Southwest Vacation Feb23 - Death Valley NP
Harmony Borax Works
The next morning we headed east on Highway 190.  Soon the Mesquite Sand Dunes came into view on the left.
   
Close-up of the Sand Dunes.
   
Lynnette has seen sand dunes before and stayed in the car.
   
Continuing east.
   
Our first stop of the day was the Harmony Borax Works, just north of Furnace Creek.
   
 
   
A 20-mule team would pull two wagons like this, loaded with the refined borax.  Notice the cylinder container at the end.  That was used to bring all-important water into Death Valley.  It held 1,200 gallons of water.
 
The mule teams pulled loads weighing up to 36 tons.  The rear wagon wheels were seven feet high.  The entire wagon train with mules was 100 feet long.
 
From here, the 20-mule teams travelled south through Death Valley, then southwest out Wingate Pass, then across the Mojave Desert to the railroad town of Mojave.  165 miles of forbidding terrain.  A tough way to earn a buck.
 
   
The site where they refined the borax.
   
Read and learn.
   
 
   
The Harmony Borax Works are surrounded by some harsh terrain.
   
 
   
 
   
Lynnette going off-trail.
   
Aclose-look at the boiler and mixing vat.
   
 
   
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