People often ask us why were aren’t open on Saturdays…. because we want to play in the desert! This run took us to the Florence Coke Ovens. You can see the brick ovens in the background of one of the pictures. The ovens were used to reduce mesquite wood to coke (a hotter burning fuel) for use in smelting gold and silver ore taken from surrounding mines. The beehive shaped stone coke ovens are each about 25 ft in diameter and 30 ft in height. Each has a ground level entry and a few upper level vents. The mesquite wood burned slowly for days in the ovens yielding the coke. The new fuel was then transported directly across the Gila River to the community of Cochran (now a ghost town) and the smelters. All in all, a fun day! (P.S. We did have to rescue another jeep!) [ws_table id=”2″]