Death Valley Day Four Part II: Borax Museum, Harmony Borax Works, & Pupfish

After exploring the Furnace Creek Inn, Ranch and Visitor Center, we made our way over to the Borax Museum, a small, slightly cramped, museum decorated with wall-to-wall antiques and historical items about the Harmony Borax Works (later called the Pacific Borax Company). Entrance to the Borax Museum is free with a $2.50 printed guide available for purchase. It’s open 9:00 am to 9:00 pm Monday through Friday.

Borax was discovered in Death Valley by Aaron and Rosie Winters in 1881. Consequently, business associates William Tell Coleman and Francis Marion Smith obtained claims to the deposits found in the area and started the Harmony operation for borax mining. Harmony Borax Works lasted less than 10 years (1883 to 1889) and is most famous for the “Twenty Mule Team,” which actually consisted of 18 mules and 2 horses.

Replica of the 20 Mule Team

William Tell Coleman’s business failed in 1888 due to bankruptcy; it was then acquired by Frank M. Smith in 1890 and the name was changed to Pacific Coast Borax Company. Before acquiring the Harmony Borax Works, Frank Smith had an illustrative and successful career.

Originally, Frank Smith had been contracted to provide firewood to a small borax operation where, during his exploration of the land, discovered Teels March, an area overflowing with borax. Frank Smith acquired financial assistance from two brothers by the name of Storey, and thus, in 1872, his operation began as “Smith and Storey Brothers Borax Co.” Around 1884 it changed to Teels March Borax Co. In 1880, Frank Smith acquired the Pacific Borax Company and developed holdings within the Harmony Borax Works and the Meridian Borax Company; these were combined to form the “Pacific Borax, Salt & Soda Company” in 1888. When Frank Smith finally acquired all of Coleman’s interest, he changed the name to “Pacific Coast Borax Company” in 1890.

Borax

The Borax was transported primarily via train. It began shipment through the Death Valley Railroad from Ryan, California to Death Valley Junction. From there it met up with the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad (T&T).

The museum was really interesting to explore. The wall was packed with items, ranging from cooking utensils, mule shoes and old mining deeds, to firearms, news clippings and old photos.

After reading this, Don says “I already knew I was superior.” Yes, Don, we know.

The best part of the museum was the back area. The museum, while appearing cramped at first, had a huge back fenced-in area with old mining equipment and machinery, with well-marked numbered items and an accompanying guide explaining the items. It was very interesting!

Concord Stagecoach: Carried passengers across the Amargosa Valley east of Death Valley.

The Panamint Valley Stagecoach: Run twice a week between Skidoo and Rhyolite in 1907

Fresno Scraper: An earth moving machine used before the invention of the bulldozer

Running Gear: Carried the water tank for the 20-Mule Team

Second of two engines of the Death Valley Narrow-Gauge Railroad which transported borax ore from the mines at Ryan to the processing plant at Death Valley Junction between 1915 and 1927.

Logging Wheels: Used in the Spring Mountains to draw logs from the site where they were
felled to the loading dock where they could be loaded onto logging trucks and taken to the sawmill.

Francis Smith’s Buckboard: Used by Francis Smith for transportation around his Death Valley properties in the 1880’s.

Blacksmith’s Forge: Used for repair and manufacture of simple and small iron items

Crucible: A large metal vessel used in foundries and smelters for transporting and pouring molten metal

Railroad Crew Car: Used for transporting members of section crews who did track inspection
and repair on the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad during its operation from 1904 to 1940.

Ox Shoeing Device: Equipped with wide belts that could be looped under the ox

Rocker Quarts Mill: Tilted back and forth by hand, causing the heavy iron roller to pulverize the ore

The Gold Arrastra: Introduced by Mexican miners as a means of crushing gold ore using materials readily at hand

Fireproof Safe: Walls lined with firebrick and fireclay

I took pictures of the historical pieces I found most interesting, but this area of the museum contained almost 70 different items, including a landleveller, mucking machine, ore cars, and a printing press.

After exploring the museum, we drove to the site of the actual Harmony Borax Works, just a bit up Highway 190 right outside Mustard Canyon. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 1974; what stands today is ruins and some remaining structure from the original mine, as well as a twenty mule team wagon.

“Rules are made to be broken.” – Don

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Don on the wheel

Placard describing life as a worker at the Harmony Borax Works

After checking out Harmony Borax Works, we went to explore the Salt Creeks, an interpretive-like area, with a long, windy wooden walkway over streams jam-packed with pup fish! There’s so many of them you wouldn’t guess they were a seriously endangered species!

Mom and Andy waving hello at the beginning of the walkway

The particular breed of pupfish we were looking at were the Death Valley pupfish. They are the last known survivor of a large population of fish species that thrived in Lake Manly. Lake Manly supposedly dried up at the end of the last ice age, leaving what we now know as Death Valley. The Death Valley pupfish was the only one of this population that could handle the hot and highly salty water. Pupfish remain today as a reminder that sometimes the toughest and strongest things come in tiny packages! They are an ICUN Red List endangered species (International Union for the Conservation of Nature). For those interested, the ICUN Red List has 7 “Categories” with some examples listed:

EXTINCT

Extinct (EX): Bali tiger, dodo bird, black rhinoceros

Extinct in the Wild (EW): Hawaiian cross, Scimitar oryx, Wyoming toad

THREATENED

Critically Endangered (CR): brown spider monkey, Siamese crocodile, Hawaiian monk seal

Endangered (EN): Death Valley pupfish, giant panda, wild water buffalo

Vulnerable (VU): African lion, polar bear, yak

LOWER RISK

Near Threatened (NT): American bison, leopard, tiger shark

Least Concern (LC): American alligator, platypus, bald eagle

We meandered our way across the wooden platform; at first we couldn’t see the fish, they were so tiny! Finally Andy spotted a few and before long we couldn’t step two or more feet without seeing a large bunch of them again. For being a fish, they were pretty cute!