Mojave 20-Mule-Team Borax Terminus

The hauling lasted less than a decade. The wagons lasted a century. J. T. Delameter's shop in Mojave built five sets of them, at $900 apiece, each wagon sixteen feet long and 7,800 pounds empty; loaded, a set weighed better than thirty-six tons. They came down off the desert to the loading dock here until new discoveries near Barstow made the trip pointless in 1889. Then the borax company put the team on its soap boxes, and the wagons went on working as a trademark until their last parade in 1999.

What the plaque says

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 PLAQUE PLACED BY THE CALIFORNIA STATE PARK COMMISSION IN COOPERATION WITH THE KERN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, EL TEJON PARLOR NO. 239, NATIVE DAUGHTERS OF THE GOLDEN WEST, AND KERN COUNTY MUSEUM, OCTOBER 19, 1958.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Tomo-Kahni — 11 mi
• Oak Creek Pass — 12 mi
• Willow Springs — 14 mi
• Old Town — 19 mi