Charcoal Kilns

Sixteen kilns stood six miles west of here, and four remain. Warren King, a Butte man, built them in 1885 and 1886 of brick from local clay, beehives about twenty feet high and as wide, and at their peak they kept as many as 200 people cutting the Lemhi Range's Douglas fir and burning it down for Nicholia's two blast furnaces. When the smelter closed the work stopped with it. Settlers carted off the bricks of twelve kilns for their own buildings; the four left were listed on the National Register in 1972 and repaired in 2024 and 2025.

What the plaque says

Charcoal Kilns Charcoal for a smelter, active from 1885-1889 across the valley at Nicholia, was produced in 16 kilns 6 miles west of here. Discovered in 1881, the Viola mine became an important source for lead and silver from 1886-1888. Ore also was hauled from Gilmore to the Viola smelter. British capital kept the Viola mine going until 1889, when the hoisting works burned. Low prices for lead and silver kept the smelter shut down after 1889, and charcoal production ceased here. You are invited to take a self-guided tour of the kilns, provided by the Targhee National Forest. 296 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by the Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Cote's Defile — steps away
• Gilmore — 12 mi
• Prehistoric Man — 16 mi