Birch Creek Charcoal Kilns, Historical charcoal production facility near Leadore, Idaho.

The Birch Creek Charcoal Kilns are four surviving beehive-shaped kilns about 20 feet tall and 20 feet in diameter, built of brick made from local clay. They stand in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest near Leadore, Idaho, where the Forest Service runs the ruins as a public interpretive site.

These kilns were built in 1886 by Warren King from Butte, Montana, to produce charcoal for lead and silver ore smelting. They supported the Nicholia mining operations that were active in the region during that period.

These structures show how industrial production was organized in the late 1800s to support regional mining operations. The physical layout reveals the scale of labor and coordination needed to fuel the metal smelting industry of that era.

The site is easy to access with marked pathways allowing visitors to view the kilns from several angles. On-site interpretation helps understand the production processes and brings context to exploring the remains.

Each kiln burned 30 to 40 cords of Douglas fir per load, yielding about 1,500 to 2,000 bushels of charcoal over a two-day burn. At peak the operation employed 150 to 200 people and shipped an estimated 44,000 to 50,000 bushels a month to the Nicholia smelter.