The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1911-05-24
PECLAIMING DEATH VALLEY
AUTOMOBILES ARE HELPING TO
CONQUER THE HOT SPOT.
1iohts and Shadows of Place Where
Men Toll in Almost Furnace Heat
While Water Is Measured Out.

While Water Is Measured Out.
mich has been written in the past
about Death Valley, that hot spot in
Uncle Sans southwestern border.
ToIas of its awful heat and of
tho waterless sand reaches where
mon die miserably for the lack OF
that cooling and invigorating neces-
civ are not infrequent, yet it seems
that the whole has not been told be-
fore Life is not all tragedy by any
means. and even in the hot spot
Known by such a horrid name as
meath Valley there may be some light
&C we'll as shadow to existence. That
+bis is true is we'll set forth in a re-
cont article by William E. Curtis in
the Chicago Record-Herald, part of
which is appended.
The borax mines whence nearly all
the world receives it's supply are in
Death Valley, Inyo county, Califor-
MIA. It is so much more easily min
ed and transportation facilities are
so much more convenient and eco
nomical that former sources of sup
plv in Chile, Peru and Asia Minor
have been practically abandoned.
Borax is a combination of salt, soda
and other chemicals, and is found in
inexhaustible deposits where was
formerly the bottom of the Gulf of
California. The best deposits are in
pits similar to the Salton Sea, where
the evidences of water are the most
recent. Borax is required by manu-
facturers of glass, china, tiles, gran
lite ware, enamel and other ceramics.
It is used also as flux in smelters
and furnaces, and for various domes-
tic purposes, such as cleaning and
polishing. 1t is plowed up like salt,
hauled to the nearest railroad sta
ton and shipped by the train load to
Alameda, Cal, and to Bayonne, N.
J., to be refined
Auto Replaces Mules.
Everybody who went to the ST.
Louis Exposition will remember the
24-mule team and the enormous wag-
on exhibited by Mr.. Smith, ''the bo-
rax king" but it is gratifying to say
that animals are no longer used. The
automobile is now the ship of the
desert, and has made many waterlesS
sections accessible that could not be
reached before without great dan
ger
The borax automobiles carry ten
tons, and run on wheels with tires
eight inches wide. The roads from
the mines to the railway station are
now almost perfect, the surface be-
ing a mixture of oil and sand that
is elastic like rubber. The construc-
ton of these roads and the substi-
tuition of automobiles for wagons
have prolonged the life and mitigat-
ed the suffering of many an honest
beast of burden.
A recent report from the geologi-
cal survey at Washington shows that
in the United States in 1909, which
is the latest year for which statistics
have been furnished, and that it was
valued at $1,534,365. The introduce
ton of steam shovels, saving mining
machinery, automobiles, the con-
struction of good roads and various
improvements that have been made
in the business have reduced the
price of borax from 81 to 10 cents
a pound. Ten years ago, when only
about ten per cent of the quantity
was produced, the value reported was
several times greater.
1t is a terrible business, however,
for the temperature in the borax
mines seldom falls below 10 in the
shade, and often continues at 1875
and 1870 degrees day and night for