Charcoal Kilns | |
Nearest city | Leadore, Idaho |
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Coordinates | 44°18′40″N113°10′44″W / 44.31111°N 113.17889°W Coordinates: 44°18′40″N113°10′44″W / 44.31111°N 113.17889°W |
Area | 6 acres (2.4 ha) |
Architect | Warren King |
NRHP reference No. | 72001577 [1] |
Added to NRHP | February 23, 1972 |
The Birch Creek Charcoal Kilns are a group of beehive-shaped clay charcoal kilns near Leadore, Idaho, built in 1886. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The kilns were built in 1886 to produce charcoal to fuel the smelter at Nicholia, which smelted lead and silver ore from the Viola Mine located about 10 miles east of the kilns. [2] [3] [4] [5] The Viola ore deposit was discovered in 1881 and was mined until 1888, when the ore was depleted and the price of lead had fallen. [3] [6] The Nicholia smelter, located about 3 miles west of the mines, had two blast furnaces, each with a daily capacity of 40 short tons (36 t) of ore. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
A Butte, Montana, man named Warren King built 16 kilns from brick made from local clay, possibly obtained from Jump Creek on the east side of the Birch Creek valley. The beehive-shaped kilns are each about 20 feet (6.1 m) tall and 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter. When operating, each kiln used 30 to 40 cords of Douglas fir wood per load, producing about 1,500 to 2,000 bushels (70 cubic meters) of charcoal over a two-day burn. The kiln operation lasted for less than three years, employing 150 to 200 people at its peak, and had a monthly output estimated at 44,000 to 50,000 bushels (1550 to 1762 cubic meters) of charcoal. [2] [3] [4] [5] [7]
The ruins of four kilns survive. [2] [5] They are located on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, which operates the location as a public interpretive site. [3] [7] Nicholia is now a ghost town, with only a few ruins remaining. [8] There are no surviving remains of the town of Woodland, a short distance south of the kilns, where the kiln workers lived. [2] [5] The kilns were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The listing included four contributing structures on 6 acres (2.4 ha). [1] In 1987, a volunteer-assisted stabilization effort prevented one of the kilns from collapsing. [9] The Forest Service undertook a restoration of the kilns in 2000. [4]
Lemhi County is a county located in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,974. The largest city and county seat is Salmon. The county was established in 1869, named after Fort Lemhi, a remote Mormon missionary settlement from 1855 to 1858 in Bannock and Shoshone territory.
The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range in the northern Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, eastern California. Dr. Darwin French is credited as applying the term Panamint in 1860 during his search for the fabled Gunsight Lode. The orographic identity has been liberally applied for decades to include other ranges.
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Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park is an area designated for historic preservation and public recreation located 20 miles (32 km) south of the town of Ely in White Pine County, Nevada. The 700-acre (280 ha) state park protects beehive-shaped charcoal ovens constructed in the latter half of the 19th century.
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Charcoal Kilns may refer to:
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Charcoal Kilns were built by Moses Byrne, 1869, to supply the pioneer smelters in the Utah Valley.
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The Tybo Charcoal Kilns are a pair of charcoal kilns located 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Tybo, Nevada. Both kilns are 30 feet (9.1 m) tall and 25 feet (7.6 m) in diameter and were built from rocks and mud. The kilns each have three openings: a top opening, a door at ground level, and a rear window with a ramp for wood wagons. The kilns were among 15 built in 1874 for the Tybo Consolidated Company. The company, which mined the region's silver, used charcoal to fuel its smelting furnace. To acquire its fuel, it imported wood from nearby hills, which it then converted to charcoal in the kilns.
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