Ascenza - has been promoted to Park Manager of these units: Calero Anderson Coyote-Hellyer 5. Dennis Besson - in charge of permanent rangers in field at Calero. Bill Burr. Allan Wiegman John Goldsworthy Seasonal Park Rangers at the Calero Unit Jose Castillo - mainly at Quicksilver Sharon Woehl - mainly at Cottle and Calero Dan Scamarra - Santa Teresa Weekends Jeff Howard - patrol boat at Calero All have returned after Working here previously Check station at Calero Luana Ransier Carol Joroshi First year for these two West Valley College students. Life guards at Calero Chris Circuit Damon Borgnino Jens Rasmussen All are returning NOTE: Calero Reservoir is open 7 days, a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., for swimming. Permanent maintenance Bob Denis - Maintenance Supervisor Bill Donhardt Kip Thomas Santos Montez Seasonal maintenance Ryan Okashima - works at any unit through Calero. Oakland Tribune OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, SUNDAY, MAY 3, 1953 Nine players and a mascott composed the first uniformed Cinnabars baseball team in 1894. Games were played at the Hacienda School grounds with visiting teams from surrounding townships. (Milton Lanyon photo collection) Earlier baseball Play ball! That call returned through Alamitos Canyon in New Almaden, Santa Clara, County 62 years ago when the Cinnabar, (cinnabar is the native ore of mercury) of the New Almaden quicksilver mines played a baseball game with the San Jose tram, then a member of the California League. Laurence E. Bulmore tells me: "The young men of New Almaden organized a uniformed baseball team in 1890 and their uniforms were white shirts with the word Cinnabar across the front in blue, dark blue padded short pants, white socks, and a round flat top white cap. Mr. Robert R. Bulmore, one of the officials of the Quicksilver Mining Co., was a baseball fan and a personal friend of Duke Finn, manager of the San Jose team, who often visited the mines. On one of these visits the two men talked baseball and Mr. Bulmore suggested that the two teams have a game. His idea was that such a game would be good experience for the Cinnabar and would stimulate interest in the team. Mr. Finn concurred and a game was arranged. The exact date of the game is not recalled, even by the few still living who witnessed it, but it was during the summer of 1891 and in the lineup were the following: San Jose-Nick Lookabough, George Harper, George Stallings. Charles Dooly, Blockers Hanly, Buck Ebright, Bill Everett, Cal McVey, Chic Speers, Joe McGucken. Cinnabars-Nick Robles, Jinn Fiedler. George Bulmore, Bud McCracken Al Acevedo, Jack Carr, Dave Bulmore. Herman Skinner, Cuyee Mercado Tommy Ynostrosa." In gathering statistics for the grant proposal, it was found that over the last five years 10,072 volunteer hours have been given in pursuit of the Association's goals. A partial breakdown of these volunteer hours is as follows: Museum operation for 1 year 672 Casa Grande program and Museum tours 240 Cleaning and organizing artifacts, Museum 360 Brochure 300 Park tours (30) 3,000 Liaison with Parks Commission 216 Newsletter 960 Pioneer Days (5) 800 Trail Days (3) 525 Traveling display 800 Guide Book 150 If each Association member volunteered one hour one Saturday once a year, there would be enough volunteers to keep the Museum open 4 and possibly 5 hours each Saturday for a year. In this way, the burden of keeping the Museum Open would not fall on the shoulders of a few and each one of you would be a part of a great cooperative effort. DONATIONS In the last three months two people have contributed some very fine artifacts to the Museum. Glen Guttormsen brought in many things which had been collected in the Senator Mine area including a buck saw, two large bottles and an ink bottle that still has its squeeze top intact. He also gave us a large collection of old photos including the one of Mercuryville. Just this month Cathy Carpenter donated her collection of old irons and old cameras. Among the interesting irons arc two tiny cuff. and collar irons and a billiard table iron, the heaviest. Of the cameras, a 4 x 5 Kodak bellows camera is the most interesting. Thank you Glen and Cathy for your donations. CALENDAR OF EVENTS Saturday, July 23, 10:30 a.m. - Museum docent traininq program by Peggy. Saturday, July 30, 6:00 p.m. - Full Moon Barbeque at the Reduction Works. A $5.00 fee will cover all the ribs and soft drinks/beer you can handle. Bring with you either a salad or a desert to share with six people. Thursday, August 4, 1:00-3:30 p.m. - Leninger Center meeting to discuss the special contract competitive grant program applications available through Proposition 70 grant monies. Wednesday, August 24, 6:00-9:00 p.m. - Cracker Barrel Community meeting at Club Almaden. Wine tasting and cheese and crackers and discussion of vital issues: Toxicity of Quicksilver Park Open Space Authority Fire danger throughout the county City Council candidates for Almaden Valley Saturday, September 24, 11:00 a.m. on---New Almaden Days. Saturday, October 8, 1988 r1.0n.... . Pioneer Day , in Englishtown During the Santa Clara County Fair volunteers will be needed to help staff the County Parks and Recreation booth. Volunteers will receive free admission to the Fair. For information and volunteering call: 268-1729 or 268-6591. NEWS FROM THE POST OFFICE A beautiful new 25 cent Love stamp with a lovely rose is for sale now. Or, you may wish to take advantage of "Stamps by Mail." Call Agnes at 268-7730, ask her to send you an order blank which tells you what stamps are available, fill out your order, enclose a check and send it back to Agnes. She will mail your stamps to you and you'll find out