Original Twenty Mule Team Borax Wagons at Harmony Borax Works
For decades, legend held that three of the massive Twenty Mule Team Borax wagons had survived into modern times. However, after years of research by the Death Valley Conservancy during efforts to build replica borax wagons, we uncovered that, incredibly, only a single wagon set remains intact from the original five built in Mojave, CA for hauling borax produced by Harmony Borax Works.
This is the story of the surviving wagon set, the very last of its kind, that is on outdoor display at the historic remains of Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley National Park.
A Twenty Mule Team hauling borax out of Death Valley to the railhead circa 1900 – Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library from the California Historical Society Collection
History of
Harmony Borax Works
The history of Harmony Borax Works begins in 1881 when borax was discovered in Death Valley by Aaron Winters and his wife, leading to the acquisition of some of the deposits by the prominent San Francisco businessman W.T. Coleman.
In order to move the borax efficiently out of the valley, it was necessary to process, purify, and crystallize the raw ore near where it was collected which required the construction of a borax processing works. Production at the works started in late 1883. Situated at the mouth of Furnace Creek, the works’ location was pivotal for the operations, where Chinese laborers played a significant role in gathering the raw borax ore, or “cottonball,” from the valley floor, which they transported to the works for processing using sleds, push carts, and wagons.
The production at Harmony Borax Works faced seasonal challenges, particularly during the hot summer months when temperatures prevented the crystallizing vats’ water from cooling sufficiently to allow the borax to crystallize. To mitigate this, Coleman had the works wrapped with cloth to enable water to be sprayed on them, lowering the temperature. Earlier, Coleman had also established works at Amargosa, near present-day Tecopa, California, where operations could continue further into the summer.
William Tell Coleman was a shrewd businessman who had originally arrived in California for the gold rush of 1849, but instead built a business empire by cornering or controlling markets and selling supplies and food to miners – Photo courtesy UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
A Twenty Mule Team at Harmony Borax Works in the 1880s
Note the many buildings that were once part of the works. Materials were precious in the remote desert, and once operations ceased anything of value was relocated to other mining camps
Despite climatic and geographic challenges, the Harmony plant became effective in processing borax and together with the Amargosa Works in the late 1880s produced one third of all the borax being produced in the United States.
Yet, it was not to last for long. Coleman had placed his company in the care of his son and a close associate. They carried on Coleman’s aggressive business tactics and, while attempting to corner the market in canned salmon and raisins, lost a considerable amount of money. Coleman was attempting to sell Harmony Borax Works when Congress removed the import tariff on borax which had been crucial to keeping borax prices inflated. Borax prices subsequently fell, a buyer for the works could not be found, and Coleman’s empire collapsed in 1888. Eventually, Coleman’s borax claims were purchased by Francis Marion Smith, but the works would never reopen.
In its heyday, Harmony Borax Works represented industrial ingenuity and the ability to adapt to harsh environmental conditions. The success of the works marked an important chapter in the history of borax mining in America, and the site later gained historical interest as one of the early industrial activities in Death Valley and its connection to the legend of the Twenty Mule Team.
Compare How Harmony Borax Works Appeared Historically and in 2024
Visit Harmony Borax Works and Wagons
Harmony Borax Works and the last surviving Twenty Mule Team Borax Wagons are located in Death Valley National Park, California.
The site is open to the public and offers a quarter-mile, paved interpretive loop trail. Parking is off California Highway 190 via Borax Mill Rd 1.8 miles north of the National Park Furnace Creek Visitors Center.
History of the Borax Wagons
Owing to its remote and rugged location, transporting the crystallized borax produced by Harmony Borax Works 165 miles to the Southern Pacific railhead at Mojave, CA was an expensive and difficult challenge from the start. The works initially relied on contract teamsters using freight wagons that employed eight to twelve horses. This method proved costly and inefficient, and when the price of borax fell, Coleman decided to use his own wagons, mules, and drivers for greater cost efficiency.
Coleman tapped J.W.S. Perry, a trained druggist and superintendent of Harmony, to design more robust wagons that could carry ten tons each plus the food and water required for the animals. These enormous wagons, assembled by J.T. Delameter of Mojave at the cost of $900 per wagon, were a set comprised of two box wagons and a water wagon pulled by 18 mules and two horses. When fully loaded, each set weighed over 36 tons! In total, there were five sets of wagons produced.
While not truly a team of 20 mules, typically two horses joined the 18 mules and were placed on either side of the tongue and nearest to the wagons. There were likely several reasons horses were included in the team, ranging from the availability of healthy animals in the remote desert, a potential muleskinner preference for riding horses, to the mule’s desire to be near horses that reduced straying since every mule’s mother was a horse.
