Description
Stutzmann, Garon (2017). 20 Mule Team comes to Washington, DC: 100 Years Anniversary. Grove Creek Mules. 32 Seiten.
The original, massive Death Valley Borax Wagons were custom designed and built to haul refined borax 165 miles distant across mountains and desert from the Harmony Plant in Death Valley to the railhead in Mojave. A marvel of men, mules and machine as a testament to their ruggedness, they operated without a breakdown on that grueling route! Five sets of wagons were built in Mojave, CA, in the early 1880s. Only one of these original wagon sets remains at Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley National Park, but it is no longer road worthy. So in 2009, the Death Valley Conservancy (DVC) joined forces with Bobby Tanner (Bobby and his family have been responsible for recreating and maintaining a working 20 Mule Team in present day) to begin planning for an authentic replica of the original wagons that could be used to preserve this Death Valleygrown technology and heritage of the American West for current and future generations to experience. DVC’s goal was to create a working reproduction set of these historic wagons in like and kind using methods and materials as they did in the 1880s-down to the same wood species. After years of research, fundraising and searching for the right craftsman to fabricate them, and thanks to the support of our generous donors, our two wagons debuted with Bobbys 20 Mule Team in this year’s 2017 Rose Parade to a worldwide audience estimated at 80,000,000 viewers. DVC’s next goal is to build a reproduction of the historic water wagon to complete the set, which will be on exhibit at the Laws Museum in Bishop, CA.
