Barstow, CA (03-11-12)

Barstow is a pretty small, desert town, past it’s prime, like so many of the small historic towns we’ve been to,  but it turns out there is plenty to do in this area.  We spent a week here and didn’t do or see everything. Some places that we saw, we could have passed on, had we known what they really were- such as the Calico Ghost Town.  As far as I could see, we paid an entrance fee for the privilege of shopping in their stores.  It’s a partially restored ghost town, but  most of the buildings that were open had actually been converted to stores, and the buildings that housed the museum, town hall and blacksmith shop were closed.

In it’s heyday, Barstow was part of the “Route 66” phenomenon.  Once Henry Ford started cranking out automobiles at an amazing pace, the American people realized that the road system in this country was not developed enough for people to use their new cars the way they would like.  The Federal Government stepped in and created the Federal Aid Road Act, to help states fund the new highway system that was required.  Route 66 was one of the results.  It follows old wagon and railroad trails, from Chicago to Los Angeles, and like the wagon trails before it, was a symbol of freedom and adventure to the American people. It was used by many to head west to California, in search of the American dream.  As the road grew in popularity, businesses popped up along the way.  Everything from Gas stations to restaurants and lodging could be found along Route 66.

Years later, with ever more cars on the roads, larger highways with more lanes became necessary,  and with the building of Interstate 40, Route 66 became obsolete, as did many of the business along it’s route.  Nowadays people drive on Route 66 to enjoy the historical significance of it, or to just plain get off the boring, mundane interstate and have fun on the road.
Barstow has three decent museums- the Rte 66 Museum, the Twenty Mule Team Museum and a railroad museum.  They are all free.  Of course, they are only open a few days a week, but that’s ok, the price was right!

Having had our fill of indoor activities, we found ourselves heading to Rainbow Basin to do some hiking.   Our hike into Owl Canyon was awesome.  The rock formations here are like nothing we have seen before.

The colors are amazing!

We hiked deep into the canyon, happy that we had brought our GPS with us!

There were a lot of rock climbing opportunities, most of which I declined, but Paul had a great time climbing in and out of the canyon and over huge boulders.  He is actually in the picture above, leaning against the protruding rock formation.

We have now moved on from Barstow to Tecopa Hot Springs.  You can probably guess what this town is known for.  We are on the edge of Death Valley, near Area 51, according to the locals.  I must admit I had a chill go down my spine when I heard that.  We have absolutely no cell phone coverage here, and only have the internet through the campground Wi-fi. The locals say that whatever the government is doing here, it is the cause of no cell signal.  Anyway, if you don’t hear from us again, you can assume we were abducted by aliens!

The three B’s

Borax, Boron, and Borates.
Borax= Borax is a company, and a common name for the mineral.
Boron= the 5th element in the periodic table, and a town in California.
Borates=  minerals containing boron, commonly used in many household products.

When I was a kid I remember Borax being a soap (Borateem) but really it’s more of a performance enhancer.  43% of all Boron is used to make glass-   fiberglass, Pyrex, insulation, crystal etc. 17% is used in detergent, bleach, soaps etc. 12% is used in ceramics, enamels, glazes, etc. and 5% is used in fertilizer. It’s an essential ingredient for plant growth.  It’s even used as a flame retardant, in circuit boards and in cosmetics.  Quite a versatile mineral.

I mention Borax because huge quantities of the stuff have been found in this area of California, (including Death Valley National Park) and we have spent the last two days learning about it. Actually, this place is loaded with minerals and ore, including gold and silver.
     In 1881, Aaron Winters, of Death Valley, was told that the white stuff all over his land might be Boron. He heard from a stranger that if he were to pour alcohol and sulfuric acid on the ore and ignite it, if it’s boron, it will burn green.  It did, and the frenzy for Boron began.  Really, I want to know, in a time when cell phones, or even regular phones, didn’t exist, there was no internet, no cars, etc., how does someone find out that if this thing burns green, it’s worth a lot of money??  And how do they figure out how to even use it in products??
      Anyway, the land was soon sold to prospectors, and eventually fell into the hands of Francis “Borax” Smith, who consolidated the properties with his own and created Pacific Coast Borax Co.   Now all he had to do was figure out how to get the borax out of the valley and over to the railroad in Mohave.  It was 165 miles of desolate, road less, barren land, with summer temperatures reaching 130-150 degrees.

The solution was the 20 Mule Team. 

The wagons were custom built, at a cost of $900 each.  They were the biggest, heaviest and strongest wagons ever seen. Weighing in at 7800 lbs, each could carry 12 tons of borax.  There were two wagons  in each “train”, followed by a water wagon.  The most experienced drivers, called “skinners” were hired to haul the borax, and the mules were well trained for the job and even responded when called by name.  In order to turn corners without cutting it too tightly, 6 of the mules were taught to jump the rope and walk sideways  (depicted in the picture)  so that the wagons would follow the path behind the team. They could cover 16-18 miles a day, making it a 10 day trip through the desert to deliver the borax.

The mule teams were used for 5 years to bring the borax out of death valley, until the railroad was brought into the valley.

Although times have changed,  borax  is still  being mined  in  this area.  The mine  is  now owned  by U.S Borax Inc. and it’s one of  the two  largest borax mines in  the world.
After  spending quite a while in the Twenty Mule Team Museum,  we drove out to the mine and spent an hour or so in the visitor’s center.  They charge a $3 entrance fee per car, which we thought was pretty strange, but then we saw that they donate all the proceeds to local charities. 
Here, instead of mules, the borax is trucked out of the open pit mine in massive trucks  that can each haul 240 tons of material. The tires alone  are 11 feet tall.