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.

Holiday Week

Jill's Journal: Instead of being in Death Valley all week like we’d expected, it worked out we could spend the holiday week with family. Being with family is wonderful anytime, but it’s extra nice when it’s Thanksgiving week. I don’t believe Rob has ever had Thanksgiving with my family and the girls certainly haven’t. Heck, I haven’t had Thanksgiving with my family since at least 1992, maybe 1991. That’s 20 years! We are most definitely due.

We arrived at my parents’ home in Bear Valley Springs, California, on Sunday and the girls have settled into an easy routine of school in the morning and grandparent time in the afternoon. The girls are so happy to be here that they’ve told us in a not-so-subtle way that Rob and I should continue traveling and leave them here for a while. I believe Erika’s direct quote was, “Maybe you can pick us up in 100 days or so.”

And that’s the way it should be with grandparents! I love it, in spite of having to decline Erika’s polite offer. Ever the little lawyer, Erika declared we then need to stop “wasting time” with school so she and her sisters can take advantage of every minute here. And oh my, just wait until the rest of the family arrives (and the dogs too)… We’ll never get these girls out of here!

Does this not look like a completely happy, 100% contented child? It's going to be a good week.

Hottest, Driest Place in North America

Jill's Journal: It was a huge treat to visit Death Valley National Park. Disclaimer: we probably feel that way because we visited in November and not a few months earlier. We enjoyed a gorgeous fall day with temperatures in the 70s, a little more than double what they were in Lone Pine at our campsite. But Death Valley is not known for its pleasant days. It is famous for the unmerciful five or so months of extreme summers with brutal, soaring temperatures.

Death Valley is the hottest and driest place in North America, but there are lots of deserts around. What makes this one so hot and so dry? It is a long, narrow basin dipping to 282 feet below sea level, but it is walled in by steep, high mountain ranges. Heat becomes trapped in the valley, only to rise and be recycled down to the valley floor, getting heated even more by the low elevation air pressure. This super-heated air reached a world record high of 134 degrees in 1913. In fact, for five consecutive days that year, it was 129 degrees or higher. (The current world record of 136 degrees occurred in Libya’s Sahara Desert in 1922.) It’s just about as hot these days. For example, in 1996, 40 days in Death Valley registered over 120 degrees (plus 105 days over 110 degrees). When it’s this hot, nights don’t cool down below 100 degrees.

The ground temperature here is even hotter (generally about 40% hotter) than the air. It’s not unusual for ground temperatures on the valley floor to reach a blistering 200 degrees.

As for the dryness, there are four major mountain ranges between the ocean and Death Valley. By the time any moisture might get as far as this particular desert, there’s very little left. A number of years have passed with no rainfall at all, although the average rainfall annually may get up to a whooping two inches. The driest stretch on record occurred in 1931-34, when it rained a grand total of .64 inches during a period of 40 months.

Where did Death Valley gets its morbid name? In 1849, a small group of pioneers heading to the Gold Rush looked for an alternate route to Sutter’s Fort. Winter was setting in and they knew they wouldn’t make it over the Sierra Nevadas. They trusted a crude, hand-sketched map and found themselves in an unforgiving desert. After losing one member of their party, their oxen, and their wagons, they assumed the desert would be their grave. Amazingly, they were eventually rescued by two members of their party who had gone on ahead. As they climbed the Panamint Mountains in their escape, one of these “Lost ‘49ers” looked back and said, “Goodbye, death valley.” As they told their tale of human suffering and near death, the name stuck.

Death Valley became a national monument in 1933 and a national park in 1994.

One of our first stops in Death Valley, coming in from the west, was Father Crowley Point. The girls weren’t too impressed yet…

…but their tune changed when we visited the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. At 14 square miles across the widest part of Death Valley, the sand dunes are a realization of every child’s dream. A giant sandbox!

It got even better when they met two other little girls around their ages.

The five soon set off in search of adventure, leaving the four adults to chase after them.

We so enjoyed this lovely family, one of several we met in Death Valley. Moms don’t come more fun than Linda, who impressed me by getting down in the sand to capture images. She is clearly a more dedicated photographer than I am!

“Sand is everywhere in the desert, but sand dunes are not. For sand to gather into dunes, it takes three things: a supply of sand, a strong wind, and something to slow that wind. Sand erodes from the mountains around Death Valley. Winds from the north carry sand down the valley until they hit the bulk of Tucki Mountain…, causing the sand to collect at its foot. Southerly winds form a huge eddy in the leeward side of the same mountain, adding even more sand. The sands shift with every windstorm, but the dunes are trapped in place.” --National Park Service literature

An hour’s drive away from the sand dunes is Badwater Basin with its 200 square miles of salt flats. These are among the largest protected salt flats in the world. This is also the area resting 282 feet below sea level, the lowest in North America and second-lowest in the Western Hemisphere.

The area got the name from this pond. It was labeled as having “bad water” by a surveyor mapping the area when his mule refused to drink the salty water.

With water nearly four times saltier than the ocean, who could blame the poor beast? The name Badwater stuck.

Over 90% of the salt here is sodium chloride, which is regular table salt. The stark, flat white path has been trampled by lots of human feet. The “puffier” white and brown hasn’t had quite the amount of human traffic.

The girls badly wanted to taste the salt…so we all did! All five of us. A tiny drop is super salty. Erika, our little salt lover, thought it was wonderful.

The source of salt comes from Death Valley’s large drainage system of 9,000 square miles (an area bigger than the state of New Hampshire). The arid climate here causes evaporation to exceed precipitation, meaning just the salt mixed with fine silt is left behind.

We left the salt flats to take in Artist’s Drive and Palette, a scenic nine-mile route among the foothills of the Black Mountains. This area gets its name from the striking colors in the rocks.

Death Valley is huge at 140 miles long along the valley floor. After a full day, we had time for just one last stop to witness the sunset: Zabriskie Point, which overlooks Death Valley's badlands.

We have so much more to see in Death Valley and we hope to do it from the eastern side in a few weeks. What a starkly beautiful place. We feel so fortunate to have gotten this little taste of it.