Well a couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to go to Death Valley with
the new borax wagons and the 20 Mule Team hitch. This was to commemorate and
celebrate a organization called the Death Valley 49ers that was formed in
1949 who commemorates the naming of Death Valley of 1849 when a wagon train
was stuck and then and the valley received its name, Death Valley.
This is also the 25th anniversary of Death Valley becoming a national park. In
1933 Death Valley was declared a national monument, but in 1994 Death
Valley became a National Park, so for these two events the new borax
wagons were invited down and were put into a parade on two separate days. This
was Friday, Saturday of November 8th and 9th, so I have put together a little
video of this parade. Now this parade occurred over two different days so
there's a little bit of video that I have combined of the two days to make
one parade. We stopped different times and we traded passengers on and off so
if you watch closely you'll notice that the configuration and number of
passengers varies in these wagons, but that was just due to the style of the
parade and the number of people that desire to ride on these wagons. So when
the Death Valley Conservancy, Preston Chiaro and Henry Golas, received an
invitation, it became a significant event for Bobby Tanner and myself. Bobby, that
owns the mules, and myself, who built the wagons, because this was the first parade
and the first time that these brand-new wagons were actually going to be in the
homeland of their ancestry and it became a likelihood that
we could get them real close to the old original wagons that are still at the
Harmony mine in Death Valley, just north of Furnace Creek, Now these
old original wagons were the wagons that I took all the measurements off of and
made copies in the new wagons to completely duplicate these new wagons to
match the old wagons. But these wagons, even though they had been in the
2017 Rose Parade, and they've been in Washington DC for the 2017 Fourth of
July, and a couple of Bishop Mule days parades, these wagons had never been in
the ancestral homeland of their ancestors, Death Valley itself, so this
was a pretty premiere opportunity and a significant first time that these
brand-new wagons have been in Death Valley themselves. So I'm going to take
you through a little tour of Death Valley, the Xanterra operation called the
Oasis at Death Valley, that runs the lodging and concessions there. They do a
marvelous job, and I've also included some links of the National Park
Service website of Death Valley. The Death Valley 49ers also have their
webpage, deathvalley49ers.org, the dvconservancy.org have their
web page, so be sure to look those up, and I've included those in the links below.
And also there's a really good history about Death Valley as a park and the
evolution over time on Wikipedia which you can look up, so thanks for coming
along as we head to Death Valley and take these new borax wagons to their
homeland. Diane and I left Montana on November 6th
and on the evening of November 7th we got down to the Amargosa Valley and
at the junction that heads us into Death Valley itself. And after finding our
rooms and accommodations provided by Xanterra so graciously to
the whole 20 Mule Team crew, we woke up the next morning to bright blue skies
and the sun just touching the hilltops west of Death Valley. At the furnace
Creek Resort there are accommodations for horses and mules where they give
custom rides, and if you're inclined to hit the golf course it's a full 18-hole
course as I understand, and these guys are out bright and early in the morning
getting things going, a really hard work crew. Well for Diane and I this is
quite a change, because in Montana we've already had snow and here the
flowers are still blooming, so just to come down to the desert in this little
oasis that is so appropriately named, to find the flowers the palm trees the date
trees, the swimming pools are still open and there's little putting courses and
tennis courts, it's just a new experience for us, it's just a really nice location
to come to. It really is a paradise in the middle of the desert for the winter. Now
at Furnace Creek behind sign-in office there's a little building this called a
Museum. Behind the museum is this little area with some old artifacts of the
years gone by. These are some of the old wagons that we also measured. This was the
water wagon, and this is one of the old running gears that were left that
contributed to the measurements and design of the new wagons. A lot of history
is sitting here in this little gravel lot behind the museum.
So if you haven't been to Furnace Creek for awhile, for the last few years,
you're going to notice a few changes. We did when we showed. The whole front of
the building is different, it has been re-landscaped, the buildings have changed, it
has just been updated tremendously and it's a real pleasure and delight to walk
through. This is the back of the sign-in office with the waterfall. Just pleasant
and serene. And across this little driveway, where you walk into the lodging
in the back, is a new general store, a new cafe and a really nice saloon where you
can stop at the local watering hole. Now I know this might sound like a tourist
guide sales pitch, but if you get a chance stop in. Well, the new wagons, they've
been on display all week and they're about a mile down the road where we're
gonna hitch up, but the mules are at the stable. We're gonna load them up and take
them up to the wagons so we can start to hitch him up for the parade.
All these mules have a certain place in the hitch and so when they're loaded up
into the trailer they're put in systematically, on purpose, so when they
are unloaded they'll know where they go in the hitch and which harness fits who.
So this isn't all haphazard. Lee and Jen and Nick know what they're doing, under
the supervision of Bobby who owns the mules. Also, Luke's gonna pitch in. He's
one who helps give rides through the resort through the wintertime and he's
going to be up front to help maintain this hitch as it heads through the parade.
Like I said, these wagons have been here in Death Valley all week, now's the time
to hook them up. There's lots of bystanders, lots onlookers, lots of
cameras, lots of cell phones. There's a number of reporters here looking for a
story.
Now 20 animals is a lot of mules and a couple horses to harness and get hitched,
but it all goes down systematically, kind of like a routine, and then we wait. And
once parade time is actually at hand there's a number of people that are
waiting and eager for a historic ride.
Well it's about a mile from the staging area to Furnace Creek and then there's
about a three-mile trek north to the Harmony mine, and that's where we're
headed, to go meet the old original ancestor wagons.
Well these are the lakebed flats where the borax crystals were scraped up off
the floor and refined here at the Harmony mine. Once refined, they were put
in sacks, loaded on these wagons and headed south to the town of Mojave, 165
miles away, 10 days travel. Well this little spot is a parking area where you
can stop and go to the original mine. It's about 200 yards from where the mine
and the original wagons set and because of the terrain and the proximity, and
being a national park, we hoped we could get the wagons right up into this area,
but it wasn't possible. It was about 200 yards, as close as we could get, but these,
wagons finally came home and met their ancestors.
So once we're loaded back up, and passengers are ready to go, go we'll head
'er back south, go back to Furnace Creek and meet the folks that are patiently
waiting for our return.
Well, you may have noticed along this road there is a bicycle path and a
walking path, and we've had faithful followers that have walked or bicycled
all the way with us.
Well, it might be the first time for these new wagons to be in Death Valley
in the center of the Mojave Desert, but it's not the first time that the jingle
of heel chains and hame bells have made their ring through the valley, but if you
ever get a chance to head to Death Valley, stop in, it's worth the stop. These
wagons, as you well know, are now with the Laws Museum, just outside of Bishop
California. They have a building specifically made for them. You're
welcome anytime. Death Valley is a unique National Park,
unlike any other that I have seen, though I haven't seen them all. If you ever get
a chance, especially in the fall or the winter time, head to Death Valley and see
what the desert is really like. Once again, thanks for watching!