Town of Calico

Silver made Calico, but borax outlasted it. Prospectors found colemanite in the Calico Mountains in 1883, and after the Death Valley works shut down in 1888 the twenty-mule teams were put back to work here, hauling ore from the camp of Borate three miles east down to the railroad at Daggett. A narrow-gauge line replaced the mules in 1898. Borate was the country's chief borax producer until 1907, when the company returned to Death Valley and took the whole operation north with it.

What the plaque says

Centered about the "Town of Calico", the Calico Mining District, with a peak population of 3,000, produced $13-20 million in silver and $9 million in borate minerals between 1881-1907. On April 6, 1881, several claims were located which formed the largest mine in the district, the Silver King. Profitable mining of silver ceased in 1896.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Calico Ghost Town — steps away
  An 1881 silver boomtown in the calico-colored hills, saved and rebuilt by the founder of Knott's Berry Farm.
• Barstow — 9.6 mi
  The Mojave's rail-and-road hinge, where the Santa Fe yards and Route 66 meet at the Casa del Desierto Harvey House.

More markers nearby

• Possum Trot — 2.0 mi
• Harvey House — 9.5 mi
• Camp Cady (on the Mojave Road) — 15 mi
• The Mojave Road — 23 mi