Death Valley: Harmony Borax Works

Borax deposits were discovered in Death Valley in 1881 and claims laid by a certain William Coleman. A processing plant opened in 1883 and operated until 1888 when Coleman’s business collapsed. This is what’s left of the works.

The borax was mined and processed here by up to 40 labourers who were mostly Chinese. They lived in tents and were paid at a lower rate than Americans. This is the area of the desert where they lived and worked. Not much of a fun place.

The borax ore was dissolved in boiling water generated by a steam engine, and crystallised in the iron troughs shown in the photo below. Operations were transferred during the summer months to a slightly cooler location in the valley not for any consideration for the workers but because borax won’t crystallise above 120F. 

Now they’ve got borax crystals- what to do with them in the middle of nowhere? Borax is a much sought after chemical used in many everyday products, so they needed to get it to where the factories were, back East; they needed a railhead. So they put the borax into two box carts with a water container at the back, hitched up 20 mules, and drove it across the desert and over mountain passes the 165 miles to the nearest railway station at the town of Mojave. They made this journey, there and back, countless times over the five years of Harmony Mine’s existence, using the set-up in the photo. You'll have to imagine the mules, but make sure you add them to the right end. They sure were tough in them thar days.