Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-02
THE PRODUCTION Of ReTAx
HOW THE INDUSTRY HAS PROSPER
ED IN THIS COUNTRY.
Hardships Attending the Work of
Getting Out the Product i'm Death
valIey-Deposits at Calico.

In the United states the annual conSunp
ton Of borax is about $4,000 tons. Prior
to 1864 consumers were dependent upon
Europe for their supplies. In that year
the deposits in California. which were dis
covered in 1853, yielded 24,34 pounds.
which sold at 80 cents pound. With the
increased production prices declined some
what. SO that in 1872, the year the Nevada
deposits were discovered, prices had fallen
to 32 cents The production for that year
was $4,000 pounds. In 1878 supplies from
Nevada and from the new San Bernardino
county deposits, recentlydiscovered. brought
production up to 100000 pounds. causing
prices to decline to "a As cents. The sue
ceedng year the production was doubled.
with prices declining to ii 1-5 cents: FROM
that year to the present production mas
steadily increased, with some Interruptions,
until the maximum of 1899 has been reached
with prices cents pound. The lowest
price ever known was In 1887, wnen porax
sold at 5A cents. The Dingley tarin not
only cut of foreign importation. but raised
the price of the native product from u to 1
cent a pound.
The high price prevailing in 1872 stimu-
lated search for new deposits, and IN tnat
year Teels borax marsh, near Columbus,
New, together with Rhodes. Columbus and
Fish lakes, all in the immediate neighbor-
hood. were located and promptly deVei,
oped. The supply was largely Increased
posts of all were discovered In the lowest
depression of Death valley. The Armagosa
borax deposits. with the Monte Blanco borate
mine of this section. are of enormous extent
and fully capable Of supplying the world Tor
an indefinite time. These mines are located In
a region the most forbidding. remote from
the railroad and offering almost unsur-
mountable difficulties In the reduction ana
marketing of their product. but their rlch-
ness and extent, compared to all otner
fields, soon caused them to be regarded as
the principal source of supply for the fu-
ture production of borax in the United
States.
The early production Of borax was by
dissolving crude borate of lime and apply
ing heat. The liquor was drawn of and
the borax allowed to crystalline. Fuel
was procured from the pine forests of the
neighboring mountains. and. to some ex-
tent. from the roots of the MESQUITE.
From the borax marshes in Death val
lev to the nearest railroad point was 1865
miles. Over this distance all supplies for
the camp as well as the manufactured
borax had to be hauled. The wagons used
for this purpose were the largest vehi-
cles ever made. and carried 10000 pounds.
taking twenty-four horses to pull them
They Travelled about seventeen miles
day, and were compelled to carry tender
for water as well feed for the stock
Springs of water were wide apart, and
each journey was but a repetition of hard
ship and adventure. Many tragical tales
are told Of sanguinary fights between
teamSters and tramps of the road. of men
dying from heat or becoming insane from
thirst. This method of marketing the pro-
duct was extremely expensive, and the
constant decline In prices that accompanied
increased production would have stifled the
industry, had not the discovery of vast de-
posits of bOrate of lime in the Calico noun
tains. and only about eleven miles from
the railroad, opened up new and perma-
nent supply and in quantity sufficient for
whatever demand might be made upon it.
MT he of 6an0SifS n
of lime in the Calico mountains borax had
been a product of the marsh and of meth
DDS the simplest, admitting no improve
ment in mechanical appliances. An en-
tirely new era opened with the discovery of
bOrate of lime in stratifed rock formation.
Thenceforward the industry was trans
formed into a proposition akin to that of
quartz mining and allowing an abandon
ment of the necessarily rough methods of
the marsh system of production.
Mechanical ingenuity superseded the
wastefu agencies of the past and allowed
the introduction of economical methods OF
principles. For hand labor was substituted
me chanical appliances realizing certain re-
suits and greater purity of the product.
Borate of lime as mined at Calico is found
in strata as we'll as in chambers sometimes
as large as a house. The shafts are driven
60 feet below the surface. where the de-
posit is extracted in the same way as
quartz.
from the mines. Here 1t is loaded in cars.
and by means of branch railroad, eleven
miles in length and owned by the company,
it is hauled to Daggett and thence finds its
way to tidewater on San Francisco bay.
The great wagons of the desert are things
of the past. and the saving of expense OF
the $50 miles hauling has preserved an Inn
portant industry from succumbng to the
cheap labor of overcrowded Europe.
The uses Of borax are extending year by
year. The meat purchasers of the country
are the largest consumers. absorbing 6.OOO.-
900 pounds and over annually. For me-
chanical purposes the demand is constantly
increasing but It Is in the domestic con-
sumption of borax that the expectation and
hope of the industry Is conferred. For a
hundred different demands of household
economy the advantages Of borax as an
adjunct of the kitchen. laundry. nursery or
toilet, as a sanitary agent of value and
even as medicinal quantity, has been
found of such positive value as to insure
constant and increasing element in the
worlds necessities.