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Thursday, February 27, 2014

The Charcoal Kilns in Wildrose Canyon in Death Valley National Park





Modoc Consolidated Mining
Company had ten charcoal
kilns built in 1877.

Each is about 25 feet tall.












Nearby stands of wood
 supplied the kilns.












Wood was charred 
until coal remains.















Charcoal produced here provided
 fuel for smelting silver
 mined in the Argus Range.





The finished product was packed out on donkeys and taken to smelters twenty-five
miles away.








Nothing remains of the tents
& crude cabins that housed
the men who worked the kilns.




The charcoal kilns didn't produce much income and charcoal production stopped in 1879.  These kilns are among the best preserved kilns in the western United States.

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