Borax Museum Exhibits

About this museum

Death Valley is the hottest, driest, and lowest place in North America, and for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was also one of the most intensely mined landscapes on the continent. Borax - sodium tetraborate, the mineral compound that made Procter and Gamble a fortune and gave the world the legendary 20 - mule teams - was pulled from these desert flats in enormous quantities, and the Borax Museum Exhibits at Furnace Creek tell that story with artifacts that no replica could replicate.Located in the heart of Death Valley National Park, the outdoor and indoor exhibits preserve equipment, vehicles, and structures from the borax mining era that would be at home in an industrial museum many times the size. The 20 - mule team wagons - massive wooden freight haulers that carried borax loads across nearly 165 miles of desert - are an immediate and visceral reminder of the human labor that extraction demanded. Nearby, steam - powered machinery and period tools tell the story of how the work was actually done, under temperatures that regularly exceeded 120 degrees Fahrenheit.The 4.3 - star rating from 179 visitors reflects the exhibits' genuine appeal, though the context matters enormously: this is not a traditional indoor museum with climate control and ambient lighting, but a desert collection best appreciated early in the morning or late in the afternoon, when the Panamint Range catches the light and the valley floor glows amber and ochre. The surrounding landscape is, of course, its own exhibit - among the most dramatic on earth.Admission to the Borax Museum Exhibits is free. The exhibits are open most days of the week, typically from 11AM to 5PM or 6PM depending on the day. The ranch is located at Furnace Creek, inside Death Valley National Park.