Frisco Peak

While in the San Francisco Mountains, exploring for charcoal kilns, we thought we'd take a side trip to the top of Frisco Peak (9,629') . . . the highest point of the range and a place we'd never been.  We were surprised by the views which allowed us to see west to the Snake Range, north to Delta and east to the Tushar's.  This mountain certainly had the feel of a much higher peak than we were expecting.

Looking north towards Delta and the Sevier Lake bed . . . which is just a large alkali flat

We had heard there was a hang gliding ramp at the summit . . .
Our friend, Mary, is practicing for her lift off!

I guess this register says all you need to know about the ramp . . .
According to Ramblers, a pilot has flown his hang glider 178 miles to Park City from this peak!

Scary, scary!
There's no turning back . . . once you're committed it's do or die!

There were even a few aspens at the top waiting for their summer leaves

Oh, did we mention there are "tons" of towers at the summit?
We assume this "sky mountain" provides a good place to put these transmitters

We were able to pull up the NGS Map and found that a benchmark had been placed here in 1971 . . . We found reference marker #2, which points to the benchmark, but were unable to locate it or reference marker #1

Upon further inspection, Allison located the drill hole where the benchmark was originally set . . . it didn't surprise us too much that it was missing as it was located in the middle of the road . . . however, the last reported observation of this benchmark, in 2008, showed it being present

Looking east towards the Tushar Mountains near Beaver . . .
You can see the road (in the lower right hand corner) that we took to reach the top of Frisco Peak . . .
The photo also shows the pinion pine flats where we have spent most of the day exploring charcoal kilns that once supplied the smelters in the town of Frisco, at the mountain's base
(Click on the picture for a larger view)

Frisco Peak even supported an observatory (The Willard L. Eccles Observatory) . . . 
It was placed here in 2010 by the University of Utah

Time to head back down and search for one more set of kilns

A special thanks to our friends, John & Mary, who took us to the top in their Side-by-Sides

Almost down . . .
Mary looking at the switchbacks that will take us down the steepest part of the road

What a nice surprise this side excursion was!  We have always wondered, as we passed by on our way to Great Basin National Park, what the views were like from the top of Frisco Peak.  We were leery about driving to the top because our friend Tom said the switchbacks were not passable with his truck in 2018 (instead, he parked his truck and hiked 6.5 miles with 2,200 ft of ascent for his Peakbagger post)  To our surprise, we found the road in very good condition and wouldn't hesitate to take our Tacoma to the summit.

21 Kilns Adventure

Several years ago Kent came across an article by the Utah Historical Society titled Charcoal Kilns. After reading the article he was surprised to learn that there were ten other kilns sites (besides the Frisco Kilns) located on, or near, the San Francisco Mountains.  He immediately began searching on Google Earth and after many hours was able to locate all of them.  Now that we knew where they were, it just became a matter of how to get to them, as most are located in places we didn't want to take our truck.  After approaching our friends, John & Mary (who have Side-by-Sides), and explaining our plan of seeing these kilns for ourselves, they were all in!

The explorers getting ready to set out on their adventure!
(Allison, Kent, John & Mary)

Three Kilns Spring

Our first stop of the day was Three Kilns Spring. They are located 8.3 miles away from the Frisco Smelter and were built sometime between 1877 and 1885 (as were all the other kilns).  They are the eastern most of the kilns and are located near a spring on private land - there were no access restrictions other than the spring itself.  Please respect the property so they can continue to be viewed by those interested in the mining history of the area.

Three Kilns Spring Kilns

The morning light and distant mountains provided a beautiful background for this kiln

After the charcoal production era ended, this kiln was used as a line-shack for livestock

Not only did it have a wooden door but also a wooden roof

One more picture of the explorers before they get ready to leave

One down and four more to go . . . 

County Line Kilns

County Line Kilns are located approximately 2.5 miles west/northwest of Three Kilns Spring.  The four kilns are certainly in a more deteriorated state than Three Kilns Spring, but we were impressed by the many different layers of construction material that was visible in their walls. While many of the kilns, on this trip, seemed to be constructed of native stone, these four kilns obviously employed the use of stone and adobe brick.

While not in the best shape, we found this particular kiln stood out as one of the more unique that we visited
(Notice the different shapes, sizes and color of stone and bricks, along with the vent holes)

Doesn't this kiln look like a castle turret from the middle ages?

Looking from the inside out through a vent hole . . . 
These were used to control the burn inside the kiln by being filled with earth or stones

Can you tell how impressed we were with this kiln?

Our companions who helped make this day a success!
(Come on, John & Mary, get out of there . . . we have more to go and see!)

Time to leave County Line Kilns
(If we could only get Allison out of the kiln . . . come on let's go!)

Two tilted mesas that we passed as we headed for Sawmill North Kilns

It wouldn't be a complete trip without finding a benchmark (or in this case a survey marker) . . . 
1921!

