Death Valley National Park - Harmony Borax Works

From Badwater you should return to Furnace Creek for a rest and to recuperate, perhaps also have a refreshing swim in the pool which is fed by a stream, and then you are off again to see the sights to the north. The nearest is the Harmony Borax Works; from there you can make a small detour to the sand dunes on the road leading to Stove Pipe Wells, which are most beautifully illuminated towards sunset.

Aaron Winters found borax on the Death Valley saltpan in 1881. He soon sold his claims to William T. Coleman, builder of the Harmony Borax Works, where borate-bearing muds were refined until 1889. Among the crumbling adobe walls is the old broiler and some of the vats. Closed in 1890, this was the first successful borax works in the history of borax mining in Death Valley.