Francis Marion Smith

Francis Marion Smith (aka "Borax" Smith and the "Borax King") (February 2, 1846 - August 27, 1931) was an American business magnate and civic builder of Oakland, CA. Smith Mountain in Death Valley, California is named after him.

Related Topics:
American - Business magnate - Oakland, CA - Death Valley, California

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Smith was born in Richmond, Wisconsin on February 2, 1846. At the age of 21, he left Wisconsin to prospect for mineral wealth in the American West.

Related Topics:
Richmond, Wisconsin - American West

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1872, while working as a woodcutter, he discovered a rich supply of ulexite at Teel's Marsh, Nevada. He staked a claim, started a company with his brother Julius, and established a borax works at the edge of the marsh to convert ulexite into borax. In 1877, Scientific American reported that the Smith Brothers shipped their product in a 30-ton load using two large wagons with a third wagon for food and water drawn by a 24-mule team over a 160-mile stretch of desert between Teel's Marsh and Wadsworth, Nevada, some six years before similar twenty mule teams were introduced into Death Valley, California.

Related Topics:
Ulexite - Teel's Marsh - Nevada - Borax works - Borax - Wadsworth, Nevada - Twenty mule team - Death Valley, California

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1884, Smith bought out his brother. He then gained control of all major borax production in western Nevada. In 1890, he acquired William Tell Coleman's borax holdings in Death Valley and consolodated them with his own to form the Pacific Coast Borax Company. Smith's company then established and agressively promoted the 20-Mule-Team Borax trademark, which was named after the twenty mule teams that had been used to transport borax out of Death Valley by Coleman's company.

Related Topics:
William Tell Coleman - Death Valley - Pacific Coast Borax Company - 20-Mule-Team Borax - Trademark - Twenty mule team

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Smith settled in Oakland, CA in 1881. There, he built America?s first reinforced concrete building, which was a borax refinery on an island in San Francisco Bay. He also created the Key System, which was the Bay Area?s first regional railway and ferry system.

Related Topics:
Oakland, CA - San Francisco Bay - Key System

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Francis Marion Smith died in Oakland, CA on August 27, 1931 at the age of 85.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Borax" Smith is a character in the historical fiction novel "Carter Beats the Devil" by Glen David Gold (ISBN 0786886323).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~