Ward Charcoal Ovens - Ward, NV
My parents instilled in me at a very young age a passion for archaeology and ruins. At the time I resented my mom for dragging me all over Arizona looking at ancient indian ruins. I felt that if you'd seen one abandoned building you'd seen them all. I never understood the significance and history like I do today. Over the weekend I drove to Ward, Nevada which is just outside Ely. This is a really great place for a weekend getaway. Lots of camping spots, off roading, fishing, swimming, etc. You name it, they got it. I went because I heard about these old charcoal ovens out in the middle of nowhere and I just had to see them for myself. The ovens were built around 1876 to provide charcoal for two silver smelters in the area requiring approximately 30 - 50 bushels of charcoal to produce one ton of ore. As the railroad indusrty grew charcoal was replaced by coke which is made from coal. The sign in front of the ovens say it all - "The real worth of the old charcoal ovens is th...