The Most Unique Visitors Center In Southern California Is Certainly Worth A Special Trip
By Catherine Armstrong|Published December 31, 2018
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Catherine Armstrong
Author
Writer, editor and researcher with a passion for exploring new places. Catherine loves local bookstores, independent films, and spending time with her family, including Gus the golden retriever, who is a very good boy.
One of the best things about exploring Southern California is finding things you never knew existed, and learning something new. For instance, did you know that one of the largest borax mines in the world is located right here in the Mojave Desert? Let’s take a look:
Way out in the middle of the Mojave Desert is a not-so-little secret. The Rio Tinto Borax Mine is a vast, open-pit mine where 1,000 people work, but most people don't even know that this exists.
The mine's Visitor Center is a unique place to visit the next time you find yourself driving east across the desert. But what is borax, you ask? This naturally-occurring element is found in soil, and it's one of the seven essential micro-nutrients needed to sustain plant life.
Don't worry - most people have never heard of borax, have no idea we need it. When you see the displays in the Visitor Center, you might be shocked - turns out that we need borax to clean our clothes, wash our faces, and even grow food.
Back in the 1800s, huge teams of 20 mules were used to haul borax out of the desert. From 1883 to 1889, they hauled more than 10,000 tons of the stuff.
Today, U.S. Borax mines as much as 12,000 tons every day. Check out the open pit mine, as seen from the top of the Visitor Center. Looks pretty big, doesn't it?
Here's the 789 Cat Truck that uses the monster-sized tires. It's downright humongous. You can see how they haul so much borax out of this mine every day using these trucks.
The Visitor Center is open every day, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. Admission is free, and you'll want to stop by to learn more about the open-pit mine, the essential element it holds, and how borax affects your own daily life.
