Francis Marion Smith
Francis Marion Smith | |
---|---|
![]() Francis Marion "Borax" Smith | |
Born | |
Died | August 27, 1931 | (aged 85)
Occupation | Mining businessman |
Known for | Borax King, founder of Pacific Coast Borax Company |
Spouses | Mary Rebecca Thompson Wright
(m. 1875)Evelyn Kate Ellis (m. 1906) |
Francis Marion Smith (February 2, 1846 – August 27, 1931) was an American
Frank Smith created the
Early life
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Smith_Brothers_pure_borax_for_sale_everywhere_LCCN2005694415.jpg/220px-Smith_Brothers_pure_borax_for_sale_everywhere_LCCN2005694415.jpg)
Francis Marion Smith was born in Richmond, Wisconsin in 1846. He went to public schools and graduated from Milton Academy in Milton, Wisconsin.
Early mining career
At the age of 21, he left Wisconsin to prospect for mineral wealth in the
In 1872, while contracting to provide firewood to a small borax operation at nearby Columbus Marsh, Smith discovered a rich supply of
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 for 160 miles (260 km) across the Great Basin Desert from Marietta to the nearest Central Pacific Railroad siding in Wadsworth, Nevada.[7]
The Borax King
Death Valley
Smith then acquired properties at Columbus Marsh and Fish Lake. In 1884, Smith bought out his brother. While reduced operations continued at Teels, Smith now focused his energies and borax mining in Death Valley and at the 20 Mule Team Canyon mine in the Amargosa Range to the east. In 1890, upon William Tell Coleman's Harmony Borax Works financial overextension, he acquired Coleman's borax works and holdings in western Nevada, the Death Valley region, and in the Calico Mountains near Yermo, California. Smith then consolidated them with his own holdings to form the Pacific Coast Borax Company in 1890.
Smith's Pacific Coast Borax Company then established and aggressively promoted the 20-Mule-Team Borax brand and
Other mines
Activity at Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley ceased with the development of the richer
When the deposits at Borate neared depletion, work began near
.In 1899, Smith had joined forces with Richard C. Baker to form the Borax Consolidated, Ltd.[8] Together, they formed a multinational mining conglomerate, in which Smith had the controlling interest. Baker expanded the company's foreign acquisitions in Italy, Turkey, and South America and was largely responsible for capitally financing the corporation's expansion.[9]
While operating at Borate, Smith purchased the
Last mining
In 1913, Smith became financially overextended and had to turn over his assets to creditors who refused to extend new loans. After winning a lawsuit to protect his wife's interest in a silver mine in Tonopah, Nevada, he acquired mineral rights to a large section of Searles Lake in the Searles Valley over the Panamint Range from Death Valley, in northern San Bernardino County, California. However, finding a profitable way to convert the extensive lake brines into borax and other important commercial mineral salts products proved elusive for roughly a decade.
In the meantime, he outbid the new owners of his company for the rights to a rich borax discovery in Nevada's
Oakland years
Smith married Mary Rebecca Thompson Wright (1846-1905, known as Mollie) in 1875. After living in Nevada for a few years they settled in Oakland, California in 1881.[13] Following Mollie's death in 1905 at age 59, he remarried in 1906 to Evelyn Kate Ellis (1877-1957).
In 1882 Smith began accumulating parcels of land in Oakland that became the estate called Arbor Villa.[14] He and Mollie moved into Oak Hall, the mansion they had built on the estate, in about 1895.[15] This residence was furnished with a pipe organ built by the Farrand and Votey Organ Co. of Detroit as their Opus 852 in 1898.[16]
In 1892, he began building a summer estate in Shelter Island, New York, named Pres DeLeau, within his wife's geo-social circle.[17]
In 1893, Smith commissioned America's first
In 1895, Smith formed a partnership with
In 1896, Smith acquired an estate and constructed a
Railroad
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Tonopah_%26_Tidewater_Railroad_logo.jpg)
Smith developed a special interest in expanding his business into rail transportation and real estate. His first railroad, the narrow-gauge Borate and Daggett Railroad was built only to ship borax. Later, however, Smith created the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, not only to ship borax, but also with an eye on the ore and passengers from the boomtown of Rhyolite, Nevada in the Bullfrog Mining District. This line was built in direct competition with the "Copper King" William A. Clark's Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad.[20]
Charitable work
Smith was involved in significant charitable and community events during his lifetime. He frequently made his Oakland and Shelter Island estates available for fundraising activities, involving his children in running games and booths.
