THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY, 
MARCH,  18  56. 
NOTES  ON  THE  MERCURY  OF  NEW  ALMADEN,  CALIFORNIA. 
By  W".  S.  W.  Ruschenberger,  M,  D.,  U.  S.  Naty. 
The  quicksilver  mine  of  California  is  in  Santa  Clara  county, 
twelve  miles  from  the  town  of  San  Jose',  which  is  fifty-four  miles 
from  the  city  of  San  Francisco.  It  may  be  reached  by  three 
routes  ;  one  by  stage  coach  exclusively ;  one  by  way  of  Oakland, 
opposite  to  San  Francisco,  to  which  you  are  conveyed  by  a 
steamer  in  an  hour,  and  then  you  take  a  stage.  The  third  route 
is  by  steamer  to  Alviso,  seven  miles  from  San  Jose'.  The  roads 
are  good,  but,  in  the  dry  season  of  the  year  horribly  dusty. 
Recently  a  good  hotel  has  been  established,  where  the  traveller 
is  comfortably  entertained,  but  not  cheaply.  Near  it  is  a  spring 
which  reminds  one  of  the  waters  at  Saratoga.  It  is  anticipated 
that  this  spring  will  attract  visitors  and  invalids  during  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  year,  and  it  is  for  their  accommodation  the 
hotel  has  been  prepared. 
The  mining  company  has  built  this  house,  and  a  number  of 
neat  cottages  for  the  accommodation  of  the  engineers,  mechanics 
and  others  connected  with  the  works.  The  whole  is  known  under 
the  name  of  New  Almaden. 
The  hotel  is  just  at  the  entrance  of  a  mountain  gorge,  and  is 
said  to  be  about  four  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
The  entrance  to  the  mine  is  seven  or  eight  hundred  feet  higher, 
or  about  1,200  feet  above  the  ocean.  From  the  summit  there 
is  a  fine  view  of  the  valley  of  San  Jose*,  which  is  a  fertile  plain 
(when  it  rains)  of  many  miles  in  extent,  shut  in  by  ranges  of 
hills  of  about  1,200  or  1,300  feet  elevation.  When  the  atmos- 
phere is  clear,  as  it  generally  is,  shipping  in  the  magnificent  bay 
of  San  Francisco  may  be  discerned  from  the  heights  of  New 
Almaden. 
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