Skip to main content

Gold Dredge

Fairbanks Exploration Company Gold Dredge No. 8
Society: ASMEMain Category: MechanicalSub Category: Minerals Extraction & RefiningEra: 1920-1929DateCreated: 19281755 Old Steese Hwy NFairbanksState: AKZip: 99712Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-m-z/minerals-extraction-and-refining/-113-fairbanks-exploration-company-gold-dredge-no-Creator: U.S. Smelting, Refining, and Mining Company (USSR&M)

This floating dredge is one of the last mammoth gold dredges in the Fairbanks Mining District that traveled an ancient stream bed, thawing the ground ahead of it and scooping up the gravel. During 32 years of operation, a fortune in gold washed through its sluices. Ladder dredges came to Alaska in the early 1920s, after the U.S. Smelting, Refining, and Mining Company (USSR&M) brought water to the area via the 90-mile Davidson Ditch. Using the water to warm the ground, the ground was thawed at an average 9 inches a day.

YearAdded:
1986
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Roger Wollstadt (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Fairbanks Exploration Company Gold Dredge No.Era_date_from: 1928
Subscribe to Gold Dredge

Innovations

Fairbanks Exploration Company Gold Dredge No. 8

This floating dredge is one of the last mammoth gold dredges in the Fairbanks Mining District that traveled an ancient stream bed, thawing the ground ahead of it and scooping up the gravel. During 32 years of operation, a fortune in gold washed through its sluices. Ladder dredges came to Alaska…

Read More

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.