1906 – Telephone service arrives at New Idria. The San Benito County Board of Supervisors allow George Berg, a local resident, to erect and maintain telephone lines along the public highway from the mines to Panoche Valley, some thirty miles north of Idria. Company officials can now make direct contact with the company owners in Boston, Massachusetts.
1915, March – A two-mile aerial tramway is installed between the San Carlos Mine and New Idria. The tram began operating in September 1915, marking the first time since 1864 that workers roasted ore from the San Carlos Mine in the furnaces. The tramway had thirty buckets, capable of holding 1,000 pounds of ore per bucket. The tram descended 2,130 feet in elevation between terminals and could carry twenty tons of ore hourly.
1916 – New Idria replaced it mules with 16 h.p. Edison storage battery locomotives for underground haulage. A Ford gasoline motor is used for surface haulage.
1917, October 23 – A military detachment is sent to New Idria to protect it from possible saboteurs. The mine is guarded until December 12, 1918.
1918, March – New Idria installs four Gould rotary furnaces developed by Henry W. Gould the general superintendent at the mine. The Gould rotary furnace revolutionized the mercury mining industry.
1918 – During the influenza epidemic, Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy is sent to the mine to gain control of the influenza outbreak at New Idria. McGillycuddy observed that the furnace men did not contract the influenza; they became immune to the disease. He then directed everybody to work the furnaces and thus cured the influenza outbreak at New Idria.
