Spenceville, California facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Spenceville
Former settlement
Spenceville Location in California
Country	United States
State	California
County	Nevada County
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)

Spenceville was once a busy community in Nevada County, California. It was a place where people focused on ranching, farming, and mining. You could find it on Spenceville Road, about 17 miles from Grass Valley. Today, the old town area is part of the Spenceville Wildlife Area.

Early Days of Spenceville

Long ago, the Nisenan Native American people lived in the Spenceville area. You can still find signs of them, like grinding rocks. White settlers and gold prospectors started arriving in the 1840s. The Nisenan people were later moved from their lands.

Spenceville was not a huge gold mining spot. The best gold areas were a few miles north. Early settlers here were mostly farmers and ranchers. In the early 1860s, something new was found: copper ore! It was discovered while digging a well on Purtyman's Ranch.

This area, with its new copper mine, soon became the town of Spenceville. It was named after Edward Spence. He was a druggist and property owner in Nevada City. He also had an interest in the new copper mine. Mr. Spence even gave the wood for a new school built in 1868.

Copper Mining in Spenceville

Copper mining grew when the Last Chance Mine was found. James Downey, a miner, had almost given up. He found a promising spot and said, "This is the last chance!" He found copper there.

At first, copper mining was not very profitable. Much of the ore was low quality. Also, the ways to get copper from the ore were not very good. The ore often had to be sent far away for processing. Sometimes, it even went all the way to Wales! After the Civil War, copper prices dropped, which slowed down mining in Spenceville.

In the mid-1870s, many copper mines in Spenceville joined together. They formed the San Francisco Copper Company. This company found better ways to process the copper. They did well for several years. In 1880, part of their mining setup collapsed. The mine kept working until 1887, but low copper prices caused it to close.

Later, in 1890, the Imperial Paint and Copper Company bought the property. They didn't mine new copper. Instead, they used the leftover rock from earlier mining. They made a brown paint that was said to be fire and waterproof. But, people soon found out that rain caused the paint to create acid. This acid would damage the nails holding wood shingles and siding.

In 1897, the Spence Mineral Company bought the property. They wanted to make sulfuric acid. But a big fire in 1915 ended that business.

World War I (1914-1918) brought a high demand for copper. This led to some of the Spenceville copper mines reopening. But once the war ended in 1918, copper mining in Spenceville mostly stopped. Over $1 million worth of copper had been mined there.

However, copper mining also caused a lot of pollution. News reports from that time said that fumes from the copper smelter killed plants and trees in the area.

Spenceville's Busiest Time

During the 1870s, Spenceville was a lively town. It had its own post office and three general stores. There was also a hotel. About 400 people lived there.

A school was started, and it had 48 students in 1867. A new schoolhouse was built in 1868. It was later moved further down the road. Spenceville also had a Methodist Church and a Templar Lodge. A Sunday school had 42 students in 1864.

The town had a popular baseball team called the White Stockings. Spenceville even had its own election area starting in 1862. In the 1864 presidential election, 50 people voted. 33 of them voted for Abraham Lincoln.

Spenceville was connected to other towns by stagecoach. You could travel to Wheatland, Smartsville, and Grass Valley. In the early 1900s, people talked about building a railroad through Spenceville. This would help ship copper ore faster. But the railroad was never built.

Farming and Ranching

Besides mining, farming and ranching were very important in Spenceville. One historian said that "Citrus fruits and all kinds of deciduous fruits grow here to perfection." This means many types of fruits grew very well.

Just west of Spenceville, some clever Black farmers grew cabbages. Cabbages provided Vitamin C, which helped miners avoid a sickness called scurvy. This area became known as Cabbage Patch, and later Waldo. Farmers also raised sheep and cattle. They grew alfalfa and other grains for their animals.

Important Families: The Kneebones and Bitners

The Kneebones were one of the well-known families in Spenceville. Joseph Kneebone, Sr. came from England in 1867. He bought a ranch near Spenceville. He started a successful business transporting goods. He moved merchandise from Wheatland to North San Juan and even as far as Virginia City. He and his wife Mary had seven children.

In a family cemetery on the Kneebone Ranch, five family members are buried. This includes Joseph Sr. and Jr., who both died in tragic incidents about 20 years apart.

Another important family was the Bitners. Cyrus and Mary Bitner moved to Spenceville from Iowa in 1873 with their two daughters. Captain Bitner, a Civil War veteran, owned parts of several copper mines in Spenceville. He also had interests in gold mines throughout Nevada County. He served as Spenceville's justice of the peace, which meant he handled local legal matters.

Spenceville Today

After World War I, when copper mining stopped, Spenceville quickly declined. The school district closed in 1920. The post office shut down in 1932.

During World War II, the United States government bought much of the land around Spenceville. They created a training facility there. The town site, renamed Spenceburg, was used to look like a German town for training purposes.

In 1964, the United States sold some of the land. They kept the part that became Beale Air Force Base. California bought some of the land and created the Spenceville Wildlife Area. There was a long and costly effort to clean up the pollution from the old mines. This cleanup was finished by 2013.

Today, the Spenceville Wildlife Area is a popular place for hiking and outdoor fun. There are only a few signs left of the old town and its mines.