20 Mule Teams

Just to set the record straight right-off, there were not twenty mules in the 20-mule teams. The so-called 20-mule teams actually had 18 mules and 2 horses. However, when the 20 Mule Team became the brand name for borax-based products from the Pacific Coast Borax Company, the 20-Mule Team name and image were forever burned into the minds and hearts of people everywhere.

Mules were selected for the 20-mule teams because they were uniquely qualified for the horrendous journeys back and forth from the borax mining valleys to the rail spurs, a round trip of 330 miles over extremely dangerous trails and scorching desert heat.

One of my alter egos is that of a Missouri Mule. Partly, that's because I was born and reared in the "boot-heel" of Missouri. Mostly, I think, it's because I really can be as "stubborn as a mule". When people tell me that, I take it as a compliment since mule owners will tell you that, in fact, mules are not stubborn. They are just highly intelligent and have a well-developed instinct for self-preservation. Like the mule, I will usually balk at being put into threatening situations or working until I am ready to drop from exhaustion!

So why were mules the animal of choice for the 20-mule teams? Because they were the best animal for the job. Mules are:

• Intelligent
• Cautious
• Courageous - not easily spooked
• Patient
• Curious
• Sure-footed
• Capable of carrying (or pulling) great loads
• Well suited for hot conditions
• Require less food and water than other equines
• Resistant to disease
• Resistant to insects (flies are a great problem with horses)
• More "maintenance free" than other equines
• Live much longer than horses

However, history tells us that, without the wisdom of President George Washington, the lowly mule would have never made history as part of the 20 mule teams.

Photo Courtesy of US Department of the Interior

In his article George Washington: A Truly Remarkable Man, an editor at MasonicWorld.com writes that George Washington: "...was the most innovative large-scale farmer in America during the last quarter of the 18th century." His farm at Mt. Vernon was a lifetime passion. There, he constantly experimented with different crops, methods of farming, and other changes to improve the welfare of the American farmer.

Washington became convinced that mules would be an invaluable resource to the American farmer. Not the small, inferior mules that were already in America (although in small numbers). His goal was to build a master-race of mules.

From Spain, he procured two of the finest donkeys available. In the spring of 1787, he began to breed the male donkeys with his quality mares. Breeding male donkeys with female horses produces mules with the best qualities of both. The mules are much larger than donkeys and, therefore able to carry (or pull) much heavier loads. Their hides are much tougher than that of horses, and the ears are much longer (although shorter than the donkey's ears).

Learning of Washington's success, soon farmers from all over America were successfully breeding the stronger, hardier draft mules. It is no wonder, then, that, when the time came to select animals for the journeys into Death Valley, mules were the chosen animals. Thus began the famous 20-mule teams used for hauling borax in the late 19th century.

Photo Courtesy of Library of Congress

Although this information is readily available elsewhere, I will include a brief summary to illustrate why the new breed of mules would become the force behind the 20-mule teams.

The wagons built to carry supplies and refined borax were custom built to be the largest and strongest ever used by draft animals. They were built specifically to be able to haul 10 tons of borax in each wagon.

Each wagon (box) was 16 feet long, 6 feet high, 4 feet wide, constructed of solid oak, and weighed 7,800 pounds when empty. The rear wheels were 7 feet high, and the front wheels were 5 feet high.

Behind the two freight wagons was a 1,200 gallon water wagon, necessary for the animals as what little water they came across on the journey was usually not potable.

When the wagons were fully loaded, the mule teams were required to pull in excess of 36 tons over perilous trails in scorching temperatures! Between 1883 and 1888, 20-mule teams hauled more than 20 million pounds of borax from Death Valley.

Photo Courtesy of Library of Congress

Although important to the overall success of the 20-mule teams, the horses are largely overlooked in history. The horses were massive, much larger than the draft mules and had the great strength needed to start the wagons moving and for making sharp corners when necessary.

The horses were behind the mules and close to the wagon wheels. Thus, they were called "wheelers". The masters of the caravan (called "muleskinners") often rode the horse on the left for ease in directing the mule team. Using nothing more than his voice and the "jerkline" that was connected to several pairs of the mules on the left side, he could easily direct the whole mule team. A steady pull to the left would guide them to the left, and a quick series of jerks would turn them to the right.

