October 19, 2006

Remembering SpanishTown

Interpretive sign dedicated at Quicksilver Park as
Pioneer Day 2006 celebrates days gone by

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

A partly cloudy Indian summer day set the stage last Saturday for ancestors, friends, park personnel and volunteers to celebrate Spanishtown’s mining history and dedicate a new interpretive plaque at the New Almaden Quicksilver Park.

SCCPRD park interpreter Terri Sanislo-Williams unveiled the new plaque marking historic SpanishTown in the New Almaden Quicksilver Park. Left standing: NAQCPA members Mike Boulland, Art Boudreault, Sanislo-Williams with the young Mexican dancers. Photo by Jeanne Carbone Lewis

Orchestrated by Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department and New Almaden Quicksilver County Park Association volunteers, the event included ancestors reminiscing about living on the hill under the gaze of Mt. Umhunhum.

Nearby is the Hildalgo Cemetery, one of two graveyards where many of the miners and their families were laid to rest, the schoolhouse and home sites long ago surrounded by cactus brought from Mexico. The wood buildings are long gone through the ravages of time, but the pioneering spirit remains in those who celebrated Pioneer Day 2006 approximately 3 uphill miles from the Hacienda on Almaden Road.

“People are looking for Hispanic [history] for their kids to follow,” said NAQCPA member Mike Boulland. “It’s all here in SpanishTown. Life here was a community with miners, doctors, lawyers, priests with names like Espinoza and Bernal.”

Yesterday
Established in 1845, Spanishtown was New Almaden’s first mining settlement. The community consisted of Indians, Californians and immigrants from Peru, Argentina and Mexico. In 1850, Mine Hill’s Main Tunnel was built approximately 200 feet below the surface. And on Pioneer Day, SpanishTown ancestors shared their stories of what life was like on the hill with the 2,000 residents who once called the picturesque area their home.

“My grandfather was a miner here,” said retired San Jose State University Professor Leonard Espinosa, who is a fifth-generation descendent. “Mexicans came from Sonora, Mexico with determination, courage in the face of danger and a willingness to work hard. I came up here when my father worked here in 1938 and 1939 and I ran around like a wild Indian.”

Some hardy souls made the three-mile plus trek on horseback from New Almaden to Spanishtown. Photos by Jeanne Carbone Lewis

Espinosa said that his grandmother was born in SpanishTown in 1878 and when she was asked where she was born she would reply, “New Almaden…and proud of it!” His grandfather drove ore wagons to the mine furnaces for 40 years and even had a heart attack after driving a team of horses down the hill where he fell into a water trough. Espinosa’s mother was also born on the hill, and was a cook at Casa Grande and his aunt ran the boarding house for single miners.

Spaniards, Mexicans and Chileans came for the secure mining employment and the community grew from the original 300 men employed in 1851 who toiled long hours with “no machinery only human muscle.” With blasting, picks and shovels, the miners carried the 150 to 200 pound loads down the hill 30 to 40 trips a day. The life expectancy for men was only 45 years.

And it was a good place for desperados to hide—miles away from downtown San Jose. Espinosa shared a story he heard as a child of two bandits having a gunfight to the death who are buried on the road between SpanishTown’s Hildalgo and Guadalupe cemeteries.

SpanishTown holiday celebrations like Cinco de Mayo were celebrated with glee and life followed the natural course with children born and the dead buried up the hill. The first St. Anthony’s Church was built in 1858 by Father Picardo and located overlooking Deep Gulch until a fire destroyed the building. Another was erected that served the pious community until it was torn down in 1912.

One of the religious customs celebrated at Spanishtown was the Hanging of Judas parade, which ended with the effigy exploding with fireworks and a frightened cat being set free to symbolize the soul’s release.

Spanishtown was abandoned in 1912 when the Quicksilver Mining Company entered bankruptcy. The Army Corps of Engineers removed most traces of the community in the 1930s.

Fifth-generation descendant Leonard Espinosa shared his family’s history at Pioneer Day. (L-R: Leonard Espinosa, Vince Cortese, NAQCPA President Kitty Monahan, Barbara Espinosa and Colleen Cortese.)

“I lived here for 12 years,” said Willow Glen resident Chuck Rich. “I worked as a mechanic here but left in 1971 when the mine was closed. My three boys grew up right across from here. The house is still standing. I mined for about five years, drilled, dumped ore into the furnace. You couldn’t buy life insurance because you handled dynamite. I was never was afraid to go underground or use dynamite. I enjoyed working here and was happy. I didn’t want to leave. I never thought it would close down.”

Living history
“The Almaden Quicksilver Park is the third largest park in the system and probably the most significant,” SCCPRD Supervisor Ranger Geoff Sewell told the crowd at Pioneer Day. “We are preserving history and telling the story with living history days like this today… What has remained unchanged is the passion this community has for this area’s history for the last 30 years and the new history discovered. We are proud to stand with NAQCPA to present days like this.”

Pioneer Day 2006 featured a delicious lunch of tacos and flan presented by New Almaden’s Mapes family. Entertainment was provided by Elena Robles’ young Mexican dancers, with the girls wearing beautiful, brightly colored skirts. Mike Boulland and Art Boudreault appeared in 1800s gentlemen’s clothing while SCCPRD park interpreter Mary Berger dressed as a pioneer woman. SCCPRD park interpreter Sanislo-Williams unveiled the new interpretive plaque. And Gage McKinney executed the invocation as Father Picardo—just in case any spirits from Spanishtown should happen by.