Twenty Mule Team of Death Valley

Very interesting book

Ted Faye brings the old Death Valley Days to life again, informing us of a time in the history of our country and especially California when it wasn't about planes, trains, and automobiles, but four-legged mules who brought life and wealth to a segment of our population.

Enjoying this book. Have it displayed as part of our carved wooden 20 mule team piece.

Was bought as a gift. Not the first I bought. Arrived way before promised date

This covers a part of early California and Nevada history. It was also brought to life by a television series. You can't find this kind of material any where else. Enjoyable Looking, reading and learning.

Great book !!!

great and informative

THE TWENTY MULE TEAM OF DEATH VALLEY by Ted Faye is a 127-page history book printed on high quality semi-glossy paper. Almost every page has one or two black and white photographs. Under each photo is a narrative of 1-3 sentences. The front cover has a photo of the 20-mule team, where a row of three bells can be seen connected to the two mules in the lead. Behind is the wagon, and on the wagon are two men, the teamster and the swamper (brakeman). The cover photo is sepia-toned, but inside all the photos are black and white. The book has ten chapters, with titles such as: Ch.1. THE WEST'S WHITE GOLD; Ch.2. SHE BURNS GREEN; Ch.3. DEATH VALLEY'S BIG BUSINESS; Ch.4. THE LARGEST WAGONS OF THEIR DAY; Ch.5. THE AMAZING MULE; Ch.6. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FIVE MILES THROUGH HELL, and so on.THE PHOTOGRAPHS. The photos are all of medium quality, meaning that the range of tones is narrow. There was no attempt to process the photos to increase their contrast or sharpness. Because of the extreme age of some of the photos, e.g., over 100 years old, it is understandable that some of the images are fuzzy. Fortunately, the high quality that was used in the publishing process, that is, use of glossy pages, prevented further deterioration of the images. The photos include the following:(1) Advertisements. These include advertisements for clipper ship travel, wagons for sale, ad for a book about Death Valley, Borax soap, ad for a movie from 1940 called 20 MULE TEAM (see pages 29, 30, 45, 103, 108, 109, 120).(2) Mules and the mule team. Photographs of this subject appear on pages 19, 26, 28, 38, 40-41, 42, 47, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 63, 65, 67, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 76, 77, 78, 82, 83-84, 86, 87, 88-89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 100, 105, 106, 110-111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126. Other photographs have horses, not mules. The most astonishing is the 2-page photo on pages 84-85, showing a 20-mule team pulling two wagons up a steep grade. I don't see how even 100 animals could pull these wagons up this type of steep grade on a dirt road. The text (page 79) states that, "a single mule-team load of borax weight about 22 tons."(3) Railroads. Railroad trains or track photos are on pages 55, 86, 94, 98, 99, and 100. Please note that this book occurs in a huge series of books, about various locations in America, and that there are two other books in this series that are devoted to Death Valley, where one of these is devoted to railroads.(4) Photographs of familiar places. I have seen the following places during my six trips to Death Valley in 2013. Searles Valley (page 25), which is where salts other than borax are mined. Zabriski Point (page 28), which is a famous place in Death Valley, however, I don't care for landscapes that consist mainly in erosion. Anybody can see much the same type of erosion on Route 1 in California, when driving south from Half Moon Bay down to Santa Cruz. Remnants of Harmony Borax plant (pages 39, 40-41, 42, 50, 63). Badwater salt flats (page 64). The pentagons and hexagons are fascinating and beautiful, and can make excellent photographs in the sun, in the shade, in early morning, near sunset. Devil's Golf Course (page 64). Out-of-doors museum with wagons (page 126).THE WRITING. Despite the emphasis on elderly photos, it is the case that the writing is engaging and of professional quality. The beginnings of the borax industry are disclosed in Chapter Three, where we read, "William Tell Coleman had been heavily involved in the Nevada borax operations since the early 1870s. When Emile Stevenot's Pacific Borax Company collaped in 1876, Coleman bought it and for a while took over the operation. Later, in 1880, he sold it to Francis Smith. By 1881, Smith was poised t own nearly all of the borax-producing mash facilities, with his primary operations at Fish Lake Valley and Teels Marsh. The relationship of Coleman as distributor and Smith as producer created a formidable business team." (page 31).To provide another example, Chapter Six informs the reader that, "The difficulties and dangers of the Death Valley route were later exploited and exaggerated by the Pacific Coast Borax, as a way to sell soap. For drivers who hauled from 1883 to 1888, the trip had its difficulties but no more than other desert freighting roads . . . there were five sets of wagons coordinated like a well-oiled machine over great distances of the operation, with only two men and 20 animals on each crew. Hitching mules to the wagons was the task of the teamster. The only written account comes from John R. Spears, who . . . saw a short 1--mile haul from borate to Daggett in the 1890s. Spears describes . . . mules are harnessed up in pairs. The most civilized pair are placed in the lead and the next in intelligence just ahead of the tongue, while the sinful, the fun-loving, and the raw-hides fill in between." (page 61)Pages 96 and 97 show excellent quality photographs of tractors. The tractors were bought in 1894, and had steam-traction engines. We read that, "In 1894, Francis Smith purchased a steam-traction engine from the Best Tractor Company, forerunner of today's Caterpillar, Inc., along with two steel-wheeled wagons seen in the photograph. He nicknamed the tractor "Old Dinah" and tried the new outfit on the Borate-to-Daggett run."CONCLUSION. This book is a "must-buy" for any tourists or photographer interested in Death Valley. Also, this book will likely be appreciated by any person interested in the history of California, or in the history of the mining industry. For further details, I recommend the following excellent book. The following book has dense, fact-based writing, similar to that of the Wall Street Journal. And I also recommend the following book to persons interested in California history, or in the mining industry. The book is, THE TINCAL TRAIL:A HISTORY OF BORAX, by N.J. Travis and E.J. Cocks.

the kit was in good condition and ready to assemble,thanks.

Great