Harmony Borax Works

File:Twenty mule team wagon Harmony Borax Works sw.jpg

After discovery of Borax deposits here by Aaron and Rosie Winters in 1881, business associates William Tell Coleman and Francis Marion Smith subsequently obtained claims to these deposits, opening the way for "large-scale" borax mining in Death Valley.Hildebrand, GH. (1982) Borax Pioneer: Francis Marion Smith. San Diego: Howell-North Books. p 27 {{ISBN|0-8310-7148-6}} Coleman constructed Harmony Borax Works and production of borax started in late 1883.{{Cite web |title=Original Borax Twenty Mule Team Wagons at Harmony Borax Works |url=https://www.dvconservancy.org/original-borax-twenty-mule-team-wagons-at-harmony-borax-works/ |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=Death Valley Conservancy |language=en-US}} In an effort to save money and achieve greater efficiency, Coleman had unique borax wagons designed to get the product to the closest railhead in Mojave, California.[https://home.nps.gov/deva/learn/historyculture/twenty-mule-teams.htm nps.gov] . accessed 6/22/2010 - NPS: Twenty Mule Teams The wagons consisted of two box wagons and a water wagon{{Cite web |date=November 25, 2024 |title=NPS Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Plans and Drawings for 1883 Twenty Mule Team Borax Wagons, 2002 |url=https://www.dvconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/NPS-Historic-American-Buildings-Survey-HABS-Historic-American-Engineering-Record-HAER-Plans-and-Drawings-for-1883-Twenty-Mule-Team-Borax-Wagons-2002.pdf |website=Death Valley Conservancy}} pulled by a team of twenty animals typically consisting of eighteen mules and two horses. While these methods were in use only for a short period of time, from 1883 to 1889, they gained great notoriety and became famous after the fact thanks to the advertising efforts of Stephen T. Mather, who later became the National Park Service's first director.

File:20_Mule_Team_Terminus-Mojave.jpg

During the summer months, when it was too hot to crystallize borax in Death Valley, a smaller borax mining operation shifted to his Amargosa Borax Plant in Amargosa, near the present community of Tecopa, California. The Harmony Works remained under Coleman's operation until 1888, when his business collapsed.[https://home.nps.gov/deva/learn/historyculture/harmony.htm nps.gov] . accessed 6/22/2010 - NPS: Harmony Works

{{Main article|Francis Marion Smith}}

William Coleman's original holdings in the works were subsequently acquired by Frank M. "Borax" Smith in 1890, to become the Pacific Coast Borax Company with the 20 Mule Team Borax brand. Activity at Harmony Borax Works ceased with the development of the richer Colemanite borax deposits at Borate in the Calico Mountains, where they continued until 1907.{{cite web|url=http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=CA&PARK=DEVA&STRUCTURE=&SORT=&RECORDNO=23|date=2008-11-30|work=List of Classified Structures|title=Harmony Borax Works|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=2008-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521204503/http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=CA&PARK=DEVA&STRUCTURE=&SORT=&RECORDNO=23|archive-date=2011-05-21|url-status=dead}}

The Harmony Borax Works was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 31, 1974. They are part of the National Park Service historical site preservation program in Death Valley National Park.{{Cite journal|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Harmony Borax Works|url={{NRHP url|id=74000339}} |format=pdf|date=June 1971 |author=F.R. Holland Jr. |publisher=National Park Service}} {{NRHP url|id=74000339|title=Photo (1971) and map|photos=y}}

As part of Death Valley National Park, the site is generally open to the public and includes a loop trail and educational interpretation.

• Eagle Borax Works

{{Reflist}}

• "Borax" Smith is a character in the historical fiction novel Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold ({{ISBN|0-7868-8632-3}}).

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• [https://home.nps.gov/deva/learn/historyculture/harmony.htm NPS: Death Valley National Park - Harmony Borax Works of Death Valley]
• [https://home.nps.gov/deva/learn/historyculture/twenty-mule-teams.htm NPS: History of the Twenty Mule Teams]
• [https://www.nps.gov/deva/index.htm NPS: official Death Valley National Park]
• {{HAER |survey=CA-301 |id=ca3104 |title=Twenty Mule Team Borax Wagons, Death Valley Junction, Inyo County, CA |photos=38 |color=2 |dwgs=8 |cap=4}}
• [https://www.dvconservancy.org/original-borax-twenty-mule-team-wagons-at-harmony-borax-works/ Death Valley Conservancy: Original Twenty Mule Team Borax Wagons at Harmony Borax Works]

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Category:Ghost towns in Inyo County, California

Category:Geography of Inyo County, California

Category:Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in California

Category:Open-air museums in California

Category:Protected areas of the Mojave Desert

Category:Borax mines

Category:Former mines in California

Category:Historic American Engineering Record in California

Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Inyo County, California

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Death Valley National Park

Category:1883 establishments in California