1. Furnace Creek Ranch—a remarkable desert oasis created by the abundant water
supply of the Texas and Travertine Springs located along the Furnace Creek Wash.
2. The Borax Museum—the oldest structure in Death Valley, was built around 1883 by
F.N. “Borax” Smith near Monte Blanco to serve as an office, bunkhouse, laboratory
and ore checking station.
3. Railroad Bench on the west side of the building, the railroad signal mounted on the
roof, and the porch lanterns around the building are all from the Tonopah &
Tidewater Railroad.
4. Taylor’s Fine Rock Crusher—a hand-operated crusher used to prepare samples of
borate ores for laboratory analysis.
5. Crucible—a large metal vessel used in foundries and smelters for transporting and
pouring molten metal.
6. Railroad Crew Car—used for transporting members of section crews who did track
inspection and repair on the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad during its operation
from 1904 to 1940.
7. Hand-Operated Single Stamp Mill—used for crushing ore samples.
8. Hydraulic Classifier—consists of the “cone” and the “launder” and was used to
separate particle sizes in an ore crushing process.
9. Auger Drill Steel—used for drilling holes in soft ores mining and exploration
purposes.
10. Handmade Ore Car—created by some resourceful miner using readily available
materials.
11. Crucible (another one)—used to transport and pour molten metal.
12. Printing Press—one used at the short-lived mining camp of Greenwater to print
Death Valley Chuck-Walla in 1907.
13. Wagon Rear Axle Unit—from a medium sized horse-drawn wagon.
14. Fireproof Safe—the walls are lined with firebrick and fireclay.
15. 225-Horsepower Diesel Engine—installed behind the present day post office to
provide electricity for the Inn and Ranch in about 1936.
16. Concord State Stagecoach—carried passengers across the Amargosa Valley east of
Death Valley.

17. Stagecoach—one of three stage lines that served the silver boom town of Panamint
City.
18. Panamint Valley Stagecoach—ran twice a week between Skidoo and Rhyolite in
1907.
19. Conestoga or Studebaker Wagon—typical of the style used to haul light freight
during the nineteenth century.
20. Fresno Scraper—an example of the type of earth moving machine used before the
invention of the bulldozer and the backhoe.
21. Fresno Scraper (another one)—used for light excavating jobs.
22. Fresno Scraper—a two-horse wheel scraper for use in larger excavating jobs and for
long hauls for dumping.
23. Running Gear—carried the water tank for the 20-Mule Team.
24. Front Axle, Rear Axle, and Wheels of one of the 20-Mule Team borax wagons as
seen here.
25. Running Gear—from one of the lead borax wagons from a 20-Mule Team.
26. Bench Mark—installed by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1907 as a reference point
for local land surveys.
27. Logging Truck—carried logs from the timber site to the sawmill where it was cut
into mine timbers.
28. Train Locomotive—the second of two engines of the Death Valley Narrow-Gauge
Railroad which transported borax ore from the mines at Ryan to the processing
plant at Death Valley Junction between 1915 and 1927.
29. Logging Wheels—used in the Spring Mountains to drag logs from the site where
they were felled to the loading dock, where they could be loaded onto logging
trucks and taken to the sawmill.
30. Leaning Wheel Grader—manufactured by J.D. Adams and Company of Indianapolis,
Indiana.
31. Redwood Tank—typical wooden stave tank used to hold water and other liquids.
32. Feed Wagon—one of many stationed at daily stopping points along the 20-Mule
Team route.
33. Solitary Wagon Wheel—from one of the Furnace Creek Ranch farm wagons.
BORAX MUSEUM
OUTDOOR EXHIBITS GUIDE

34. The Mul e Bar n was located at the Mojave termi nus of the 20 -Mule Tea m route.
35. Pack Saddle—is quite small and was probably used on a burro.
36. Farm Wagon—remodeled for use at the Furnace Creek Ranch in the early days.
37. Small Blacksmith’s Forge—used for repair and manufacture of simple and small
iron items.
38. Water Cart —horse drawn, and used during the construction of the Death Valley
Narrow Gauge Railroad in 1914.
39. Wooden Wagon Wheel and Axle—both part of a farm wagon, and illustrate the
construction detail.
40. Wagon Wheel Hub—taken from one of the wheels of a 20-Mule Team wagon.
41. Homemade Wheelbarrow—a crude example of the self-reliance necessary for
survival in the desolate remoteness of the desert.
42. Francis Marion Smith’s Buckboard—used by the Borax King for transportation
around his Death Valley properties in the 1880s.
43. Dry Washers—used (and still are) by the desert prospectors to work gold placers
where no water was available.
44. Ox Shoeing Device—equipped with wide belts that could be looped under the
ox.

45. Pulley And Shaft—typical of those used in ore mills with mechanical belt-
powered transmission that pre-dated electrically powered machinery.

46. Linen Cart—homemade for delivery of linens to the tourist’s tent cabins at
Furnace Creek Ranch in the 1930s.
47. Fresno Scraper—shows the scraper bucket, but the wheels are missing.
48. Land Leveller—made by Towner Manufacturing Company of Santa Ana,
California, maker of farm implements and road machinery.
49. Mine Shaft Replica—shows the surface equipment associated with a small
prospecting shaft.
50. Whim—a more sophisticated and powerful hoisting device than the windlass.

51. Tripod Headframe (attached)—centered the ore bucket for travel up and down
the shaft.
52. Gold Arrastra—introduced by Mexican miners as a means of crushing gold ore
using materials readily at hand.
53. Rocker Quartz Mill—tilted back and forth by hand, causing the heavy iron roller
to pulverize the ore.
54. Jaw Crusher—a laboratory sized model used to prepare ore for analysis and
metallurgical testing.
55. One Stamp Mill—used to process gold ore at the Johnnie Mine in Nevada
around 1905.
56. Ore Skip—designed to operate in an inclined shaft.
57. Mine Locomotive—used in the Ryan mines around 1922.
58. Side-Dump Ore Car—carried ore from the mine workings underground to the
ore buns on the surface at Ryan.
59. Conveyor—collected the ore scooped up by the mucking machine and lifted it
into the ore car for transportation to the surface.
60. Homemade Mucking Machine—replaced the need to manually shovel ore into
the ore cars.
61. Two Wooden Whiskey Barrels—used to hold “neutral grain spirits, ” a valuable
commodity around the turn of the century in the mining camps of the area.
62. Three Ore Cars—designed to dump from the end, but they swivel to dump to
the side of the tracks as well.
63. Mine Shaft Bucket—used for sinking shafts and hoisting ore in small mines in
the surrounding area.
64. Metal Barrel —bears a date stamp of June 3, 1902 and was used for storing and
transporting liquid fuels such as kerosene.
65. Tonopah & Tidewater Safe —used by the railroad to house valuables during its
years of operation.
66. Steam Radiators—came from the Furnace Creek Inn which opened its doors to
visitors in February 1927.