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Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company
Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company was a borax mining company founded in 1898 by Stephen Mather and Thomas Thorkildsen. The two men were both employees of Francis Marion "Borax" Smith's Pacific Coast Borax Company, but they left the company to form this new company and went into direct competition with their former boss. The company was later renamed Sterling Borax. Francis Marion Smith Francis Marion Smith (February 2, 1846 – August 27, 1931) (once known nationally and internationally as "Borax Smith" and "The Borax King" ) was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisc ... subsequently bought out their company in 1911.Hildebrand, GH. (1982) Borax Pioneer: Francis Marion Smith. San Diego: Howell-North Books. pp 88. References {{reflist Mining companies of the United States Defunct companies based in California Borax mines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Borax
Borax is a salt (ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular form, and has many industrial and household uses, including as a pesticide, as a metal soldering flux, as a component of glass, enamel, and pottery glazes, for tanning of skins and hides, for artificial aging of wood, as a preservative against wood fungus, and as a pharmaceutic alkalizer. In chemical laboratories, it is used as a buffering agent. The compound is often called sodium tetraborate decahydrate, but that name is not consistent with its structure. The anion is not tetraborate but tetrahydroxy tetraborate , so the more correct formula should be . Informally, the product is often called sodium borate decahydrate or just sodium borate. The terms tincal "tinkle" and tincar "tinker" refer to native borax, historically mined from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Mather
Stephen Tyng Mather (July 4, 1867 – January 22, 1930) was an American industrialist and conservationist who was the first director of the National Park Service. As president and owner of Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company he became a millionaire. With his friend the journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather led a publicity campaign to promote the creation of a unified federal agency to oversee National Parks administration, which was established in 1916. In 1917, Mather was appointed to lead the NPS, the new agency created within the Department of the Interior. He served until 1929, during which time Mather created a professional civil service organization, increased the numbers of parks and national monuments, and established systematic criteria for adding new properties to the federal system. Early life Stephen Tyng Mather was born July 4, 1867, in San Francisco, and named for the prominent Episcopal minister Stephen Tyng of New York, who was admired by his parents, Joseph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Thorkildsen
Thomas Thorkildsen (1869-1950) was an American businessman. He became known as the "Borax King" after his ownership of borax mines in California made him a millionaire.Cecilia Rasmussen'Borax King' Cleaned Up, but Died Washed Up ''The Los Angeles Times'', March 12, 2000 Biography Early life Thomas Thorkildsen was born in 1869 in Wisconsin. His father was a lumberjack who had immigrated from Denmark. Career He worked for the Pacific Coast Borax Company, owned by Francis Marion Smith, in Chicago and later at the Death Valley, where Stephen Mather was his boss. He resigned in 1898 and purchased a borax mine in the Frazier Mountain, Ventura County. With Mather, he founded the Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company.Alan Pollack, Kim Stephens, E. J. Stephens, ''Legendary Locals of the Santa Clarita Valley'', Arcadia Publishing, 2012, p. 3/ref> In 1905, he purchased another borax mine in Tick Canyon Formation, Tick Canyon, a canyon in the Santa Clarita Valley. He became a millionnaire thanks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
