Soap Case

The Pacific Coast Borax Company is tied to the history of both the National Park Service and Death Valley National Park. Stephen T. Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, was an advertising manager for Pacific Coast Borax and was the force behind the creation of the 20 Mule Team Borax brand, named after the mule teams that hauled ore out of Death Valley from 1883 to 1889. The 20 Mule Team became a household name through extensive marketing, such as sponsoring the Death Valley Days radio and television show.

When Pacific Coast Borax stopped major mining operations in Death Valley, they promoted tourism, and developed the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch. In order to help that cause the company lobbied for the creation of a national park, even inviting Mather and his assistant Horace Albright to visit Death Valley in 1926. Mather, wanting to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, would not pursue adding Death Valley as a national park. It would fall to Albright, the son of a miner from nearby Bishop, CA, to take the lead in promoting the idea in Washington, DC. Albright ultimately succeeded, and President Hoover signed a proclamation creating Death Valley National Monument in February 1933.