The New Almaden Quicksilver Mine in Santa Clara County, California
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The Fuggers of Augsburg, two German bankers, administered the mines during the 16th and 17th centuries in return for loans to the Spanish government.
IBM Almaden Research Center, IBM research laboratory near San Jose, California
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.
In addition to this Jakob Fugger was granted a concession to mine quicksilver and cinnabar in Almadén.
The artwork is a memorial to the siege of Almadén, which then supplied 60 percent of the world's mercury, by General Franco's troops.
In 1835 he secured a contract with the Spanish Government giving him the rights to the Almadén mines in southern Spain, effectively gaining a European mercury monopoly.
After Mexican Independence, he returned to Spain, where, due to his wide experience in modern minery methods, he was appointed Minister of Minery in 1822, and supervised the modern mining of the mines in Almadén, Guadalcanal, and Río Tinto.
Castaño traveled north from Almaden, crossing the Rio Grande near present-day Del Rio, Texas, and reached the Pecos River near what is now Sheffield, Texas.
Historical life at the New Almaden mine was vividly drawn by Mary Hallock Foote, the wife of Arthur DeWint Foote, the Resident Engineer from 1876.