| 'Twenty mule teams' were teams of eighteen mules and two horses attached to large wagons that ferried borax out of Death Valley from 1883 to 1889. They traveled from mines to the nearest railroad spur, 165 miles away in Mojave, California. The horses were the wheelers - the two closest to the wagon. They were ridden by one of the two men generally required to operate the wagons, and were typically larger than the mules. They had great brute strength for starting the wagons moving and could withstand the jarring of the heavy wagon tongue, but the mules were smarter and better suited to work in desert conditions. The third wagon was a tank with water for the animals. |
Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT f/8 for 1/60 sec @ 100 |