It all started in the late 1800's, when Mr. Winters, a prospector in Death Valley, found a mineral rock on the desert floor. As he heated the rock over the fire it began to turn green in color, he shouted to his wife, "We're rich. Rosey, we're rich!" Winters had discovered a large deposit of borax.....and the rest is history.
From 1883 until 1889 there was really no way to ship ore from the recent borax discoveries in Death Valley to the nearest railway in Mojave except by mule train across the 165 miles of desert. It took 18 mules and 2 horses - a Twenty-Mule Team - 16 days to carry 37 1/2 tons of ore and water across the harsh desert. This cache site will show you some of the history of those trips.
You can access this site by any of the three exits that intersect this tiny town.
The coordinates will take you to a local park with a bit of history. To prove you were there, please email us the answers to the following FIVE questions:
What is the name of the park?
What is the centerpiece of the park?
What big red thing is on the north side of the centerpiece?
What part of the centerpiece cost $5,100.00 each? (The sign with this info is occasionally knocked over and/or moved. If you can't find the answer to this question, don't sweat it. What's your best guess?)
What is the seven digit, alpha-numeric tail number (it begins with "E") on the F-4 Phantom Jet parked across the street in front if the Saxon Aerospace Museum to the southwest of the park?
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Be sure to check out the Boron Twenty Mule Team Museum across the street. It's a great place with lots of history and things to look at.
If you have the time, the Borax Visitor's Center is nearby too.
Also, many cachers have mentioned that Domingo's Resturant is a great place to stop and eat. We've haven't been there (yet) but we've been told that many of the pilots and astronauts from Edwards Air Force Base frequent it.
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PLEASE NOTE:
1 - Log your find and e-mail us the answers at the same time. This way you're not waiting for us to accept your answers to log your find, & we’re not waiting for your answers. This is supposed to be fun, and intended to get you out of the car to show you something you might not see otherwise. We tend to give finders the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the answers, so they don’t have to be perfect. If we have any questions or concerns about your log or answers, we'll let you know.
2 - By way of advice, don’t take a quick picture at the cache locations and expect to be able to read or otherwise extract the needed info from the pics when you get back home. Take a minute to look around and write down your answers while you’re there. “I couldn’t read/interpret/see/understand what was in my pic because it was too dark, too light, too wet, too hot, out of focus, or whatever” is not an acceptable answer.
3 - To claim a find, send us the answers. This is how virtual caches work. We should get a set of answers for every logged find from every Cacher logging a find. Due to some group abuse, we won’t accept group answers.
4 - No answers = No find.
5 - If YOU have questions about the cache, the logging procedure, or suggestions about the cache, don’t hesitate to contact us.
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Enjoy your visit to Boron!