Original subtitles

♪♪ [ trumpet ]

The first wagon party to cross Death Valley in 1849

told of rich silver and gold deposits to be found here.

Their stories brought hundreds of prospectors into the valley

to probe the mountains and ravines for hidden riches.

Aaron Winters was one of these men,

and in the 1870s, he discovered that...

Giddyap!

Welcome to Ash Meadows!

It's good to see you, Cory.

Thank you for coming, Ben.

Oh, I just brung the buckboard like ya asked.

Rosie.

Just a minute, dear.

"Dear"?

Cory, Ben, this is Rosie, Mrs. Winters.

CORY: Very glad to know you, Mrs. Winters.

Cory Madsen, and my good friend Ben Davis.

I'm very happy to meet you both.

She's everything I said, isn't she, Ben?

She's got more curves than a spiny cactus.

[ laughing ]

He just means he likes ya.

You've been buried out here in the sand too long, Ben.

I'll get your luggage and put it on the buckboard, Mrs. Winters.

And Ben-- Ben!

Sure. Sure.

[ both chuckling ]

So that's Ben Davis, your best friend, huh?

Ben and I have been prowling the deserts for years

looking for a golden rainbow.

I bet we've dug more holes than a dozen gophers.

Is Ash Meadows far from here?

It's a pretty good distance.

Oh, Aaron, it'll be so good to get home.

Our home.

Ash Meadows. It sounds wonderful.

Quiet, undisturbed. We're all on our own.

It's quiet, all right. And there's nobody around for miles.

That does it, Aaron.

AARON: Come on, Ben. We'll drop you off on the way home.

Thank you, Cory.

Hyah! Hyah!

Thanks for picking us up, Ben.Aw, it was nothin'.

Where's your house, Mr. Davis?House?

Oh, he lives just off the road, up that draw.

Oh.

Well, so long, Aaron.See ya, Ben.

Is Ben married?

Yeah, he's married.

When we get settled, I'd like to have his wife out for tea.

Tea?

They live kind of a long ways away.

What kind of a woman is she? I mean, is she from out here or back East?

She's from out here.

Giddyap.

Why are we stopping?

We're here, Rosie. This is Ash Meadows.

This is Ash Meadows?

I didn't know I was gonna get married when I went to San Berdu.

Or otherwise I'd have fixed it up for ya.

But I pictured green hills, a valley.

It's named after volcanic ash.

We can fix it up nice and pretty.

Don't you worry, Rosie.

I'll get some paint and splash some color around,

and I'll even put in a floor.

It doesn't have a floor?

Don't you fret, honey. I'll get one in.

[ creaks ]

Oh!

[ gasps ]

[ creaking ]

Never quite realized how I lived until now.

I must've been out of my head to bring you out here.

Come on, Rosie. Let's go.

Go where?Back to San Berdu.

This isn't a fit place for a woman like you.

No, it isn't.

And it isn't a fit place for my husband either.

But I'm going to make it fit, Aaron, for both of us.

Now, you get my things in, and let's get started, hmm?

Do you mean it, Rosie?

You really wanna stay here with me?

Oh, Aaron, I'm your wife.

My place is with you.

There's a lot of woman inside of you, Mrs. Winters.

You just don't know how much, Mr. Winters.

[ sighs ]

A miracle. That's what you've done to this place.

Well, it does look a little better, doesn't it?

I'm a very lucky man, Rosie.

You know, with you,

maybe I might really find a rich vein.

Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

The honeymoon is over,

and I've got to get back to my pick and shovel.

I'm gonna try a spot about 15 miles north.

Isn't that far to work?

Nah. I'll only be gone a couple of days.

A couple of days?

And I'll be here alone?

I asked Ben to stop by and see if you needed anything.

A couple of days?

Way out here?

Alone?

Afternoon.

Ben!

Oh, you don't know how happy I am to see another human being.

Well, Aaron said to look in on ya. Need anything?

Oh, Ben, I sure do.Tell me what.

Some company and some conversation.

Oh, well, come on in, Ben.

Can I get you something? Some coffee or tea?

Well, Aaron usually has a bottle of whiskey around.

[ chuckling ] Oh.

How've you been?Oh, regular.

Can you stay for dinner?No, no.

