1.
Borax
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Soid Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. Powdered borax is white, consisting of colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water. Borax has a variety of uses. It is a component of many detergents, cosmetics, and enamel glazes, in artisanal gold mining, the borax method is sometimes used as a substitute for toxic mercury in the gold extraction process. Borax was reportedly used by miners in parts of the Philippines in the 1900s. The term borax is used for a number of closely related minerals or chemical compounds that differ in their water content. Commercially sold borax is partially dehydrated, Borax was first discovered in dry lake beds in Tibet and was imported via the Silk Road to the Arabian Peninsula in the 8th Century AD. However, it is formulated as Na2·8H2O, since borax contains the 2− ion. In this structure, there are two four-coordinate boron atoms and two boron atoms. Borax is also converted to boric acid and other borates. When borax is added to a flame, it produces a green color. Borax is not used for purpose in fireworks due to the overwhelming yellow color of sodium. Boric acid is used to color methanol flames a transparent green, the English word borax is Latinized, the Middle English form was boras, from Old French boras, bourras. That may have been from medieval Latin baurach, borac, borax, or maybe directly from the Arabic, along with Spanish borrax and Italian borrace, the Arabic was بورق bauraq/bwrk, a word also used for borax. Traditional Arabic dictionaries say that it derives from the verb to glisten, which is also written بورق bwrq, but it seems to actually derive from the Persian būrah. The word borax is found in Arabic būraq, meaning white, which is from Middle Persian bwrk, another name for borax is tincal, from Sanskrit. The word tincal /ˈtɪŋkəl/ tinkle, or tincar /ˈtɪŋkər/ tinker, refers to crude borax, before it is purified, as mined from deposits in Tibet, Persia. The word was adopted in the 17th century from Malay tingkal and from Urdu/Persian/Arabic تنکار tinkār/tankār and these all appear to be related to the Sanskrit टांकण ṭānkaṇa
2.
Richmond, Walworth County, Wisconsin
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Richmond is a town in Walworth County, Wisconsin, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 1,835. The unincorporated communities of Lake Lorraine, Richmond, and Turtle Lake are located in the town. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 36.0 square miles. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,835 people,704 households, the population density was 52.0 people per square mile. There were 899 housing units at a density of 25.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 96. 57% White,0. 05% African American,0. 38% Native American,0. 44% Asian,2. 29% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 4. 52% of the population. 22. 2% of all households were made up of individuals and 6. 1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.06. In the town, the population was out with 25. 1% under the age of 18,5. 4% from 18 to 24,29. 9% from 25 to 44,27. 6% from 45 to 64. The median age was 40 years, for every 100 females there were 103.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.2 males, the median income for a household in the town was $51,776, and the median income for a family was $59,231. Males had an income of $36,250 versus $26,474 for females. The per capita income for the town was $23,203, about 2. 2% of families and 4. 1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2. 0% of those under age 18 and 5. 1% of those age 65 or over. Borax Smith, American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert and the San Francisco Bay Area, was born in Richmond
3.
Oakland, California
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Oakland /ˈoʊklənd/ is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. The city was incorporated in 1852, Oaklands territory covers what was once a mosaic of California coastal terrace prairie, oak woodland, and north coastal scrub. Its land served as a resource when its hillside oak and redwood timber were logged to build San Francisco. In the late 1860s, Oakland was selected as the terminal of the Transcontinental Railroad. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many San Francisco citizens moved to Oakland, enlarging the citys population, increasing its housing stock and it continued to grow in the 20th century with its busy port, shipyards, and a thriving automobile manufacturing industry. Oakland is known for its sustainability practices, including a top-ranking for usage of electricity from renewable resources, in addition, due to a steady influx of immigrants during the 20th century, along with thousands of African-American war-industry workers who relocated from the Deep South during the 1940s. Oakland is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. The earliest known inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, who lived there for thousands of years, the Huchiun belonged to a linguistic grouping later called the Ohlone. In Oakland, they were concentrated around Lake Merritt and Temescal Creek, in 1772, the area that later became Oakland was claimed, with the rest of California, by Spanish settlers for the King of Spain. In the early 19th century, the Spanish crown granted the East Bay area to Luis María Peralta for his Rancho San Antonio, the grant was confirmed by the successor Mexican republic upon its independence from Spain. Upon his death in 1842, Peralta divided his land among his four sons, Most of Oakland fell within the shares given to Antonio Maria and Vicente. The portion of the parcel that is now Oakland was called encinal—Spanish for oak grove—due to the oak forest that covered the area. In 1851, three men—Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon—began developing what is now downtown Oakland, on May 4,1852, the Town of Oakland incorporated. Two years later, on March 25,1854, Oakland re-incorporated as the City of Oakland, with Horace Carpentier elected the first mayor, the city and its environs quickly grew with the railroads, becoming a major rail terminal in the late 1860s and 1870s. In 1868, the Central Pacific constructed the Oakland Long Wharf at Oakland Point, a number of horsecar and cable car lines were constructed in Oakland during the latter half of the 19th century. The first electric streetcar set out from Oakland to Berkeley in 1891, at the time of incorporation, Oakland consisted of the territory that lay south of todays major intersection of San Pablo Avenue, Broadway, and Fourteenth Street. The city gradually annexed farmlands and settlements to the east and the north, Oaklands rise to industrial prominence, and its subsequent need for a seaport, led to the digging of a shipping and tidal channel in 1902. This resulted in the town of Alameda being made an island
4.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
5.
Miner
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A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, or other mineral from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used, in its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face, cutting, blasting, or otherwise working and removing the rock. In a broader sense, a miner is working within a mine. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world, in some countries, miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance. Different functions of the individual miner, many of the roles are specific to a type of mining, such as coal mining. Roles considered to be miners in the narrower sense have included, Hewer, collier, a hewer who hews coal with a pick. Driller, who works a rock drill to bore holes for placing dynamite or other explosives, other roles within mines that did not involve breaking rock have included, Loader, who loads the mining carts with coal at the face. Putter, who works the carts around the mine, barrow-man, who transported the broken coal from the face in wheelbarrows. Hurrier, who transported coal carts from a mine to the surface, timberer, who fashions and installs timber supports to support the walls and ceiling in an underground mine. In addition to miners working underground, a mine employs other workers in duties at the surface, in addition to office staff of various sorts, these may include, Brakesman, who operate the winding engine. Mining engineers use the principles of math and science to develop solutions to technical problems for miners. In most cases, a degree in engineering, mining engineering or geological engineering is required. Because technology is changing, miners and mining engineers need to continue their education. The basics of mining engineering includes finding, extracting, and preparing minerals, metals and these mined products are used for electric power generation and manufacturing industries. Mining engineers also supervise the construction of mine operations and create ways to transport the extracted minerals to processing plants. Underground mining Miners apron Miners cap Miners habit Mining helmet Mooskappe, miners cap worn in the Harz
6.
Business magnate
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A business magnate refers to an entrepreneur of great influence, importance, or standing in a particular enterprise or field of business. Such individuals may also be called czars, moguls, proprietors, tycoons, taipans, barons, the word magnate derives from the Latin magnates, meaning a great man or great nobleman. The word tycoon derives from the Japanese word taikun, which means great lord, the word entered the English language in 1857 with the return of Commodore Perry to the United States. U. S. President Abraham Lincoln was humorously referred to as the Tycoon by his aides John Nicolay, the term spread to the business community, where it has been used ever since. The word mogul is an English corruption of mughal, Persian or Arabic for Mongol and it alludes to emperors of the Mughal Empire in the Medieval India, who possessed great power and storied riches capable of producing wonders of opulence such as the Taj Mahal. Modern business magnates are entrepreneurs that amass on their own or wield substantial family fortunes in the process of building or running their own businesses and their dominance was known as the Second Industrial Revolution, the Gilded Age, or the Robber Baron Era. The Famous 15, Americas Most Fascinating Tycoons,25 Tycoons Who Run the World
7.
Mojave Desert
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The Mojave Desert is an arid rain-shadow desert and the driest desert in North America. It is located in the southwestern United States, primarily within southeastern California and southern Nevada, very small areas also extend into Utah and Arizona. The central part of the desert is sparsely populated, while its peripheries support large communities such as Las Vegas, Lancaster, Palmdale, Victorville, the Mojave Desert is bordered by the Great Basin Desert to its north and the Sonoran Desert to its south and east. Topographical boundaries include the Tehachapi Mountains to the west, and the San Gabriel Mountains, the mountain boundaries are distinct because they are outlined by the two largest faults in California – the San Andreas and Garlock faults. The Mojave Desert displays typical basin and range topography and it occupies less than 50,000 sq mi, making it the smallest of the North American deserts. The Mojave Desert is often referred to as the desert, in contrast to the low desert. However, the Mojave Desert is generally lower than the Great Basin Desert to the north, the spelling Mojave originates from the Spanish language while the spelling Mohave comes from modern English. The Mojave Desert receives less than 13 in of rain a year and is generally between 2,000 and 5,000 feet in elevation, zion National Park in Utah lies at the junction of the Mojave, the Great Basin Desert, and the Colorado Plateau. Despite its aridity, the Mojave has long been a center of production, fed by irrigation coming from groundwater. The Mojave is a desert of temperature extremes and two distinct seasons, winter months bring comfortable daytime temperatures, which dip precipitously to around 20 °F on valley floors, and below 0 °F at higher elevations. Storms moving from the Pacific Northwest can bring rain and in places even snow. More often, the shadow created by the Sierra Nevada as well as mountain ranges within the desert such as the Spring Mountains, bring only clouds. By early June, it is rare for another Pacific storm to have a significant impact on the regions weather, summer weather is dominated by heat. Temperatures on valley floors can soar above 120 °F and above 130 °F at the lowest elevations, low humidity, high temperatures, and low pressure, draw in moisture from the Gulf of Mexico creating thunderstorms across the desert southwest known as the North American monsoon. Autumn is generally pleasant, with one to two Pacific storm systems creating regional rain events, october is one of the driest and sunniest months in the Mojave, and temperatures usually remain between 70 °F and 90 °F on the valley floors. After temperature, wind is the most significant weather phenomenon in the Mojave, during the June Gloom, cooler air can be pushed out into the desert from Southern California. In Santa Ana wind events, hot air from the desert blows out into the Los Angeles basin, wind farms in these areas generate power from these winds. The other major factor in the region is elevation
8.
