Coketon-Douglas Coke ovens

Today we visited a site to see many abandoned coke ovens in a community known as Coketon-Douglas.  All the coke ovens were built into the side of the hill. Coke was made from coal in a process in which the coal was heated to high temperatures, without the presence of oxygen.  The coal was basically "baked" until the impurities were burned off but the carbon was left behind.  This allowed the coke to burn at an intense heat producing little smoke. This allowed the steel industry to use "carbonized coal" in their processes. Coke and iron ore would be mixed together, and then burned in a furnace. As the coke burned, it would remove the oxygen from the iron ore, converting it to metal.