With the discovery of borax in Death Valley, CA in the early 1890s, William Tell Colemans company used the famous 20-mule teams to haul the product to the nearest rail junction - - Mojave, CA. Two 10-mule teams were hitched together to form a 100-foot long 20-mule team. Between 1883 and 1889, Colemans teams hauled two 16-foot long wagons loaded with borax, plus a 1,200 gallon water tank (with a total weight of over 36 tons)