I gotta get back up in them hills there.

I gotta get myself some of that yeller.

Besides, my old woman's waiting for me down by the creek.

Your wife? Here?

Well, Ben, why didn't you bring her in?

Never thought of it.

Look, Ben, why don't you let her stay here with me why you go to the hills?

You can pick her up tonight.Leave her here?

Of course. Oh, I can make

a lovely tea for us, and some cookies.

W-Well...

Oh, please, Ben. I haven't seen another woman for weeks.

Aaron said to give you what you want.

Okay.

[ chuckles ]

[ door closes ]

[ door opens ]

BEN: Here she be.

This here's my wife. Her name is Maudie.

I'm very happy to meet you, Mrs. Davis.

She don't know any of them formal names, Mrs. Winters.

Just call her Maudie.

I'll be back to pick her up at sundown.

Won't you sit down?

Oh, I just made these cookies this morning.

And I thought you might like some tea.

[ gasps ] Ooh!

Dad-blast goldang stinkin' mealymouth!

I'm terribly sorry.

Let me pour.

[ blowing ]

Uh, sugar? Cream?

No. Whiskey.

Whiskey?

[ blows ]

Why not?

When in Rome.

Good. Much good.

[ whiskey pouring ]

[ sets bottle down ]

[ sets glass down ]

[ whiskey pouring ]

[ snoring ]

What do you think of the situation in Europe, Mrs. Davis?

[ snorts ]

I perfectly agree with you.

And those new styles from Paris--

why, they're absolutely slanderous.

[ snoring ][ chuckles ]

Oh, Maudie, what a sensation you'd be

at the annual Los Flores Tea Dance.

Oh, no.

Oh, Maudie.

Come on, Maudie. Get up.

Maudie, please. Come on. Vamos.

Maudie, move!

[ snoring continues ]Oh...

Tied one on, did she?I'm sorry, Ben.

It's my fault. I shouldn't have let her drink so much.

Oh, no sweat, Mrs. Winters.

[ spitting ]

We better be heading home now, Maudie.

[ muttering ]

[ door opens ] AARON: Rosie!

I'm home.

Oh, Aaron! [ crying ]

What is it, honey?

Aaron, I-- I can't stay here alone any longer.

I just can't.

What else am I gonna do with you?

You could take me with you from now on.

Death Valley and Furnace Creek?

You'd just burn up with that tender skin.

I'm going with you, Aaron.

I won't stay in this house alone another day.

[ crying continues ]

[ coughs ]

Aaron!

What's the matter?

What happened?This white stuff. I can't get it off.

What is it? It looks like cotton balls.

It's a funny kind of mineral. It's scattered all over the place.

Look, let's get outta here. I wanna get this assayed.

Oh, Aaron, do you think you found something?

Maybe. It's got a trace of yellow.

I don't know how much and whether it's worth mining.

Maybe this is it. Maybe you found it.

Now, just stand still and let me brush this stuff off.

Show's color, all right.

What do you figure it's worth per ton?

Not enough to pay for a sack to carry it in.

[ sighs ]

You sure, Mr. Burk?

Wish I wasn't, Aaron.

It's just that I've been looking for a long time.

It ain't gold you should be looking for.

What do you mean by that?A man could retire right comfortable

if he could find a proper deposit of borax.

A deposit of what?

Borax.

Borax? What's that?

It's a mineral they use to make soaps and medicines with.

It's rare, but they found a pocket of it

up here about five years ago.

Finding some more would be pretty worthwhile.

What is there about it that makes it worthwhile digging for?

The scarcity of it, that's what.

The only place they can get it now is a country called, uh, Tibet.

They load it on the backs of sheep and haul it over the Himalayas.

[ chuckles ] Borax.

I'll keep looking for gold before I start looking for soap.

Afternoon, Mr. Burk.

[ whinnies, sputters ]

The ore samples?

Worthless.

Why, Aaron?

Why drive yourself into an early grave in those godforsaken hills?

Rosie, I've got to think.

Let's leave here, Aaron.

Go back to San Bernardino. You could get a job.

I put some of the best years of my life into looking for that gold.

I can't give up now.

Well, what about me?

In another few months, that sun and heat

will make my skin into leather.

I'll look ten years older than I am, and for what?

