1940 - part 2 - Vredenburgh.org

Borax Company's Golden Anniversary
WITH the completion of a half century
of service in one of America's mo~t.
colorful industries, the Pacific Coast Borax
Company celebrated its golden anniversary
during October. At the same time, the
company observed the tenth anniyersary
of its radio program, "Death Valley Days,"
oldest half-hour dramatic program on the
air.
"Coincidentally, the fiftieth anniversary
will celebrate the famous company trademark
which has captured the imagination
of generations of Americans," F. M. Jenifer,
president, stated. "The 'Twenty liuIe
Team,' inextricably associated in the public
imagination with the pioneer days of our
country, is as familiar to millions as the
names of great Americans.. It is equally
a symbol of the leadership assumed early
in the history of the borax indul:itry by the
Pacific Coast Borax Company.
uIn the span of 50 years since the company
was incorporated, the use of borax
has steadily increased from drug purposes
until today this product of the desert has
countless uses in the home, in agriculture,
and in industry. In fact, it would be difficult
'to name an important industry t4)
whose ' products borax does not contribute.
from leather to pottery, from glassware to
metals, from enamels to textiles. Due to
constantly greater demand for borax,
greater production, and improved mining,
refining, and transportation methods, bulk
prices of borax for industrial uses have
been progressively lowered j borax prices
in the latter part of the nineteenth century
were 1,200 per cent higher than they are
today. Total consumption has increased
from only a few hundred pounds a year to
thousands of tons annually. The company
is proud of 'its record and that of the borax
i!ldu,stpr. "
Although incorporated in 1890, the historY
of the Pacific Coast Borax Company
may be said to have begun on a day in 1881
when Aaron Winters. an aging prospector,
together with his half-Spanish wife Rosie
discovered borax in the dry desert marshes
on the floor of Death Valley. Trembling
with hope, Winters fired the chemical used
to identify borax, then shouted, "She burns
green, Rosie! We're rich!" Winters sold
his claims to W. T. Coleman of San Francisco
who established the Harmony Borax
Works near the mouth of Furnace Creek.
It was to carry the precious borax ore from
Death Valley across more than 160 miles
of blistering desert to the railroad at Mojave'
that the great 20-mule team trains
were dev.loped. They probably used the
largest wagons ever built for two of them
tpgether were capable of transporting 2