20 Mule Team Borax

Jill's Journal: In what really, truly appears to be the middle of nowhere – deep in the Mojave Desert in Boron, California -- is one of the largest-known deposits of borate ore (or borax) in the world. Boron’s deposit was discovered in 1925. When mining operations began here in 1927, it was so significant that virtually all other borate operations in the U.S. were halted.

The company, (20 Mule Team) Borax, which operates the mine extracts 12,000 tons of this mineral every day and supplies almost half of the world’s needs.

Ancient civilizations used borax too. The Egyptians used it in mummification and the Romans used it in glassmaking. Erika used it in an experiment earlier this year and has thought it was really cool stuff ever since. When she found out her beloved Ancient Egyptians used borax thousands of years ago, well, now she’ll be a fan for life.

The grounds of Borax are absolutely massive, numbering in the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of acres. By the way, Borax (capitalized) is the name of the company and borax (lower-case) is the name of the mineral.

This is Borax’s gargantuan processing center from a great distance away. The open-pit mine is immediately to the right.

Although Borax has been mining here for more than 80 years, more than half of the ore still remains in the deposit.

The girls got cozy with a sample of borate ore at the Visitor Center.

This mineral is used in agriculture (particularly fertilizers), ceramics, detergents, fiber glass, glass, flame retardants, wood treatment, LCDs (flat-screen televisions and computers), and so much more.

Here’s a few examples of places borates are used in each and every modern-day home. On a completely different note, Borax also sponsored the longest-running serial in American history – first on radio and then on television – Death Valley Days, which was closely tied to Borax's history in the region. The 40-year-long show launched the careers of stars like Clint Eastwood, Carroll O’Connor, and Ronald Reagan.

Again from a great distance away, one can see the open-pit mine (the largest in California). The 240-ton trucks we saw working looked like ants. This mine is 2 1/2 miles long…

…1 1/2 miles wide…

…and up to 800 feet deep.

Borax, the company, started with the discovery of borate deposits in Death Valley in 1872 (more than 50 years before Boron’s deposit was found). There was one problem: Death Valley had some of the most forbidding territory on Planet Earth. Even worse, it was 162 miles from the mines at Furnace Creek in Death Valley to the nearest railroad point in Mojave. Of course, there was not a sign of habitation anywhere along the trail and the temperatures were usually over 120 degrees in the summer.

As a solution, Borax built special wagons (each holding one railcar-load) to haul the borates out of Death Valley. Two loaded wagons fashioned together (along with a 1,200-gallon water tank to supply needs for the 10-day journey) weighed 36 1/2 tons. They were so heavy that teams of 20 mules were recruited for each haul.

This is a set of the original wagons.

Remember that Death Valley isn’t just a valley floor, but is surrounded by forbidding mountains on all sides. These mule teams must have been quite a sight, especially as they navigated narrow mountain passes. Imagine the skill required as they swung through curves. To negotiate the curves, some of the mules were required to leap over the chain and pull at an angle going away from the curve, sidestepping all the time, while the others simultaneously pulled straight. Each of the spots on the team had special duties. Amazing. Without their cooperation, the wagons would have been lost over cliffs.

The mules were trained to each answer to their own names and follow verbal commands. The driver, or “skinner,” had one rein of sorts, a 120-foot long “jerk” line which ran through the harnesses of the 10 nigh (or left-hand side) mules. The skinner rode the “nigh-wheeler,” or the left-hand mule at the very back of the team, so he could also operate the brake on the front wagon. The “swamper,” his assistant, sat on the rear wagon to operate that brake. (Technically, the two “mules” in the very back of the team were not mules at all, but draft horses as these two needed to be the strongest. Erika noticed this immediately; it took the rest of us a little longer and the help of a sign to figure it out!).

The lead mules wore these bells to warn other teams that might be approaching on the narrow roads. Although traffic was light (Borax had just five sets of wagons in constant operation), meeting another 20-mule team on a mountain pass would provide all kinds of logistical problems.

These days, really, really big trucks are used to move the mineral instead of mules and wagons. The girls are standing in a 1986 tire, from when Borax used 190-ton trucks with 11-foot tires. Now they use 240-ton trucks with 15-foot tires.