Like a hierarchy of management, the houses along Almaden Road starting from
Casa Grande represented your position of importance with the mine management company.
In a section extracted from an Almaden Times Weekly story, we read:
Mike Boulland, the current owner of the Hauck house, estimates that it was built in the 1840s, providing more housing for the growing population of the Quicksilver Mine. It was originally built with two rooms upstairs and two downstairs but without any kitchen or bathroom. The cottage has a brick basement and foundation. It is called “Casa Nuestra” [our house].
The Quicksilver Museum archives document that George Gauger lived in the house briefly in 1878.
Thomas Barrett, a miner, and his wife Elizabeth, moved in of March 1878 until 1880. An interesting side story is known about their son Richard, for whom Bertram Road is named. As a boy of 13, he lost his right arm in a hunting accident in 1898.
The law at the time required burial of a limb. The appendage is buried at Hacienda Cemetery [on Bertram Road] inscribed “his arm lies here, may it rest in peace.” “Bert,” as he was called, lived a long life and was interred at Oak Hill in 1959.
When the Barretts left, schoolteacher and justice of the peace T.S. Shaw moved in. L. Bodelle was the last resident shown on mining company records as a resident. All tenants paid $5 per month.
When George Sexton purchased assets in New Almaden Quicksilver Mine in 1915, he hired Fred Hauck, Sr. as the company accountant and financial manager. Hauck and John Drew were instrumental in finding and selling quicksilver from the Senador Mine. He and his wife moved into Cottage #5 and shortly afterwards his daughter, Irene, was born in the house.
Irene was a young child when the family moved to larger quarters down the street after the birth of Fred Jr. She remembers idyllic days riding up to the mines. Photos show young, tow-headed Irene with a marching band in 1917 and at Casa Grande in 1919. The family moved to San Jose because the school had closed in the mining community but father Hauck still commuted down the dirt roads of Almaden and McAbee to work each day.
“I moved to Coronado in 1975,” said 90-year-old Irene Hauck Everall who brought along monthly reports from 1907 to archive at the Quicksilver Museum. “But my heart has always been here. It clutches my heart. New Almaden is such a special place.”
In 1955, the Ryan family purchased cottage #5. Mr Ryan was born on the hill during the mining era. When the Ryan’s died, their son John, a Catholic priest, used it for his summer home. Mike and Doreen Boulland purchased the home in 1996 and have actively pursued restoring the home.
In addition to the NRHP Plaque, a second plaque (in all caps) tells about families that lived here:
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THE HAUCK HOUSE
Casa Nuestra or Cottage # 5
Built by Barron, Forbes & Company in the late 1840's, this cottage is one of several house swith a brick basement. Individuals who rented this house included William Flemming, John Marr, George Granger, and Thomas Barrett.
Theodore S. Shaw, a schoolteacher and Justice of the Peace also lived here, as well as Fred P. Hauck, Sr., who served as treasurer of the New Almaden Company from 1915-1930. The brick sidewalk was constructed so that children could walk to the hacienda school. without muddying their shoes.
Dedicated May 15, 2005
By Mike and Dorene Boulland.
Sponsored by
The New Almaden Quicksilver
County Park Association &
Mountain Charlie Chapter # 1850,
E Clampus Vitus
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"Right Wrongs Nobody"
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