Mercuryville, California facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mercuryville
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| Mercuryville, California | |
The town of Mercuryville in 1956
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 Mercuryville
Location in California
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| Country | United States |
| State | California |
Mercuryville, California is a ghost town located in the Mayacamas Mountains of Sonoma County, California. It sits along The Geysers road. A ghost town is a place that used to be a busy settlement but is now mostly empty or abandoned.
Contents
The Story of Mercuryville
A Town Built on Mercury
Mercuryville was founded in 1874. This happened after a special rock called cinnabar was found in the area around 1870. Cinnabar is important because it contains mercury. Mercury is a unique metal that is liquid at room temperature. It's also very heavy.
During the California Gold Rush, which started about 20 years before Mercuryville was founded, mercury was in high demand. Miners used mercury to help separate gold from other materials. This made the price of mercury very high. Because of this, finding cinnabar and getting mercury from it became very profitable. This led to a short period of intense mercury mining in the 1870s.
Life in the Mining Town
In its busiest days, Mercuryville was a lively place. The town had several places for people to gather. It also had a single church for the community. Mercury was mined in other parts of Sonoma County too, like near Guerneville.
The town's name, Mercuryville, shows how important mercury was to its economy. There were many mines in the area. The nearby Socrates Mine, about 5 miles west of Mercuryville, dug up rocks containing mercury. These included cinnabar, montroydite, and tiemannite. Other minerals like chalcedony, opal, and pyrite were also found there.
Geothermal Power Nearby
The area around Mercuryville has a lot of natural heat from underground. This heat creates active fumaroles (vents that release steam and gases) and hot springs. Close by is the Geysers, which is the world's largest power plant that uses geothermal energy.
This plant uses the Earth's heat to make electricity. It produces enough electricity to power a large city like San Francisco.
The Town's Decline
The price of mercury dropped within a few years of Mercuryville's founding. When this happened, most of the mines were quickly abandoned. By 1963, the population of Mercuryville had shrunk to just two people. The town then had only a gas station and a store, which also served as a home for an elderly couple.
By the mid-1960s, the gas station closed. Mercuryville officially became a ghost town. One of the last big mining buildings was destroyed in wildfires during the mid-1970s. However, some concrete structures and metal parts from the old mines can still be seen today.
