Discussion: Charcoal platforms

To answer Sam's question from the other thread: A charcoal terrace looks different on a steep slope from the way it looks in a flattish area. In steep areas, charcoal platforms (or charcoal terraces) appear as flat areas, generally around 10-15 meters across, that have been cut and filled into a slope. That is, they are dug in on the uphill side, so there is a wall there, and the material dug out is piled on the downhill side. They were in active use in the mid-to-late 1800s and early 1900s to make charcoal primarily for the very active steel industry. In the 19th century, all the railroads in the world ran on Salisbury steel wheels, made in Salisbury CT, and the CT steel industry imported charcoal from as far away as Michigan to keep the furnaces going. The general technique was to cut cordwood in four foot lengths and stack it in a sort of tepee arrangement on end. A hole was left in the middle of the stack for a chimney, and the whole stack covered with dirt. Burning logs were thrown in the chimney, and the pile of wood cooked for about two weeks to turn it to charcoal. The size of the charcoal terrace reflects that these stacks were generally about 30 cords of wood, and the flat, level character was required to keep the whole pile from sliding down the hill as it cooked and settled. At the height of the charcoal industry, most of the land in these parts was cleared, and it looked and smelled like hell.

Today, charcoal platforms are discernible by the flattened cut out shape, by the relative lack of vegetation because of remaining charcoal in the soil, and because if you dig down a bit (an inch will do generally), you'll find bits of charcoal. In my terrain, they make awesome campsites, as it would be a major hassle to pitch a tent anyplace else in steep rocky woods.

At Gay City, which is relatively flat, they are built up higher than the surrounding area, and generally recognizable by a little moat around them. I guess they are built up to keep rain from pooling there, but I'm not sure. I think they are harder to see there than they are on a steep slope.

They are often good point features for control locations because of their relatively small size, and because they do stand out in the terrain if they are on a steep enough slope and haven't eroded into the surrounding terrain. Sometimes they are vague enough that they shouldn't be mapped. In my opinion, if you can't decide if something is or is not one, it should be left off the map.

(from the other thread)
Oh yeah, the Silver Mine "camping platforms". I pulled out an old map. These were actually shown with a brown square, a decision I won't try to defend. At the time ('79), I was obviously not well acquainted with charcoal terraces, although I had probably already learned about the British "terrace" symbol the year before. I learned about Norwegian "kolabanner" shortly afterwards, but these struck me as a "nothing" feature.

At the time of mapping, I thought these Silver Mine features were an abandoned (depression era?) public works project, like many of Harriman's facilities. Given that this was a public works feature, I didn't worry about a rational. :-)

These features might indeed be charcoal terraces, however their occurence here is a bit perplexing. This is the only place I know of, in or near Harriman, with this feature. They occur here in relatively small clusters, unlike other charcoal terrace regions where the networks cover many sq. miles. I think the amount of "charcoal forest" needed to support a forge was very large. Maybe this charcoal was for another purpose?

Also, these terrace clusters are on some of the steepest and rockiest slopes, certainly not a first choice for the operation. Then again maybe this was the only remaining forest at the time.

The local distribution of the terraces looks plausible for charcoal, but the network is denser than what I am used to in PA. Are the networks in "nearby" CT denser?

They're definitely charcoal terraces; there are some on the West Point maps too (though unmapped). There were a number of forges or "furnaces" in that area during Revolutionary times, including one on the old Turkey Hill map with remnants still visible and marked today.

The ones I have are reasonably spaced out - maybe a dozen or so on 1/2sq km. Many (but by no means all) of them are near roads, which makes sense for the wagons transporting the charcoal away. A surveyor I've used told me that he often finds them near property lines. Making a bunch of them close together might be useful if you wanted to supervise several piles at once. On the other hand, you probably would want to make the charcoal near where you cut the wood. Once you make one, you can use it over and over. I've looked for evidence of a collier's hut, but haven't seen anything.

EricW wrote I think the amount of "charcoal forest" needed to support a forge was very large. Maybe this charcoal was for another purpose?


just an unsupported guess, but charcoal was also a component of gunpowder, could their occurence near west point be for something along these lines rather than stoking forges? Or perhaps smaller specialty forges? I don't know the history of West Point etc, so the dates could be all whacked...

