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Post by Jaga on Mar 26, 2015 13:12:37 GMT -7
We went there two days ago. The name of this scenic viewing place in Death Valley is carried after a person of Polish descent who was dedicated to Borax industry.... there is still Borax mine there.
who was he?
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Mar 26, 2015 20:14:32 GMT -7
We went there two days ago. The name of this scenic viewing place in Death Valley is carried after a person of Polish descent who was dedicated to Borax industry.... there is still Borax mine there. who was he? Christian Brevoort Zabriskie (October 16, 1864 – February 8, 1936) was an American businessman and former vice president of Pacific Coast Borax Company. Zabriskie Point on the northeasternmost flank of the Black Mountains east of Death Valley, located in Death Valley National Park is named after him.  Christian Brevoort Zabriskie was born at Fort Bridger in Wyoming Territory, where his father, Capt. Elias B. Zabriskie, was stationed. The Zabriskie family descended from Albrycht Zaborowski (Albert Zabriskie), a Polish immigrant from Angerburg (Wegorzewo) in Ducal Prussia, who settled in New Jersey in 1662 alongside a Dutch community.[1] Young Zabriskie attended various schools while growing up and at a very early age went to work as a telegrapher for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad at Carson City, Nevada. He was too restless and ambitious to stay in one place for very long and soon moved to Candelaria, Nevada, and worked for the Esmeralda County Bank. Being an active young man, one job was not enough to keep him occupied and he soon branched out into other ventures, one of which was a partnership with a local cabinet maker to establish a mortuary. Neither of the two knew how to embalm, but it was not considered necessary in a mining town — prompt burial was. Borax career Zabriskie's life took on new meaning in 1885 when F.M. "Borax" Smith hired him to supervise several hundred Chinese laborers at the Columbus Marsh area of the Pacific Coast Borax Company near Candelaria. This was the beginning of a lifelong career in the borax industry. He ultimately became vice president and general manager of the company and served in that capacity for thirty-six years until his retirement in 1933. During this time, the Pacific Coast Borax Company had phased out most of its borax operations in the Candelaria vicinity but had moved on to greater production in the Death Valley area, the Calico Mountains near Yermo, California, and Searles Lake near Trona, California. All this occurred long before 1933, when the area became Death Valley National Monument, but Zabriskie Point remains to honor a man who devoted many years of dedicated service to the Pacific Coast Borax Company. He died just three years after his retirement, in 1936. |
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Post by Jaga on Mar 27, 2015 0:06:20 GMT -7
John,
thanks for your research. Christian Zabriske was a descendant of Albrycht Zaborowski (Albert Zabriskie), a Polish immigrant from Angerburg (Wegorzewo) in Ducal Prussia.
He could not stick to one job, he had to do many things and Borax finally kept him active enough to remind dedicated.
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Post by karl on Mar 27, 2015 11:12:28 GMT -7
Jaga
It has been many years since my own visit to Death Valley, so as with this, simply do not remember the founder of the borax mining there. I do remember some signage pointing to a mansion on a hill, but due to time limit, we did not visit the mansion. I think now that was a mistake for most likely would have known the story of the founder.
I do remember it was really very hot and whilst I was driving, hit a rock in the road and we had to change a tyre. There was a mystery at that time that we never heard an explanation of though. It was the moving rocks in the desert hard ground near Furnice Creek campgrounds. The rocks would not be noticeable moving, but there was drag marks behind them from the effect. Not sure if it was wind at night or what ever..
Karl
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Post by Jaga on Mar 27, 2015 21:49:05 GMT -7
Karl,
when we were in Furnace Creek I thought about you and your experience there. How long ago have you been there? I am not surprised that you hit a rock, we were worried about the same... many dirt roads with rocks. The mansion is still there, the Furnace Creek has also a post office and the stores and a museum. The campgrounds were there, but I did not look closely enough... I wish I saw a coyote.
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Post by karl on Mar 28, 2015 7:26:56 GMT -7
Jaga
A friend and my self were on a quick trip from Reno Nevada through to Mexico and thought to visit death valley. It is a very famous historic area of the old West and even with our short time, we just wanted the experience. It was in July of 1968 and in a VW beetle. It was extremely hot, to just use the brakes lightly would cause them to heat up quickly and stink like burning brakes.
I remember of the large grassy park with a great number of date palm trees close by the camping area. We were on such tight time restraints with out the time to visit the museum and little gift shop, but to pack up a leave in the morning.
We never were to see the mining equipment or where or how the borax was mined and processed. This was a little disappointing but still it was a treat to simply visit such a historic piece of the old West.
Karl
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Post by Jaga on Apr 1, 2015 10:10:15 GMT -7
Karl, it sounds like you had a difficult but still very educational experience in Death Valley. It should be hot there! We took a shortcut and visited when it was not that hot yet. You seem to remember a lot from this time of visit  |
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Post by karl on Apr 1, 2015 10:42:42 GMT -7
Karl, it sounds like you had a difficult but still very educational experience in Death Valley. It should be hot there! We took a shortcut and visited when it was not that hot yet. You seem to remember a lot from this time of visit Jaga Yes, I remember a great deal of that trip, for it was an American West experience to see and feel the land of the early west. Plus, it was my get a way after completion of our academy studies. I felt so free after 9 weeks of constant study/class rooms/being watched for every movement for an excuse to fail/learning paper work/critical instructors and weekly exams. I was then with three weeks holiday and was very anxious to not waste time before the next phase of training was to begin. I knew very little about America at that time, and trusted my friends knowledge of the area. We had started in Reno Nevada to car camp from Lake Taho, then to Death Valley some camp grounds I do not remember the name at this moment in Arizona, then into Mexico. Then along the Coast {Mexico} then across to eventually Durango {his home city}. From their I returned to Bonn Germany. I am not so sure to every do that again, but when your age 26, who cares.. Karl |
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Post by Jaga on Apr 2, 2015 0:03:03 GMT -7
Karl,
and then you came back to Germany and then back to the US and then you were travelling almost all around the world!
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Post by karl on Apr 2, 2015 6:59:49 GMT -7
Karl, and then you came back to Germany and then back to the US and then you were travelling almost all around the world! Dear Jaga Thank you most kindly for your nice reply, in truth I do not deserve it. For some of my travels were the results of mistakes I had made whilst a young man, attempting to evade responsibility with events back firing upon my head, events I had no or little control of. Whilst others once settled, were assigned requiring relocation by force of events, with this, responsibility placed upon my head to do. The great fear as always over my head, is fear of failure, for this reason was in time of decision. To then remove all thoughts other then success and how to insure a situation would not fail. This was my life jacket, for it removed my intrinsic fear of responsibility to concentrate on simply doing what was necessary and plugging up any holes that would lead to fault. The various training schools attended, provide the tools for the work. But, in self, do not replace fear of failure, this is to the individual to attain. From then, it is stress, necessity and personal survival that is completion of training. This, instructors do not tell the student that once leaving their steady hand, it then will be life and necessity that will finish what the instructors have taught. In short, fear of water is no excuse to drown. Karl |
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Post by Jaga on Apr 3, 2015 0:51:25 GMT -7
Karl,
I think, that teach to deal with fear by confronting it sometimes:
+++In short, fear of water is no excuse to drown.++++
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