Eagle Borax Works
Isadore Daunet located borax southwest of Badwater Basin in 1875, but it wasn't until after Aaron Winters discovered another deposit twenty miles north in 1881 that he decided to exploit his find. Daunet organized the Eagle Borax Company and began operations during late 1882. Everything went well until the summer, when heat prevented borax production as the water used was too warm for crystallization. Unlike the rivaling Harmony Borax Works, which had a fallback until winter, the Eagle Borax Works had to wait until cooler temperatures to reopen. Unable to compete, the Eagle Borax Works was shut down. Daunet, bankrupt, lost his home and wife and ultimately ended his life. William T. Coleman, of the other borax operations, purchased the property to keep it from being reopened by anyone else, and it has since been largely reclaimed by the desert.
