When a group of miners hit paydirt in the hills between Canyon County and Agua Dulce in 1907, it wasn't gold or oil. It was a form of borax - a whitish mineral used in soaps and myriad other applications. The Sterling Borax Co. formed in 1908 and vowed to give Francis M. Smith, the "Borax King," a run for his money. Smith eventually bought out the company. Along the way, one investor, Stephen T. Mather, made his first $1 million. It positioned him to become a big wheel in political circles; Mather went on to found the National Park Service. It's not a stretch to say some dirt in the SCV hills gave us our national parks.