Between 1876 and 1879, the Charcoal Ovens were built to produce charcoal from pinyon pine and juniper.
Today they’re the main attraction in Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park.
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The ovens take their name from Thomas Ward who founded a local mining district in 1872.
Each of the six ovens stood thirty feet tall and was twenty-seven feet in diameter at the base.
The walls are 20-inches thick, made from rocks with three rows of vents.
Wood was cut into 5-foot to 6-foot lengths and stacked inside the ovens vertically using the lower door.
The loaded oven was ignited and the metal door was cemented shut.
The technique of burning wood to produce charcoal can be traced back to traditional Old World practices.
Charcoal production was especially common in the Alps, in Scandinavia, and in Eastern Europe.
Charcoal burners traditionally used shallow pits without the benefit of permanent structures.
The charcoal burners consumed pinyon and juniper, which was of little use for building or for mine supports.
After suffering from vandalism and natural erosions, the long-abandoned ovens became a state park in 1957.
These Ward ovens are the best-preserved of their kind in Nevada.
Sources:Wikipedia,NV.gov,Online Nevada
