Gold Dredge

Exit78 Photo of the Day #139

When we were in Idaho in 2010, we visited a gold dredge on the Yankee Fork  Salmon River in Custer County.

Yankee Fork Gold Dredge, Custer County, Idaho, July 28, 2010 (Composite image from three Pentax K10D photos using Autostitch)

Yankee Fork Gold Dredge, Custer County, Idaho, July 28, 2010 (Composite image from three Pentax K10D photos using Autostitch)

Challis-Yankee Fork Ranger District – Yankee Fork Dredge1

In the early 1930’s several placer miners joined together to form a company to see if they could get someone interested in dredging their claims on the Yankee Fork. Twenty-nine claims were involved.

During 1938 and 1939, the Silas Mason Co.of Shreveport, Louisiana became interested. When tests indicated approximately $16,000,000 worth of gold was recoverable, they formed a subsidiary, the Snake River Mining Co., to manage the dredging. The Bueyrus-Erie Company was awarded a contract to build the dredge in 1939 and completed it in the fall of 1940. The Olson Manufacturing Company manufactured most of the steel work in Boise, Idaho. The parts were shipped by train to Mackay, then hauled by trucks to Yankee Fork and assembled in 1940.

From 1940 until it closed in August of 1952, the dredge dug out rock and recovered gold by washing and separating the rock, dirt and gold. The Snake River Mining Company operated the dredge for several years until it reached a rock dike below Bonanza in 1949. At that time they sold it to Mr. J.R. Simplot and Mr. Baumhoff who operated the dredge until 1951 when Mr. Simplot purchased his partner’s interest. The dredge was then operated until 1952 when it ran out of mining claims on which to work. The dredge has not been operated since 1952 and it remains the largest self-powered dredge ever to operate in Idaho.

(Note: I am also posting photos in a series called Photography Now & Then at Haw-Creek.com)


Endnotes:

  1. USDA Forest Service, accessed May 17, 2018

Series notes:

  • The photos in this series are (usually) randomly selected from a batch of photos specifically “curated” for Exit78 Photo of the Day.
  • Each photo in this series is an “original work” – a copyright term – of Michael Goad.
american history, exit78 photo of the day, forests, history, idaho, landscape, mountains, photography, river, stream, summer, Travel Photos

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Hi Mike – must be a beautiful area to visit … and I guess the gold is still there somewhere. Lots of history – cheers Hilary
    Hilary Melton-Butcher recently posted…We are the World Blogfest … # 15 – Human Flow: Refugees on the Move …My Profile

    • Mike Jun 30, 2018 Link

      It certainly is beautiful country. We first visited this area in 1973 and then again in the late 70s when we lived about 138 miles southeast of there, by road, about 90 miles as the crow flies. One year we drove almost to this point to find a tree in the woods to harvest for a Christmas tree.
      Mike recently posted…Seismograph PoolMy Profile

  • peppylady (Dora) Jul 1, 2018 Link

    Hello from the other end Idaho. Stop in from Ramana Musing.
    Hopeful you find the time to stop in for a cup of coffee.
    peppylady (Dora) recently posted…June Check In 2018My Profile

    • Mike Jul 2, 2018 Link

      Hi Dora,

      Thanks for stopping by!

      We lived in Idaho almost 4 years, with a 6 month stint in 1973 as a student at the Naval Reactors Facility in the Idaho National Laboratory site and a longer one as an instructor that ended in 1980. We loved it there and make it back every few years — not yet this year though, though our travel plans for later in the summer and early fall have not yet firmed up.
      Mike recently posted…Carl Hayden Visitor Center at Glen Canyon DamMy Profile

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