Also, these terrace clusters are on some of the steepest and rockiest slopes
although I suspect eric's suggestion that the easier to access forest might have already been cleared, it could also be that there were different tree species on the steeper slopes which may have resulted in a different quality of charcoal - perhaps certain applications of charcoal required different 'grades'?

I understand that american chestnut was the preferred wood: better quality charcoal, and faster sprouting and re-growing, so you can do it again. Charcoal was generally cooked in mixed hardwood batches and separately in chestnut-only batches. Softwoods were not generally used. Hemlock was used for tanning.

One thing for sure: you never saw Tangerine trees used for charcoal making, not even near West Point, which does, incidentally, sit in Orange County, just like Disneyland and Disneyworld.

so are you saying those that come out of West Point have something in common with Mickey Mouse?

Here is a photo of an Italian charcoal platform from the Italy WC page. This particular one looks very much like a French Creek style terrace.

Interestingly, it appears that Janos Soter has done the updates on all the Italy WC maps. Janos made SVO's Rocky Ridge map (York, PA) and lived with Brad Whitmore while he was working on it. He's from Hungary, I believe. Here's a link to the Italy WC map and course-length page. Check the 1:4000 scale for the sprints, and the "non-decimal" expected winning times of all the races.

Does this imply that they are mapped with brown Xs? (What's with that map inset?)

Anyway, since this is like the Italian FCE, you and Randy better do really well at this WC or I'll beat on you.

Brown Xs -- hmm. I was going to suggest brown discs with a black X (man-made circular topographical features)

Janos has also done other mapping in the US, including work on the WOC93 maps (Rockhouse, and part of Surebridge). Very nice fellow, I commuted with him in the fall of 1991. Doesn't speak English very well, though... :-)

From the "other" charcoal discussion in the mega thread before it split off here:

QOC's Mont Alto (in PA) also uses black circles for Kolbottens, but thats the only other place I've seen that symbol used. I was expecting a Cairn on arrival, but there's no dot in the middle of the black circle. It was a strong platform as platforms go. One of the maps (Monte Livata) for the upcoming WC in Italy uses brown X's on the map for Kolbottens. There are millions of them. Like French Creek times 3. "piazzola per carbonaia"

Yeah, brown X for platforms in Italy. The forest even looks a little like FC, but its mucho steeper. Livata is the long and relay map.

:) Brad said the same thing about Janos. Apparently he'd come home from mapping at Rocky Ridge, spread his arms wide and say "BIIIIGGGG rocks"

Steeper, schmeeper. You got the legs ready for that out at Lake George. This, along with honed charcoal platform hunting prowrress will make Italy a breeze. And when you're all done, you will have truly earned a pizza - with or without citrus fruit.

I was on map in the Czech Republic that a special symbol defined for little terraces---I don't know if they were charcoal platforms or just little terraces. They mapped them with Symbol 115, "Small Depression", except they rotated it to point up the slope. I assumed it would point downhill, like the contour just below the platform, but they did the opposite: They mapped the contour above the platform, which was U shaped as if someone dug out a little reentrant to make the terrace. There are only a couple of instances of it on the map---I can't figure out why they bothered with the special symbol. It's called a Plosinka, which means "little platform." I do like it as a representative shape (rather than an X, especially), but I do favor having it point downhill rather than up. It wouldn't be representative on flat areas, though.

I came across charcoal platforms this summer at both the O-ringen and Switzerland. They were a bit more obvious in Switzerland, as they were flat spots in a slope. At O-ringen, however, they were flat spots in generally flat areas. Most of the Canadians thought they were imaginary, although we were assured by a Swede that there is some vegetation difference on them, and besides, if you dug, you would find charcoal. Nonetheless, I would never use them to navigate. It was far easier to find to control on them than to actually find the feature.
From a mapping point of view, in Switzerland charcoal platforms were a brown x, and in Sweden they were a black circle. I thought the black circle was a bit misleading as I kept expecting to see some obvious rock feature, when in reality there was nothing.

Of course, black doesn't necessarily mean rock feature, it can mean man-made features (which charcoal platforms are, if not imaginary). (Or even if imaginary I guess.)