Eagle Borax Works (H.S.-L) AND/OR HISTORIC

Home , Eagle Borax Works, Panamint Valley

Form 10-306 (Oct. 1972) California

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NFS USE ONLY FOR FEDERAL PROPERTIES ENTRY DATE (Type all entries • complete applicable sections)

Eagle Borax Works (H.S.-l) AND/OR HISTORIC:

STREET AND NUMBERt

CITY OR TOWN! CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 33 CODE California 06 Inyo 027

CATEGORY ACCESSIBLE OWNERSHIP STATUS (Check One) TO THE PUBLIC

114 Ul O H » > H H H* rc REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS: (If applicable) STREET AND NUMBER: BOX " Western Regional Office Golden Gate Ave., 36063 Cl TY OR TOWN: STATE: CODE California 06

COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC: o Beath Valley National Monument § I STREET AND NUMBER:

CITY OR TOWN: Death Valley California 06

TITLE OF SURVEY: A. ' 73 DATE OF SURVEY: [~] Federal |~~) State

DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: OPT 3 0 1974 STREET AND NUMBER: r:i NATIONAL Cl TY OR TOWN: REGiSTt-h \ (Check One) Q Excellent Q Good Q Fair Q Deteriorated [jjj Ruins [ | Unexposed CONDITION (Check One) (Check One) [ | Altered CT Unaltered \ | Moved [jjj] Original Site

DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (if known) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Today the plant consists of little more than the fire box for the furnace and a mound of earth. Another mound of earth apparently denotes where the stone building stood. Through the years the equipment of the works has disappeared and wind and water have taken their toll. Moreover, tamarisks, trees exotic to Death Valley have taken over from the native mesguite and arrowweed. Boundary; The his toric land embraced in this site includes a rectangular piece of land formed by extending lines from the borax ruins north 1000 ft., east 500 ft., and west 700 ft. m Class VI lands; acres m Cost: H TO c o f I Pre-Columbian [~] 16th Century 18th Century 20th Century Ql 15th Century Q 17th Century 19th Century SPECIFIC DATE(S) (Jf App//cab/e and Known) 1882 AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate)

Aboriginal | | Education Political Urban Planning Q Prehistoric .1 | Engineering Religion/Phi Other (Specify) d] Historic j£3 Industry losophy I | Agriculture I | Invention Science I | Architecture || Landscape Sculpture CH Art Architecture Social/Human [X) Commerce I | Literature itarian I | Communications I I Military Theater I | Conservation | | Music Transportation

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE 2nd Order In l8§^Isidore Daunet and several companions attempted to cross Death VaSey in the summer and became stranded, Daunet and a companion sought help and upon returning found 3 of those left behind dead from dehydra tion; at one point Daunet saved himself from the same fate by killing one of his animals and drinking its blood. On this adventure Daunet noticed the presence of borate in Death Valley. Daunet had migrated to this country from Jrance in i860 at the age of ten. He came to San Jranciseo and remained there until 1863 when he became a prospector. He had been prospecting in the Panamint Mountains when he and his six companions had made the unwise attempt to cross Death Valley in mid- summer. In 1882 he entered into partnership with J.M.!4cponjiXd» ^M* Ha^^% and Ul to work in the borate field ^ust north of Bennetts Well. Ul necessary machinery and equipment and set up operation, utilizing water from a nearby spring. Their first shipment, by wagon to the railhead at Daggett, of crudely refined borax, consisted of 37 tons, and brought but eight cents a pound, although one San Francisco authority considered it "about equal to the best refined article." But their technique apparently improved, and by the end of 1883, the part ners had shipped a total of 260,000 pounds of borax, subsequent ship ments of which had brought 10 cents and higher per pound.

The state mineralogist report that the product was hauled to Calico Station (Daggett) by way of Panamint Valley, Willow and Granite Spring, Black Ranch and Grapevine. According to, Jkk StUejLjn later years, he hauled the first load of borax from Eagle in the fall of 1882. When the freighting business dropped off to nothing because of the arrival of the railroad, a con tract was entered with one of the agents for the borax operation to F. Boss Holland, Jr., and Robert Simmonds, "Historic Structures Report, Eagle and Harmony Borax Works," National Park Service (HHA-WSC), 1971 Benjamin Levy, "Death Valley National Monument; Historical Background Study," National Park Service, Division of History, April, 1969*

LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES - 1 DEFINING THE CENTER POINT OF A PROPERTY DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY V OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES p CORNER LATITUDE LONGITUDE LATITUDE LONGITUDE Degrees Mjijytes Secpnds D.egrpes Miouie& Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds O i ii 0 i ii NE 36° 12 - 17 - 116° 51- ^9 - SE 36° 11 • 5*f - 116° 51- ^5 - sw 36 ° 11 - 52 - 116° 52- 00 - APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY: ^jU BCTQS LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR CCAUtiXX BOUNDARIES STATE: CODE COUNTY: ,^'\l^\ i l-(Q/"">\ CODE

*\V' ^ -^. 'vft\ STATE: CODE COUNTY:/-.,/ MLrn\/£~f] V"\ CODE m ;'•:.:•/ -flpT r -"" V;-'^ m STATE: CODE couNTV:-; W**f «/ 0 /i/74 ;__j CODE \.5,-' \ i\jH r7o/\!4f ; " / z STATE: CODE COUNTY^ ^A f\Fr*iQ~rr~*~~ .'"""'"i'' CODE Hi • \^ ""'VC^/ 70 C NAME AND TITLE'. ^^--feJ_jJ3^'" DATE: n F. Ross Holland, Jr**<» Historian June 1971 H BUSINESS ADDRESS: O Denver Service Center, NPS Z STREET AND NUMBER: , PHONE: 7200 W. Alameda Ave. CITY OR TOWN: STATE CODE Denver Colorado 08 ^SSttSttSSSffliA:^

State Liaison Officer recommendation: I hereby certify that this property, is included in the National Register.

State Liaison Officer Signature j>^/ '

In compliance with Executive Order lL5x^f I hereby Director, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation nominate this property to the National Register, certify ing that the State Liaison Officer has been allowed 90 days in which to present the nomination to the State Re DEC 31 1974 view Board and to evaluate its significance. The recom mended level of significance is | | National Qjfi State ATTEST: ,?

Ferfesa/ Representative Signature Date' ' / / l"^ -r .X( - / /vfi^ Keeper of The National Register / Title DEC 311574

GPO 938-449 Form 10-300a (July 1969) California NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM Inyo FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER (Continuation Sheet) 1 (Number all entries) 8. Statement of Significance (cont,) haul the refined borax to the railhead. Stiles was instructed to take a 12-nmle team and 2 wagons, one in tow, to the Death Valley site. Stiles hauled the plant's initial shipment which consisted of six tons of bor ax, taking 11 days to get to the railhead at Daggett. His wagons car ried water which was replenished at springs along the way. Stiles said he hauled k of 5 loads for the Eagle Company before the freight company sold the wagons to W.T. Coleman, of Harmony Borax Works fame. Daunet married Clotilde Gerraud on Oct. 1, 1882, and for a while his business and personal life went well. The plant in Death Valley con tinued to produce, and in May 188k, just before the roof fell in, re portedly employed 11 men who made enough borax to keep "three large teams steadily employed" transporting the product to the railhead. The plant operated continuously, except for the summer months when the weather was too hot to permit crystallization of the borax in the cooling vats. In May 188*4-, unfortunately business troubles began to pile up and Bsunet's marriage deteriorated. After two men swindled him out of $11,000 and his wife served him divorce papers, Daunet put his pistol to his head. With the death of Daunet the business quickly folded and in time the pro perty was sold. The land and property lay idle until 1901 when it was relocated as a mining claim and a few months later conveyed to U.S. Borax Company who held the site in their reserve borate lands until sold to Borax Consolidated LTD, in 1922. In 1956 the land was transferred to Death Valley Hotel Company and later conveyed to the National Park Service. Eagle Borax Works was the site of the first borax £lant in Death Valley and the complex was & typical marsh--bj^ operation, THef works offers a valuable interpretive opportunity to display the pioneer beginnings of borax mining and processing in the United States which is so elosely related to Death Valley.

!PFrnvFfl \LLLsvLu ^'Av*1/ OCT 3 0 B?4 _„ NATiONAL -"^ REGISTER -' ,C/"*%,, / x,"\ /

G P 0 921-724 CALIFORNIA-INYO CO. 15 MINUTE SERIES (TOPOGRAPHIC) BEATTYINEVISS Ml. ORKKIV 116°45' FURNACE CREEK INN 14 Ml. 1 ^OOO IV , 507 55' ' (FURNACE CREEtf)

OCT i* U 1974

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