12020 S. Rives Avenue, Downey, California
On a recent trip to Death Valley, California I took the series
of pictures appearing on these pages.
Believing you may want to publish these photos, I have written
captions for them. The information on the captions I gathered at
the little museum in Furnace Creek Ranch and by the use of my steel
has been picked apart.
The following story accompanies the picture:
‘Old Dinah was F. M. ‘Borax’ Smith’s experiment
in transporting ore from the mines at Borate to the railroad at
Daggett in 1894. Dinah was a traction engine. She burned coal 3
tons per day. Her speed was 3 miles per hr. on level ground, not
including time out for getting stuck in the sand. On steep grades
she slipped backwards faster than she could move forward. It took 4
men to keep Dinah in operation; an engineer, a fireman, a brakeman,
and a mechanic who worked all night every night to put her in shape
for the next day’s run. After a year of struggle Dinah was
abandoned, and the 20 Mule Teams, which had continued to haul
alongside of her, took over the entire job again.’
