At the suggestion of Isabella Favero we started a genealogy club. Grandma thought it a splendid idea. The first meeting was at the Favero's house in Carson City. Grandmother decided that we would feature a different person each year to do research on.
Since her great Grandfather George Bellu Meacham lived in Reno, Nevada at one time we decided to feature him through August of 2009. Aunt Billie and Uncle Gordon Meacham had mentioned that he drove a 20 Mule Team for the Borax company. While in Reno for Grandpa's heart surgery Grandma took a couple of hours to go to the library to find more info. She found that usually single young men drove the large team of mules for tne arduous journey. The mule train was only with Borax between 1883-1889 until the growth of the railroad and new deposits were found. George Bellu would have been a young man at the time and the muleskinners were characteristically single men. They were solitary men used to enduring extreme hardships. During this time not a single wagon broke down nor a single animal was lost. For their efforts, muleskinners earned from $100 to $120 per month - very high wages for the time. The borax load had to be hauled 165 miles up and out of Death Valley, over the steep Panamint Mountains and across the desert to the nearest railroad junction at Mojave. The 20-day round trip started 190 feet below sea level and climbed to an elevation of 2000 feet before it was over. The heat, desolation and rattlesnakes presented ominous obstacles for both man and mule and occasionally the brakes gave way down a steep mountain grad and the heavy rig would thunder down the trail hard on the heels of the frantic mules. Special training for the mules was important. They each had their own jobs and the "sixes" and "eights" -were the pairs trained to leap over the chain when the mule train turned a corner. It was an omnious job to go around a curve and not being able to see if someone was coming up the other side.
After the use of the 20 Mule team was passed for hauling borax the teams appeared at special events ranging from St.Louis World's Fair in 1904 to President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration in 1916.
Borax is made partly from volcanic ash. Other uses for borax includeglass, detergents, for automobiles, cosmetics and medicines, building materials, flame retardants, agriculture,etc. We would be amazed at all the various uses. Uncle Jon
said that it is the salmon eggs for fishing.
At our second genealogy meeting at Grandma and Grandpa Lindsey's we made GAK from Borax. It is fun to play with and easy to make.
Mix 2 cups regular Elmer's glue or similar type
1 1/2 cups water (or until not sticky
Mix 1/3 cups water
1 T. borax
Add to glue mixture - color with food coloring if desired.
We also practiced adding names to the computer program PAF personal ancestral file which can be downloaded for free from the LDS.org family search site. They were able to give the names and dates and places for themselves and younger family members to link them to the family.
We made genealogy buttons or pins as designed by Bret Barben the younger. Each meeting will feature a new design by a new designer.
George Bellu Meacham is buried in Bishop, California. If anyone wants to visit his grave there is a directory in the cemetery to helpfind his grave. George Meacham, Grandma's father was named after his grandfather George Bellu Meacham. If anyone has a photo of George Bellu it would be greatly appreciated as we have not yet seen one.
