Almaden Quicksilver County Park

Almaden Quicksilver County Park is a 4,163 acres (17 km2) park that includes the grounds of former mercury ("quicksilver") mines adjacent to south San Jose, California, USA.

Its grounds include the Guadalupe Reservoir and features sweeping views of San Jose.

The mines were highly important during the California Gold Rush, since mercury was used to extract gold from ore. By the time Santa Clara County bought the mines in 1976 and ended operations, 83,974,076 pounds (37,388 metric tons) of mercury (worth more than US$70 million) had been extracted.

[2] The remains of a variety of structures left over from the 135 years of mining activity, including housing for the up to 1,800 miners, are scattered about the park, with the biggest concentration at what was known as English Camp, established by Cornish miners in the 1860s.

Facilities plans were created[4] and an Environmental Impact Report was prepared.