Drawing from a historic advertisement for 20 Mule Team Brand Borax/NPS
Anyone whose laundry supplies included borax laundry detergent might want to head to Death Valley National Park this coming weekend to see the "20 Mule Team" in action as it re-enacts the pulling of borax wagons through the park.
That so-called mule team rose to fame in the 1900s as their legend became a hallmark of the Death Valley Days radio and televsion shows and the "20 Mule Team Borax" laundry soap brand.
On Saturday and Sunday 20 mules will pull replica borax wagons in a rare public reenactment. Several partners are working together to create this event, which culminates two weeks of special events in the park.
The 20 Mule Team will lead a parade from The Inn at Death Valley to Harmony Borax Works and back on November 8 from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. The mules will pull the wagons on the same route on November 9 from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Parking will be available at The Ranch at Death Valley, Furnace Creek Visitor Center, and at the overflow lot across from the park's visitor center. Parking will not be available at Harmony Borax Works because the 165-foot-long train of mules and wagons will need the entire lot to turn around.
Expect traffic delays of up to one hour on CA-190 in the Furnace Creek area during these events.
Historic borax wagons, with the water tank in rear, at Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley/Kurt Repanshek file
Replica borax wagons that will be pulled through Death Valley this weekend/Death Valley Conservancy
In the 1880s, teamsters used 18 mules and two horses to pull 20 tons of borax—plus the mules’ drinking water—165 miles across the desert to the railroad at Mojave. The mule teams only operated in Death Valley for six years.
“The Borax 20 Mule Team represented a transportation breakthrough more than a century ago and has since become an icon of the Wild West,” said Preston Chiaro, Death Valley Conservancy president. “We hope you’ll join us to see the legend brought back to life, and to meet people like Bobby Tanner and Dave Engel who helped recreate this exciting chapter in Death Valley history.”
The replica wagons include two freight wagons weighing four tons apiece with a capacity of 10 tons and a 1,200-gallon water wagon. They were built by wagonmaker Dave Engel with the same methods and materials used to build the original versions. Efforts to build historically accurate wagons were led by the Death Valley Conservancy and mule expert Bobby Tanner, who will drive his mule team using the same techniques pioneered more than 130 years ago.
When not being pulled by mules, the wagons are on permanent display at Laws Railroad Museum near Bishop.
Death Valley National Park celebrated its 25th birthday with a full week of special events from October 26 through November 2. The 70th annual Death Valley ‘49ers Encampment is November 6-9. Some events are free and open to the public. Others require joining the ‘49ers, which can be done onsite ($35/person or $60/family). These events include history presentations, Western music, cowboy poetry, and a vendor area. Encampment information is at: deathvalley49ers.org.
The 20 Mule Team reenactment was made possible by Death Valley Conservancy, Bobby Tanner, the Death Valley 49ers, the Death Valley Natural History Association, and private donors.
Comments
I was most surprised to find no mention here of the important role of the first director of the National Park Service. In Stephen Mather of the National Parks, Robert Shankland details Mather's borax publiczing genius, including branding the twenty-mule team sketch on borax packages and promoting its diverse home cleansing applications.
The press release was a little confusing, but the big team will roll on Friday and Saturday, November 8 and 9 (the third paragraph says Saturday and Sunday, but this is not correct). As noted, the parade starts at 1 pm on Friday, and 2 pm on Saturday.
Why is one wheel larger than the one next to it. there is one large, one small, one large one small,etc.
I can give you an educated guess on the wheels. The larger wheels track better over hard but unpaved ground. But, the wagons need to be able to turn, so the front axle and wheels are attached to a kingpin and a tongue so they can turn, just like a little red wagon. If the front wheels were as tall as the rear, they would either have to be set much wider, thus not tracking the same packed ground as the rear, or else the wagon could only turn in a very wide radius without the inside of the wheels rubbing on the sides.
Yes Mather is a big part of both NPS and 20 Mule Team. I suspect this is a press release from the Death Valley public information officer, and that they decided to keep the focus of the announcement on the reenactment event, with Mather's connection mentioned at the event.
My dad was a chemist at Borax in Death Valley back in the 1940's.
Building the replicas is a story in iteslf and there are an excellent collection of YouTube videos. Google EngelsCoachShop.