SH Archive 1876 Ward Charcoal Ovens in Nevada

[KD Archive]

This is the second thing pertaining to the state of Nevada I ran into tonight . The other one was the Ruins of Union Mine Shaft. Unfortunately, so far there are more questions than answers. Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park is an area designated for historic preservation and public recreation located 20 miles south of the town of Ely in White Pine County, Nevada. The 700-acre state park protects beehive-shaped charcoal ovens constructed in the latter half of the 19th century.

I call major BS on the dogmatic version pertaining to these specific beehive ovens? Try to order just one of those to your local construction company. The unsupported dome shaped structure might end up costing you a buck or two.

Beehive Ovens, Nevada​

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The charcoal ovens are associated with the silver mining ghost town of Ward, Nevada, established in 1876. The town at its peak had a population of 1500, two newspapers, a school, fire department, two smelters and a stamp mill. The town declined after 1880, with a fire in 1883 destroying a third of the town. The post office closed in 1888. Mining revived briefly in the 1930s and 1960s. The town has been mostly destroyed by repeated flash flooding in its low-lying site. Only the smelter, mill foundations and a cemetery are left.

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Six large ovens remain in excellent repair, 30 feet high, 27 feet in diameter, with walls 2 feet (0.61 m) thick at the base. The ovens were in operation from 1876 through 1879. They were built of quartz latite welded tuff by itinerant Italian masons who specialized in the ovens, who were known as carbonari.

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The area was under private ownership and management until 1956, when the Nevada State Park Commission was offered a permit to protect the ovens. Two privately owned parcels were transferred to the Nevada Department of Wildlife in 1968, and in 1969, 160 acres were transferred to the state park system to create a state monument. The area was designated a state park in 1994, when recreational facilities were added to the site.

Of course we have everything, starting with some huge devastating "fire", and ending with this site being off limits for any type of digging due to being declared a State Park.

These beehive ovens are a fun thing in general. While we do not normally think within certain parameters, but this time consider what it would take you personally to build one. Obviously you do not need one, but back in the day, most households allegedly had a beehive oven. And we are talking about the time frame of the thirteen colonies (between 1625 and 1775). While Wikipedia makes it sound like something common at the time, this thing below looks very much different from those huge beehive ovens above.

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Additionally for Ward, Nevada there was this small image of what is called a "Ward mine". I was unable to find a bigger picture of the entrance. I'll be honest I did not look that hard. Things appear to be fishy with underground Nevada, but I doubt any pictures found on the internet could make these waters less murky.

Coke Ovens, Arizona​

Funny, but in most of the other places these are called Coke ovens and used in conjunction with coal ore, but not the above Nevada ones.

Conveniently, these Arizona Coke Ovens are situated on a 189-acre section of private property where visitation is not allowed.

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Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park
Cochran, Arizona
Ward - Nevada Ghost Town
Ward Charcoal Ovens - Nevada

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I'll be straight up. All of this sounds like a bunch of baloney. To build something like this to prepare charcoal from locally harvested timber.

Where is the timber?

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KD: Beehive ovens built by Italian artisans in the deserts of Nevada to produce charcoal from locally harvested timber. How much more ridiculous does it have to sound for us to start questioning the BS narrative of the lying dogmatic science? What timber? What are the names of the italian "carbonari"?

Who really built these structures, when and for what purpose?

P.S. Googling for Coke Ovens produces some interesting results of its own.

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[Ishtar]

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Username: Ishtar
Date: 2018-09-13 09:12:11
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Reminded me of the “fire sudatorium” (sweat lodge) at the local Korean spa, so I looked up that angle...

Here’s some small overgrown beehive lodges in Ireland:

SWEATHOUSES - some spared stones of Ireland

 

[Archive]

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Username: Ice Nine
Date: 2018-09-13 14:44:14
Reaction Score: 3

Korben, maybe you need to come to my neck of the woods one day. I live within a few miles of cokes ovens, in several different locations. The ones pictured here in the town of Wilkeson are about 6 miles from me. And I know of 2 other locations that are close by as well. This was major coal country in the late 1800's early 1900's.

 

[KD Archive]

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Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2018-09-13 15:04:49
Reaction Score: 5

I might swing by.

The issue here in my opinion is not in what use we might have found for these ovens, but in tracking the history of their construction. Though at this very moment I know nothing about Wilkeson ovens.

I doubt some italian artisan masonry masters visited Wilkeson in the past. Which means there will be a dufferent story associated with their creation. Very often we are used to certain things just because they have been around for a while.

