Excavations at Harmony Borax Works: Historical Archeology at Death Valley National Monument

Description

Authors: Teague, George A. and Shenk, Lynette O.

Publisher: National Park Service

Pub Date: 1977

Binding: Paperback

Condition: 2 copies.  Copy 1: Fair.  Binding tight.  No marks.  Upper front cover corner at spine head has an approx. 1/2″ tear.  Lower front cover corner has an approx. 2″ bend.  Lower rear cover corner has an approx. 1/2″ bend that extends through almost the entire volume (dropped).  Copy 2 (PC26): Fair.  Binding tight.  No marks, tears, folds.  Lower rear cover corner has an approx. 3″ bend, otherwise very light edge and corner wear.  Appears unused.

Notes: Western Archeological Center Publications in Anthropology No. 6.  Preservation archaeology–stabilization of ruins and replacement of fencing–combined with industrial archaeology.  The Harmony Borax Works was the primary factor in the opening of Death Valley, California.  Borax is a colorless crystalline solid.  It is readily available in powder form and dissolves easily in water.  It can be used as a pesticide (roach powder), as a soldering flux for metals, as an ingredient in glass and pottery,  pottery glazes,  for tanning hides and skins,  for artificial aging of wood, and as a preservative.  My grandmother used it in doing her laundry, as a whitening agent.  The Harmony Borax Works, at its height, employed 40 people (mostly Chinese workers), and produced 3 tons of borax a day.  The most efficient way to get that amount of borax to market (in the nineteenth century) was by using double wagons and the world-famous “twenty-mule teams.”  The plant closed in 1888.  The Harmony works consisted of the borax plant, building remains, machinery, tanks, piping, waste tailings, and a nearby townsite.