Pedro Dredge in Chicken, AK, is open to the public.(Photo courtesy of Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost)
Mining dredges were used in Yukon and Alaska from the turn-of-the-century on into the 1950s to extract gold from the land. Several of these old dredges still litter the landscape of the North, one of the most visible reminders of the glory days of the Klondike Gold Rush.
The first gold dredge appeared in the Yukon in the fall of 1899. There were eventually some 2 dozen dredges working the Klondike area. The machines allowed miners to work large amounts of ground, extracting as much gold as possible from the dwindling supply in a relatively short amount of time. But the arrival of the dredges also signaled the end of an era. Big companies who could afford to mechanize gold mining by using dredges quickly replaced the colorful stampeders with their shovels and sluice boxes that characterized the early days of the Klondike Gold Rush.
Gold dredges were used as early as 1900 on the Seward Peninsula in Alaska, but it wasn't until 1908 that gold dredging became a financially viable option. By 1910, there were 18 dredges in Alaska. In 1914, 42 were operating throughout the state.
The mining dredges were land-locked floating machines, digging the ponds that allowed them to float--and thus move--across the area to be mined. The floating dredge most commonly operated in the North was the California-type, also known as the bucket-line dredge. This type of dredge used a continuous line of buckets (called the "digging ladder") to scrape the bottom and edge of the pond. The buckets carried the mud and rock to a screening area, where the heavier metal particles were separated from the rest of the material. After the metal was captured, the waste rock--"tailings"-- would be deposited out the back.
The dredges, which operated 24 hours a day, were efficient and economical. The operating season averaged 200 days, starting in late April or early May and ending in November.
It is startling to come across one of these old dredges, like some mechanical behemoth sitting silently alongside a dusty road. There are 3 good examples of gold dredges on the Taylor Highway: Jack Wade No. 1 Dredge, the Mosquito Fork Dredge and the Pedro Dredge.
Two of these gold dredges are in the Chicken area. The Pedro Dredge now sits on the property of Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost. The Pedro Dredge operated on Chicken Creek between 1959 and 1967 after mining Pedro Creek outside of Fairbanks from 1938 until 1959. The dredge was purchased by Bernie Karl and Mike Busby and moved a mile down Chicken Creek in 1998 to its present location at Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost, where it serves as a major visitor attraction for Taylor Highway travelers. The grand opening of the restored Pedro Dredge--one of the most complete gold dredges open to the public--takes place in summer 2006. For more information on Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost and tours of Pedro Dredge visit www.chickengold.com.
A little more than a mile past Chicken, the Mosquito Fork Dredge can be seen from an overlook 20 minutes by trail from Milepost TJ 68.2 on the Taylor Highway (across from the BLM Chicken field station). The well-marked path is a moderate downhill climb with a short, steep, stepped section near the end. The Mosquito Fork Dredge is on property owned by The Goldpanner, which is located in Chicken at the Chicken Creek bridge.
Jack Wade No. 1 Dredge, located at Milepost TJ 86.1 on the Taylor Highway, was one of the first bucket-line dredges used in the area. Originally called the Butte Creek Dredge, it was installed in 1934 below the mouth of Butte Creek and eventually moved to its present location on Wade Creek.
Another fine example of these early gold dredges is Gold Dredge No. 4, located just outside Dawson City. A Canadian National Historic Site, Dredge No. 4 is one of some 2 dozen dredges that once worked the Klondike gold fields. Today Dredge No. 4 rests alongside Bonanza Creek on Claim No. 17 (below Discovery claim), where it ceased operations in 1960. Designed by the Marion Steam Shovel Company and built in 1912, Dredge No. 4 was the largest wooden hull, bucket-line dredge in North America. It operated from 1913 until 1959 in the Klondike and Bonanza Creek valleys. There's an interpretive centre at the dredge site, and scheduled tours are offered daily from the end of May through August. (Admission fee charged.)
