Eagle Borax Works

Eagle Borax Works was the first borax refinery in Death Valley. Businessman Isador Daunet founded the operation on this site, producing borax by late 1882. During its first fifteen months the refinery produced 130 tons of low-grade borax, but the inefficiency of its operation led it to near bankruptcy. Combined with personal setbacks, this resulted in Daunet's suicide. In 1884, the works closed. The refining process began by dissolving unprocessed borax in an elevated tank, after which the solution was drawn off and crystallized in five tanks. The refined borax was then hauled more than 160 miles across the desert to the rail station at Mojave, California.

California · United States