Cottonwood Charcoal Kilns / Cartago CA
**For those wondering how TSG got inside the fenced-in area to take pics from the inside of the kilns...technically-speaking, no trespassing was involved. When we drove up we were kind of bummed to see the fence and were resigned to having to shoot through/over it. However, if you look closely at the last photo you can see the open gate at the far corner. Now, whether that gate was supposed to be locked...we don't know, but there wasn't any prohibitive signage and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go inside for a few snaps.
2 comments:
Yep. Clear case of the open-door policy in action.
Those are the largest charcoal kilns I've ever seen; I'm used to rather small crucibles for that particular job. Looking at the surrounding terrain, one also has to ask, what they heck were they burning to make charcoal? And in such obvious quantities?
Well, they were burning any trees they could find--and that's the big reason why the surrounding hills are so bare. The mines in the area had a voracious appetite for charcoal--once they cut down all the trees near the mine they had to go further afield--they were chopping down forests 20 or 30 miles away.
An even "better" example of these type of kilns can be found about 100 miles away in Death Valley's Wildrose Canyon: Death Valley Charcoal Kilns
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