how pleasant buying stamps can be. Agnes Yuseff MINE HILL by Patricia Loomis From 1971 to 1981 Pat wrote a weekly article for the San Jose News about an historic street or place in the county. The following article is ten years old: Wild oats race the wind on the ridges and only the drone of a plane disturbs the quiet in the old graveyards. A patch of prickly pear and a giant white banksia rose hanging over the trail are scant evidence of Englishtown and Spanishtown where miners and their families lived in little cottages hugging the mountainside. It'll be a while before the historic old Mine Hill part of the county's Almaden Quicksilver Park is open to the public because county parks people are still working on the overall plan to operate the park, insure the safety of those who visit it, and protect its historical, geological and botanical aspects. Currently 14 miles of marked trails through the brushy hills are open to hikers and horseback riders, but the Mine Hill where Cornish and Mexican miners lived and worked is off limits. Members of San Jose Historian Clyde Arbuckle's Metropolitan Adult Education local history classes recently were given a guided tour of the still-closed areas of the park, including Mine Hill, the furnace buildings, old cemeteries and the still sturdy brick powder house. Arbuckle pointed out the location of many of the old shaft; and the one remaining head frame (derrick) from which the skip (elevator) was operated at the Victoria shaft. The group visited the old cemeteries guarded by slim, dark Italian cypress high on the ridge in the afternoon shadow of Loma Prieta. Wrens and nuthatches and redwinged blackbirds are at home here, and little bouquets of wildflowers the only markers on the old graves. The old cottages are gone, but the weathered wooden school building that served Englishtown leans against the hill across from the roofless remains of the brick store where merchandise was bought with company scrip. A rusted iron door hangs partly open on the red brick powder house with its wooden roof to protect its stored explosives from the hot summer sun. Inside the empty room the barrel vaulted (arched) brick of the ceiling makes a pattern in the shadows. A wood rat has its home in the 40-ton rotary furnace whose rusting structure climbs the steep western slope of Mine hill, honeycombed in its dark depth by 114 miles of workings. New Almaden, discovered 27 months before gold was found in the tailrace at Sutter's Mill, became the richest single mine in California and broke the European monopoly. It contributed to the success of the West's great gold and silver mines in the following decades. The life of the mines winked out with the discovery of other mines and a decline in the price of the silvery liquid. The Cornish and Mexican miners left the hill to look for new jobs. Time and weather and vandals have almost succeeded in erasing the last vestiges of the Mine Hill communities, but perhaps the little that remains will now be protected and preserved as a county facility. San Jose Mercury News May 26, 1978 July I6, 1988 Ten years Later, Clyde Arbuckle Led a tour through New Almaden Quicksilver Park. Say ditto to the entire article above. POWDER HOUSE IN QUICKSILVER PARK NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING TRAILS AND SPECIAL DISTRICTS CRITERIA The Department of Parks and Recreation has scheduled public hearings to receive comments on the Trails and Special Districts criteria, as required by Proposition 70, which was recently adopted by the voters. The morning session will be reserved to discuss the criteria for the trails program from 9:30 a.m. to noon. The afternoon session will be to discuss the criteria for the special district competitive grant program from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. At the beginning of each session there will be a general discussion on Proposition 70 grant programs. Date Time Location NORTH: Afternoon Session: Leninger Center (Kelly Park) August 4, 1988 1:00 a.m.. 1300 Senter Road Thursday to 3:30 p.m. San ,Tore, CA 95112 Can you tell us where Mercuryville is, what happened there and who these people are? MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION / MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL FORM Date: Membership: new renewal Name: Address: City: State: Zip: Phone: (area code:-) Dues: $10 per year per household, tax deductible f Additional tax deductible contribution f Total amount enclosed Checks may be made payable to "Quicksilver Park Assn." N.B. Please examine your mailing label. Your dues are paid through the year shown on the upper right hand corner of the label. Dues are payable now through the month of January. VOLUNTEER APPLICATION/INTEREST SURVEY: NAME: ADDRESS: PHONE: Areas of Volunteer Service (training to be provided) _ 1. Tour Guide _ 2. Artifact and collection care 3. Special events (e. g. Pioneer Day. General meetings) _ 4. Trail development and maintenance _ 5. Interpretive programs related to: _ Historical resources Natural resources, particularly: Special Skills Information (please give experience/interests): _ 6. Publicity _ 7. Fund raising _ 8. Newsletter typist 9. Volunteer park patrol program _ 10. Speakers' bureau _ 11. Typist/cataloger 12. Naturalist, particularly _ 13. Photography 14. Geology/mining knowledge 15. Other: |
People |
Acevedo, Al Arbuckle, Clyde Bulmore, David Arthur Bulmore, George Carles Bulmore, Laurence (E.) (Emile) Carpenter, Kathy Carr, Jack Fiedler, James Gaynor, Doug Guttormsen, Glen Lanyon, Milton Loomis, Pat (Patricia) McCracken, Bud Mercado, Cruz (Cui) (Mercardo, C.) Monahan, Kitty Robles, Nick Skinner, Herman Ynostrosa, Thos. (Thomas) |
Cataloged by |
Meyer, Bob |