The mules were also trained by the muleskinners for maneuvering in the narrow canyons. As needed, certain pairs of the mules would adeptly step over the chain hitch. They would then walk sideways, at an almost direct right angle to the other mules, while continuing to move forward. This kept the 80-feet chain hitch from dragging and pulling the wagons off the road. When such maneuvering was no longer required, the mules would deftly step back over the chain hitch and resume their place in line.

So why did the horse become irrelevant to the great iconic image of the 20-mule teams? Advertising and brand recognition. The name "stuck" when the words 20 Mule Team Borax was added to the packaging of the Pacific Coast Borax Company's products. The image of the mule team itself was already used. The name was added in 1891. Somehow, the name "18 Mules and 2 Horses Team" just didn't seem to have the same appeal!

Image from Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, Copyright Expired

It was difficult to determine the route followed by the Borax 20-mule teams. Based on a terrain map and a route map with descriptions of the trail, I believe the illustration shown here does represent the true route from Mojave to the Harmony Borax Works (the Pacific Coast Borax Company mining facilities).

Note that the terrain map above only covers approximately half of the route to Death Valley. The map in this insert shows the entire route from Mojave to Furnace Creek where the Harmony Borax Works was located.

William T. Coleman (the owner of Pacific Coast Borax Company) decided to use an old route across the mountains known as Wingate Pass. The most significant obstacle was joining the west side of the pass between Panamint Range and Amargosa Range to the east side and into Death Valley. Because much of that area was a marsh which was too wet to bear the weight of the mule teams and the wagons, the company was forced to hack out a path over the salt lake that had formed there.

One writer described the salt lake as "jagged peaks, pyramids, and criss-crossed ridges...They were not high--none, perhaps, more than four feet--but there was not even level space for a man's foot between them."

Using sledgehammers to knock down those peaks, pyramids, and ridges, eventually the workers constructed a passable road, 6 feet wide, across an 8-mile stretch of solid salt. This connected Wingate Pass to the lower end of Death Valley. The trail continued up the valley to the northern end where the mining company was located just below the mouth of Furnace Creek.

This cross-section map below shows how Death Valley lies directly between the Panamint and Amargosa Mountain ranges. Looking up from the bottom edge of the terrain map, you can see that Death Valley lies at the bottom of both ranges, bounded on the west by the Panamint Range and on the east by the Amargosa Range. At 282 feet below sea level, Death Valley is the lowest point in the United States.



Images of Death Valley Terrain and Route Map are derivatives of images from Wikipedia Commons

The use of 20-mule teams made possible what most declared to be impossible. Using the twenty mule teams and specially-constructed wagons, the Pacific Coast Borax Company extracted millions of pounds of borax and hauled it from the mines to the railroad in Mojave. The Harmony Borax Works was closed down in 1888, but the image of the 20-mule team lived on.

Subsequent advertising made 20 Mule Team Borax an icon of the Old West style of life. This image has become one of the best reminders of days when the West really was "the wild west". When survival was never taken for granted. When unexplored lands, promises, and adventures waited over the next mountain range. When hearts still dreamed of the freedom of the wild west.

Advertising Image from Magazine, Copyright Expired

guardianstar77 is a writer, graphics design artist, nature enthusiast and lover of everything that resembles a horse. She lives in Central Arkansas and shares her life with a husband of almost 40 years, 2 sons, and 4 fabulous grandchildren. guardianstar77 is not domesticated, finding that spending time doing almost anything else beats doing housework. Her passions include recycling, frugal living, feeding the hungry, old-fashioned vintage everything, nature, reading, writing, flea markets and yard sales, Christmas, mystical creatures, carousels, and artwork filled with glorious earthy colors or nature's warm, soothing colors of green and blue.

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The mule image used in the Table of Contents and Guest Book banners in Twenty Mule Teams, as well as the Return to TOC button in each section, is derived from an image whose copyright has expired.