Quicksilver Mining in Sonoma County
by Joe Pelanconi
English | EPUB | 9.9 MB
by Joe Pelanconi
English | EPUB | 9.9 MB
In the 1870s, a quicksilver mining boom took hold of SonomaCounty, California. Claims were staked, and a rowdy camp took shape in Pine Flatas farmers traded plows for picks and miners answered the siren call ofcinnabar. In this compelling account, historian Joe Pelanconi relates thedevelopment of the twenty-mile Cinnabar Mining District. Pelanconi sharesintriguing stories like those of the Donner Party survivor, Chinese laborerswho worked the mines in danger of mercury poisoning and the two brothers whowere leading citizens of the district and purported victims of murder. Delveinto Sonoma County’s heritage and a lost era when eccentrics and dreamerssought shining flasks of riches in the Mayacamas Mountains above today’s winecountry.