The most famous export of Death Valley was not silver or gold but borax, Na2B4O7ยท10H2O, which has a variety of functions but is mostly used for laundry detergent. From 1883, after the Pacific Coast Borax Company took over operations in Death Valley, to 1889, when the operations were closed and moved South, borax was shipped out by the "Twenty Mule Teams" to the nearest rail junction at Daggett, California 275km away. These teams, actually made up of 9 teams of mules and 1 team of horses at the wagons, hauled two massive wagons 4.9m long and 1.8m deep, as well as a water tank. The train could carry 9 metric tons of borax for a total weight of 33.2 metric tons, some of the largest wagons pulled by draft animals. The horses would control movement of the wagons, while the sure-footed mules provided the endurance. In 6 years of operation, the trains pulled out some 9000 metric tons of ore over a 10-day trip, and never had a recorded breakdown.
The 20-mule team came to public attention thanks to Francis (Borax) Smith of the PCBC, who sent out the teams to major US cities, several World's Fairs, and President Woodrow Wilson's Inauguration to offer samples of their product. Though the 20-Mule Teams were eventually replaced by trains and trucks, the name lives on in "20 Mule Team Borax" offered by the Dial Corporation,
Harmony Borax Works, Death Valley National Park, Furnace Creek, California
Loading contexts...
