Borax was also important to Daggett's economy and the town's history. For two years, it was the terminal of the Twenty-mule team run from Death Valley, but after one of their swampers, William Pitt, was lynched, the Pacific Borax Company changed the terminal to Mojave. Later on in 1891, Francis Marion Smith the 'Borax King' moved to Daggett from Death Valley's Harmony Borax Works to install mining operations at a borax mine called Borate, which was located about three miles east of Calico. This operation required many laborers to come and help, it was reported that Pacific Coast Borax Company employed nearly 200 men to work in the mines. At first, the borax was hauled by the then-soon-to-be-famous 20 Mule Team, but Smith sought to replace the mules with a cheaper, efficient means of transportation. The Borate and Daggett Railroad was built in 1898 to take over the duty of hauling borax from the mules.