Mojave 20-Mule-Team Borax Terminus
Kern County, Kern County, California
Marker Inscription
Mojave 20-Mule-Team Borax Terminus Just west of this point was the Southern Pacific terminus for the twenty-mule-team borax wagons that operated between Death Valley and Mojave from 1884 to 1889. The route ran from the Harmony Borax Mining Company works, later acquired by the Pacific Coast Borax Company, to the railroad loading dock in Mojave over 165 miles of mountain and desert trail. A round trip required 20 days. The ore wagons hauled a payload of twenty four tons. They were designed by J.W.S. Perry, Borax Company superintendent in Death Valley, and were built in Mojave at a cost of $900 each. New borax discoveries near Barstow ended the Mojave shipments in 1889. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 652
Erected by California State Park Commission
The Story
From 1884 to 1889 this spot near Mojave was the Southern Pacific railroad terminus for the legendary twenty-mule-team borax wagons, which hauled ore 165 miles across mountain and desert from the Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley. Designed by company superintendent J.W.S. Perry and built in Mojave, each wagon train carried a twenty-four-ton payload on a round trip that took twenty grueling days. New borax discoveries near Barstow ended the Mojave route in 1889.
Why it matters
The twenty-mule teams became an enduring icon of Western mining and desert transport, symbolizing the ingenuity and hardship of extracting mineral wealth from the American frontier.
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Related people
- · J.W.S. Perry
Themes & tags
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