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Artwork courtesy of New Almaden Quicksilver County Park bulletin
The New Almaden Quicksilver County Park bulletin features this illustration of a cart used to transport the diggings from the mines.
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Picture from the Past
Historic Cornish choral group
comes to the Almaden mines
By John S. Baggerly
Music lovers, don't despair. Sure, our local Music in the Plaza series is winding down, but there is a world-famous choral group from Cornwall, England, headed for a concert at historic Almaden Quicksilver Mines. It's accessible several ways, including the "long way" down Shannon Road and over the southeast foothills.
In its mining days, New Almaden was a musical place, and in October the music will return. The Mousehole Male Voice Choir, perhaps the most important vocal group in Cornwall, is making final arrangements for a California tour, and the tentative itinerary includes New Almaden. Oct. 30 is a likely date. "It's not only a good venue because of local interest, [but] the singers want to see New Almaden because they've heard so much about it," said Eleanor Kenitzer, who is making the arrangements. The name "Almaden" was borrowed from the Spanish settlers who also lived in these parts at one time.
Among the information choir members will hear about the Almaden Mines area is that native Americans used the cinnabar in the area to paint their bodies a distinctive scarlet color. Mining for cinnabar, a mercuric ore, started long before the discovery of gold northward at Sutter's Fort
During the Civil War, President Lincoln ordered federal troops to guard the mines lest Southern sympathizers take over. Miners were professionals who came here from various parts of England and settled in their own communities near the mines. The largest building on the property was the home and office of the superintendent. It still stands today.
The 50-voice Mousehole Choir sings sacred and secular music, popular and folk. Their recording Sounds Like Mouzel is the standard for the many male voice choirs in Cornwall. The group's California tour will include concerts in Grass Valley, Nevada City, Sacramento, and probably two concerts in the Bay Area, including New Almaden.
The group hails from a coastal village in the west of Cornwall looking out to the Atlantic. The choir's noted soloists include Tom Waters, who also directs the group. The music will be a reminder of the sounds that once filled Almaden's English-speaking settlement on Mine Hill.
One hundred years ago, the English Camp was populated mainly by Cornish miners and their families. The place was constantly in song; miners sang on the way to and from work and the Methodist Church there reverberated with hymns. On warm evenings, many gathered around the porch of one Emma Morcum to sing popular songs, hymns and folk tunes. At Christmas time, they enjoyed Cornish carols. Any local family who could possibly afford it provided music lessons for their children.
The Mousehole Choir's visit to California is supported by the Grass Valley Cornish Carol Choir, which is directed by Kenitzer. The Cornish Carol Choir continues a tradition of folk music that extends back to the discovery of quartz and gold in the Sierra foothills.
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