Visited on 3/29/2019 while on a weekend camping trip adventure to the South Bay Area, we camped at Coyote Lake near Gilroy. Jeff and our two Chocolate Labs, Summer and Skye joined us on our adventure of several lakes in the area. On our way to this 62 acre reservoir we explored the small and charming town of New Almaden. The history of this small mining community and the structures that still remain from the mid-1800’s make for a fascinating auto tour. We visited many of the well-marked red and white informational signs explaining about the area. Almaden Reservoir is one of Santa Clara County's six original reservoirs, built in 1935, and is one of 10 current reservoirs operated by the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Able to store 1,590-acre feet of water, the reservoir, located 12 mile south of San Jose, produces about 4 percent of the district's local water supply and also provides water for groundwater recharge.
Its accompanying earth
fill dam stands 110-feet tall with a crest of about 500-feet. Subject to safety
regulations by the State Division of Safety and Dams (DSOD), Almaden Dam is
currently considered a high-hazard dam due to the number of people who live in
the potential flood zone downstream and the extensive amount of damage that a
flood could cause in case of a dam breach.
The
town of New Almaden was a company owned community owned and the quicksilver
mine located in the Capitancillas range, is the oldest and most productive
quicksilver (i.e., mercury) mine in the United States. The
site was known to the indigenous Ohlone Indians for its cinnabar long before a
Mexican settler became aware of the ores in 1820. By the time they were
identified as mercury, the mine was perfectly timed to supply the California
Gold Rush. The mine ran intermittently through 1927 and eventually closed. It was purchased by the county and is now part
of Almaden Quicksilver County Park.
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