Spenceville was a ranching, farming and mining community located in the southwestern part of Nevada County, California, on Spenceville Road just east of Waldo Road, about 17 miles (27 km) from Grass Valley.

The Nisenan were removed from the area by a series on treaties beginning in 1850, which the Congress never ratified.

[1] Spenceville was never a major gold producing area, in part because the very rich auriferous channel that runs down the San Juan Ridge turns west a few miles north of Spenceville, towards Smartsville and Timbuctoo.

[9] The Company substantially improved the roasting and leaching method for processing the copper and operated successfully for a number of years.

[12] In 1897, the property was acquired by the Spence Mineral Company for the purpose of manufacturing sulphuric acid.

[16] The dark side of copper mining was that it created a lot of pollution and environmental contamination.

Contemporary news articles report on the fumes from the copper smelter killing the greenery, including trees, in the area.

[17] During the 1870s, the town had a post office, three general stores, a hotel and was home to about four hundred people.

It was promoted in part as expediting the shipment of copper ore from Spenceville, but the railroad never materialized.

As one historian noted, “Citrus fruits and all kinds of deciduous fruits grow here to perfection.”[27] Just west of Spenceville, enterprising black farmers grew cabbages, which provided Vitamin C for miners to treat scurvy, giving rise to the town of Cabbage Patch, later Waldo.

He started a successful teaming business transporting merchandise from Wheatland to North San Juan and as far east as Virginia City.

[31] With the collapse of copper mining following World War I, Spenceville began a rapid decline.

[33] During World War II, the United States acquired by eminent domain much of the area around Spenceville and established a training facility.