San Francisco Bay Area
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The San Francisco Bay Area is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses the cities and metropolitan areas of San Jose, San Francisco. The Bay Areas nine counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. The combined statistical area of the region is the second-largest in California, the fifth-largest in the United States, the Bay Area has the second-most Fortune 500 Companies in the United States, and is known for its natural beauty, liberal politics, entrepreneurship, and diversity. The eastern side of the bay, consisting of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is known locally as the East Bay, the inner East Bay is more densely populated, with generally older buildings, and a more ethnically diverse population. The word Lamorinda was coined by combining the names of the cities it includes, Lafayette, Moraga, walnut Creek is situated east of Lamorinda and north of the San Ramon Valley and, together with Concord, Martinez, and Pleasant Hill comprises Central Contra Costa County. The cities of Antioch, Pittsburg, Brentwood, Oakley and the areas surrounding them comprise East Contra Costa County. The Tri-Valley consists of the Amador, the Livermore, and the San Ramon Valleys, dublin and Pleasanton comprise the Amador Valley, Livermore lies in the Livermore Valley, and the San Ramon Valley consists of Alamo, Danville, Diablo and its namesake, San Ramon. The outer East Bay is connected to the inner East Bay by BART, Interstate 580 to the south, and State Routes State Route 4 to the north, the outer East Bays infrastructure was mostly built up after World War II. This area remains largely white demographically, although the Hispanic and Filipino populations have grown significantly over the past 2–3 decades, the region north of the Golden Gate Bridge is known locally as the North Bay. This area encompasses Marin County, Sonoma County, Napa County, the city of Fairfield, being part of Solano County, is often considered the easternmost city of the North Bay. With few exceptions, this region is affluent, Marin County is ranked as the wealthiest in the state. The North Bay is relatively rural compared to the remainder of the Bay Area, with areas of undeveloped open space, farmland. Santa Rosa in Sonoma County is the North Bays largest city, with a population of 167,815 and a Metropolitan Statistical Area population of 466,891, making it the fifth-largest city in the Bay Area. The North Bay is the section of the Bay Area that is not currently served by a commuter rail service. The area from San Francisco to the Silicon Valley, geographically part of the San Francisco Peninsula, is known locally as The Peninsula, many of these families are of foreign background and have significantly contributed to the diversity of the area. Whereas the term peninsula technically refers to the entire geographical San Franciscan Peninsula, in local terms, San Francisco is surrounded by water on three sides, the north, east, and west. The city squeezes roughly 870,000 people in under 47 square miles, on any given day, there can be as many as 1 million people in the city because of the commuting population and tourism
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Public transport
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Public transport modes include city buses, trolleybuses, trams and passenger trains, rapid transit and ferries. Public transport between cities is dominated by airlines, coaches, and intercity rail, high-speed rail networks are being developed in many parts of the world. Most public transport runs to a timetable, with the most frequent services running to a headway. Share taxis offer services in many parts of the world. Paratransit is sometimes used in areas of low demand and for people who need a door-to-door service, there are distinct differences in urban public transit between Asia, North America, and Europe. In Asia, mass transit operations are run by profit-driven privately owned and publicly traded mass transit. In North America, mass transit operations are run by municipal transit authorities. In Europe, mass transit operations are run by both state-owned and private companies. Public transport services can be profit-driven by use of pay-by-the-distance fares or funded by government subsidies in which flat rate fares are charged to each passenger. Services can be profitable through high ridership numbers and high farebox recovery ratios, or can be regulated. Fully subsidized, zero-fare services operate in some towns and cities, for geographical, historical and economic reasons, there are differences internationally regarding use and extent of public transport. It has 3,400 members from 92 countries, conveyances designed for public hire are as old as the first ferries, and the earliest public transport was water transport, on land people walked or rode an animal. Ferries appear in Greek mythology—corpses in ancient Greece were buried with a coin underneath their tongue to pay the ferryman Charon to take them to Hades, the omnibus was introduced to London in July 1829. The first passenger railway opened in 1806, it ran between Swansea and Mumbles in southwest Wales in the United Kingdom. In 1825 George Stephenson built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in northeast England, the usability of different types of public transport, and its overall appeal, can be measured by seven criteria, although they overlap somewhat. These are speed, comfort, safety, cost, proximity, speed is calculated from total journey time including transfers. Proximity means how far passengers have to walk or otherwise travel before they can begin the public transport leg of their journey, timeliness is how long they have to wait for the vehicle. Directness records how far a journey using public transport deviates from the shortest route, an airline provides scheduled service with aircraft between airports
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Key System
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At its height during the 1940s, the Key System had over 66 miles of track. The local streetcars were discontinued in 1948 and the trains to San Francisco were discontinued in 1958. The Key Systems territory is served by BART and AC Transit bus service. The Key System began as the San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose Railway, service began on October 26,1903 with a 4-car train carrying 250 passengers, departing downtown Berkeley for the ferry pier. The company touted its key route, which led to the adoption of the name Key System, in 1908, the SFOSJR changed its name to the San Francisco, Oakland & San Jose Consolidated Railway, changed to the San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railway in 1912. This went bankrupt in December 1923 and was re-organized as the Key System Transit Co. transforming a marketing buzzword into the name of the company. Following the Great Crash of 1929, a company called the Railway Equipment & Realty Co. was created. In 1938, the became the Key System. During World War II, the Key System built and operated the Shipyard Railway between a station in Emeryville and the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond. National City Lines acquired 64% of the stock in the system in 1946, jay Quinby hand published a document exposing the ownership of National City Lines. The new owners made a number of rapid changes, in 1946 they cut back the A-1 train route and then the express trains in 1947. The company increased fares in 1946 and then in both January and November 1947, during the period there were many complaints of overcrowding. They were convicted of conspiring to monopolize sales of buses and supplies and they were acquitted of conspiring to monopolize the ownership of these companies. In 1948 they proposed a plan to all the streetcars to buses. They placed an advertisement in the local papers explaining their plan to modernize and motorize Line 14, Oakland city council opposed the plan by 5–3. The Public Utilities Commission supported the plan which included large fare increases, in October 1948,700 people signed a petition with the PUC against the Key System, seeking restoration of the bus service on the #70 Chabot Bus line. The councils of Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro opposed the removal of street cars, the traffic planners supported removal of the streetcar lines to facilitate movement of automobiles. Local governments in the East Bay attempted to purchase the Key System, Streetcars were converted to buses during November/December 1948
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East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)
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The eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area, commonly referred to as the East Bay, includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, with a population of roughly 2.5 million in 2010, it is the most populous subregion in the Bay Area. Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay and the third largest in the Bay Area, the city serves as a major transportation hub for the U. S. West Coast, and its port is the largest in Northern California, increased population has led to the growth of such large edge cities as Berkeley, Hayward, Concord and Fremont. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869 with its terminus at the newly constructed Oakland Long Wharf. Today the Port of Oakland is the Bay Areas largest port, in 1868, the University of California was formed from the private College of California and a new campus was built in what would become Berkeley. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake saw a number of refugees flee to the relatively undamaged East Bay. As the East Bay grew, the push to connect it with a permanent link than ferry service resulted in the completion of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in 1936. The Bay Area saw further growth in the decades following World War II, the 1937 completion of the Caldecott Tunnel through the Berkeley Hills fueled growth further east, where there was undeveloped land. Cities in the Diablo Valley, including Concord and Walnut Creek, the addition of the BART commuter rail system in 1972 further encouraged development in increasingly far-flung regions of the East Bay. Today, the valleys east of the Berkeley Hills contain large affluent suburban communities such as Walnut Creek, San Ramon, the East Bay is not a formally defined region, aside from its being described as a region inclusive of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. As development moves generally eastward, new areas are described as being part of the East Bay, beyond the borders of Alameda County, the large population of Tracy is connected as a bedroom community housing commuters traveling to or through the East Bay. Except for some hills and ridges which exist as parklands or undeveloped land, and some farmland in eastern Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, the East Bay is highly urbanized. The East Bay shoreline is a corridor with several cities exceeding 100,000 residents, including Oakland, Hayward, Fremont, Richmond. In the inland valleys on the east side of the Berkeley Hills, the land is developed, particularly on the eastern fringe of Contra Costa county. In the inland valleys, the density is less and the cities smaller. The only cities exceeding 100,000 residents in the valleys are Antioch. The free East Bay Monthly has been published since 1970, in the early years of the evolution of USA Today, during the early 1980s, they operated regional newspapers, with the regions paper entitled East Bay Today
12.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
13.
