However, one of the earliest successful mining operations was the Harmony Borax Works, which was active from 1883 to 1888. This mill was famous not for its ore deposits, but for the Twenty Mule Team wagons used to transport the partially refined borax.

With renewed interest in gold and silver mining, the early 1900's witnessed a number of new mines and settlements. Skidoo, Rhyolite, and Keane Wonder Mine became large-scale operations. The boom towns which sprang up around these mines flourished during the first decade of the 20th century but, soon slowed down after the panic of 1907. Prosperous large-scale metal mining in Death Valley ended around 1915.

In February, 1933 President Herbert Hoover signed the proclamation creating Death Valley National Monument, which resulted in a temporary closing of monument lands to prospecting and the filing of new mining claims. However, by prior agreement the monument was quickly reopened to prospecting and mining by Congressional action in June of the same year.
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As improvements in mining technology allowed lower grades of ore to be processed and new heavy equipment allowed greater amounts of rock to be moved, mining in Death Valley improved. Open-pit and strip mines for borax and talc began to scar the landscape as internationally-owned mining corporations bought claims in highly visible locations of the national monument. However, the public outcry that later ensued led to greater protection for all national park areas. Congress passed the Mining in the Parks Act in 1976 which closed Death Valley National Monument to the filing of new mining claims, banned open-pit mining and required the National Park Service to examine the validity of thousands of pre-1976 mining claims. Mining was allowed to resume on a limited basis in 1980 with stricter environmental standards.

In 1994, when the area became the Death Valley National Park, the park assumed  jurisdiction over hundreds of additional unpatented mining claims. For the next decade, the Billie Mine, an underground borax mine along the road to Dante’s View, was the only active mine in the park. In 2005, when the Billie Mine closed, the last of Death Valley's mines had ceased operations.

In its wake, mining created more than a hundred ghost towns and mining camps in Death Valley, though these are quickly decaying, due to weather, vandalism and neglect. Throughout the valley are the ruins of mills, metal and stone buildings, mine openings and few still intact towns.

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