The Hecla Consolidated Mining Company constructed the
kilns at Canyon Creek in the late 1800s.
The kilns are located in a narrow canyon at an elevation of about 6,500
feet in the Pioneer Range. Canyon Creek
tumbles down from the stony Pioneer Range to feed into the Big Hole River near
Melrose, Montana. Roughly halfway
between the kilns and Melrose, in the broad basin far below, the town of
Glendale (now a ghost town) grew around a smelter built for smelting the silver
ore from nearby mines.
The kilns at Canyon Creek were constructed to provide
charcoal as fuel for the smelting process at Glendale. Each kiln burned down 35 to 45 cords of wood
to produce charcoal. Many hundreds of
acres of timber were harvested from nearby slopes each year to supply
cordwood. The smelter at Glendale
operated from 1881 until 1900. Only the
smokestack and a few collapsing buildings remain at Glendale. The kilns, however, are still standing.
Yesterday, while on our way to the Big Hole Valley, I,
that girl, my sister, and my brother-in-law diverted to see the kilns. The kilns impressed me. Posted are three photographs I took while
there.
--Mitchell
Hegman
For more information,
try this site: http://www.foresthistory.org/Publications/Books/Origins_National_Forests/sec9.htm
Cool shots!
ReplyDelete