Tony Beets of Gold Rush fame, has made a name for himself by reviving historic dredges to mine his claims. Today, these massive multi-story mining machines are relatively rare. Back in the day, however, they were the giants of the industry.
Pennsylvania Dredge near Oroville. Built by Golden State Miner’s Iron Works. (1901)
The Preston and Oroville Dredging Company dredge, Oroville. (1901)
Syndicate Dredging Company’s dredge at Folsom. This dredge, constructed by the Risdon Iron Works, was of the open-link-bucket elevator type, electrically driven and equipped with 5 cubit foot buckets. (1901)
River Monsters
Gold dredges were all-in-one placer mining assembly lines: a belt of buckets picked up gold bearing material and dumped it onto a sluice box while oversized tailings would be discarded behind the dredge. These machines could process yards of gold bearing sand, gravel, and dirt in minutes. Dredge No. 4 near Dawson City, Yukon could process 18,000 cubic yards of material in a single day. Unlike pick and shovel wielding miners, a dredge could operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Bucket line of the Isabel Gold Dredging Company Dredge. Jenny Lind. Buckets have a 6.5 cubit foot capacity. Equipped with Bucyrus machinery. Dredge has two stackers. (1919)
Sluice and manganese cast grid plates over Hungarian riffles on the Trinity Dredge. (1922)
Water running through the sluice mounted on pontoon at stern of the Trinity Dredge. (1922)
View of stern showing two stackers for the Isabel Gold Dredging Company Dredge, Jenny Lind. Buckets have a 6.5 cubit foot capacity. Equipped with Bucyrus machinery. This boat operates on a center spud and the stern spud is never used. (1919)
Stacker of the Dredge #3, American Gold Dredging Company on the Mokelumne River near Clements (9 cubic foot capacity buckets, rebuilt with Bucyrus machinery.) (1919)
Tailings piles from Pennsylvania Dredge near Oroville. Built by Golden State Miner’s Iron Works. (1901)
Big Stakes
These dredges represent an era of gold mining with big steaks, high risks, and huge profits. Companies would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a dredge—an investment that could sink the endeavor if the land was was not as rich or accessible as anticipated. (Also, the dredge could literally sink.) Yet, a successful dredge could extract hundreds of ounces of gold in a day. The Dredge No. 4 extracted up to 800 ounces in a day. But The story of most gold dredges would conclude with that day that the profitability of the dredge became less than the cost of operating it.
Gold dredge under construction.
Broken buckets (9 cubic foot capacity) of the Pacific Gold Dredging Company, Carville. Buckets torn due to heavy digging. (1922)
Dredge operators at the machine shop of the Isabel Gold Dredging Company. Can you spot the border collie in the picture? (1919)
Visiting Historic Dredges
Yet, many dredges remain in historic parks where anyone can now visit them. The Sumpter Valley Gold Dredge is preserved by the state of Oregon in the Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area.
Estabrook Dredge. (1929)
Dredge #3, American Gold Dredging Company on the Mokelumne River near Clements (9 cubic foot capacity buckets, rebuilt with Bucyrus machinery.) (1919)
Tailings piles after dredging, Marigold Dredging Company, Oroville. (1901)
