Death Valley - Day 2

We got an early start this morning; so much to see, so much to do. On our way to Scotty's Castle in Grapevine Canyon, we stopped by the Borax Mine. What a history. In the early 1880's, WT Coleman established the Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley. With a growing demand for borax, an unlimited supply of crude ore, Coleman needed to find the quickest, safest way to move his product out of the valley to the nearest railroad junction at Mojave. Thus, the idea to hitch two ten-mule teams together to form a 100' long, twenty-mule team was born. The borax load had to be hauled 165 miles (a 20-day round trip), starting at 190' below sea level & climbing to an elevation of over 2000' before it was over.
Borax, the White Gold of the Desert, ranks as the valley's most profitable mineral.

We moved onward; past the sand dunes, before reaching Scotty's Castle.

We toured the castle which has a great story behind it. Scotty's Castle is actually a two-story Spanish villa built as a getaway for Chicago engineer (and millionaire) Albert Johnson & his wife, Bessie. at a cost of 1.4 million dollars. It's not really a castle & it does not belong to the "Scotty" from whom it got its name. Walter Scott, aka Death Valley Scotty was a gold prospector, a stunt rider for Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, and a con man. To make a long story short, Scotty conned wealthy businessmen into investing in his fictitious gold mining operation. He was befriended by one of those men, Albert Johnson, who loved his adventurous stories and forgave him for his fraudulent scheming. Albert generously added a room at the ranch just for Scotty, where he continued to entertain his captive audience of wearied travelers with his tall tales.

We continued on to Rhyolite Ghost Town. There's not very much left here at the once vibrant town site. Before the financial panic of 1907, this town was booming with over 2000 mining claims, but by 1916 the Shoshone mine & mill were closed down.
In 1906 an enterprising miner, Tom T. Kelly, built the bottle house in this picture out of 50,000 beer and liquor bottles. It was restored by Paramount pictures in 1925.

After dinner, Evan and I went to the Visitor's Center for a slide show about the Heroes and Villains of Death Valley. To be continued...