While silver-lead ingots were being carted down the mountain from the Cerro Gordo mines and ferried across Owens Lake en route to Los Angeles, charcoal from these kilns on the west shore of Owens Lake, 14.4 miles south of Lone Pine on today's U.S. Highway 395, was being shipped the other direction to fire the smelters.

Back of ~1950s postcard reads: "Cottonwood Charcoal Kilns — Hwy. 395. In 1873, Col. Sherman Stevens built a sawmill west of this spot. Here the wood was turned to charcoal, taken across the Owens Lake by steamer, then hauled by wagons to Cerro Gordo Mine, in the Inyo Mountains above Keeler." Color photo by Louis and Virginia Kay; non-denominated card No. H-2980 distributed by Columbia Wholesale Supply, 11401 Chandler, North Hollywood, Calif.

The plaque next to the kilns gives the longer version:

Stevens sawmill at Horseshoe Meadows

Cottonwood Charcoal Kilns

In June 1873 Colonel Sherman Stevens built a sawmill and flume on Cottonwood Creek high in the Sierra directly west of this spot. The flume connected with the Los Angeles Bullion Road. The lumber from the flume was used for timbering in the mine and buildings, and the wood was turned into charcoal in these kilns, then hauled to Stevens Wharf east of here on Owens Lake. There it was put on the steamer the "Bessie Brady" or the "Mollie Stevens," hauled directly across the lake, and from there wagons took 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 the Cerro Gordo and this charcoal was necessary to continued production.

The bullion which was then taken out by the reverse of this route was hauled to Los Angeles on Remi Nadeau's 14, 16, 18 animal freight wagons and played a major part in the building of that little pueblo into the city of today.