Forgotten Destinations: Ghost Town Garlock

The town of Garlock had several names throughout its history. It had been named El Paso and Cow Wells back in 1889s. The Californian began calling the town Eugeneville in 1896 , and Los Angeles Daily Times article call the town Garlock in 1898. Both Eugeneville and Garlock are named after the Tehachapi businessman Eugene Garlock who put an eight-stamp mill at the location in 1895.

The first mill in Garlock opened in 1896 and with enough demand , there were 5 additional mills that were built. During this time Randsburg was growing strong but there wasn't a mill in Randsburg, so the ore from Randsburg was shipped to Garlock for processing.

Garlock experienced its hey-days in 1899 and Garlock's population grew up to several hundred residents. There were never many buildings in Garlock but they had a school-house also serving as a church, and meeting place for social groups. The post office operated in Garlock from 1896-1904, and again from 1923-1936.

By the end of 1903 Garlock was coming to the end. The residents had packed and moved and the town was deserted. The mills at Garlock still possessed a small amount of ore until 1907. However, the addition of the mill at the Yellow Aster Mine in Randsburg was ultimately the cause of death for Garlock.

Today some of the buildings in Garlock stand on a private property and have been fenced to keep the vandals out. A few others are free to be visited and explored. The ruins of Garlock can be found on Garlock's road , accessible either from hwy 395 or hwy 14. the town of Garlock is California Landmark #671 and a site of Garlock is marked by the plaque that reads " In 1896, Eugene Garlock constructed a stamp mill near this spot to crush gold ore from the Yellow Aster Mine on Rand Mountain. Known originally as Cow Wells by prospectors and freighters during the 1880s and early 1890s, the town of Garlock continued to thrive until 1898, when water was piped from here to Randsburg and the Kramer-Randsburg rail line was completed".

Perhaps one on the notorious facts about Garlock is "Burro" Schmidt tunnel. Starting in 1902, William H. Schmidt , also known as "Burro" Schmidt, spent 32 years
digging a half-mile-long tunnel through a desert hill for no apparent reason . William Henry Schmidt was born in Woonsocket Rhode Island in 1871. He came to California in 1894 and prospected around Kern County . He finally established several claims in the el Paso Mountains near Last Chance Canyon. There was no convenient way to get his ore to transportation center at Mojave or to the mills in Randsburg or Garlock. So in 1906 he began digging a tunnel thru Copper Mountain to provide access to the Garlock Mills. At some point during the first few yeas of digging the mission became less goal oriented and more of an obsession. In 1920 a road was completed from Last Chance Canyon to Mojave. But Schmidt could not stop digging due to his obsession, he continued to dig until 1938 when the daylight was finally observed at the far end of a more than 200-foot tunnel. By this time Schmidt had moved manually 5800 tons of rock to complete his work. He never used this tunnel to move his ore. He died in January 1954 in Ridgecrest, CA.

In 1940 Schmidt's efforts were recorded . They wrote, "Wm.
H. Schmidt spent 32 years boring thru a mountain. The greatest one man achievement in history".

The tunnel is about a mile long and offers a nice , cool temperature on the hot summer days.

References:
He conquered the mountain with pick and shovel, by Roger Vargo: http://explorehistoricalif.com/ehc_legacy/may2014.html

Garlock Ghost Town: http://digital-desert.com/garlock/