2019 other side of CA - part 2, Death Valley: 20-mule team wagons and borax - Travel With Us

If you’re under 60 (and maybe over 60), you may not understand our fascination with these mule teams pulling wagons of borax. In the 1950s and 1960s, one of the TV shows we watched since we only had 3 channels to choose from was Death Valley Days that highlighted lore and legends of Death Valley and the pioneers who traveled across it and tried to make it home. The show was sponsored by 20 Mule Team Borax, so we were always seeing these teams and the wagons they pulled.

first wagon trains were pulled by mules,
and it took 10 days to make the trip to the rail station

Each team of mules (usually 18 mules and 2 horses) could pull heavy loads in the two wagons followed by a water tank from the mines across the Mojave Desert to the nearest railroad spur 165 miles away in Mojave. The horses were the two closest to the wagon and were ridden by one of the two men generally required to operate the wagons. Typically they were larger than the mules.

So my questions as we spent time in Death Valley were these: what was the big deal about borax, where did they haul it to, how long did it take, and why did the business peter out?

Most of the pictures in this blog are from Harmony Borax Mine, an open-air museum at the resort across the street from our campsite, and the national park visitors center. This great picture shows the long trains of mules and wagons.

“Within the lakebed deposits of the Furnace Creek Formation are rich layers of Colemanite and Uluxite—minerals often refered to as borax. Although borax was first discovered in a recrystallized form on the salt flats, these original minerals proved more profitable to mine. Starting in 1882, numerous mining claims were established [in the local area].”

value of borax

items made from borax with the 20 mule team brand—great marketing!

Harmony Borax Works

“San Francisco businessman William T. Coleman built this plant in 1882 to refine the ‘cottonball’ borax found on the nearby salt flats. The high cost of transportation made it necessary to refine the borax here rather than carry both borax and waste to the railroad 165 miles across the desert.”

the first borax operation during 1883-1888

the 20 mule team has been well deserved symbol of the borax industry since it’s most difficult task was getting the product to market

various borax works and how the wagons got to the railroad,
165 miles of forbidding terrain!

**stats:** loads weighed up to 36 tons, including 1200 gal. of drinking water; rear wagon wheels were 7 feet high;
entire unit with mules was more than 100 feet long

refining borax

“Borates—salt minerals—were deposited in ancient lake beds that
uplifted and eroded into the yellow Furance Creek badlands. Water dissolved the borates and carried them to the Death Valley floor,
where they recrystallized as borax.”
**Used by** blacksmiths, potters, dairy farmers, housewives,
meat packers, and even morticians.

the process of refining borax so they could take more to market

view looking up the hill toward the machinery

housing

Chinese workers slept and ate close to the works; other workers lived at what is now Furnace Creek Ranch, the resort across the street from where we stayed at the campground—about 3 miles away. Coleman’s financial problems and other areas of California with borax forced Harmony to close down in 1888 after operating 5 years.

Building in the distance was one of the homes for the Chinese

No work was done at the site in the summer when temperatures were
over 120 degrees; during this time, work shifted to another, smaller borax mining operation. Workers kept the crystallizing vats cool the rest of the year by wrapping them with water-soaked felt padding as shown
in the photograph.

Chinese were paid $1.50 a day for hard physical labor, phew;
not an easy life for them at all!

equipment

This series of pictures are from the open air museum at Furnace Creek Ranch, now a resort. This desert oasis was created by the abundant water supply of the Texas and Travertine Springs located along the Furnace Creek Wash.