Milton College
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Milton College was a private college located in Milton, Wisconsin. Founded in 1844 as the Milton Academy, it closed in 1982 and its campus is now part of the Milton Historic District. The college was founded as the Milton Academy by a group of early Milton settlers and it eventually grew to encompass 16 buildings spread over 24 acres. Its music department was renowned, and a percentage of foreign students for the era kept the student body diverse. Although initially many of the came from Milton, in later years alumni of the college would stay in Milton or return. On May 15,1982, Milton College abruptly closed its doors, at the time, it was Wisconsins oldest continually operating college. The decision from North Central stemmed from the colleges continual shaky financial situation, Milton College had, in fact, been struggling financially since the Great Depression,50 years earlier. Without accreditation, the college would not have seen any federal loans or grants, furthermore, it would have no longer been able to compete with schools in the Wisconsin State University System. Some 135 students had been planning to back to campus when the school closed. Officials negotiated with other campuses to accept Milton students, the college was a member of the NAIA and participated in the sports of baseball, basketball and football. Milton fielded its first football team in 1899 and its last in 1981, No teams were fielded from 1904 to 1915 and from 1943 to 1945. During this time the college produced seven All-Americans and nine conference titles, the Wildcats played in 419 games during this time with a record of 194-207-18. The school was a member of the Illini-Badger Football Conference from 1976 to 1981 where they were champions in 1935,1956,1961,1964,1974,1976,1978,1980. Fraternities Alpha Sigma Phi Sigma Pi Tau Kappa Epsilon No fraternities or sororities were on campus after 1977 due to falling attendance, most of the buildings have been converted to commercial or residential use. Main Hall is maintained by the Main Hall Preservation Society, portraits in the building commemorate faculty and alumni over the years. The library is now the Shaw Community Center, owned by the City of Milton and it houses both city hall and the Milton Public Library. The dorms have been converted into apartment buildings, the gymnasium is the home of CrossPointe Community Church. Milton College Preservation Society Milton College homecoming featuring former royals Milton College
14.
American Old West
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Frontier refers to a contrasting region at the edge of a European-American line of settlement. American historians cover multiple frontiers but the folklore is focused primarily on the 19th century west of the Mississippi River. As defined by Hine and Faragher, frontier history tells the story of the creation and defense of communities, the use of the land, the development of markets, and the formation of states. They explain, It is a tale of conquest, but also one of survival, persistence, thus, Turners Frontier Thesis proclaimed the westward frontier as the defining process of American history. As the American frontier passed into history, the myths of the West in fiction and film took firm hold in the imagination of Americans, America is exceptional in choosing its iconic self-image. David Murdoch has said, No other nation has taken a time and place from its past, the frontier line was the outer line of European-American settlement. It moved steadily westward from the 1630s to the 1880s, Turner favored the Census Bureau definition of the frontier line as a settlement density of two people per square mile. The West was the settled area near that boundary. Thus, parts of the Midwest and American South, though no longer considered western, have a frontier heritage along with the western states. In the 21st century, however, the term American West is most often used for the area west of the Mississippi River, in the colonial era, before 1776, the west was of high priority for settlers and politicians. The American frontier began when Jamestown, Virginia was settled by the English in 1607, English, French, Spanish and Dutch patterns of expansion and settlement were quite different. Although French fur traders ranged widely through the Great Lakes and mid-west region they settled down. French settlement was limited to a few small villages such as Kaskaskia. They created a rural settlement in upstate New York. Areas in the north that were in the stage by 1700 generally had poor transportation facilities. The wealthy speculator, if one was involved, usually remained at home, the class of landless poor was small. Few artisans settled on the frontier except for those who practiced a trade to supplement their primary occupation of farming, there might be a storekeeper, a minister, and perhaps a doctor, and there were a number of landless laborers. However frontier areas of 1700 that had good river connections were transformed into plantation agriculture
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Nevada
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Nevada is a state in the Western, Mountain West, and Southwestern regions of the United States of America. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 34th most populous, nearly three-quarters of Nevadas people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area where three of the states four largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada is officially known as the Silver State because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the Battle Born State, because it achieved statehood during the Civil War, as the Sage-brush State, for the plant of the same name. Nevada borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid, much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe, about 86% of the states land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U. S. federal government, both civilian and military. Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, the first Europeans to explore the region were Spanish. They called the region Nevada because of the snow covered the mountains in winter. The area formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican–American War, and it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31,1864, as the second of two added to the Union during the Civil War. Nevada has a reputation for its libertarian laws, in 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century, Nevada is the only U. S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in Clark County, Washoe County and Carson City. The tourism industry remains Nevadas largest employer, with mining continuing as a sector of the economy. The name Nevada comes from the Spanish nevada, meaning snow-covered, most Nevadans pronounce the second syllable of their state name using the vowel of trap. Many from outside the Western United States pronounce it with the vowel of father, although the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation, it is not the pronunciation preferred by most Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternate pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators, the Nevadan pronunciation is the de facto official one, since it is the one used by the state legislature. Nevada is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many mountain ranges
16.
Ulexite
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Ulexite, sometimes known as TV rock, is a mineral occurring in silky white rounded crystalline masses or in parallel fibers. The natural fibers of ulexite conduct light along their long axes, ulexite was named for the German chemist Georg Ludwig Ulex who first discovered it. Ulexite is a complex mineral, with a basic structure containing chains of sodium, water. The chains are linked together by calcium, water, hydroxide and oxygen polyhedra, the boron units have a formula of 3– and a charge of −3. They are composed of three borate tetrahedra and two borate triangular groups, ulexite is found in evaporite deposits and the precipitated ulexite commonly forms a cotton ball tuft of acicular crystals. Ulexite is frequently associated with colemanite, borax, meyerhofferite, hydroboracite, probertite, glauberite, trona, mirabilite, calcite, gypsum. It is found principally in California and Nevada, US, Tarapacá Region in Chile, ulexite is also found in a vein-like bedding habit composed of closely packed fibrous crystals. Ulexite is also known as TV rock due to its optical characteristics. The fibers of ulexite act as optical fibers, transmitting light along their lengths by internal reflection, an interesting consequence is the generation of three cones, two of which are polarized, when a laser beam obliquely illuminates the fibers. These cones can be seen when viewing a light source through the mineral, ulexite is a borate mineral because its formula contains boron and oxygen. The isolated borate polyanion 3− has five boron atoms, therefore placing ulexite in the pentaborate group, borate minerals are rare because their main component, boron, only makes up less than 10 ppm of Earths crust. Because boron is an element, the majority of borate minerals occur only in one specific geologic environment. Borates are formed when boron bearing solutions, caused from the leaching of pyroclastic rocks, over time, borates deposit and form into stratified layers. Ulexite occurs in salt playas and dry lakes in association with large-scale gypsum deposits. There are no known polymorphs of ulexite nor does ulexite form a solid solution series with any other minerals, na, Ca, and Na-Ca borates are found in relation to ulexite. Crystals are rare, but will form fiborous, elongated crystals either oriented parallel or radial to each other, crystals may also be acicular, resembling needles. The point group of ulexite is 1, which means that the show very little symmetry as there are no rotational axes or mirror planes. The most common twinning plane is, ulexite collected from the Flat Bay gypsum quarry in Newfoundland exhibits acicular cottonballs of crystals with a nearly square cross section formed by the equal development of two pinacoids
17.
Marsh
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A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species. Marshes can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams and they are often dominated by grasses, rushes or reeds. If woody plants are present they tend to be low-growing shrubs, Marshes provide a habitat for many species of plants, animals, and insects that have adapted to living in flooded conditions. The plants must be able to survive in wet mud with low oxygen levels, many of these plants therefore have aerenchyma, channels within the stem that allow air to move from the leaves into the rooting zone. Marsh plants also tend to have rhizomes for underground storage and reproduction, familiar examples include cattails, sedges, papyrus and sawgrass. Aquatic animals, from fish to salamanders, are able to live with a low amount of oxygen in the water. Some can obtain oxygen from the air instead, while others can live indefinitely in conditions of low oxygen, Marshes provide habitats for many kinds of invertebrates, fish, amphibians, waterfowl and aquatic mammals. Marshes have extremely high levels of production, some of the highest in the world. Marshes also improve water quality by acting as a sink to filter pollutants, Marshes are able to absorb water during periods of heavy rainfall and slowly release it into waterways and therefore reduce the magnitude of flooding. The pH in marshes tends to be neutral to alkaline, as opposed to bogs, Marshes differ depending mainly on their location and salinity. Both of these factors influence the range and scope of animal and plant life that can survive. The three main types of marsh are salt marshes, freshwater marshes, and freshwater marshes. These three can be found worldwide and each contains a different set of organisms, saltwater marshes are found around the world in mid to high latitudes, wherever there are sections of protected coastline. They are located close enough to the shoreline that the motion of the tides affects them and they flourish where the rate of sediment buildup is greater than the rate at which the land level is sinking. Salt marshes are dominated by specially adapted rooted vegetation, primarily salt-tolerant grasses, salt marshes are most commonly found in lagoons, estuaries, and on the sheltered side of shingle or sandspit. The currents there carry the fine particles around to the side of the spit. These locations allow the marshes to absorb the nutrients from the water running through them before they reach the oceans. Coastal development and urban sprawl has caused significant loss of these essential habitats, although considered a freshwater marsh, this form of marsh is affected by the ocean tides
18.
