Charcoal Kilns
The Wildrose Charcoal Kilns were completed in 1877 above Death Valley in the Panamint Range, and were used to reduce Pinyon and Juniper tree wood to charcoal in a process of slow burning in low oxygen. This fuel was then transported to mines in Death Valley to feed smelting and ore extraction operations.
Although the mines themselves were worked intermittently until about 1900, there is no clear evidence that the charcoal kilns were operational after 1879. They were restored by Navajo Indian stonemasons from Arizona in 1971.
The kilns were located here as the trees Single-leaf Pinyon Pine (Pinus monophylla) and Utah juniper ( Juniperus osteosperma) dominate the landscape in the upper Panamint Mountains. Shrubs of Mormon Tea (Ephedra sp.), such as Death Valley ephedra (Ephedra funerea), are spaced between them, with other xeric sub-shrubs and native bunchgrasses.
Other historic charcoal kilns in the United States include the Cottonwood Charcoal Kilns at Owens Lake, the Piedmont Charcoal Kilns in Wyoming, and the Walker Charcoal Kiln in Arizona.
Read more about this topic: Places Of Interest In The Death Valley Area
Famous quotes containing the word charcoal:
“For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 26:20-21.