I will scrutinize anything 1870s, for there is no original construction documentation for any still standing structure out there. After a few buildings it becomes a pattern, which (for me) spells that there has to be a reason for this pattern.

 

[Archive]

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Username: Ice Nine
Date: 2018-09-13 15:23:09
Reaction Score: 1

I might swing by.

The issue here in my opinion is not in what use we might have found for these ovens, but in tracking the history of their construction. Though at this very moment I know nothing about Wilkeson ovens.

I doubt some italian artisan masonry masters visited Wilkeson in the past. Which means there will be a dufferent story associated with their creation. Very often we are used to certain things just because they have been around for a while.

Let me know, I'll put the coffee on!

Here is the history of the coke ovens in our area. I personally don't think it took master masons to build them, they are rather pedestrian. They are just a tool needed in the process of smelting coal. I can only speak to our area and history.

Coke oven park talk about construction

Town of Wilkeson, more coke oven info

 

[KD Archive]

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Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2018-09-13 16:05:43
Reaction Score: 3

Arches and domes, there was a reason we went away from those. We do have a plausible and reasonable explanation for it of course.

We also have plausible explanations for why we started using those in first place.

From here, it’s an individual choice of what to consider “normal”.

This, or some other mankind, used arches and domes for thousands of years, allegedly. We went away from those in the 1920s - 1930s. We also went away from quite a few of the other things in the process.

Ancient bridge construction as presented by Piranesi in the 18th century

Personally, I do not take arches and domes for granted. Especially under circumstances like these:

Beehive ovens built by Italian artisans in the deserts of Nevada to produce charcoal from locally harvested timber.

To me arches/domes appear to be an additional indicator of the split of before/after.

 

[BStankman]

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Username: BStankman
Date: 2018-09-14 08:37:58
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Beehive kiln for baking mud brick and pottery.
Hard to determine the culture, because they are used all over the world.



Is there a buried city nearby?
It looks like there might be.
Savages that lived in tee pees probably didn't build these.

 

[Archive]

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Username: CyborgNinja
Date: 2018-09-14 11:30:28
Reaction Score: 1

I will scrutinize anything 1870s, for there is no original construction documentation for any still standing structure out there.

Yeah, was 1870 even 1870? The timeline is not to be trusted.

 

[Archive]

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Username: Ice Nine
Date: 2018-09-14 14:22:38
Reaction Score: 1

I'm sorry I never did say, yes I think those beehive ovens in the Nevada dessert are very strange indeed, especially given their location. I would seriously like to know when there were forests there to use in those ovens. Also does the inside of them support the theory they were for making charcoal ?

Oh man, I've been looking into ancient beehive ovens..and holy cow, from the article, I love this bit.

"There is a three-foot by six-foot door at the front and a three-foot by five-foot opening at the upper rear of each structure.These ovens are approximately thirty feet tall and have an inner diameter of twenty five feet."
However, it’s unclear who built them, when and for what reason."

so they don't even know for sure if they were coke ovens, even though they talk about it.
Beehive ovens
There is another link to beehive tombs...where no human remains have ever been found, but some pottery, which would suggest human habitation. Well for corn sakes you dummies, people were living in these rock igloos, not smelting coal. Jeez
ancient beehive tombs

I think people lived in them. Built during a time between disasters, when that was all they had to use.

 

[Archive]

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Username: PrimalRed
Date: 2018-09-15 11:08:16
Reaction Score: 1

You can see the air holes placed around the bottom. These are most certainly charcoal/coke ovens.

You need some air initially to get the fire started, at which point the holes and door are plugged up, creating a low oxygen environment where impurities such as tree sap etc are cooked off from the wood/coal but the carbon is left intact and uncombusted. This pure carbon/coke is what allows fires to get hot enough to smelt metal- because there are no impurities left to dampen the chemical reaction.

 

[KD Archive]

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Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2018-11-15 05:17:37
Reaction Score: 2

Sleeping in the Coke Ovens

 

[Deleted member 65]

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Username: PrincepAugus
Date: 2018-11-15 05:31:10
Reaction Score: 0

An early sauna?

 

[BStankman]

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Username: BStankman
Date: 2018-11-15 08:54:27
Reaction Score: 1

Sleeping in the Coke Ovens

View attachment 12372

Survivors of an apocalypse might resort to that.

When the Hopi showed up, they would call them the ant people.
Living in a stone ant mound.