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Raymond M. Turner
A dirt road still ran down the old main street in 1984, but most of the evidence of the townsite were gone. The pads for the tent houses are still apparent along the sides of the road, as well as in other parts of the large Furnace townsite. Most of the vegetation in the townsite is Hymenoclea salsola (cheesebush) and Achnotherum speciosum (desert needlegrass), with scattered intermediate-lived species such as Ephedra nevadensis (Mormon tea). In plant transects measured in 1981, Sphaeralcea ambigua (globe mallow) occurred in significant densities here. Some of the regrowth of Larrea tridentata (creosote bush) in the background is the result of root-crown sprouting. Historical accounts tell us that above-ground branches of Larrea were harvested for firewood during the winter of 1906-1907. (Raymond M. Turner)