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Pictured top left: Santa Clara County Parks Quicksilver History Hikes Dec.22, then Jan.19, 2019 | right: Fantasy of Lights Drive-Thru at Vasona Lake through Dec.30, 2018 | bottom left: New Almaden by Michael Boulland and Arthur Boudreault

New Almaden’s Christmas Water

By Craig MacDonald

Christmas Season, 1867 was an exciting time for Francois Pioche, a San Francisco Banker, who signed a lease which would enable him to bottle a very special mineral water.

The native of France used his 10-year, 2.5 acre lease to produce “New Almaden Vichy Water” and sell it nationwide. Pioche named the water and springs on the Quicksilver Mining Company property — Vichy — after Vichy France. (The springs were located near the Southwest Corner of Almaden Road and Bertram Road in New Almaden, 12 miles south of downtown San Jose.)

This heavily-advertised, carbonated bottled mineral water became a sensation for Christmas Holiday Celebrations as a mixture with champagne, sherry, brandy, white & red wine and beef broth.

Not only was it a hit for Holiday gatherings but year-round because of its alleged “healing powers.” National newspaper and magazine ads proclaimed the magic tonic was “highly efficacious in cases of impoverishment of the blood, weakness of the nervous system, chronic inflammation of the liver, stomach, spleen, loss of appetite and bad digestion.”

Pioche and his agent said, Onesime Chauvin, claimed, “The water restores lost strength, energy and good digestion ruined by excess eating, drinking, immoderate smoking and chewing….”

Unfortunately, in 1882, the water went flat when miners in the 2,100-foot level of the Buena Vista Shaft punctured the springs carbonation source.

Today, visitors can see an historical plaque for Vichy Springs on the right bank of Alamitos Creek.

Read the full story to make your holiday complete!