The Santa Cruz Mountains in California have a haunted historical past. The mountains that rise between Silicon Valley and the Pacific coast as soon as held a wide range of small cities which are solely reminiscences now.
There have been infamous murders within the city of Lexington, and thirty-two males died in a railroad tunnel close to the ghost city of Laurel. A uncared for cemetery the place mercury miners lie buried overlooks the neighborhood of New Almaden. These mountain cities have principally gone again to the forest now, or have been lined by the waters which are saved for the thirsty residents of bustling valley cities.
Holy Metropolis
In 1919, former palm reader William E. Riker and about thirty of his followers moved to a neighborhood he named Holy Metropolis. They referred to as their faith the Good Christian Divine Method. The “means” concerned celibacy, apart from Mr. Riker, temperance, white supremacy, segregation of the races, and segregation of the genders.
All members of his church gave up materials possessions, to Riker, which is how he might afford to maneuver his flock to the Santa Cruz Mountains. He turned Holy Metropolis right into a full of life vacationer entice. Billboards alongside Freeway 17 marketed the place with slogans like “In case you are contemplating suicide, crime, or marriage, see us first.”
There was a fuel station, the place attendants crammed radiators with “holy water.” There was a restaurant, and a consolation station with many stalls. A telescope was accessible, for 10 cents a view. There was a radio station, KFQU. It didn’t final lengthy, however in its heyday it featured the voice of William E. Riker, The Comforter. Holy Metropolis was included in 1926. It by no means had a church, however providers have been held in Riker’s house.
The inhabitants of Holy Metropolis was over 300 within the despair years, however declined within the Forties. In 1942, Riker went on trial for sedition, on account of his help of Adolf Hitler. He was acquitted. He ran for governor 4 instances, by no means receiving many votes. He misplaced management of Holy Metropolis in 1959, and many of the city’s buildings occurred to burn down about that point.
Ultimately, William Riker shocked his few remaining followers by changing to Catholicism. He died three years later, on the age of 96. Remnants of Holy Metropolis can nonetheless be discovered, on Previous Santa Cruz freeway fairly close to Freeway 17. There may be an artwork glass studio there, close to the previous house of William Riker.
Practice Stations
Between 1880 and 1940, vacationers left the city of Los Gatos by a slender gauge practice and made their means via the mountains simply as rapidly as commuters now do, stopping at a string of station cities alongside the way in which. The practice’s authentic goal was to hold lumber from the various sawmills of the mountains.
Alma and Laurel
By Michael: initially posted to Flickr as Alma, California – Ghost City, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9441872
The primary cease was Alma, now submerged beneath Lexington reservoir. When the waters are very low, previous foundations and roads present up on the lakebed. The city as soon as had a sawmill, a smithy, a put up workplace, a resort, and a saloon. It light away after Freeway 17 bypassed the city in 1940. After Alma, the tracks continued to Wrights Station, after which via a two-mile tunnel to the city of Laurel.
Wrights, California By Frank Herman Mattern – Greg De Santis, Public Area, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6405390
When staff have been digging the tunnel between Wrights and Laurel, they hit a seam of coal that gave off pure fuel. Maybe they tried to burn away the fumes with a torch. In any case, there was an explosion. Thirty-two males died constructing the tunnel, all of them Chinese language besides the supervisor.
Redwood lumber from Laurel helped rebuild San Francisco after the earthquake and hearth of 1906. The following city was Glenwood, the place vacationers might go to a sizzling spring spa. Clems, Zayante, and Eccles got here subsequent. All have been as soon as lumber cities. All are ghost cities now. The practice stopped at Scotts Valley too, and Santa Cruz, however these cities nonetheless thrive.
A Stage Cease
Earlier than the tracks have been laid, there was a stage route via the Santa Cruz Mountains. Lexington, simply north of Alma, had began as a sawmill as Alma did, and grew to be about the identical dimension. It grew to become a cease on the route from San Jose to Santa Cruz. Stage drivers elevated their groups from 4 horses to 6 at Lexington, the place the mountains grew steeper. When the railroad started service in 1880, it started Lexington’s decline.
Lexington was well-known in 1883 although, for a sensational homicide. A Los Gatos bar proprietor, Lloyd Leadbetter Majors, employed Joseph Jewell and John Franklin Showers. He commissioned them to rob William Peter Renowden and Archibald McIntyre, who lived in Lexington and have been stated to have an enormous cache of gold cash. On March 11, 1883, the thugs went to their cabin, and apparently tortured the lads to make them surrender their horde. The trial was a media sensation. Majors and Jewell have been hanged. Showers received 15 years, however was killed by one other inmate at Folsom Jail.
The ruins of Lexington are underwater now. It’s close to Alma however its foundations can not even be seen at low water. By 1950, there have been fewer than 50 residents in Lexington, and so they moved away earlier than the waters rose behind the dam in 1952.
Mining Camps
English Camp, Spanish Camp, and the short-lived Chinese language Camp have been firm cities. The New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Firm as soon as ran the best mercury mines on the planet. The stays of the mines and the locations the place the employees lived at the moment are a county park set within the stunning hills dotted with previous oaks and bay timber southwest of San Jose.
The Ohlone mined cinnabar for physique paint in these hills. Cinnabar is a reddish ore of mercury. Their mine was a sacred cave on the high of a mountain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Almaden
New Almaden
In 1845, Andres Castillero filed a mining declare on their land. He later shared his declare with Andrew Forbes, who began the Quicksilver Firm and introduced staff north to California. He named the place New Almaden, after a mining district in Spain.
Mercury turned out to be very helpful. It might separate gold from ore. Because the gold rush of 1849 proceeded, the Quicksilver Mines expanded. Three cities have been constructed on the steep hills close to the mines. The Cornish miners lived in Englishtown, additionally referred to as English Camp. There was additionally a Spanish Camp, and briefly a Chinese language Camp. Trails undergo the realm of those cities, however not a lot stays.
Hidalgo Cemetery By EugeneZelenko – Personal work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3582341
Rusting mining equipment and firm buildings stand close to the steep trails. The Hidalgo Cemetery is a discipline of wildflowers and lengthy grasses enclosed in a white fence, with a beautiful view. There are various mines, blocked off now. Most operations shut down after the gold rush, although one final firm endured till 1926. The doorway to the San Cristobal mine has been reconstructed, in order that guests can get an concept of what circumstances have been like when males went down within the mines.
Probably the most outstanding sight is the previous furnace the place sweating staff cooked ruddy cinnabar ore into pure mercury. Its tall chimney stands on the shoulder of the hill, overlooking the New Almaden Valley, the place administration lived. Many guests converse of an evil really feel to the positioning, although it might be simply that they know concerning the risks of mercury.
A museum within the fairly city of New Almaden tells the story of the mines that loom above the valley. A beautiful house constructed by the mine supervisor nonetheless stands amongst oaks and meadowland, with many ethereal rooms and large porches to catch the breeze. Quaint cottages huddle collectively alongside the stream. Reservoirs collect water and supply recreation.
Mercury is now identified to be extremely poisonous. Nothing caught from the creeks that drain the realm is match to eat. Outstanding indicators warn the ignorant all alongside the watercourse to not fish. Most likely, a buried layer of mercury underlies all of the streams close to right here, and even reaches the south finish of San Francisco Bay.
Conclusion
California’s previous lingers in lots of locations, preserved in parks like New Almaden Quicksilver and Lexington County Parks. Different historic websites need to be sought out patiently, however they too maintain elements of the historical past of California, that wait to be explored.
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