At first Garlock was known as El Paso City or Cow Wells interchangeably. The little town provided water for cattlemen and freighters wishing to avoid the potentially trecherous washes in Red Rock Canyon. Some gold had been found in the canyons of the El Paso Mountains, enough to warrant an arrastra being built in 1887. In 1893 a nugget was brought in worth $1,900 from Goler Canyon and so the rush began. In 1894 Eugene Garlock of Tehachapi moved in an eight stamp mill. Miners would talk of going down to "the Garlock mill," "down to the Garlock," and finally just "Garlock."