Utah’s rich history is always fascinating, and we particularly treasure our little ghost towns. The town of Frisco was once a booming mining town, but now very little is left…except for these odd beehive-shaped structures:

The little ghost town of Frisco was once home to as many as 6,000 people, but today it's just a barren place with a few crumbling structures.
Google
You'll find Frisco west of Beaver, along UT-21.
Frisco got its start when silver was discovered in the area. The Horn Silver Mine opened in 1875, and it created plenty of jobs for miners. The mine was open for just 10 years, but during that time it produced millions of dollars worth of silver, gold, copper, and other precious metals.
Kayla D/Tripadvisor
In 1885, the mine collapsed. Luckily there were no fatalities, but the cave-in of the mine meant the eventual demise of Frisco, and it was a ghost town by 1910.
angela malo/Google

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Today, just a few structures stand in Frisco, including these strange, beehive-shaped structures. They're actually charcoal kilns, and they were used for smelting.
Chelsea Wolf/Google
Smelting is how precious metals are extracted from ore, and these charcoal kilns were a common method in the West during the late 1800s. Take a peek inside - you can still smell the charcoal smoke!
Chelsea Wolf/Google
There were once 36 charcoal kilns in Frisco; just five have survived. The kilns varied in size from 16 to 32 feet in diameter, and cost as much as $1,000 to build, no small sum of money in the late 1800s.
Holly Cutler/Google
Frisco and its kilns are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and you can pay them a visit.
Kayla D/Tripadvisor
Make sure to stay safe while you visit these abandoned structures. Please respect the history of this area, and don't vandalize or remove anything.

Have you visited Frisco? We’d love to hear about your trip and see your photos!

If you love Utah’s history, you might want to check out this national historic site in northern Utah where the whole world watched as history was made.

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