Kurt A. Sanftleben, LLC
Pacific Coast Borax Company
1910 & 1912 - Two lettersheets featuring illustrations of Death Valley's famous Borax-Hauling Twenty-Mule Teams
$100
Item Details
Oakland, California and Bayonne, New Jersey, Pacific Coast Borax Company, 1910 & 1912, Unbound
Very good
Two business letters from the Pacific Coast Borax Company, one from its Oakland, California, office in April 1910, and the other from Bayonne, New Jersey, in March 1912. Each is on company letterhead, one in black and one in brown. These feature illustrations of the iconic "Twenty Mule Teams" that hauled huge borax wagons 165 miles from the mines through Death Valley to the nearest railhead. Although they were only employed for 16 years between 1883 and 1889, their follow-on use as a trademark for Borax laundry and house-cleaning products, as well as in the opening and closing credits for Death Valley Days, a television series that ran from 1952 to 1975 made them famous.
The solid oak wagons were 16 feet long, six feet deep, and weighed 7.800 when empty. Each could carry 10 tons of borax. Their rear wheels were seven feet high and were made of one-inch-thick iron. The teams consisted of two horses and 18 mules. The far-stronger horses led the team as they were needed to start the wagons moving. All twenty animals were lashed to an 80-foot chain that ran the team’s length. Although the drivers, known as muleskinners, wielded 28-foot whips, their main method of controlling the team was by manipulating a chain called the jerk line. They also harnessed and hooked up the teams, inspected the equipment, cared for sick or injured animals, and repaired the broken wagons. These men earned $110 per month, very high wages for the time. At the end of each day, men called “swampers” unharnessed the animals, gathered firewood, and cooked for the rest of the crew.
The first wagon was called the“trailer; the second was known as the tender, and the water wagon brought up the rear. These tanks carried 1,200 gallons of water to supply the mules and men en route. Water was replenished at springs along the way, as carrying enough for the entire trip was impossible. Together, when fully loaded the wagons and water tank weighed 73,200 pounds. When traveling, the team and wagons stretched to over 180 feet and traveled an average of only 17 miles a day.
Kurt A. Sanftleben, LLC
Kurt Sanftleben
11 Hope Road Suite 111-256
Stafford, VA, 22025
United States
Phone: 540-288-8429
Cell: 571-409-0144
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