Pacific Coast Borax was founded in 1890 by Francis Marion Smith, known as the “Borax King”. Its origins trace back to Teel’s Marsh, Nevada, where Smith discovered rich borate deposits in the 1870s. Over time, Smith consolidated various borax operations, including those of William Tell Coleman, who had previously run the Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley.
Borax Consolidated, Ltd.
Certificate No. 4592, 4-1/2% Second Mortgage Debenture Stock, Issued to Frances Elizabeth Scott, Four Hundred Seventy-Five Pounds Sterling, May 31, 1933.
Borax Consolidated, Ltd. was organized in London in 1899. The company consolidated various borax operations worldwide, including those of F. M. Smith’s Pacific Coast Borax. This allowed for greater efficiency in mining, refining, and distribution, ensuring a dominant presence in the market. Borax Consolidated controlled major borate deposits across the U.S., England, France, Austria, Turkey, and South America.
United States Borax & Chemical Corporation
Specimen Stock Certificate, One Hundred Shares.
In 1956, Pacific Coast Borax merged with the United States Potash Corporation, forming United States Borax and Chemical Corporation.
Tenneco Corporation
6-1/4% Subordinated Debenture Due 1992, Certificate No. RB12448, December 16, 1976. $5,000 Debt Owed Cede & Co., Alfred Jerris (?), Secretary, C. (Charles) H. Jones, President.
Tenneco Corporation’s origin goes back to the Chicago Corporation, established about 1930. In 1943, that company acquired the Tennessee Gas and Transmission Company to build a natural gas pipeline from Texas to West Virginia to supply energy to WWII industries in Appalachia.
In 1966, Tennessee Gas was re-incorporated as Tenneco Corporation and diversified by buying into several disparate industries. In 1967, Tenneco purchased the Kern County Land Company, largely to gain Kern County Land’s majority ownership of tractor-maker J. I. Case Company. Kern County Land’s ownership of the Boraxo mine in Furnace Creek Wash also moved Tenneco into the Death Valley borax mining business.
The Boraxo mine history began in about 1915 when Pacific Coast Borax Company filed the Clara borax lode claims in Furnace Creek Wash, just down-slope from their Ryan operations. A discovery shaft sunk by a Mr. Thompson led to the name – the Thompson mine. A mineral patent was applied for but was not granted. On the assumption that the claim was patented, Pacific Coast Borax ceased annual assessment work at the mine. Two new claims, the Boraxo No. 1 and No. 2 were filed over the area in 1921 by others and a mining land patent was granted to the new claimants. A court battle was settled in favor of the new claimants, and Pacific Coast Borax bought the Boraxo claims in 1935.
Kern County Land Company purchased the Boraxo claims in 1960. Some underground development work was performed, producing colemanite borax ore in the early part of the 1960’s.
Following Tenneco’s purchase of Kern County Land, surface mining of the Boraxo mine began in January 1970, and lasted through 1977. Tenneco extracted approximately 200,000 tons of borax minerals from the open pit Boraxo mine. The mine’s waste rock can still be seen on the south side of Dante’s View Road just beyond Highway 190, hiding the scar of the former pit operation.
Photograph of the Boraxo open pit mine, San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, September 21, 1975.
Death Valley Mining History - Thru Scripophily 