New Almaden Community Center
The 25th annual Pioneer Day at
Almaden
Quicksilver was held on Saturday October 12, 2007. It was originally
supposed to be held at the Santa Isabel Shafthouse site, where a new
interpretive plaque was to be dedicated, but rain the
night before made the trails too wet for vans to go up there in the
morning. Instead, the event was moved to the Almaden Community Center,
where
there was a luncheon, raffle, and a presentation on characters from New
Almaden's past.
The Santa Isabel Shaft site is located on the Santa Isabel Trail, west
of the Buena Vista Shaft site, which is on the Randol Trail. The Santa
Isabel Shaft was started in 1877. It was named after mine manager J. B.
Randol's 5-year-old daughter Elizabeth (Isabel is Spanish for
Elizabeth). It was built 1300 feet from the Randol Shaft and was
intended to supplement it. It was 1580 feet deep and had a tunnel
connecting it to the Randol Shaft. In 1883, 1018 tons of ore were
brought up the shaft.
Volunteers had a booth setup at the Hacienda
staging area and sold tickets to the event.
A raffle was held at the Community Center
Boxed lunches were prepared by
Becky and Nancy Mapes. They consisted of a Spanish empinada pasty,
orange slices, a cupcake brownie,
and ice cream. The boxes were sealed with a picture of the Santa Isabel
Shafthouse, made by Lisa Blakesly. Enjoying lunch above
is Ranger Paula Burgemeister, who is talking to Chuck
Rich, a former
Almaden miner.
Above, Dorene Boulland is reading a raffle number after winning a prize.
Pen and ink artist Jim Campbell showed his drawings of historical
sites.
Virginia Hammerness introduced the
presentation of the characters of New
Almaden. At the far left is Shari Sullivan dressed as Elizabeth Randol.
She talked about what it was like to grow up in New Almaden.
Mike Boulland, dressed in a Mexican officer's uniform, portrayed Don
Jose Reyes Berryessa, owner of Rancho San Vicente.
Bob Meyer played the part of early
mine manager Captain Henry Halleck. Vance
Pranger (center) portrayed an intinerant preacher. Dutch Mapes is on
the right playing a cowboy rounding up cattle fed on the hills
of New Almaden..
Jeanne Carevic, dressed as an Ohlone Indian woman, talked about the
life of the Indians.
Robbie Lamons drawing a raffle ticket.
Peggy Melbourne checking her raffle tickets.
Mike Cox (center in the hat)
talked about the history of the Santa Isabel mine. He worked on the
closure of the mine shafts and tunnels after Almaden Quicksilver was
purchased by the county as a county park.
Table place settings were made by Peggy Melbourne and Robbie Lamons.
They were models of the Santa Isabel shafthouse.
Videos
These are 30-second snippets of
the talks that were given. These are AVI files, about 4.2MB each.
After the luncheon, Ranger Paula
checked out the trails and found they
were dry enough for vans to go up to the Santa Isabel site for the
dedication ceremony.
Go to Page 2: Santa
Isabel
Shaft Dedication
Created 10/31/07 by Ronald
Horii