Boron, CA – Home of 20 Mule Team Borax

(From our travel archives)  I like to stop in obscure tourist attractions that mildly interest me, just to see how many other people are mildly interested.  In Boron, CA, where they mine borax, today, the answer was nil.  No visitors at the Borax information and visitors center.

Most of you are probably not old enough to remember that the mineral borax (a salt) was once an ‘end-all, be-all’ for cleaning.  It was an additive in everything from laundry detergent to toothpaste, and one particular product was a big tv and radio advertiser, “20 Mule Team Borax”, a product founded by the Pacific Coast Borax Company in the late 1800s.

Borax, the mineral, is found limited places on earth, and this giant source, here in nowhere California, is also the site of a large processing plant.  The company has traded hands many times over the last century, and is now in the hands of Dial Corporation, a subsidiary of Henkel. Check out this old commercial.

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