It was less fortuitous for Castillero whose services were soon required to fight in the Mexican War, forcing him to sell his mining rights to an English firm that named the site New Almaden after the world's largest mercury mining operation in Spain. In many respects, the discovery was fortuitous as mercury was essential in refining gold and silver at that time. Andreas Castillero, a Captain in the Mexican Army who also happened to be a mining engineer, was visiting the area and realized that the red rocks were cinnabar, a source of quicksilver or mercury. It wasn't until 1845 that the deposits were properly identified. Spanish settlers also found the deposits of the red rock in the early 1820s and, thinking that they might contain silver or even gold, tried their hand at mining but were unable to extract any precious metals. Indeed, Indians from as far away as modern-day Walla Walla, Washington came to trade and fight for this valuable material. Other Indian tribes also coveted the red pigment. Local Ohlone Indians first found samples of a red rock in the area that they found useful as a pigment, using it to paint their bodies a bright red. It happened in this small community just outside of present-day San Jose. However, the sudden discovery of California gold was foreshadowed by an earlier discovery of mineral wealth in the region that in many ways was just as remarkable, yet today is almost completely forgotten. The resulting gold rush of 1849 brought thousands of prospectors and settlers to the territory won from Mexico just the year before in the aftermath of the Mexican War and accelerated the process to statehood which followed just a year later in 1850. Today, most people think of the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill as the defining moment in early California history.
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