Glenco (Glencoe) has two separate spellings. The postal designation was spelled GLENCO, while the miners added the letter "e" to the end. The Glencoe Mine is located on the western side of the Kern Mountains near Glencoe Springs. Although Glenco is only 1/2 mile directly north of Mike Springs,(which can be reached by a good dirt road) the visitor would have to sprout wings and fly over the area to see that. The road is narrow and twists around and up and down to get to Lowes canyon where Glenco is situated.
When visited in August, 2002 the most visible structure remaining was a small chimney made of gray stone mortared with dirt or clay from the bank just behind it. This chimney was probably used to process sample assays. Near the chimney was a small arrastre 1 (sometimes spelled arrastra) in good condition. (Foundations and walls of several buildings are seen in the area.
According to records that were found at Tippett post office, the Kern District was first organized to include ten square miles about Sentinel Peak, which stand near the head of Sentinel Canyon, about twelve miles from Antelope station, on the Overland Stage Route. H. T. Fitzhugh, John Eyre, J. Alnathan Smith, E. S. Smith, G. W. Chase, T. A. Stoutenberg, and B. B. Bird organized the district May 7, 1869. The district expanded to include all of the Kern Mountains, which extend into Juab County, Utah, and the Red Hills at the south end of Antelope Valley. Parts of the district have been known at various times as Pleasant Valley, Kern, Regan, Red Hills, and Tungstonia Districts. All are now included in the Eagle District.
The claims in the Deep Creek and Pleasant Valley country were located in the early days. The Glencoe group, formerly the Well Annie, consisted of 14 claims near Glencoe Springs and was located about seven miles south-southeast of Tippett. Ronald Bateman, in Deep Creek Reflections, credited John Tippett and his partner Frank Bassett with owning the Glencoe Mine.
The following news article transcribed by Mike Bunker, was in the Daily Inland Empire, Hamilton, June 16, 1869:
“KERN DISTRICT. -- From R. M. Wilson, County Surveyor, who has just returned from the Kern Mining District, we learn the following: This district is situate on the western side of the Snake Mountain range, and distant from Hamilton about 100 miles by the road, about 10 miles south of the Antelope station on the Overland road, and within 20 miles of the Utah line. There is an abundance of wood (pine) and sufficient water for ordinary and steam purposes in the immediate vicinity of the mines. The country rock is granite. The ledges run northeast and southwest, and very regular, cropping out boldly, with a thickness varying from 18 inches to eight feet, and can be traced on the surface a long distance -- dip from 50 to 70 degrees east. On most of the ledges, rich ores are found near the surface and increasing in richness and quantity on development. So far but little development has been made, being only opened to a depth of five or six feet; but, from indications, they will prove permanent and rich mines. The ores range, by L. Balbach & Co.’s assays, from $356 per ton to $1,466, and no doubt they will prove to be extensive mines of good ore. A town has been laid out and named ‘Glencoe.’”
July 29, 1870, the White Pine News, located in Hamilton, described the Kern District from a report issued by G. W. L’Amorreaux, Deputy County Assessor. The town of Glencoe was the principal settlement, located well to the north of the district. Glencoe was the seat for the Kern District, with a Justice office located there. The News stated that there were about thirty men scattered throughout the district, all of them working.
The 1870 Census, enumerated August 15, 1870, showed thirty-six residents in the district - all male and all white. With the exception of a retail grocer, a saloonkeeper, a blacksmith, and a teamster, they were all miners. Only twenty-four were eligible to vote, but all were over the age of twenty-one. The youngest was twenty-five and the oldest forty-two.
A prize was offered to the man who would have the first family in the Kern District. Another prize was offered for the first baby. J. S. Low, deputy county surveyor of White Pine County, played a shrewd game to claim this prize. Mr. Low had discovered a ledge that looked promising. Since the ledge contained a large vein, it was named the Mother Ledge. Wanting to see what type of ore the Mother Ledge contained, Mr. Low and his partners drilled a hole and put in a heavy blast. When they looked to see what the blast had revealed, the first thing that met their eyes was a willow basket containing an Indian mummy baby.
Taking his baby under his arm, and summoning his partners to go with him, Mr. Low started for the Recorder’s office. The recorder was requested to produce the record book, and turn to the record of The Mother Ledge. Producing the baby, Mr. Low demanded it be put on file. Mr. Low had produced the first mother and the first child in the district to claim the prize.
The Glencoe Mine worked in the 1880’s but no production records are available. The camp called Glencoe had a post office established September 2, 1891. This post office continued operations until October 17, 1894 when Aurum became the mailing address for its patrons. A 1933 report on the mining districts stated the Glencoe property had not been worked for many years and the 100-foot tunnel and the 70-foot winze2 on the main vein were under water
1. Arrastre. Definition of arrastre Ref: Gold Prospectors Handbook by Jack Black.. A crude machine for pulveriing rock frequently used by early Spanish miners; concists of a circular pit lined with rocks in which ore is broken by big rocks attached to poles fastened to a central axis; motion was supplied by burros, mules or oxen.)
2. Winze. Winze is a vertical or inclined shaft cut from one level to another in a mine for ventilation or to remove ore.