Sawmill North Kilns

These seven kilns were the highlight of our trip!  They were only two miles south (as the crow flies) of County Line Kilns, but required 12 miles of Side by Side travel to actually reach them.  Of the seven, six were complete, with only one missing it's conical dome.  Each of these kilns cost between $500 and $1,000 to build and could hold up to 32 cords of wood.  The wood was mostly pinon-pine and was cut year around, by the locals for $1.25/cord. The kilns would burn for three to seven days and then cool for another three to six.  Each cord made about 50 bushels of charcoal (a bushel weighs 17 lbs.).  In 1882, the charcoal sold for .16 cents per bushel, which worked out to about $256 for each burn.

What an amazing engineering feat!

Each kiln had two doors . . . one at ground level and the other about 2/3rds of the way up
Both had sheet iron doors that could be used to seal up the ovens . . .
Most of these kilns were built with their back to a low ridge, from which a ramp would be built to the upper door to make it easer to load the wood

Here's a view from inside a kiln . . . it gave us an eerie feeling . . . almost like being in a cathedral
The beehive kiln was designed by J.C. Cameron, of Michigan, and were know as Cameron's parabolic domes

Only this kiln had a ground entry door that was lined with bricks . . . 
This made it easier to seal the door during combustion

Another view from inside looking out . . .
The ovens were built from the inside up using scaffolding to reach the uppermost heights . . .
They range from 19 to 21 feet tall

Hard to believe that after almost 150 years these kilns are still standing in close to perfect condition!
(Certainly a testament to the men who built them)

Penstemon

A short ways from the kilns, Kent found this shaft

Although not terrifyingly deep, it did have a unique design of four foot cedar logs . . .
Makes you wonder . . . was this an abandoned mine or an old well?

One last look before heading to our next set of kilns

Heading for Tub Springs Kilns

Tub Springs Kilns

Tub Springs Kilns are located approximately two miles (again, as the crow flies) south/southwest of Sawmill North Kilns.  Although, we doubt this is their official name, we thought we'd call them Tub Springs Kilns rather than refer to them as Three Kilns.  We came across Tub Springs as we were trying to find the road which led to the kilns . . . which we never did locate.  In the end, we found a road that paralleled the kilns and then hiked .15 miles to them using GPS coordinates. 

This was the most compete kiln of the three

The charcoal was especially thick inside this kiln . . . almost stone like
Our understanding is that, after each use, the creosote was to have a white wash coating applied before the next burn . . . looks like the coal burners walked away from their kiln without cleaning it one last time

All that is left of this kiln was it's front door

Returning from our hike to the kilns . . . time to grab one more . . . Carbonate Gulch Kilns

Carbonate Gulch Kilns

The four Carbonate Gulch Kilns are located about 2.25 miles south of the Tub Springs Kilns.  By road, it was closer to 4.5 miles.  The Carbonate Gulch Kilns seemed to symbolize, not only an end to our day of exploring, but an end to an era for kilns that produced charcoal.  Bottom line:  making charcoal was expensive and wood reserves were dwindling.  (In 1882, the Frisco Smelters required 30,000 bushels of charcoal per month  . . . approximately 652 cords of wood)  In the end, charcoal was replaced by the cheaper and more efficient coke fuel which lead to the demise of the ovens.

This is all that remains of the two largest charcoal ovens at Carbonate Gulch

One of the kilns was still trying to hang on to it's incredible and unique history by showcasing the brick lined door opening

There are two more smaller kilns located about 100 yards northwest of the two main kilns . . .
They are located in a small draw, near the top of a little ridge

Here's a Google Earth shot of the east side of the San Francisco Mountains,
showing where each set of kilns was located
(Click on the picture for a larger view)

What a fun day of exploring with our friends . . . thanks John & Mary for making this adventure possible with the use of your Side-by-Sides!  If you are interested in seeing these kilns for yourself, please contact us and we will provide you with a Word document that has all the directions and GPS coordinates for each of the kilns.

Much of the information for the picture captions was taken from two articles:  Charcoal Kilns: A Photo Gallery and The Frisco Charcoal Kilns.  For additional information you may want to click on these links and do a little more reading about the Frisco Kilns.

Also, if you found this post interesting, we wanted to include a few links to other charcoal kilns that we have visited over the past several years:

Lamerdorf Kilns (Part of the Frisco Kilns network, but located about 20 miles south/southwest of Frisco . . . these Kilns still had a pair of sheet iron doors when we visited them in 2022.)

Panaca Summit Kilns & Bristol Wells Kilns in Nevada

Ward Charcoal Ovens, located 10 miles south of Ely, Nevada.  These are probably the best preserved of all the charcoal kilns in the local area of eastern Nevada and western Utah.

And finally, the Leeds Kiln, if you happen to be in the St. George area.

We have plans to go back to the San Francisco and Wah Wah Mountain Ranges to complete the known kilns in this area.  If you're interested, the remaining ovens are:  Kiln Springs (15 miles southwest of Frisco), Copper Gulch West and Copper Gulch South Kilns (on the west side of the San Francisco Mountains).

We hope this wasn't too "overwhelming" of a post!  We wanted to provide a comprehensive overview of the kilns/ovens that are located in western Utah . . . there are bits and pieces of all this information on the Internet, but we couldn't find an article that had it all summarized in one spot.  Hopefully, this post can be used as a resource for those who find an interest in the historical value of these unique structures!