Borate and Daggett Railroad

In 1888, Coleman suffered financial reverses and sold his properties to Francis Marion Smith, who combined his holdings into the Pacific Coast Borax Company in 1890.

[1] Smith was interested in using the borax deposits at Calico, now called "Borate," as his new company's main source of income.

At first, twenty-mule teams had been used to haul the borax to the railhead at Daggett, California, but Smith was not happy with the cost and upkeep with the mules and wagons, and in 1894, made efforts to replace them with a Daniel Best steam tractor (now called "Old Dinah") which was not well equipped for running in the desert.

Most of the rails were taken up and sold for scrap, and the two locomotives along with the rolling stock were left behind on a little siding in Daggett adjacent to the Santa Fe mainline.

[3] They would not see use again until 1913, when Pacific Coast Borax required narrow-gauge railway equipment to help construct the Death Valley Railroad.

Borate & Daggett Heisler locomotive #1 "Marion" (s/n 1018), at Daggett, California in 1910. It went on to work for the Forest Lumber Company in Oregon until the lumber mill at Pine Ridge burned to the ground in 1939.
Borate & Daggett Heisler locomotive #2 "Francis" (s/n 1026), at Daggett, California in 1910. The locomotive helped to construct the Death Valley Railroad in 1913, before being sold to the Nevada Short Line Railway in 1916 where it retained its number #2. [ 4 ] It ended its days working for the Terry Lumber Company (later Red River) at Round Mountain, California until about 1925.