Oddly enough, there is an excellent article in the latest issue (Spring
2000) of Montana: The Magazine of Western History. It is by Douglas
Steeples, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Mercer University in
Georgia, and noted authority on borax mining in California and Nevada. The
article, entitled "Mules, MInes, and Millions: Frank Smith and Calico
Borax," describes the borax-mining empire Frank Smith developed. He
started in the 1880s with small holdings in Calico, California, and
eventually organized most of the existing American borax mining industry
under the flagship of his Pacific Coast Borax, followed in 1899 by the
multination firm Boras Consolidated, Limited. He was instrumental in
turning the industry from traditional marsh-crystal collecting processes
and developing refining processes to handle the mineral from underground
lodes in California.
Steeples gives a good run-down of uses for borax. In addition to the many
uses already ascribed in other postings to the list, he indicates that in
the early twentieth century (1902-1906) more than 25 percent of American
borax production was going to meat packers as a preservative, and a like
amount going for household use. Smith's company had utilized a wide
variety of marketing techniques to develop the household use of borax --
primarily for cleaning, but also as a pharmaceutical for all sorts of
ailments.
An informative and well-researched article worth taking a look at.
Erik Nordberg
Michigan Tech
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