The Borax Visitor's Center - Boron, California

DATE:  July 11, 2015

SITE:  Borax Visitor Center

LOCATION:  Suckow Rd., Boron, Kern Co., California

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS: 

I have absolutely no idea why I really wanted to come to a borax mine. I think I was curious to see a mine totally devoted to what I thought was the only use of borax...laundry detergent. Yet, I knew I had to be wrong too. I was pretty sure borax wasn't used in all laundry soap so why pull so much of it out of the earth?

The mine is quite a bit off the freeway. I’m glad that I had read some of the TripAdvisor reviews because I knew a head of time that to get to the visitors center, you leave the paved road. What I didn’t realize was the hill…unpaved…that you would have to go up. The visitors center is quite a bit above the mine.  

 

When you enter the facility, you have a series of signs directing you to the visitor center. There are other signs talking about safety and how long since an accident, but the funniest were the speed limit signs. They slowed us down with each sign and then we hit the 37 1/2 MPH sign? Huh? How do you do that?

The staff working the visitors center are all volunteers and boy are they enthusiastic about this place. Both of the gentlemen working there had retired from various positions in the mine.  One glommed on to us and I wasn’t sure if we weren’t going to have a personal guide the whole time.

I was set straight...Borax is the brand and the mineral is called borates. The mineral is used for cosmetics, enamel glazes, fire retardant, anti-fungal, in the manufacture of fiberglass, shields against radioactivity, a non-stick surface texture for cooking, as poison in ant and roach bait and lots of other things.

Borax, the brand, in one form or another, has been in continuous business in California for 144 years. This area is known for the largest deposit of borates in the world and is one of two deposits of what is considered "world class" borate.

It would be way too easy to get all science-y in this blog. Part of what I enjoy after visiting someplace is the research I do to find out more about it and to share it. Am I really sharing it with anyone? I believe so but this really is more about a personal quest for travel and learning and so far, I am achieving both.

The word "borax" comes from the Arabic būraq (بورق), meaning "white". It was first discovered in dry lake beds in Tibet and it wasn’t until it was discovered in California and Nevada that large enough quantities could be mined at a cheaper cost.

Frances Marion Smith, aka “Borax Smith, discovered borates in a plentiful supply in the Nevada desert in 1872 and then in Death Valley in 1881. The use of 40 mules mule train to haul borates out was started in 1883.  

Smith was a very smart business man and promoted the idea of the mule train. In fact, research has shown that the team was a mixture of horses and mules. But that didn’t stop Smith from having his mule train go down Broadway in New York or through the streets in San Francisco or even at the World’s Fair, passing out sample boxes of his products. There was even a TV show, “Death Valley Days”, that the hosts regularly advertised two of Borax’s products…Borateem  (laundry soap) and Boraxo (hand cleaner)

The current mine that Dirk and I visited is called Rio Tinto and it opened as an underground mine in 1927 but became an “open pit” mine in the 50's. The term "open pit" is used often on their website and at the Center. I don’t know but that just doesn’t sound all that great but they do point out how environmentally conscious they are and what they have done to be so.

Our guide explained that there is still one very long underground mine left...I think he said over 2 miles long. I kept thinking, as we were sweating in the baking sun, that it must be awfully cool down there.

Looking down on the pit, you can see vehicles coming up taking borates to different processing areas. It wasn't until Dirk and I stood next to, and Dirk inside of, one of the tires that you realize just how huge this place really is.