Almaden Valley, San Jose, California
Encyclopedia
Almaden Valley is an upper-class neighborhood of about 37,000 in the southwestern portion of San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, roughly equivalent to the 95120 ZIP Code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

. The neighborhood is south east of the town of Los Gatos, west of the Santa Teresa neighborhood of San Jose and south of Coleman Ave. at the southern end of the Blossom Hill neighborhood of San Jose. It is named after the New Almaden Quicksilver Mines
New Almaden
The New Almaden quicksilver mine in the Santa Teresa Hills in Santa Clara County, California, United States, is the oldest and most productive quicksilver mine in the U.S. The site was known to the Ohlone Indians for its cinnabar long before a Mexican settler discovered the ores in 1820...

, which were named after the mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...

 mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 in (old) Almadén
Almadén
Almadén, Spain, is a town and municipality in the province of Ciudad Real, within the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. The town is located at 4° 49' W and 38° 46' N and is 589 meters above sea level. Almadén is approximately 200 km south of Madrid in the Sierra Morena...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, and produced mercury that was used to process ore during the Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

.
The informal borders are generally Coleman Rd. at the northern end, McKean Rd. at the southern end, where the valley becomes mostly rural, and the town of Los Gatos to the west. The valley is located between a small series of hills and the Santa Cruz Mountains
Santa Cruz Mountains
The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central California, United States. They form a ridge along the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco, separating the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley, and continuing south,...

, with Mount Umunhum
Mount Umunhum
Mount Umunhum is the fourth-highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California . The mountain is situated in Santa Clara County, southeast of Los Gatos and south of South San Jose...

 to the west dominating the local geography.

Like its Spanish namesake, California's Almaden had a number of quicksilver
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...

 mines. The mercury was used during gold extraction
Gold extraction
Gold extraction or recovery from its ores may require a combination of comminution, mineral processing, hydrometallurgical, and pyrometallurgical processes to be performed on the ore....

 in the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

, but the mines were closed in 1975 and have been converted into Almaden Quicksilver County Park
Almaden Quicksilver County Park
Almaden Quicksilver County Park is a 4,147 acres park that includes the grounds of former mercury mines adjacent to south San Jose, California, USA...

. Despite the closure of the mines, there still remains a high mercury content in the nearby soil, creeks and rivers, and signs are posted alongside them warning people not to eat the fish. Even still, many of the names in Almaden still retain their mercury mine themes. For example, there are streets called Silver Lode Lane and Silver Mine Drive (the latter of which was renamed). Also, many places in Almaden still use the name Quicksilver.

As part of the Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

, the main industry in the neighborhood is now high technology research and development; IBM Almaden Research Center is located there. The neighborhood is primarily upper middle-class, with homes owned by local professionals, scientists, athletes, and Silicon Valley executives.

High Schools

  • Leland High School
  • Pioneer High School
  • Branham High School

Middle Schools

  • Almaden Country School
    Almaden Country School (San Jose, California)
    Almaden Country School is an independent, nonsectarian, coeducational private day school founded in 1982 by Mrs. Nan Hunter. The school is situated on a 9-acre campus in the Almaden Valley neighborhood of San Jose, California....

  • Bret Harte Middle School
    Bret Harte Middle School (San Jose, California)
    Bret Harte Middle School is a public middle school located in San Jose, California, United States in the San Jose Unified School District. The school is a National Blue Ribbon school and California Distinguished School...

  • Castillero Middle School
    Castillero Middle School (San Jose, California)
    Castillero Middle School is a public middle school in San Jose, California, USA. It is a performing arts, academic, and visual arts magnet. 1,305 children currently attend this school.-History:...

  • Challenger School
    Challenger School
    Challenger School is a nonsectarian private school in the United States, offering education from preschool through eighth grade. Preschool is offered for children as young as two years and nine months old....

  • Dartmouth Middle School
    Dartmouth Middle School (San Jose, California)
    Dartmouth Middle School is a public Middle school in the Almaden Valley area of San Jose, California, United States in the Union School District. It teaches grades six through eight. It is located at 5575 Dartmouth Drive, San Jose, CA 95118....


Elementary Schools

  • Almaden Country School
    Almaden Country School (San Jose, California)
    Almaden Country School is an independent, nonsectarian, coeducational private day school founded in 1982 by Mrs. Nan Hunter. The school is situated on a 9-acre campus in the Almaden Valley neighborhood of San Jose, California....

  • Almaden Elementary School
  • Challenger School
    Challenger School
    Challenger School is a nonsectarian private school in the United States, offering education from preschool through eighth grade. Preschool is offered for children as young as two years and nine months old....

  • Graystone Elementary School
  • Guadalupe Elementary School
    Guadalupe Elementary School (San Jose, California)
    Guadalupe Elementary School is a public elementary school in the Almaden Valley area of San Jose, California, United States in the Union School District. It teaches grades kindergarten through five. It is located at 6044 Vera Cruz Drive, San Jose, CA 95120....

  • Holy Spirit School
    Holy Spirit Catholic School (San Jose, California)
    Holy Spirit School is a Catholic elementary and middle school in San Jose, California. It is connected with Holy Spirit Church next door. It was established in 2000. It serves pre-kindergarten through 8th grade...

  • Los Alamitos Elementary School
    Los Alamitos Elementary School
    Los Alamitos Elementary School is an elementary school in the San Jose Unified School District in Almaden Valley, California, United States.It is a National Blue Ribbon School and 2010 California Distinguished School candidate....

  • Ohlone Hills Elementary School
  • Simonds Elementary School
  • Williams Elementary School

Recreation

One of the key attractions of the Almaden Valley is the abundance of public recreational sites.
  • Almaden Reservoir
    Almaden Reservoir
    Almaden Reservoir is an artificial lake in the hills south of San Jose, California, U.S.A.. It borders on Almaden Quicksilver County Park.The lake is formed by Almaden Dam, built in 1936 across Los Alamitos Creek. and its waters reach the San Francisco Bay by way of the Guadalupe River.- Almaden...

  • Almaden Quicksilver County Park
    Almaden Quicksilver County Park
    Almaden Quicksilver County Park is a 4,147 acres park that includes the grounds of former mercury mines adjacent to south San Jose, California, USA...

  • Calero Dam and Reservoir
    Calero Reservoir
    Calero Reservoir is an artificial lake in the Santa Teresa Hills south of San Jose, California, U.S.A..The lake is formed by Calero Dam, built in 1935 across Calero Creek. Its waters reach the San Francisco Bay by way of Los Alamitos Creek and the Guadalupe River.- Calero Dam :Calero Dam is an...

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