Scientific American
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Scientific American is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein, have contributed articles in the past 170 years and it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. Scientific American was founded by inventor and publisher Rufus M. Porter in 1845 as a weekly newspaper. Throughout its early years, much emphasis was placed on reports of what was going on at the U. S, current issues include a this date in history section, featuring excerpts from articles originally published 50,100, and 150 years earlier. Topics include humorous incidents, wrong-headed theories, and noteworthy advances in the history of science, Porter sold the publication to Alfred Ely Beach and Orson Desaix Munn a mere ten months after founding it. Until 1948, it remained owned by Munn & Company, under Munns grandson, Orson Desaix Munn III, it had evolved into something of a workbench publication, similar to the twentieth-century incarnation of Popular Science. In the years after World War II, the fell into decline. Thus the partners—publisher Gerard Piel, editor Dennis Flanagan, and general manager Donald H. Miller, Miller retired in 1979, Flanagan and Piel in 1984, when Gerard Piels son Jonathan became president and editor, circulation had grown fifteen-fold since 1948. In 1986, it was sold to the Holtzbrinck group of Germany, in the fall of 2008, Scientific American was put under the control of Nature Publishing Group, a division of Holtzbrinck. Donald Miller died in December 1998, Gerard Piel in September 2004, Mariette DiChristina is the current editor-in-chief, after John Rennie stepped down in June 2009. Scientific American published its first foreign edition in 1890, the Spanish-language La America Cientifica, a Russian edition V Mire Nauki was launched in the Soviet Union in 1983, and continues in the present-day Russian Federation. Kexue, a simplified Chinese edition launched in 1979, was the first Western magazine published in the Peoples Republic of China, founded in Chongqing, the simplified Chinese magazine was transferred to Beijing in 2001. Later in 2005, an edition, Global Science, was published instead of Kexue. A traditional Chinese edition, known as 科學人, was introduced to Taiwan in 2002, the Hungarian edition Tudomány existed between 1984 and 1992. In 1986, an Arabic edition, Oloom magazine, was published, in 2002, a Portuguese edition was launched in Brazil. From 1902 to 1911, Scientific American supervised the publication of the Encyclopedia Americana and it originally styled itself The Advocate of Industry and Enterprise and Journal of Mechanical and other Improvements. On the front page of the first issue was the engraving of Improved Rail-Road Cars, the masthead had a commentary as follows, Scientific American published every Thursday morning at No.11 Spruce Street, New York, No.16 State Street, Boston, and No. 2l Arcade Philadelphia, by Rufus Porter, five copies will be sent to one address six months for four dollars in advance
19.
Great Basin Desert
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The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range. It is a desert with hot, dry summers and snowy winters. The desert spans a large part of the state of Nevada, and extends into western Utah, eastern California, the desert is one of the four biologically defined deserts in North America, in addition to the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts. Basin and range topography characterizes the desert, wide valleys bordered by mountain ranges generally oriented north-south. There are more than 33 peaks within the desert with summits higher than 9,800 feet, the biological communities of the Great Basin Desert vary according to altitude, from low salty dry lakes, up through rolling sagebrush valleys, to pinyon-juniper forests. According to Grayson, more than 600 species of live in the floristic Great Basin. Sixty-three of these species have been identified as species of concern due to contracting natural habitats. The ecology of the desert varies across geography, also, different locations in the desert have different amounts of precipitation, depending on the strength of these rain shadows. The environment is influenced by Pleistocene lakes that dried after the last ice age, Lake Lahontan, each of these lakes left different amounts of salinity and alkalinity. The Great Basin Desert is defined by its animals and plants, scientists have different definitions of the Great Basin Desert, which are often defined by negatives. J. Robert Macey defines the Great Basin scrub desert as lacking creosote bush, the Great Basin Desert includes several arid basins lacking Larrea tridentata such as the Chalfant, Hammil, Benton, and Queen valleys, as well as all but the southeast portion of the Owens Valley. Conversely, the Panamint, Saline, and Eureka valleys have creosote bush, the study and definition of ecoregions can also indicate the boundaries of the Great Basin Desert. In 1987, J. M. Omernik defined a desert ecoregion between the Sierra Nevada and Wasatch Range, naming it the Northern Basin and Range ecoregion. In 1999, the U. S. EPA renamed the Northern Basin and Range to Central Basin and Range and he states that the Great Basin Desert is encompassed within that area. This article describes the ecology of the region, including the high-elevation areas. See Great Basin montane forests for more details on the high-elevation ecoregion. This is the climate of the high desert, the Great Basin desert climate begins with the Sierra Nevada in eastern California. Rising 14,000 feet above sea level, this mountain range casts a rain shadow over the desert
20.
Central Pacific Railroad
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It is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Many 19th century national proposals to build a railroad failed because of the energy consumed by political disputes over slavery. With the secession of the South, the modernizers in the Republican Party controlled the US Congress and they passed legislation authorizing the railroad, with financing in the form of government railroad bonds. These were all eventually repaid with interest, the government and the railroads both shared in the increased value of the land grants, which the railroads developed. The construction of the railroad also secured for the government the economical safe and speedy transportation of the mails, troops, munitions of war, planned by Theodore Judah, the Central Pacific Railroad was authorized by Congress in 1862. It was financed and built through The Big Four, Sacramento, California businessmen Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, Crocker was in charge of construction. Construction crews comprised 12,000 Chinese emigrant workers by 1868 and they laid the first rails in 1863. The Golden spike, connecting the railroad to the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory. Coast-to-coast train travel in eight days became possible, replacing months-long sea voyages and lengthy, in 1885 the Central Pacific Railroad was leased by the Southern Pacific Company. Technically the CPRR remained an entity until 1959, when it was formally merged into Southern Pacific. The original right-of-way is now controlled by the Union Pacific, which purchased Southern Pacific in 1996, the Union Pacific-Central Pacific mainline followed the historic Overland Route from Omaha, Nebraska to San Francisco Bay. Chinese labor was the most vital source for constructing the railroad, fifty Chinese laborers were hired by the Central Pacific Railroad in February 1865, and soon more and more Chinese men were hired. Working conditions were harsh, and Chinese men were compensated less than their white counterparts, Chinese men were paid thirty-one dollars each month, and while white workers were paid the same, they were also given room and board. Construction of the road was financed primarily by 30-year, 6% U. S. government bonds authorized by Sec.5 of the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. The U. S. Government Bonds, which constituted a lien upon the railroads and all their fixtures, were repaid in full by the company as and when they became due. Sec.10 of the 1864 amending Pacific Railroad Act additionally authorized the company to issue its own First Mortgage Bonds in total amounts up to that of the bonds issued by the United States, such company-issued securities had priority over the original Government Bonds. Sec.3 of the 1862 Act granted the railroads 10 square miles of land for every mile laid, except where railroads ran through cities. This grant was apportioned in 5 sections on alternating sides of the railroad and these grants were later doubled to 20 square miles per mile of grade by the 1864 Act
21.
Wadsworth, Nevada
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Wadsworth is a census-designated place in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The population was 834 at the 2010 census and it is part of the Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town was named for General James S. Wadsworth, a Civil War general killed at the battle of the Wilderness in 1864. It was given name by Leland Stanford of the Central Pacific Railroad as a favor to General Irvin McDowell. Wadsworth is located at 39°38′8″N 119°16′59″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.7 square miles, all land. As of the census of 2000, there were 881 people,328 households, the population density was 237.7 people per square mile. There were 360 housing units at a density of 97.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the CDP was 28. 94% White,0. 11% African American,64. 81% Native American,0. 23% Asian,3. 75% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 12. 03% of the population. 24. 1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10. 7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.16. In the CDP, the population was out with 31. 3% under the age of 18,10. 1% from 18 to 24,29. 1% from 25 to 44,19. 8% from 45 to 64. The median age was 31 years, for every 100 females there were 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.3 males, the median income for a household in the CDP was $31,198, and the median income for a family was $32,109. Males had an income of $24,479 versus $24,554 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $14,756, about 7. 2% of families and 8. 5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5. 5% of those under age 18 and 5. 9% of those age 65 or over. In 1959, Conforte served 22 months in jail after attempting to blackmail Washoe County District Attorney Bill Raggio, author Gwendolyn B. Bennett spent her early childhood in Wadsworth on the Paiute Indian Reservation, where her parents were teachers. Velma Bronn Johnston of Wadsworth, nicknamed Wild Horse Annie, had lobbied Congress to pass the bill, Wadsworth is known to participants in the Burning Man festival as the exit from Interstate 80 that one takes to get to Black Rock City. The event is held in the Black Rock Desert which is near Gerlach,62 miles north of Wadsworth on State Route 447, ford would go on to enjoy one of the greatest careers in cinema, eventually winning an unprecedented four Academy Awards as director. Eicher, John H. and David J. Eicher, Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press,2001
22.
Death Valley
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Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. It is one of the hottest places in the world at the height of summertime along with deserts in Africa, Death Valleys Badwater Basin is the point of the lowest elevation in North America, at 282 feet below sea level. This point is 84.6 miles east-southeast of Mount Whitney, Death Valleys Furnace Creek holds the record for the highest reliably recorded air temperature in the world,134 °F on July 10,1913. This has been contested by other weather experts and it is located mostly in Inyo County, California. It has an area of about 3,000 sq mi, the highest point in Death Valley itself is Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range, which has an elevation of 11,043 feet. Death Valley is one of the best geological examples of a basin and it lies at the southern end of a geological trough known as Walker Lane, which runs north into Oregon. The valley is bisected by a right lateral slip fault system, represented by the Death Valley Fault. The eastern end of the left lateral Garlock Fault intersects the Death Valley Fault, Furnace Creek and the Amargosa River flow through the valley but eventually disappear into the sands of the valley floor. Death Valley also contains salt pans, according to current geological consensus, at various times during the middle of the Pleistocene era, inland lakes formed in Death Valley. Lake Manly received water overflowing from a chain of other Pleistocene lakes, Death Valley has a subtropical, hot desert climate, with long, extremely hot summers and short, warm or mild winters, as well as little rainfall. As a general rule, lower altitudes tend to have higher temperatures, when the sun heats the ground, that heat is then radiated upward, but the dense below-sea-level air absorbs some of this radiation and radiates some of it back towards the ground. In addition, the valley walls trap rising hot air and recycle it back down to the valley floor. This process is important in Death Valley, as it provides its specific climate. The valley is surrounded by mountains, while its surface is flat and devoid of plants, so much of the suns heat can reach the ground, absorbed by soil. When air at ground level is heated, it begins to rise, moving up past steep, high mountain ranges, which then cools slightly, sinking back down towards the valley more compressed. This air is reheated by the sun to a higher temperature, moving up the mountain again, whereby the air moves up and down in a circular motion in cycles. This heated air increases ground temperature markedly, forming the hot wind currents that are trapped by atmospheric pressure and mountains, Death Valley holds temperature records because it has an unusually high number of factors that lead to high atmospheric temperatures. The depth and shape of Death Valley influence its summer temperatures, the valley is a long, narrow basin 282 feet below sea level, yet is walled by high, steep mountain ranges
23.
