Death Valley National Park with Borax-Museum

92328 Death Valley, CA, United States of America (USA) (California)

Harmony Borax Works

was the central feature in the opening of Death Valley and the subsequent popularity of the Furnace Creek area. The plant and associated townsite played an important role in Death Valley history.

After borax was found near Furnace Creek Ranch in 1881, W. T. Coleman built the Harmony plant and began to process ore in 1883/84. When in full operation, the Harmony Borax Works employed 40 men who produced three tons of borax daily. During the summer months, when the weather was so hot that processing water would not cool enough to permit the suspended borax to crystallize, Coleman moved his work force to the Amargosa Borax Plant near present day Tecopa, California.

Getting the finished product to market from the heart of Death Valley was a difficult task, and an efficient method had to be devised. The Harmony operation became famous through the use of large mule teams and double wagons which hauled borax the long overland route to Mojave. The romantic image of the “20-mule team” persists to this day and has become the symbol of the borax industry in this country.

The Harmony plant went out of operation in 1888, after only five years of production, when Coleman’s financial empire collapsed. Aquired by Francis Marion Smith, the works never resumed the boiling of cottonball borate ore, and in time became part of the borax reserves of the Pacific Coast Borax Company and it successors. 1974, the site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad

the T&T, was a class 2 railroad extending roughly 200 miles through remote reaches of the Mojave Desert from the Santa Fe Railway railhead at Ludlow, California, through Death Valley and Amargosa Valley, terminating at the mining towns of Tonopah and Goldfield in the Great Basin Desert in Nye County, Nevada. The railroad was listed as a common carrier, however it was built by Francis Marion Smith the "Borax King" and his Pacific Coast Borax Company primarily to transport borax to processing and market. The line is now completely abandoned.

The Furnace Creek Inn

was built by the Pacific Coast Borax Company of Twenty Mule Team fame as a means to save their newly built Death Valley Railroad. Mines had closed and shipping transportation was no longer needed, but mining tourist pockets seemed a sure way to keep the narrow-gauge line active. The borax company realized travelers by train would need a place to stay and wealthy visitors accustomed to comfort would be attracted to a luxury hotel.

First opened for business in 1927, the Furnace Creek Inn was an immediate success. Unfortunately for the mining company, their railroad closed forever in 1930 when it became apparent tourists preferred the freedom of arriving to Death Valley in their own cars.

Furnace-Creek-Museum presents

the Borax Museum, the oldest structure in Deah Valley,
the railraod bench
Taylor's fine rock crusher
a crucible
railroad crew car
hand-operated single stamp mill
hydraulic classifier
auger drill steel
handmade ore car
printing press
wagon rear axle unit
225 horsepower Diesel engine
conrad state stagecoach
stagecoache
panamint valley stagecoach
conestoga or studebaker wagon
some Fresno scrapper
running gears
logging truck
train locomotive, the 2nd of 2 engines of the Death Valey Narro-Gauge RR
logging wheels
leaning wheel grader
Redwood tank
feed wagon
mule barn
pack saddle
farm wagon
small blacksmitj forge
water cart
dry washers for gold
land leveler
mine shaft replica
whim
Mine locomotive form ca.1922
mucking machine
steam radiators
ore cars

• Imprint
• Privacy
• Terms of Use
• Copyright
• FAQ

• About Radiomuseum.org
• Contact
• Press
• Logos
• send2friend