Supporting his first wife's desire to provide homelike accommodations for orphaned girls, Smith financed the construction and operation of 13 residential homes. Each home had a house mother selected by Mrs. Smith, who was directed to provide a normal home life for the girls under her care. Smith also provided a social hall called The Home Club, which was located on the site of the current
Political work
Frank Smith served as an
Last years
After suffering a major stroke at age 82 in 1928, Smith moved with his wife from their Oakland mansion and estate into a smaller residence across Lake Merritt in the Adams Point neighborhood. Prior to moving, several large pieces of the estate's gardens had been sold on which more modest homes were built. With the stock market crash of 1929, no buyer could be found for the remaining estate and shortly after his death the mansion was demolished after many remarkable and marketable fixtures were removed and sold.
Francis Marion Smith died in Oakland in 1931 at the age of 85. He is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery of Oakland, along "Millionaires Row".[21]
Legacy
The Western Railway Museum's archives wing is named for Francis Marion "Borax" Smith. The museum, in Solano County, California, includes several operating street cars and transbay trains that operated on the Key System lines.
Francis Marion Smith Park, on land donated by Smith and his wife, is on Park Boulevard in Oakland.
In Death Valley, Smith Mountain, a 5,915 feet (1,803 m) peak in the Amargosa Range, is named in his honor.[22]
On
"Borax" Smith is a character in the historical fiction novel
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-8242-0004-6
- ^ Hildebrand (1982), p. xiii.
- calisphere.org. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ Legends of America-Francis "Borax" Marion Smith
- ^ a b c Orr, Patti (November 30, 2021). "History of Pacific Coast Borax and the Rio-Tinto Mine". Mojave Desert News. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "Francis Marion Smith". Goldfield Historical Society. Goldfield, Nevada. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- JSTOR 26062263.. The article states that the distance between Columbus, Nevada and Wadsworth, Nevadais "about 360 miles" whereas today the distance on modern roads is about 160 miles.
- ^ a b Hildebrand (1982), p. 56.
- ^ Hildebrand (1982), p. 48-59.
- ^ Rio Tinto Company Website Archived 2012-09-18 at archive.today
- ^ "Industrial minerals and extractive industry geology" Edited by P. W. Scott, Colin Malcolm Bristow, Geological Society of London. p. 90.
- )
- ^ "Mary R. Smith". Oakland Wiki. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
- ^ "Francis Marion 'Borax' Smith". Oakland Wiki. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
- ^ "Arbor Villa". Oakland Wiki. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
- ^ "OHS Database".
- ^
- Shillingburg, Edward; Shillingburg, Patricia. "Frank Smith, the Borax King, on Shelter Island". Shelter-Island.org. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
- Shillingburg, Edward; Shillingburg, Patricia. "Frank Smith, the Borax King, on Shelter Island". Shelter-Island.org. Shillingburg & Associates. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "Greater Oakland, 1911" Ed. by Evarts I. Blake, p.278
- ^ a b Allen, Annalee (30 August 2008). "Tracking the steps of 'Borax'". East Bay Times. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- YouTube
- ^ "The Story of Francis Marion Smith; Borax King". Mojave Desert News. 2022-11-10. Retrieved 2024-01-02.
- ^ Hanna, Phil Townsend. "The dictionary of California land names". 1951. Page 309
- ^ Hildebrand (1982), p. 1.
Sources
- Hildebrand, G.H. (1982). Borax Pioneer: Francis Marion Smith. San Diego: Howell-North Books. ISBN 0-8310-7148-6.
- Smythe, Dallas Walker (1937). An Economic History of Local and Interurban Transportation in the East Bay Cities with Particular Reference to the Properties Developed by F. M. Smith. Berkeley: University of California.
- Smith, Francis Marion. (Unpublished) circa 1925. Autobiographical Notes on His Early Life.
- Townsend, Charles E. (July 1903). "The Borax Industry And Its Chief Promoter". Overland Monthly. XLII: 24.
Further reading
- "Francis Marion Smith papers, 1888-1944, bulk 1902-1923". Oakland Public Library.
- "Mae Burdge Miller eulogy : and related papers, 1974". oac.cdlib.org.
- "J. Henry Strachan letterpress copybook". oac.cdlib.org.
- "Joseph Wakeman Mather papers, 1885-1889". oac.cdlib.org.
- "J. Henry Strachan letterpress copybook". oac.cdlib.org.
- "Views of Oakland, California, ca. 1930-1939". oac.cdlib.org.
- "Arbor Villa: the Home of Mr. & Mrs. F. M. Smith, Photographed by E. T. Dooley, 1902". oac.cdlib.org.