Amargosa Range
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The Amargosa Range is a mountain range in Inyo County, California and Nye County, Nevada. The 110-mile range runs along most of the side of Californias Death Valley. The U-shaped Amargosa River flows clockwise around the perimeter of the range, the mountain range is named after the Amargosa River, so-named for the Spanish word for bitter because of the bitter taste of the water. In order from north to south, the Grapevine Mountains, the Funeral Mountains, many of Death Valley National Parks most well-known features, such as Zabriskie Point and Artists Drive are located in or are part of the Amargosa Range
24.
William Tell Coleman
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William Tell Coleman was an American pioneer. He was born in Cynthiana, Harrison County, Kentucky, and was educated at St. Louis University, in 1849 William Tell Coleman went to California and eventually settled in San Francisco, where he engaged in the shipping and commission business. Coleman was a figure in both the 1851 and 1856 Committees of Vigilance, which usurped civic power in order to drive out the Democratic Party machine and ostensibly to establish law. Under Coleman, these committees ignored habeas corpus, conducted trials, lynchings, and deportations. The 1856 Committee of Vigilance disbanded, but after transferring power to the new Peoples Party, after opening a branch in New York City, Coleman established a steamship line between that city and San Francisco in 1856. In 1857 he moved to New York and conducted his business from that city until 1864 and this time, however, he and his colleagues determined that extra-legal vigilante action was not called for. Coleman formed the Committee of Safety as a force to the city police. Fearing that the Committee of Safety troops would only exacerbate violence and disorder, instead, they were armed with pick handles and became known as the Pick Handle Brigade. Colemans concern was less for the well-being of the local Chinese community than fear that a class party would take power in San Francisco. Nevertheless, the Workingmans Party was formed under the leadership of Denis Kearney and its slogan was The Chinese Must Go. and the party helped foster the racism and political momentum that culminated with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. During the 1880s Coleman was owner of the Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley, the borax works in Death Valley were subsequently acquired by Francis Marion Smith to form the Pacific Coast Borax Company. The town named Lila C, California was at the Lila C mine, named by its owner William Tell Coleman, for his daughter, the mineral Colemanite was named in his honor. Twenty-Mule-Team Borax Francis Marion Smith This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Gilman. Thurston, H. T. Colby, F. M. eds. article name needed
25.
Harmony Borax Works
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The Harmony Borax Works is located in Death Valley at Furnace Creek Springs, then called Greenland. It is now located within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County and it is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Harmony Works remained under Colemans operation until 1888, when his business collapsed, william Colemans original holdings in the works were subsequently acquired by Frank M. Borax Smith in 1890, to become the Pacific Coast Borax Company with the 20 Mule Team Borax brand. Activity at Harmony Borax Works ceased with the development of the richer Colemanite borax deposits at Borate in the Calico Mountains, the Harmony Borax Works was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 31,1974. They are part of the National Park Service historical site preservation program in Death Valley National Park, eagle Borax Works Borax Smith is a character in the historical fiction novel Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
26.
Calico Mountains (California)
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The Calico Mountains of California are located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County and Inyo County, California. The Calico Mountains are geologically colorful range that lie in a northwest-southeast direction, and are located just north of Barstow and Yermo, historic Pickhandle Pass and Jackhammer Gap lie at the northern end of the mountains on Fort Irwin Road, with the Fort Irwin Military Reservation nearby. The Calico Mountains have been active in California mining history, Calico Peak, the highest point, is 4, 491-foot in elevation, in the San Bernardino County portion of the range. The Rainbow Basin geologic feature, in the Bureau of Land Management managed Rainbow Basin Natural Area, is just north of Barstow, Calico Ghost Town is located in the Yermo Hills at the western edge of the Calico Mountains, north of Yermo. The Calico Early Man Site is a Paleo-Indians lithic workshop for Stone tools and a simple quarry archaeological site in the mountains also
27.
Pacific Coast Borax Company
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The Pacific Coast Borax Company was a United States mining company founded in 1890 by the American borax magnate Francis Borax Smith, the Borax King. Eventually, to satisfy his curiosity, Smith and two assistants visited Teels Marsh and collected samples, that proved to assay higher than any known sources for borate. Returning to Teels Marsh, Smith and his helpers staked claims, when the Storey Brothers interests were acquired subsequently in 1873, the name was shortened to Smith Brothers Borax Co. A few years later it was changed again to Teels Marsh Borax Co, in 1880, the separate and previously existing Pacific Borax Company was acquired by Smith. The Harmony Borax Works were part of what was acquired from Coleman by Smith in 1890, the borax was shipped via the Death Valley Railroad that the company built to the east, from Ryan, California to Death Valley Junction, California. The Borax Museum, located in Death Valley National Park, has a locomotive on display from the Death Valley Railroad. The first reinforced concrete building constructed in the United States was the Pacific Coast Borax Companys refinery in Alameda, California, designed by Ernest L. Ransome, christian Brevoort Zabriskie joined the company in 1885, became its vice president and stayed until 1933. Zabriskie Point above Death Valley is named in his honor, the Furnace Creek Inn opened in February 1927, with transport via the motor-coach from the Ryan station of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad. The company established and aggressively developed and marketed the 20 Mule Team Borax trademark in order to promote the sale of its product and they also produced Boraxo hand soap. The radio version of Death Valley Days ran from 1930 to 1951, the TV series Death Valley Days was hosted by Borateem-pitchman and future president Ronald Reagan. In Death Valley Junction, California in 1923-24, the Pacific Coast Borax Company constructed their Civic Center at a cost of $300,000. At the northeast end of the complex was Corkhill Hall, a hall used as a community center for dances, church services, movies, funerals. Remodeled in 1927, the Civic Center became the Amargosa Hotel, in 1967, Corkhill Hall became Marta Beckets renowned Amargosa Opera House. In 1956, the Pacific Coast Borax Company merged with United States Potash Corporation to form U. S. Borax, as a wholly owned subsidiary, the company now is called Rio Tinto Borax and continues to supply nearly half the worlds borates. It operates the largest open-pit mine in California next to the town of Boron, in the Mojave Desert east of Mojave. The Trona operation became part of Searles Valley Minerals, http, //www. boraxminers. com - ILWU - Borax Miners. Views of the Borax Industry, ca
28.
20 Mule Team Borax
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20 Mule Team Borax is a brand of cleaner manufactured by the US soap firm Dial Corporation, a subsidiary of the German consumer product firm Henkel. The product is named after the 20-mule teams that were used by William Tell Colemans company to move out of Death Valley, California. 20-mule teams were first used by Francis Marion Smith to move out of the desert. Smith subsequently acquired Colemans holdings in 1890 and consolidated them with his own to form the Pacific Coast Borax Company, after the mule teams were replaced by a new rail spur, the name 20 Mule Team Borax was established and aggressively promoted by Pacific Coast Borax to increase sales. The 20-mule team symbol was first used in 1891 and registered in 1894. In 1988, just over 20 years after the acquisition of U. S. Borax by Rio Tinto Group, Dial is now the American consumer products unit of Henkel. The Pacific Coast Borax Company sponsored Death Valley Days, a radio and television anthology dramatizing true stories of the old American West, the radio program was created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman and broadcast until 1945. At the end of the run, the company sponsored a similar radio show called Death Valley Sheriff. From 1952 to 1975, Death Valley Days was produced as a television series. One of Ronald Reagans final television roles was host of Death Valley Days in 1964-65, reagan also acted in some episodes. The show was sponsored primarily by Pacific Coast Borax Company, which later became U. S. Borax, the previous host was the Old Ranger, and, after Reagans departure for politics and eventual U. S. Presidency, hosts included Robert Taylor and Dale Robertson. Actress Rosemary DeCamp was featured for many years in advertising for 20 Mule Team laundry products. Today, the product is endorsed by Linda Cobb, the Queen of Clean, dials product information page Rio Tintos 20 Mule Team Borax official site 20-mule Team Borax History - DesertUSA Santa Clarita Valley Twenty Mule Team History. Archived from the original on 7 June 2004
29.
