This long, low masonry bank of coke ovens is the only surviving structure from Nuttallburg's earliest days. Workers used the ovens to convert coal into coke, a hot-burning fuel used extensively by iron furnaces and valued for adding market value to the coal mining operation. One of the first things John Nuttall did when he opened the Nuttallburg Mine in 1873 was build 80 coke ovens. Making coke involved loading raw coal through the top of the oven, sealing it, allowing it to burn for several days under a regulated flow of air, and then pulling the coke from the bottom after the volatiles had burned away, leaving high-carbon fuel that burned hotter than coal. Workers produced coke here for nearly 50 years, but changing markets and new technology made the ovens obsolete, and historians believe they have been idle since about 1920. Former workers and residents recalled pulling coke as hard work and remembered the terrible smoke that many people in the camp had to breathe.