The Story of Moore Charcoal

The Dream That Wouldn't Die

BY BOBBY D. MOORE  (FROM MY STRUGGLE, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BOBBY D. MOORE)

"The dream will die when I die, and maybe not even then!" 

Someone once called my mother a dreamer, and indeed she was, but she worked hard to make her dreams become realities. Dreams are a dime a dozen as are the dreamers who spawn them. Dreaming is easy, but forging the dream into the nuts and bolts of reality can be tough! The story of Moore Charcoal is indeed the story of a dream and the lifelong dedication to making it real. 

 MY STRUGGLE, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BOBBY D. MOORE, details my early interests in science and technology while the following account begins with my special  interest in the "black art" of charcoal making. But what drove this young man in his early teens to what was to become a lifelong obsession? There were at least half a dozen factors... not the least of which was poverty.

POVERTY is cruel. Like so many of life's realities, you can't understand it until you have experienced it!  Poverty and I know each other very well.  But the fact that I am quick to identify poverty as a motivator does not in any sense imply greed. From an early age I sought to escape from poverty and all that it implied, but not for the sake of greed.

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Clyde Vance (left) and Bobby beside Moore's first cinder block charcoal kiln during its first successful run in 1958. Clyde was Moore's lifelong friend and a superintendent at Tyler Fertilizer Co. a manufacturer of chemical fertilizers owned by chemist, Harold Lust

 A total of half a dozen of these small kilns were built  on the Moore homestead south of Tyler. They were eventually replaced with steel walled ovens and retorts which eliminated the devastating result of air leaks during the cooling cycle.

*Bobby Moore began making charcoal in 1954. He is currently the world authority on the production of wood charcoal.  Be sure to read the  article on...

"The History of Moore Charcoal; the Dream that Wouldn't Die" .

Ask for Moore  all natural hardwood charcoal at your favorite store.

Getting it Together! The Moore Charcoal Plant at Tyler was built from the bare ground up. There was very little to start such an ambitious project.; no concrete foundations, no steel,  virtually no tools, no on-site electriccity, no water, no gas, no money, no experience or professional guidance. Few available, meaningful references. But the necessary ingredients were there nevertheless: a surface to build upon, sod to make primitive charcoal kilns and hardwoods in nearby forests. Most importantly, there was this young man's seemingly endless energy and unshakable dedication to his cause.

In the many decades since its origin, Moore has produced wood charcoal which has been marketed  under numerous brand names including: Moore Charcoal, Ideal Charcoal,  Moore Horticultural Charcoal, Moore Charcoal Briquets, Blue Blazes Briquets,  Mission Smokeless Charcoal, White Glove Charcoal Briquets, and Sears Charcoal Briquets .  Non branded shipments went to activated carbon processors, potting soil producers, filter makers of various kinds,  and specialty uses too numerous to mention.