Trademark
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The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, for the sake of corporate identity, trademarks are often displayed on company buildings. A trademark identifies the owner of a particular product or service. The unauthorized usage of trademarks by producing and trading counterfeit consumer goods is known as brand piracy, the owner of a trademark may pursue legal action against trademark infringement. Most countries require formal registration of a trademark as a precondition for pursuing this type of action, the United States, Canada and other countries also recognize common law trademark rights, which means action can be taken to protect an unregistered trademark if it is in use. Still, common law trademarks offer the holder in general less legal protection than registered trademarks. A trademark may be designated by the symbols, ™ ℠ ® A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image. There is also a range of non-conventional trademarks comprising marks which do not fall into these categories, such as those based on colour, smell. Trademarks which are considered offensive are often rejected according to a nations trademark law, the term trademark is also used informally to refer to any distinguishing attribute by which an individual is readily identified, such as the well-known characteristics of celebrities. When a trademark is used in relation to services rather than products, it may sometimes be called a service mark, in other words, trademarks serve to identify a particular business as the source of goods or services. The use of a trademark in this way is known as trademark use, certain exclusive rights attach to a registered mark. Different goods and services have been classified by the International Classification of Goods, in trademark treatises it is usually reported that blacksmiths who made swords in the Roman Empire are thought of as being the first users of trademarks. Other notable trademarks that have used for a long time include Löwenbräu. The first trademark legislation was passed by the Parliament of England under the reign of King Henry III in 1266, the first modern trademark laws emerged in the late 19th century. In France the first comprehensive system in the world was passed into law in 1857 with the Manufacture. In Britain, the Merchandise Marks Act 1862 made it an offense to imitate anothers trade mark with intent to defraud or to enable another to defraud. In 1875 the Trade Marks Registration Act was passed which allowed formal registration of marks at the UK Patent Office for the first time. Registration was considered to comprise prima facie evidence of ownership of a trade mark, in the United States, Congress first attempted to establish a federal trademark regime in 1870
30.
Twenty-mule team
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For information on the cleaning product, please see Twenty-Mule-Team Borax. For the film starring Wallace Beery, see 20 Mule Team, twenty-mule teams were teams of eighteen mules and two horses attached to large wagons that ferried borax out of Death Valley from 1883 to 1889. They traveled from mines across the Mojave Desert to the nearest railroad spur,165 miles away in Mojave, the routes were from the Harmony and Amargosa Borax Works to Daggett, California, and later Mojave, California. After Harmony and Amargosa shut down in 1888, the teams route was moved to the mines at Borate,3 miles east of Calico. There they worked from 1891 until 1898 when they were replaced by the Borate, the wagons were among the largest ever pulled by draft animals, designed to carry 10 short tons of borax ore at a time. The twenty-mule-team wagons were designed to carry 10 short tons of ore at a time. The rear wheels measured seven feet high, with tires made of one-inch-thick iron. The wagon beds measured 16 feet long and were 6 feet deep, constructed of oak, they weighed 7,800 pounds empty, when loaded with ore. The first wagon was the trailer, the second was the tender or the action. With the mules, the caravan stretched over 180 feet, no wagon ever broke down in transit on the desert due to their construction. A1, 200-U. S. -gallon water tank was added to supply the mules with water en route, There were water barrels on the wagons for the teamster and the swamper. Water supplies were refilled at springs along the way, as it was not possible to carry water for the entire trip. The tank water was used at dry camps and water stops, the June 1940 issue of Desert Magazine confirms that the primary water tank was 1200 U. S. gallons. This detail is given in The History Behind the Scale Model. An efficient system of dispersing feed and water along the road was put in use, Teams outbound from Mojave, pulling empty wagons, hauled their own feed and supplies, which were dropped off at successive camps as the outfit traveled. The supplies would be on hand to use when a wagon came back the other way. There was one stretch of road where a 500-gallon wagon was added to water to a dry camp for the team that would be coming from the opposite direction. The arriving team would use the water and take the empty back to the spring on their haul the next day
31.
Mojave, California
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Mojave is a census-designated place in Kern County, California, United States. Mojave is located 50 miles east of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 2762 feet, the town is located in Antelope Valley, at the southwestern region of the Mojave Desert, below and east of Oak Creek Pass and the Tehachapi Mountains. The population was 4,238 at the 2010 census, up from 3,836 at the 2000 census, telephone numbers in Mojave follow the format 824-xxxx and the area includes three postal ZIP Codes. The town of Mojave began in 1876 as a camp on the Southern Pacific Railroad. From 1884 to 1889, the town was the terminus of the 165-mile, twenty-mule team borax wagon route originating at Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley. It later served as headquarters for construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, located near Edwards Air Force Base, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, and Palmdale Regional Airport, Mojave has a rich aerospace history as well. Besides being a public airport, Mojave has three main areas of activity, flight testing, space industry development, and aircraft heavy maintenance. The closet airfield to the city, formerly known as the Mojave Airport, is now part of the Mojave Air, in 1935, Kern County established the Mojave Airport a half mile east of town to serve the gold and silver mining industry in the area. The airport consisted of two dirt runway, one of which was oiled, but it lacked any fueling or servicing facilities, in 1941, the Civil Aeronautics Board began improvements to the airport for national defense purposes that included two 4,500 x 150-ft. Kern County agreed the airport could be taken over by the military in the event of war, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U. S. Marine Corps took over the airport and expanded it into Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Station Mojave. The two existing runways were extended and a third one added, barracks were constructed to house 2,734 male and 376 female military personnel. Civilian employment at the base would peak at 176, the Marines would eventually spend more than $7 million on the base, which totaled 2,312 acres. Many of the Corps World War II aces received their training at Mojave. During World War II, Mojave hosted 29 aircraft squadrons, four Carrier Aircraft Service Detachments, at its peak, the air station had 145 training and other aircraft. Mojave also had a 75 x 156 foot swimming pool that was used to train aviators in emergency water egress, the bases 900-seat auditorium hosted several USO shows that featured Bob Hope, Frances Langford and Marilyn Maxwell. With the end of WWII, MCAAS was dis-established on Feb.7,1946, the Navy used the airport for drone operations for less than a year, closing it on Jan. The base remained closed for four years until the outbreak of the Korean War, Mojave was reactivated as an auxiliary landing field to MCAS El Toro. The airport was recommissioned as a MCAAS on Dec.31,1953, Squadrons used Mojave for ordnance training when El Toro had bad weather
32.
Stephen Mather
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Stephen Tyng Mather was an American industrialist and conservationist who as president and owner of Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company became a millionaire. In 1917, Mather was appointed as the first director of the National Park Service, Mather was educated at the private Boys High School in San Francisco, and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1887. His family moved to New York, where Mather worked as a reporter for the New York Sun until 1893, during that time he met and befriended Robert Sterling Yard, another reporter, who would become a close friend. In 1893 Mather married Jane Thacker Floy of Elizabeth, New Jersey and they had one daughter, Bertha Floy Mather. In 1906, Mather became the owner of the Mather family homestead in Connecticut. He and his family used it during the summers and he regarded it as his true home, Mather started working for the Pacific Coast Borax Company at its headquarters in New York, where his father was administrator. Borax is a component of a variety of detergents and compounds, Borax is a commodity, and as such, one brand is essentially as good as another. For a company to be successful, it had to mine the product more cheaply, process it more efficiently, in 1894 the younger Mather moved with his wife to Chicago, where he established a distribution center for the company. In this role, he proved vital in advertising and sales promotion for the company, in particular he is credited with the idea of adding the label 20 Mule Team Borax to the companys product, which subsequently became a household name throughout the country. In 1898 Mather helped a friend, Thomas Thorkildsen, in starting another borax company, after suffering a severe episode of bipolar disorder in 1903 and having his salary withheld during extended sick leave, Mather resigned from Pacific Coast and joined Thorkildsen full-time in 1904. They named their firm the Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company and their company became prosperous, and they were millionaires by 1914. This gave Mather the financial independence to pursue personal projects, and while in his mid-forties, Mather was active in many civic groups, including the Chicago City Club and Municipal Voters League. Travel with his wife to Europe in 1904 renewed Mathers longtime interest in nature and he became a dedicated conservationist, and a friend and admirer of the influential John Muir. In 1904 Mather joined the Sierra Club, and climbed Mount Rainier with some of its members the following year and he was active in the group and made numerous allies who helped support the creation of the National Park Service. In 1916 the Sierra Club made him an honorary vice-president, in 1915 Mather became a member of the Boone and Crockett Club, a conservation organization founded by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell in 1887. There is the story of how Mather came to Washington to run the National parks. Heres the traditional, if incorrect, story, In 1914, Mather observed the deteriorating conditions in several National Parks, soon he received a reply from Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane, a former classmate of Mathers from the University of California. Lane responded, Dear Steve, If you dont like the way the parks are being run, come on down to Washington, but in later years, Mathers assistant Horace Albright was to state, In reality, they didnt know each other
33.
National Park Service
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It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
34.
Colemanite
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Colemanite is a borate mineral found in evaporite deposits of alkaline lacustrine environments. Colemanite is a mineral that forms by alteration of borax. It was first described in 1884 for an occurrence near Furnace Creek in Death Valley and was named after William Tell Coleman, at the time, Coleman had alternatively proposed the name smithite instead after his business associate Francis Marion Smith. Colemanite is an important ore of boron, and was the most important boron ore until the discovery of kernite in 1926 and it has many industrial uses, like the manufacturing of heat resistant glass. List of minerals List of minerals named after people R. F. Gallup1, vibrational spectra and the ferroelectric phase transition of colemanite. Death Valley - Historic Resource Study - A History of Mining
35.
