Existing comment:
Furnace Creek Ranch, Death Valley
Furnace Creek is a spring fed stream flowing into Death Valley. Native Americans lived here centuries prior to its discovery by lost Forty Niners. In 1881, Aaron Winters found borax nearby, and sold his claims and water rights to William Tell Coleman. Greenland Ranch was constructed at this site to support the borax workmen and twenty-mule teams. Francis Marion Smith acquired the site for his company which became US Borax and renamed it Furnace Creek Ranch. They produced borax in the valley until 1927.
The Ranch was opened to guests in 1932. The Museum was set up by Harry Gower and Ann Rosener in 1954 in the oldest structure in the Valley, built about 1883.
Fred Harvey Company purchased the Death Valley properties from US Borax in 1969. |