In 1882, George Morrison hired Nicholas Paul to build four charcoal ovens, with help from Ole Hans Jacobson and Herman Lundahl, and at one time Christian Overson was in charge of operations. Wood cut in mountain canyons to the east was made into four-foot logs, loaded onto mules and horses, hauled to the mouth of the canyon, and then brought by wagon or cart to the ovens. Each mule carried about one-fourth cord of wood, and 18-year-old Mathias Caeb Dutson made three such trips each day, totaling three cords. John Carson, Louis Nielson, and other local men also helped cut and haul the wood and fire the ovens. At the ovens, the wood was put through the charge door, stacked on end around and above a wooden fireplace built in the center and filled with chips and shavings for tinder, until the oven was full at about 25 cords. A long torch lit the tinder, and the fire's oxygen supply was controlled by placing or removing rocks in holes around the base, while the color of the smoke guided control of the burn. After six to eight days, all air was shut off to smother the fire, the ovens and wood were allowed to cool, and the charcoal was removed and sold. The charcoal was used by smelters in making steel, as insulation to keep foods at an even temperature, for cooking on trains and elsewhere because it burned hot and smokeless, and by blacksmiths in their forges. The record is not clear on exactly how long the ovens were used, but their operation appears to have overlapped by one year with the establishment of the Ibex Smelter in 1895 two miles to the northwest; when that smelter closed after one year because of lack of ore, the use of the charcoal ovens probably ended.