Searles Lake Borax Discovery

John Searles found borax lying on the surface of the lake in 1862 and worked it with his brother Dennis as the San Bernardino Borax Mining Company from 1873 until 1897. What he had actually found was far bigger than borax. Meltwater draining off the ice-age Sierra concentrated in this basin and left borax, potash, soda ash, salt cake and lithium stacked in one dry bed. Trona still works it, and the plant runs through the night.

What the plaque says

Borax was discovered on the nearby surface of Searles Lake by John Searles in 1862. With his brother, Dennis, he formed the San Bernardino Borax Mining Company in 1873 and operated it until 1897. The chemicals in Searles Lake, which included borax, potash, soda ash, salt cake, and lithium, were deposited here by the runoff waters from melting ice age glaciers. John Searles' discovery has proved to be the world's richest chemical storehouse, containing half the natural elements known to man.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Trona Pinnacles — 9.7 mi
  More than five hundred tufa spires standing on a dry Pleistocene lakebed outside Ridgecrest.

More markers nearby

• Valley Wells — 5.5 mi
• Garlock — 34 mi