Cottonwood Charcoal Kilns

In June 1873 Colonel Sherman Stevens built a sawmill and flume on Cottonwood Creek high in the Sierra’s directly west of this spot, and the flume connected with the Los Angeles Bullion Road. Lumber from the flume was used for timbering in the mines and for buildings, while wood was turned into charcoal in these kilns and hauled to Stevens Wharf on Owens Lake. There it was loaded onto the steamer The "Bessie Brady," or the "Molly Stevens" hauled it directly across the lake, after which wagons carried it up the "Yellow Grade" to Cerro Gordo Mine high in the Inyo Mountains above Keeler. M. W. Belshaw's furnaces had used all available wood around Cerro Gordo, so this charcoal was necessary to continue production. Bullion taken out by the reverse of this route was hauled to Los Angeles on Remi Nadeau’s fourteen, sixteen, and eighteen animal freight wagons and played a major part in the growth of that little pueblo into the city of today.

California · United States