The Evening News. November 20, 1916

43. The Great Discovery

From 1824 till today someone has always worked in the New Almaden mine. It is probably one of the oldest mines in America. For many years it was called the Chaboya mine, although the Chaboyas never owned it. In 1824 Don Luis Chaboya was one of those told of the existence of the mine. By a curious coincidence the only man today living in Mexican Almaden is Clemente Chaboya.

Not till 1845 did the real life of the mine begin. Then the discovery of quicksilver was made, and the Chaboya mine became the New Almaden. The name Almaden comes from the Moorish Al-Maden, and meant "The Mine." Captain Andres Castillero of the Mexican calvary discovered quicksilver in the Almaden.

Castillero was a picturesque adventurer who had studied mining and medicine in Mexico. In 1846 he became a friend of Alvarado and played a political part.

Especially was he connected with unearthing the hidden treasure of California. In 1845 Castillero observed in the Santa Clara river near Los Angeles a species of iron pyrites, usually as an indication of the presence of gold. A ranchero name Lopez heard Castillero's statement and discovered considerable gold in the San Francisquito creek 30 miles from Los Angeles.

Castillero first came on business from Mexico to Sutter's Fort. At Bodaga, near Fort Foss, Castillero met some Indians painted with the tomato-red that they had obtained in the cave of the Chaboya mine. Castillero wondered about that paint. He asked the Indians where they got it. They told him near Santa Clara. They also told him that there was precious treasure in the mine.

Castillero probably was superstitious. Already the name Santa Clara had been the forerunner of the gold discovery in the south. He was a man of great energy. On November 12 he left Sutter's Fort and rode to the Mission Santa Clara. Father Real showed him some of the ore of the mine. It was very heavy, and Castillero pronounced it silver with an alloy of gold. There was great excitement at the Mission.

Castillero began experimenting with the ore. He ordered some of it pulverized by the Indians. He sifted it upon live coals, held in a small, brick tile. When the ore was very hot he took a tumbler full of water and sprinkled it upon the ore and coals. For a few minutes he held an empty tumbler upside down upon the coals. Holding the tumbler to the light, he observed particles of quicksilver in globular form. The baffling secret was out. The New Almaden was discovered.

"My fortune is made," said Castillero to Father Real and Jacob P. Leese, a brother-in-law of General Vallejo. These two men had watched the experiment. "The Mexican government has offered one hundred thousand dollars for the discovery of a quicksilver mine in the Republic of Mexico."

Under the Spanish or Mexican mining laws discovery gives the discoverer the right to the mine, but the right is lost unless the discoverer declares the discovery before a magistrate. Within ninety days from that time he must do the requisite work on his claim. Then unless a person appears with a prior right the mine passes to the discoverer.

Ten days after Castillero arrived at the Santa Clara Mission he went before Pedro Chaboya, Alcalde of San Jose, and declared that he had discovered silver with an alloy of gold on the Berryessa ranch. Twelve days later Castillero returned to the Alcalde and announced that he had found liquid quicksilver. Possession of the mine was given Castillero December 10, 1845, by Antonio Maria Pico, First Alcalde. There was present no juez de detras (professional judge). Antonio Sunol and Jose Noriega were witnesses.

Even before Castillero had his final papers he formed a partnership at the Mission Santa Clara with Don Jose Castro, afterwards General Castro, Secundino and Teodoro Robles and the Reverend Jose Maria del Real.

The Robles were Castillians, but born in Santa Cruz. They had one-quarter interest as did Castillero, Castro and Father Real.

Castillero employed William G. Chard, an American, from Columbia County, New York, to reduce some of the ore. Chard's method was unbelievably crude. He charged a gun barrel with pieces of ore the size of a bean. Then he stopped the vent with clay and put the muzzle in a kettle of water. He built a fire around the base of the gun barrel. The heat drove off the mercury in the form of vapor. This passed to the muzzled end and was condensed in the water. Then it fell to the bottom in the form of liquid metal. Three or four gun barrels were used in the same way at one time. Thus Chard worked for several weeks.

Then Chard obtained six whaler's try-pots, large enough to hold three or four pounds of ore. Three of the pots were inverted over the other three, making a primitive furnace. Chard built a fire around these, and so arranged them that the mercurial vapor was conducted to the water. In this way, although three-quarters of the quicksilver was wasted, he reduced about two thousand pounds.

Chard worked industriously till August 1846. The Mexican war was on. He probably did not find it convenient to remain. He and the Indians left. The work was not renewed until the following spring.

When Fremont passed through San Jose with Kit Carson he visited the New Almaden Mine. He reported to the United Sates Government that it was worth about thirty thousand dollars.

Transcribed by Kitty LaFavor, for the Santa Clara Co. CAGenWeb Project. 2008