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Twenty-Mule Team Wagons Used for Hauling Borax out of Death Valley

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Stock #:509249
Type: Postcard
Era: Linen
City: Barstow
State: California (CA)
County: San Bernardino
Publisher: Fred Harvey
Size: 3.5" x 5.5" (9 x 14 cm)

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Those twenty-mule-team borax wagons, seen on the railway station platform at Barstow, California, were used in the 80's for hauling borax from Furnace Creek, Death Valley, 165 miles to the then nearest railroad. The team was driven by a single jerk-line, 12 feet long. The journey required sixteen days, with summer temperatures as high as 140 degrees. Each wagon weighs 7,800 pounds and carried a load of fifteen tons. The rear wheels are seven feet high, each weighing 600 pounds. The tank wagon carried 1,200 gallons, as there was one stretch of 60 miles without water.

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