Atlantic & Pacific Railroad
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It was incorporated by the U. S. Congress in 1866 as a transcontinental railroad connecting Springfield, Missouri and Van Buren, Arkansas with California. The A&Ps earliest predecessor was the Pacific Railroad, incorporated by the Missouri General Assembly in 1849 to connect St. Louis and a point south of Kansas City across the center of the state. The new branch, defined by law to lie south of the Osage River, began at Franklin, Missouri, on the main line. Construction on 71 miles from Franklin to Dillon was completed in 1860, the property was sold in June for $1.3 million to explorer and politician John C. Frémont, who reorganized it as the Southwest Pacific Railroad in September, in July 1866, Congress passed a law incorporating the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad under control of Frémont and associates. The company was given the power to build near the 35th parallel from Springfield, Missouri west to the Pacific, with a branch from Van Buren, in exchange for its completion by 1878, the railroad would receive land grants along its route. The same conditions were applied to the Southern Pacific Railroad of California, the A&P purchased the Southwest Pacific in January 1867, and that year rails were laid on the grade to Arlington. That company, too, defaulted on its payments, and the state of Missouri again seized the property in June 1867, ownership of the A&P was also transferred to the new owners, which included Clinton B. Another 164 miles to Pierce City and 39 miles of grading to Seneca on the line were completed in 1870, when, in October. The A&Ps only branch,1.5 miles to a mine near Granby, but this incarnation had similar financial problems, its Missouri division was placed under receivership in November 1875, and the Pacific Railroad lease was canceled. The owners of the A&P incorporated the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway in September 1876, and immediately acquired the property of the Missouri division, and a lease on the Central division. Extensions beyond Vinita for 64 miles to Tulsa,4 miles to Red Fork, the SL&SF also constructed a direct line into St. Louis in 1883, ending its dependence on the Missouri Pacific for access to that city. The SL&SF would continue to operate the Central division, and a new Western division would begin on the AT&SF at Isleta, New Mexico and head west to meet the Southern Pacific at Needles, construction began that year, and reached Kingman, Arizona in 1882. The SP began building a branch from Mojave, California that same year, east to Needles, in addition to its lease of the SP to Mojave, the A&P operated via trackage rights over the AT&SF from Isleta to Albuquerque. The AT&SF gained control of the SL&SF in 1890, but both companies entered receivership in the December after the Panic of 1893, and the A&P followed in January 1894. Through the Santa Fe Pacific, the AT&SF acquired trackage rights in January 1899 over the SPs Tehachapi Pass line, giving it access to the Central Valley of California and San Francisco Bay Area. The Santa Fe Pacific left the SP at Kern Junction, where the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railway - another AT&SF subsidiary - began, and operated into Bakersfield via SF&SJV trackage. The line was joined under one company in 1995, when the AT&SF merged with SL&SF successor Burlington Northern Railroad to form the BNSF Railway, Oklahoma Digital Maps, Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
36.
Borate and Daggett Railroad
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The Borate and Daggett Railroad was a 3 ft narrow gauge railroad built to carry borax in the Mojave Desert. The railroad ran about 11 miles from Daggett, California, USA to the camp of Borate three miles to the east of Calico. The mines at Borate were discovered in the winter of 1883 when prospector Barret Stevens sought silver deposits east of the town of Calico and he instead found a rich vein of borax ore in the area later called Mule Canyon. He never got the chance to mine in Mule Canyon, because on May 7,1888, in 1891, Smith decided to find a more economical way to haul the borax instead of the mules to lower the expenses. He ordered a steam tractor from the Best Tractor Company to test its ability to haul ore, the miners at Borate named her Old Dinah. The tractor was used for a couple of months, as it was said that she was problematic to run and expensive to maintain and feed. He also built a large roasting mill on the Calico Dry Lake to purify the borax before shipping it to Alameda for packaging, a town grew to supply the mill workers, and was later known as Marion. The railroad owned two engines, both Heisler locomotives. They were named Francis and Marion, colemanite borax ore from the mines at Borate was carried in wooden, side-dump ore cars. A few flatcars completed the roster of rolling stock and it was needed on the steep grades ascending to Borate, and was only in operation for a few months until PCB obtained its first locomotive, and Sanger was sent back to Waterloo. In 1907, the ore at Borate neared depletion, once Smith discovered richer borax deposits in the Lila C. Mine in Death Valley, north of Daggett, he moved his headquarters there, Francis was the engine thought to be in better condition and was sent to Death Valley Junction. Marion was sold to the Modoc Lumber Company in Aspgrove, Oregon to work their lumber railroad. After the Death Valley Railroad was completed, Francis was moved to the Nevada Short Line Railway to work until he was sent to Round Mountain, Marion worked in Oregon until Forest Lumber Company bought the Pine Ridge operations in 1925, and regauged her and the lumber line. After 1939, the burned down and ceased operations. Menifee Lumber Company, Aspgrove, Klamath County, Oregon Forest Lumber Company, Aspgrove, Klamath County, the engines current state is not known since it was lost after 1939. Death Valley Railroad, one of the railways used the B&Ds former equipment. Round Mountain, California, the resting place of the Francis
37.
Death Valley Junction, California
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Death Valley Junction is a tiny Mojave Desert community in unincorporated community Inyo County, California, at the intersection of SR190 and SR127, just east of Death Valley National Park. The zip code is 92328, the elevation is 2,041 ft, the city limits sign reports a population of 4. The U. S. Geological Survey lists a variant name of Amargosa for the community which is shown as the primary name on an official State of Nevada map from 1971. The default format for wired phone numbers in community is 852-xxxx. Death Valley Junction is home to the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel, the hotel is still operating next to the opera house, but beyond these maintained areas, the town is in a state of disrepair. There are no gas stations, and only one restaurant, the single restaurant, T&T Cafe, is part of the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel, but is not run by the hotel staff. The communitys location,27 miles east-southeast of Furnace Creek Inn, on the east side of Death Valley is south of Nevadas Amargosa Valley, east/South East,27 miles, is Pahrump, Nevada. South on SR127 is the town of Shoshone, California, the closest straight-line distance to the Nevada state line is roughly five miles northeast. Government documents show an effort by the Timbisha Shoshone tribal government to acquire about 7,200 acres in the area during 1999 to 2000 and this includes areas for residences and the official federal sanction to use some government lands for traditional ceremonies. Its unclear if these efforts, which were documented in the Congressional Record, in 1914, the Death Valley Railroad started operating between Ryan, California and Death Valley Junction. It carried borax until 1928, when operations ceased, the name of the town was changed to Death Valley Junction from Amargosa. The town began to decline in the mid-20th century, however, in 1967 dancer and actress Marta Becket happened to visit due to an automobile repair. She became enamored with the theater, and with help from benefactors, she leased, then purchased, the Amargosa is now owned by a non-profit organization. The Death Valley post office opened in 1908 and transferred to Furnace Creek Ranch in 1961, the Amargosa post office opened in 1962, changed its name to Death Valley Junction in 1968. In 1980 the town was included in the National Register of Historic Places as the Death Valley Junction Historic District. When the Death Valley Railroad was established in 1914, it used 3.19 miles of tracks belonging to the Tonopah, local wired telephones were manual telephone service until the 1980s. To reach a phone in Death Valley Junction when the area was under manual service required dialing the operator and asking for Death Valley Junction, California, placing an outbound call required lifting the receiver and waiting for an operator. The operator who answered was in Los Angeles, Death Valley Junction is now in area codes 442 and 760
38.
Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad
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The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, the T&T, was a former class II railroad extending roughly 200 miles in eastern California and southwestern Nevada. The railroad was listed as a carrier, however it was built by Francis Marion Smith the Borax King and his Pacific Coast Borax Company primarily to transport borax to processing. The line is now completely abandoned and its mainline route was through remote reaches of the Eastern Mojave Desert. It had spurs, to the town of Goldfield. It did not reach its namesake town of Tonopah further northwest, grading began on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad—T&T line on July 30,1905. 50- and 65-pound rails were laid starting on November 19,1905, the line was completed on October 30,1907, with the T&T tracks ending at Gold Center, Nevada. From Gold Center the T&T reached into Beatty, Nevada with joint trackage rights with the Brock Road Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad, the T&T also reached Rhyolite, Nevada over the Bullfrog Goldfield trackage via the connecting wye at Gold Center. The T&T owned and ran both lines under a new identity from 1920 until January,1928. The T&T also had a 7-mile branch that ran from its mainline at Death Valley Junction, at Horton, California the T&T separated from the narrow gauge Death Valley Railroad —DVRR. The DVRR ran for 21 miles from Death Valley Junction west to Devar, later renamed Ryan, mines Ryan, via Colmanite and was abandoned in 1931. The T&T branch had 3 rail tracks from Horton to Death Valley Junction, the T&T branch was built in 1907 and the DVRR was built in 1914. The branch to the Lila C. was removed not long after all operations were transferred to Devar−Ryan, originally a verbal agreement between Smith and William A. Clark was to build a line from Las Vegas to the Lila C mine. However grading was stopped in 1905, due to Clark apparently changing his mind, Clark was the owner of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, and he built the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad instead from Las Vegas north to Goldfield. In response, Smith started his own competing railroad, the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, once the gold mining boom ended, the T&T railroad struggled to survive, as borax shipping came to comprise the majority of its business. In 1926 Smith acquired a mine in the western Mojave Desert. The company town of Boron was developed close by, by 1927 the line relied upon whatever traffic could be found. Over most of its existence, the Pacific Coast Borax Company had made up the losses from the railroads operations, a railcar was bought to replace the already worn out steam locomotives and to cut costs on running the T&T line. Discussions for cessation/abandonment were started as early as 1930, after the major Mojave River flood of 1933, Ludlow was abandoned and operations ran north from Crucero, a Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad railhead
39.
