First American Owner of the Property that was Developed Into The New Almaden Quicksilver Mine

In 1841, Grave C. Cook emigrated from Kentucky to California with the Bidwell-Bartleson Party, the first group of U.S. citizens to emigrate from the eastern states to the Pacific Coast. I’m 1945, Cook purchased the Rancho de los Capitancillos from a Mexican property owner. There was mercury underneath the land around the rancho, and that area was later developed into the New Almaden Quicksilver mine.

Cook was buried in a burial plot in Santa Cruz, which in present day is called the Evergreen Cemetery. Cook is buried in the same lot as the former slave Louden Nelson and the founder of the “Santa Cruz Surf” newspaper.