A steel chain extended 135′ from first pair of mules all the way back to the water wagon, with mules and wagons attached to the same pull chain. The animals were controlled by voice commands, occasional well-aimed pebbles, a 22′ lash on a 6′ handle, and a jerkline – a cotton rope running the length of the team that delivered directional signals to turn the wagons. The teamsters were known for taking exceptionally good care of the animals on whom they depended.
John Perry in 1892 with the Borax Wagons He Designed
Borax Twenty Mule Team Wagons Unloading at the Southern Pacific Railhead in Mojave, CA
Twenty Mule Team Hitched in Front of the Borax Plateaus in Death Valley
The practical design of these borax wagons was robust enough to withstand the harsh operating conditions of the desert, and reportedly never broke down a single time during their years of use. Each wagon had a large container mounted on a strong wooden frame, barn doors attached at the rear for unloading, tires that were 8” wide and 1″ thick, and oversized wheels, 7’ tall in the rear and 5’ tall in the front, that aided in navigating the sharp rocks and soft desert sands.
The wagon axles were forged from a single piece of steel and the huge wagon wheels were made of split oak. The remainder of the wood used on the wagons was hickory, seasoned for four years, some of which was boiled in oil to further cure it. The construction included a brake system that used a large lever attached to a series of wooden blocks, providing the necessary control when descending the steep grades of desert terrain.
Pacific Coast Borax Twenty Mule Team Borax Brand
Twenty Mule Team Borax on Parade in Las Vegas, NV
The arduous 165-mile journey from the works to the railhead in Mojave with the heavy load was one of the most grueling forms of transportation in the history of the American West. It required remarkable coordination and endurance from the teamster, swamper, and their animals during the ten-day journey from Death Valley through the desert crossing over Wingate Pass to reach Mojave, solidifying the team’s place in American folklore. The Twenty-Mule Team legend was born.
The mules and wagons became iconic and were widely promoted after Frank “Borax” Smith acquired Coleman’s enterprise after its collapse in 1888, even though they were never used again to transport borax from Harmony to Mojave. The Twenty Mule Team became a symbol of the borax industry, largely popularized by Stephen T. Mather, who later became the first director of the National Park Service.
The recognition and romanticization of the Twenty-Mule Team persisted through the years, encompassing a wide range of activities including advertising, parade appearances, World’s Fair showings, presidential inaugurations, TV spots, and nostalgic historical narratives – all showcasing how pivotal these wagons were to the borax industry, the mining history of the Death Valley region, and the creation of what we know today as Death Valley National Park.
The Last Surviving Twenty Mule Team Wagon Set
Crucial to understanding the value in preserving these living pieces of history is the fact that the borax wagons at Harmony Borax Works are now the only intact Twenty Mule Team wagon set that remains from the original five that were produced in the 1880s. The others are either in incomplete pieces, fragments of what once were, or have been entirely lost to the sands of time.
Previous studies and historians had incorrectly concluded that three of the five wagon sets remained. However, after years of careful study by the Death Valley Conservancy, we now know definitively that only one set remains intact today. This was determined by close study of historic photos, evaluating the wagon’s dimensions, and, since they were uniquely made, an anomaly related to the number of spokes—18 in this case—on the rear wheels.
NPS Conservation Staff Curtis Sullivan from Harpers Ferry Uses an Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Unit to Gain an Inside Look at the Wagons’ Wood Structure, A Preservation Project Funded by DVC
NPS Conservation Staff Casey Oehler Conserving the Rear Water Tank Wheel on the Borax Wagons at Harmony Borax Works
This knowledge further elevates the case that preservation activities are of high value to ensure the wagons will survive into the future. In addition to spending their entire lives outdoors, the extreme weather and harsh UV sunlight inherent to the desert in Death Valley has taken a toll on the 140-year-old wagons and their condition reflects that reality.
In partnership with the National Park Service, the Death Valley Conservancy funds and advocates for the preservation of these incredible historic objects by supporting research and preservation while encouraging long-term preservation solutions so that future generations may continue to enjoy them and share in this incredibly special connection to our nation’s history and Death Valley’s legendary Twenty Mule Team.
“The wagons at Harmony are central to the overall Death Valley narrative. They are not just mining relics or old wagons representative of an exploitive industry. They are in essence “the hub” of what we now know as Death Valley National Park, the central symbol of why there is a Death Valley National Park at all.”
– Ted Faye, Filmmaker
See How The Wagons Have Aged Over A Timespan of 23 Years (2001 – 2024)
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Additional Resources and References
Reproduction
Borax Wagons
DVC constructed stunningly beautiful reproduction Twenty Mule Team Borax wagons to continue the adventures for present and future generations. When not in parades or at events, you can experience them for yourself in their very own purpose-built wagon barn at the Laws Museum in Bishop, CA.
THE CONSERVANCY AT WORK
Thank you generous donors for making these exciting projects possible.