Ward Charcoal Ovens - south of Ely, Nevada
Posted by: 
Volcanoguy
N 39° 02.222 W 114° 50.840
11S E 686315 N 4323091
The Ward Charcoal Ovens south of Ely, Nevada were placed on the National Register in 1971.
Waymark Code: WMTQJ1
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 12/30/2016
Views: 2
The Ward Charcoal Ovens south of Ely, Nevada are considered Nevada's most outstanding and best preserved beehive ovens and were placed on the National Register on Sept. 28, 1971.
The following information comes from the NRHP files: (
visit link)
Ward was a mining town located 15 miles south of present day Ely in the Egan Mountain Range. The town, now a short distance off Highway U.S. 6,50,93, was platted in 1876, and supported a population of 1500. It was composed of stores, saloons, a city hall, breweries, fraternal orders, a hook and ladder company, a school, two newspapers, a post office, two smelters, and a 20 stamp mill with three furnaces. Little remains of the town of Ward. Located in a canyon, most of the town has been destroyed by run-off and flash floods. A cemetery, smelter, and mill foundations are left at the town site.
On the edge of the Juniper-pinion forest two miles south of town stand 6 excellently constructed stone ovens built in 1876 and used to reduce those trees to charcoal for use in smelters.
The ovens at Ward are larger than average, 30 feet high, with a floor diameter of 27 feet and walls 2 feet thick at the base. They are built of random stone square faced to the exterior, with dressed stone forming the frames of the charge and discharge doors. The arched stone roofs derive their sole support from the highly skilled manner in which their stones are fitted together. A charge door for receiving wood is located high on the back of the oven and a discharge door for removing charcoal at ground level on the front. Both openings were fitted originally with heavy iron doors which closed against an iron frame set into the doorway, thereby effecting a nearly airtight seal. All air necessary to control the burning process was supplied through a series of small vents built into the kiln wall.