Rock River Kilns - Onoto Township, Alger County, Michigan
Posted by: 
linkys
N 46° 27.568 W 086° 56.455
16T E 504537 N 5145100
Group 12 charcoal kilns used in the late 1800's to supply charcoal to the iron furnaces at Marquette.
Waymark Code: WMC9DK
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 08/12/2011
Views: 13
These kilns were constructed using local sandstone, and were of two different styles. Three were beehive or cone shaped and nine were shaped like tubs with iron reinforcing bands. Each of the styles were approximately 30 feet by 30 feet in size and used nearly an acre and half of hardwood with each firing cycle which took on the order of a week and a half.
Though it seemed at first as if the supply of hardwood was inexhaustible, it only took seventeen years from when they were built in 1879 for all the hardwood to be cut. Closed in 1896, the kilns today are mostly piles of rubble with a few sections of wall still standing. All traces of the other buildings that supported the kilns have disappeared.
Source: Interpretative sign and site observations
Type of Oven / Kiln: Wood / Charcoal
Status: Historical Site
Operating Dates: 1879 - 1896
Additional Coordinate: Not Listed
Additional Coordinate Description: Not listed
Website: Not listed
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