20-Mule-Team Borax Terminus

20-Mule-Team Borax Terminus is a California Historical Landmark in Kern County.

Kern County · Mojave · location approximate

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Just west of this point was the Southern Pacific terminus for the 20-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 24 tons. They were designed by J. W. S. Perry, Borax Company superintendent in Death Valley, and built in Mojave at a cost of $900 each. New borax discoveries near Barstow ended the Mojave shipments in 1889.

1971 register text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people; the state's landmark listings still carry most of this wording, and the California Office of Historic Preservation maintains the program's current texts.

Many of these plaques have since been recast or their texts revised. The California Historical Landmarks program and its current texts are maintained by the California Office of Historic Preservation. California Office of Historic Preservation ↗

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what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Marker data: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, California Historical Landmarks (1971)

20-Mule-Team Borax Terminus

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