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
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The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, often abbreviated as Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. Chartered in February 1859, the reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado. To create a demand for its services, the set up real estate offices. Despite the name, its main line never served Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the terrain was too difficult, the Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport, an enterprise that included a tugboat fleet and an airline. Its bus line extended passenger transportation to areas not accessible by rail, the AT&SF was the subject of a popular song, Harry Warren & Johnny Mercers On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, written for the film, The Harvey Girls. The railroad officially ceased operations on December 31,1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway was chartered on February 11,1859, to join Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, with Santa Fe, in its early years, the railroad opened Kansas to settlement. Much of its revenue came from wheat grown there and from cattle driven north from Texas to Wichita, rather than turn its survey southward at Dodge City, AT&SF headed southwest over Raton Pass because of coal deposits near Trinidad, Colorado and Raton, New Mexico. D&RG paid an estimated $1.4 million to Santa Fe for its work within the Gorge and agreed not to extend its line to Santa Fe, while Santa Fe agreed to forego its planned routes to Denver and Leadville. Building across Kansas and eastern Colorado was simple, with few natural obstacles and it set up real estate offices in the area and promoted settlement across Kansas on the land that was granted to it by Congress in 1863. It offered discounted fares to anyone who traveled west to land, if the land was purchased. AT&SF reached Albuquerque in 1880, Santa Fe, the destination of the railroad, found itself on a short branch from Lamy. In March 1881 AT&SF connected with the Southern Pacific at Deming, New Mexico, the railroad then built southwest from Benson, Arizona, to Nogales on the Mexican border where it connected with the Sonora Railway, which the AT&SF had built north from the Mexican port of Guaymas. The Atlantic & Pacific Railroad was chartered in 1866 to build west from Springfield, Missouri, the infant A&P had no rail connections. The line that was to become the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway would not reach Springfield for another four years, A&P started construction in 1868, built southwest into what would become Oklahoma, and promptly entered receivership. In 1879 A&P struck a deal with the Santa Fe and Frisco railroads to construct a line for each. The railroads would jointly build and own the A&P railroad west of Albuquerque, in 1883 A&P reached Needles, California, where it connected with an SP line. A&P also built a line between Tulsa, Oklahoma and St. Louis, Missouri for the Frisco, but the Tulsa-Albuquerque portion remained unbuilt, by January 1890, the entire system consisted of some 7,500 miles of track
40.
Mojave River
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The Mojave River is an intermittent river in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Most of its flow is underground, while its surface channels remain dry most of the time, with the exception of the headwaters and several bedrock gorges in the lower reaches. The Mohaves trail, later the European immigrants Mojave Road, ran west from their villages on the Colorado River to Soda Lake, native Americans used this trade route where water could easily be found en route to the coast. Garcés explored the length of the Mojave River in early 1776 and he called the river Arroyo de los Mártires on March 9,1776 but later Spaniards called it Río de las Ánimas. In 1826 Jedediah Smith was the first American of European origin to travel overland to California by following the Mojave Indian Trail and he called this the Inconstant River. Frémont intercepted this route to the river, riding east southeast from Lake Elizabeth, north of the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains on April 20,1844. Frémont named the river Mohahve after the Mohave people on April 23,1844 and he had met six travelling Mohaves that day. Some early Mormon ranchers called it the Macaby River, the fork of the trails there on the Mojave River, later became known as Fork of the Road. From 1847, Mormons pioneered the road that became the Mormon Road from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles closely following the route of the Old Spanish Trail from Parowan. They followed the Mojave River from the Fork of the Road to the Lower Narrows, in 1849 Forty-niners late on the main trail to California used the Mormon Road as a winter alternative route to California, referring to it as the Southern Route of the California Trail. Later emigrants to California followed the route during the winter months. In 1859, as part of the Mohave War, the Mohave peoples trail was improved as the route of the Mojave Road. It followed the Mojave River from where the Mormon Road turned north away from the river near Daggett, to where historic Camp Cady was located. From 1863 to 1864 the Mojave River valley was a refuge from the drought in California in those years. The rivers source is in the San Bernardino Mountains, one of the Transverse Ranges, the West Fork of the Mojave flows into Silverwood Lake, formed by Cedar Springs Dam, which overflows in the Mojave River Forks Reserve area. On occasion, the lake water into the river. Downstream, Deep Creek meets the West Fork, forming the Mojave River immediately upstream of the Mojave Forks Dam, downstream of the dam, the Mojave River flows north and east, underground in most places, through Hesperia, Victorville, and Barstow. Near its terminus, the Mojave River flows out onto a large inland delta called the Mojave River Wash at the edge of Mojave National Preserve
41.
Kelso Dunes
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Kelso Dunes, also known as the Kelso Dune Field, is the largest field of eolian sand deposits in the Mojave Desert. The region is protected by the Mojave National Preserve and is located near the town of Baker, San Bernardino County, California, the dune field covers 45 square miles and includes migrating dunes, vegetation-stabilized dunes, sand sheets, and sand ramps. The tallest dunes rise up to 650 feet above the surrounding terrain, the dunes are composed predominantly of light-colored quartz and feldspar, most likely eroded from the granitics of the San Bernardino Mountains to the southwest. Magnetite and amphibole can also be found, often accumulating at the dune crests, Kelso Dunes represent part of a much larger sand transport system, which includes the nearby Devils Playground region. The composition and morphology of the sand grains indicate that most originated from the Mojave River sink near Afton Canyon, the sand has accumulated at the southeastern end of the Soda Lake-Kelso basin, where the Granite Mountains and Providence Mountains form a barrier to prevailing winds. At present, only the area around the Mojave River sink, the Kelso Dunes are composed of five stacked sets of dunes, each set corresponding to a period of climate change over the last 25,000 years. During dry climate episodes, a decrease in stabilizing vegetation exposed surface sand to wind erosion, however, once the sand was emplaced, vegetation began to grow, locking much of it into place. The Kelso Dunes are also notable for the known as singing sand. Enthusiasts sometimes climb to the top of the dunes and slide down slowly and this effect has also been noted at the Eureka Dunes in California, Sand Mountain in Nevada, and the Booming Dunes in the Namib Desert of Africa. The booming is much more pronounced when the dunes are extremely dry, Kelso Dunes are closed to off-road vehicles, but are open to hikers. The trailhead is at the end of a graded dirt road splitting from Kelbaker Road. This road can be accessed from both Interstate 15 and Interstate 40, the dunes themselves lie just southwest of the Kelso ghost town and the Parks Visitor Center located in the historic Kelso Depot. Like many southern California dune systems, the Kelso dunes have a number of animal species. The list includes at least ten species of insects, such as the Kelso giant sand treader cricket, the Kelso Jerusalem cricket, Rhaphiomidas tarsalis, although not strictly endemic, several plant and reptile species are rare outside of these dunes. One example is the Mojave fringe-toed lizard, which is specialized in its ability to swim under sand, Kelso, California Kelso Wash Amboy Crater Official Mojave National Preserve website Kelso Depot Visitors Center Photo tour of Mojave National Preserve, from USGS Afton Canyon Natural Area website
42.
Boric acid
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It has the chemical formula H3BO3, and exists in the form of colorless crystals or a white powder that dissolves in water. When occurring as a mineral, it is called sassolite, Boric acid, or sassolite, is found mainly in its free state in some volcanic districts, for example, in the Italian region of Tuscany, the Lipari Islands and the US state of Nevada. In these volcanic settings it issues, mixed with steam, from fissures in the ground and it is also found as a constituent of many naturally occurring minerals – borax, boracite, ulexite and colemanite. Boric acid and its salts are found in seawater and it is also found in plants, including almost all fruits. Boric acid was first prepared by Wilhelm Homberg from borax, by the action of mineral acids, however borates, including boric acid, have been used since the time of the Greeks for cleaning, preserving food, and other activities. When heated above 170 °C, it dehydrates, forming metaboric acid, H3BO3 → HBO2 + H2O Metaboric acid is a white, further heating leads to boron trioxide. H2B4O7 →2 B2O3 + H2O There are conflicting interpretations for the origin of the acidity of aqueous boric acid solutions, polyborate anions are formed at pH 7–10 if the boron concentration is higher than about 0.025 mol/L. The best known of these is the ion, found in the mineral borax. With polyols such as glycerol and mannitol the acidity of the solution is increased, with mannitol for example the pK decreases to 5.15. This is due to the formation of a chelate, −, Boric acid dissolves in anhydrous sulfuric acid, B3 + 6H2SO4 → 3H3O+ + 2HSO4− + B4− Boric acid reacts with alcohols to form borate esters, B3 where R is alkyl or aryl. A dehydrating agent, such as concentrated sulfuric acid is typically added, the B-O bond length is 136 pm and the O-H is 97 pm. The molecular point group is C3h, crystalline boric acid consists of layers of B3 molecules held together by hydrogen bonds of length 272 pm. The distance between two adjacent layers is 318 pm, based on mammalian median lethal dose rating of 2,660 mg/kg body mass, boric acid is only poisonous if taken internally or inhaled in large quantities. The Fourteenth Edition of the Merck Index indicates that the LD50 of boric acid is 5.14 g/kg for oral dosages given to rats, for comparisons sake, the LD50 of salt is reported to be 3.75 g/kg in rats according to the Merck Index. Humans have been known to die from amounts only a fraction of the LD50. Long term exposure to acid may be of more concern, causing kidney damage. Although it does not appear to be carcinogenic, studies in dogs have reported testicular atrophy after exposure to 32 mg/kg bw/day for 90 days and this level is far lower than the LD50. As a consequence, in August 2008, in the 30th ATP to EU directive 67/548/EEC, textile fiberglass is used to reinforce plastics in applications that range from boats, to industrial piping to computer circuit boards
