Rise and Fall of Garlock Ghost Town | Mojave Desert Towns

The southern California deserts can be unfriendly to new settlers. But it was not the case for Eugene Garlock, who built the first mill to process ore hauled from Randsburg mines in the El Paso Mountains of Kern County, California.

Eugene Garlock was a prosperous farmer from Tehachapi. In 1893 a golden nugget was found near Randsburg that was evaluated at $1,900 (about $60,000 in today's value) and a gold rush began. In the fall of 1895, Eugene Garlock set up an ore crushing mill in this area that he hauled from Tehachapi. Garlock's stamp mill was soon swamped with gold ore and the business was booming. He called his venturee "The Garlock Pioneer Mill" and set up a mining town, just about 40 miles northeast of Mojave and west of Highway 395.

It was an assembly of tents, frames, and adobe buildings that became known by the name of the man whose mill brought in so much business. Running day and night, the mill crushed as much as 20 tons of ore every day.

Eugene Garlock had optimistic plans to expand his ore processing business to 100 mills in the next 50 years. At its peak, the town was home to over 200 people. It was a small desert town, although there were two bars, two hotels, a doctor office, a school, a church and a jail. There was even the Garlock Literary Society that making a positive influence on the town's morals.

Other prospectors soon followed and more mills were set up nearby: the McKernan, Kelly, Smith, Henry and Visalia.

However, in 1903, a modernized stamp mill was erected at nearby Randsburg and Mr. Garlock's mill became obsolete. The newly constructed Kramer-Randsburg rail line also contributed to fading of Garlock as the ore was shipped to Mojave and Barstow for crushing.

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