KILN QUEST - A Search of Charcoal Kilns Across Nevada

wayoflife

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Aside from the glitz, the glamor and the gambling that is all Las Vegas, there is another industry in Nevada that's almost as big and really, what helped it to become the 36th state in the Union - MINING! And, in spite of it being known as the "Silver State", mainly because of enormous strikes such as the Comstock Lode back in 1859, Nevada has since become the largest producer of gold in the United States. Today, mining is nothing short of a technological wonder but way back before miners had the modern day means to clear entire mountain sides, things like smelters had to be located close to the mines that were being worked on and tools had to be made by blacksmiths and on site. But, where do you get the kind of fuel that's needed to create the extreme heat both require, back in the 1800's and when you're out in the middle of nowhere? Well, you make your own.

Of course, charcoal is that fuel and it's what people have been using for thousands of years. And, throughout the boom years of Nevada's rich mining history, kilns were constructed across the multitude of mountain ranges that span the state and charcoal was made from the juniper and pinion pines that grew in them. A few years back, Cindy and I decided to go on a quest to start finding as many of them as we could or at least, here in Nevada and the following photos are from one of those expeditions.

Here's a shot of us heading out to the starting point of our expedition. Even though it was late in the day, we still decided to take the path less traveled to get there.
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Oh how we love the wide open Nevada desert.
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It'd been a while since we've been out this way and so we decided to check out a small canyon where people from a very long time ago used to gather.
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The petroglyphs in this canyon are truly amazing in that they're so pristine. A lot of places like this, one I grew up visiting especially out in California, have all since been trashed and or vandalized with new names and dates scratched into the rocks. None of that exists here.
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Such an awesome visit and with any luck, it'll remain that way for years to come. For now, it's time for us to make our way to our home for the night.
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And here we are - one of our most favorite places to be, the Mizpah!
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And who would come out to join us for all the fun? Our good friends Tony and Steph!
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The following morning, we loaded up our Jeeps and headed out to an area where we've visiting a handful of charcoal kilns in the past and started our adventures there.
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Of all the places where we've found charcoal kilns in Nevada, this area has without question, the greatest concentration of them.
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Built back in 1877 for a nearby mining company, the charcoal kilns measure 25 feet in diameter and as many as 600,000 bricks were used to build them.
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Each of these kilns could produce 1,400 bushels of coke with each burn.
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After leaving the first set of charcoal kilns, we weaved our way through a forest of pinion pines in search of another set that I had recently discovered.
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The trail we were on was thick, overgrown and looked like it hadn't been traveled in years or at least, not in anything as big as a 4-door Wrangler. Along the way, we came across one fallen tree and decided to clear it for the next traveler.
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The next set of kilns we were wanting to visit had no trail to it and so we would have to hoof it. Along the way, we could see that nobody had come this way on foot or otherwise for a very very long time. In fact, there were times when we thought that maybe we were on the wrong track but then, we came across some evidence of former inhabitants.
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After almost 2 miles in from where we started, we finally found what we came looking for hiding in the pinion pines.
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It was amazing to see that things like the iron door cover was still here.
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A final look before heading back to our Jeeps.
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Back in our Jeeps again, we continued our way up and over the mountain range we were on and here, the trail became narrow, rocky and in places, challenging.
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Up near the top of the pass, we were afforded awesome views of the canyon we came from.
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A little off camber shelf road never hurt anything or at least, so I thought. As I made my way through a pinion that was really growing into the trail, I discovered something was hiding in the thicket.
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And, that something lanced the sidewall of our 40" Cooper STT Pro.
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Fortunately, it was nothing a bottle jack and a little help from a friend couldn't change out.
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With the tire changed out, we worked our way down the back side of the mountain range and with the cover of darkness creeping in.
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Before loosing all our daylight, we found what we came looking for - another set of charcoal kilns only this time, they were made of stone.
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These charcoal kilns are located closer to the mine and were built back in 1872, about 5 years before the brick ones we saw earlier were built.
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Further down the canyon, we pulled into the old mining town at twilight.
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Back in 1870, a Shoshone Indian discovered gold in this area and by 1875, there were about a thousand people who lived and worked here.
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For the better part of 2 years, this town had a post office, saloons, a Wells Fargo office, a newspaper, a school and even a fancy literary society. Unfortunately, racial tensions amongst the Irish, Cornish and Central Europeans led to one of the very first race wars in Nevada. Settling the difference they had amongst each other, they focused their frustrations and ire against the lower paid Chinese and ultimately drove them out of town "with bullets and whips!"
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By 1897, the quality of the ore had degraded and by 1880, it had become all but a ghost town.
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The following morning, we got right back out on dirt and this time, we were on a quest to find a different kind of kiln.
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Along the way, we came across some interesting petroglyphs pecked out of a reddish colored canyon walls.
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And here we are, the kilns we came looking for. Unlike the ones we were seeing the day before, these are lime kilns.
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Lime kilns are used to produce quicklime or calcium oxide and it is used for a lot of different things. However, given the area and time these kilns were built, I can only guess that the quicklime was used to make construction mortar.
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Continuing our journey, we stopped over at an old hot springs.
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And here we are, back on the trail exploring just because.
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And we kept on going till the sun went down.
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Making our way back to pavement in the darkness of night.
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And that was the first of many Kiln Quests that Cindy and I have been on. We hope that you enjoyed the pics and the history and a big thanks goes out to our good friends Tony and Steph for helping to make this such a memorable trip! :)
 
Looks like a cool trip!! Have you ever thought about getting a metal detector and detecting around places like this? You’d probably find some really cool stuff!
 
That is so awesome! Thanks for sharing! The wife and I are big history lovers and I look forward to being able to do things like this with her!
 
Looks like a cool trip!! Have you ever thought about getting a metal detector and detecting around places like this? You’d probably find some really cool stuff!
You're really not supposed to do it but yeah, I've thought about it a lot. :D
That is so awesome! Thanks for sharing! The wife and I are big history lovers and I look forward to being able to do things like this with her!
So happy to hear you liked the pics and history :)
That is very cool, thanks for sharing. Nevada is a great state for Jeeping and exploring.
Happy to hear you liked the post. Nevada is great for Jeeping and exploring because 70% of the state is public land.
 
Talk about a blast from the past! That was a fun and memorable adventure. We're ready to go back my friend... Great trip report and awesome pics! Thanks so much for the good times and memories.
 
Yeah, maybe back in 2016. I don't know why I never made a trip report out of it. I kinda forgot about it until I just happened to stumble upon pics from it.
Yeah I was going to say it had to be from some time ago because Tony and steph were still driving their JK
 
Very cool trip. Nevada seems wide open for off-roading. Need to get there when other Jeepers are around. Tennessee is a ways away, but still doable. Loved this video!
 
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