[ crying ]

Go on inside, Rosie, and get out of the sun.

I'm going into town. I'll be back in a little while.

Aaron, listen to me. Please?

Inside, Rosie.

Hyah!

[ door opens ]

I have to talk to you, Rosie.

And I've got something I want to say to you, too, Aaron.

Sit down.

Please.

A man gets used to living his own way...

when there's no one around to bother with

or worry about.

Things just don't change that much, day to day,

in how a man lives.

Somewheres out there in those hills

or in the flats,

there's a gold mine with my name on it--

Aaron Winters.

It's mine,

and I worked hard for it.

I spent a lot of years looking for it.

[ mutters ]

What I'm trying to say is...

you don't belong here, Rosie.

I was wrong in bringing ya.

I sold the buckboard to get your fare back to San Berdu.

Rosie...

aside from prospecting...

till now, there's been nothing in my life worth much.

I never cared for anything till you.

I can't stand by

and see you suffer in the heat...

live in a mud hut...

lonely, out of place.

I love you too much to keep ya here.

What about you?

I'll stay.

Keep clawing at the ground

till I find what I've been looking for.

It won't be easy living here alone anymore.

Not hearing the sound of your voice,

smelling the sweetness of your hair on the pillows.

You go on and get yourself packed.

Aaron.

You come back here, Aaron Winters.

Afternoon.

[ chuckles ]

I'll come back tomorrow, Aaron. AARON: No.

No, I-I'll be right with you, Ben.

I'll get some coffee.

[ sniffles ]

It's a pleasure to see ya, Ben.

What brings ya?

Oh, I just got back from town. Ran onto Harry Spiller,

and he says there's a lot of excitement over in Columbus.

Gold? No. Something called borax.

[ scoffs ]

They say it'll bring a whole lot of money.

You don't have to dig it. It's just laying there on top of the ground.

What's it look like?Harry gave me a sample.

It sells for 30 cents a pound.

Thirty cents?

It looks like some of them minerals down in the dry lake bed,

only you gotta test it to make sure it's borax.

How do you test it, Ben?

Well, you pour some alcohol on it and some sulfuric acid,

you strike a match to it, and if it's borax, it burns green.

Thirty cents a pound.

That'd be $600 a ton.

If a man finds it, he'd get rich pretty quick.

That's the regular truth.

But me? I'm gonna stick with gold.

That's the real thing.

Well, I gotta be going, Aaron.

I'll be seein' ya.

Thank you, Ben.

[ hammering continues ]

Some more coffee, dear?

Ben says this is worth $600 a ton.

Sure doesn't look it, does it?

What is it?It's called borax.

Aaron,

this looks like that cotton ball stuff

that got stuck in my hair and clothes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm sure it's the same as the white crystals we saw that day.

At the base of the mountain.

Yes. There must be tons and tons of it.

I'm going into town to get some sulfuric acid and alcohol.

You and I are going prospecting for borax.

Here it is, Rosie, those cotton balls that caught in your hair.

Tons of it. Just tons and tons of it.

Oh, Aaron, we're rich!Maybe yes and maybe no.

Remember what Ben said? A lot of crystal looks like borax.

We're gonna have to test it.

Aaron, look at it! As far as the eye can see!

It can't be true. It's gotta be something else.

Oh, Aaron, stop saying that and test it.

What was it that Ben said?

If it's borax, it'll burn green.

Yeah. Burn green.

Well, go on. Test it.

You pour the alcohol, and I'll pour the acid.

[ mutters ]

Pour.

That's enough.

Light it.

Rosie, what if it isn't?

Aaron, we'll go on looking for that gold mine together.

Now, light it.

It burns green, Rosie! A wonderful green!

Oh, Rosie![ laughing ]

It's borax!

Miles and miles of borax!

Oh, it burns green, Rosie! A beautiful green!

[ laughing ]

Aaron Winters sold his claim to W.T. Coleman of San Francisco.

Then he and Rosie settled down on a lovely ranch.

And near the marsh where Aaron found his cotton ball,

Mr. Coleman set up the Harmony Borax Works,

which still stands here in Death Valley.

Today, this important mineral helps bring you

glass, ceramics, automobiles, fiberglass,

and Death Valley Days.