After breaking down camp, we headed for home with some diverse stops along the way.
Our path took us to Harmony Borax Works, the central feature in the opening of Death Valley and the subsequent popularity of the Furnace Creek area. The plant and associated townsite played an important role in the Valley's history.After borax was found near Furnace Creek Ranch (then called Greenland) in 1881, William T. Coleman built the Harmony plant and began to process ore. When in full operation, the Harmony Borax Works employed 40 men who produced three tons of borax daily. During the summer months, when the weather was so hot that processing water would not cool enough to permit the suspended borax to crystallize, Coleman moved his work force to the Amargosa Borax Plant near present day Tecopa, California.
Getting the finished product to market from the heart of Death Valley was a difficult task, and an efficient method had to be devised. The Harmony operation became famous through the use of large mule teams and double wagons which hauled borax the long overland route to Mojave. The romantic image of the “20-mule team” persists to this day and has become the symbol of the borax industry in this country.The Harmony plant went out of operation in 1888, after only five years of production, when Coleman’s financial empire collapsed. Acquired by Francis Marion Smith, the works never resumed the boiling of Cottonball borate ore, and in time became part of the borax reserves of the Pacific Coast Borax Company and its successors. In 1974, the site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.We then explored the Salt Creek Interpretive Trail, a first for all of us.Most people imagine Death Valley to be an arid wasteland, devoid of water and life. Few expect to find a stream flowing on the valley floor, more than 200 feet below sea level. Like all desert oases, plants and animals congregate around its life-giving waters. Even more surprising, the rare Salt Creek Pupfish (Cyprinodon salinus) has thrived in its seasonally fluctuating waters for thousands of years, despite all odds. The section of creek that flows beside the boardwalk during winter and spring can be more saline than seawater. At peak flow, the stream meanders out onto vast salt flats of Cottonball Basin before finally sinking into valley fill and evaporating into the desert air. Although Salt Creek is too salty for humans to drink, it is a source of life for many plants and animals.Our last stop, within the Park, was at the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.Many first-time visitors to Death Valley are surprised it is not covered with a sea of sand. Less than 1% of the desert is covered with dunes, yet the shadowed ripples and stark, graceful curves define "desert" in our imaginations.
For dunes to exist there must be a source of sand, prevailing winds to move the sand, and a place for the sand to collect. The eroded canyons and washes provide plenty of sand, the wind seems to always blow (especially in the springtime), but there are only a few areas in the park where the sand is "trapped" by geographic features such as mountains.
These dunes are the best known and easiest to visit in the national park. Although the highest dune rises only about 100 feet, the dunes actually cover a vast area. This dune field includes three types of dunes: crescent, linear, and star shaped. Polygon-cracked clay, of an ancient lakebed, forms the floor. Mesquite trees have created large hummocks that provide stable habitats for wildlife.If you're a fan of the Star Wars film franchise, many movies have been shot in Death Valley National Park. They offer a driving tour with the warning, "Like on Tatooine, the weather here can cause extreme conditions, including hot temperatures, high winds, and even flooding!"Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes was the location of Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope. The description reads, "Walk along the sand dunes where R2D2 and C-3PO landed in their escape pod after fleeing Darth Vader." Fun stuff.Wanting to share our fascination with the mining town of Trona, we stopped here for lunch. Trona was officially established in 1913 as a self-contained company town, wholly operated by its resident mining company to house employees. Employees were paid in company scrip instead of cash. The mining company also built a library, a scrip-accepting for-profit grocery store, a school, basic housing, and minimal recreation facilities. The Trona Railway was built in 1913–14 to provide the town with a rail connection to the Southern Pacific (now the Union Pacific) line at Searles. The railway still operates today. While dining, we could see the factory was still active.
It was the perfect spot to end our tourism. The rest of the drive home was spent recapping all we did and saw in Death Valley. It was a fabulous family adventure and the ideal way for me to enter this next decade.
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