San Jose, California

San Jose is a major city in California at the south side of the San Francisco Bay, considered part of the Silicon Valley.

With a population of nearly a million people, San Jose is the third most populated city in the state, but is often perceived to be a recent upstart, even though the city dates to 1777. Originally a farming community, San Jose produced a significant amount of fruits and vegtables until the 1960's, and a local school team name at the time was "the prunes".

At the southern end of the Guadelupe river, which runs through the city is the suburb of Almaden, originally named for the mercury mines, which produced mercury fulminate blasting caps and detonators for the U.S. military from 1870 to 1945.