Charcoal Kilns (cont'd) no no Photos courtesy Guild family Charcoal kilns fueled Wyoming ghost town By BECKY WRIGHT Standard-Examiner staff bwright@standard.net Piedmont is a ghost town. The few remaining buildings, with empty windows and collapsing roofs, are surrounded by sagebrush. The town's settlers are buried in small graveyards on the hills. A sheepherder was the last resident. He froze to death in 1949, which is a little ironic because the southwestern Wyoming community of Piedmont used to be a hot town. Settled in about 1867, Piedmont drew folks like moths to a flame. Most came to build the railroad, but some tended fires in the town's charcoal kilns, which provided fuel for Utah's mining industry. Three of the original kilns, built in 1869, still stand. Beehive-shaped and made of stone, the kilns measure 30 feet high and 30 feet across. Recognizing the historical importance of the site, the state of Wyoming purchased the kilns some years back. This past summer, state workers did some preservation work and erected signs explaining the kilns' origins and purpose. The rest of the old town buildings are on private land, owned by descendants of the original pioneer settlers who moved there IF YOU GO DRIVE TIME: About 1 hour and 45 minutes from Ogden. HOW TO GET THERE: Take Interstate 80 east to Wyoming. Get off I-80 at Exit 24, Leroy Road (this is east of Evanston, but not as far as Fort Bridger). A sign at the bottom of the exit ramp directs travelers to Piedmont via County^ Road 173, a dirt road that is a former railroad grade. The kilns are about sevens miles south. HOURS: Open daylight hours ADMISSION: Free WHAT TO SEE AND DO: Three standing charcoal kilns, and the founda-^ tions of two others. Just beyond the kilns! is the ghost town of Piedmont. FACILITIES: None. Be sure to fill up I your vehicle's gas tank, and use the re- stroom, before heading to Piedmont. ACCESSIBILITY: The kilns and town can be viewed from the road. To see inside the kilns, you must use wooden stairs. ERIN HOOLEY/Standand-Examiner Wendy Peterson stands in the entry of one of the restored charcoal kilns in Piedmont, Wyo. from Weber County. Pioneering Piedmont Piedmont's charcoal kilns were built by Moses Byrne. Born in England in 1820, Byrne joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints and immigrated to Utah in 1854. See PIEDMONT I Page 6D GHOST TOWN ADVICE Philip Varney, author of "Ghost Towns of the Mountain West" (Voyageur Press, 2010) offers this advice for enjoying a visit to Piedmont, or any other ghost town: • Find out about the town's history. • Go to the library, to copy and study a government-made topographic map of the town. It may reveal details such as kilns and railroad grades. (A freehand drawing of Piedmont can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont,_Wy- oming.) • At the town, drive end to end, or walk end to end, to get a feel for the place. • Be respectful of the locals. Don't be obnoxious, but if you meet someone who lives near town, be friendly and listen to their stories. "If you go to a ghost town and meet only ghosts, you will have missed some of the greatest treasures there," said Varney. Standard WWW.STANDARO.NET |^LIDES SLIDESHOWS: More photos of Piedmont and some historical photos courtesy of the settlers' descendants