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UER Forum > Archived US: Pacific Northwest > One of a Kind - Gold Dredge (Viewed 5985 times)
tc_villain 


Location: Alaska
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One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
< on 9/15/2009 4:10 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Heres one of the biggest and definitely the best bucket dredge that Ive been to. It scores high because of its integrity, lack of vandalism, and its completeness. Check it out. Also there are a few other pictures of the area, and some of the other equipment still there. Picture quality a little sketchy.

Pump on a hand cart - very cool and heavy

1.

some other camp support outbuildings

2.

the dredge

3.

the bucketline, off unfortunately

4.

front door

5.

tool bench

6.

guages

7.

electric motor with belt

8.

intact windows

9.

intact spare fuses

10.


fuse holder

11.

more gauges

12.

main power

13.

better fuse box picture

14.

transformers on deck

15.


16.

antique drill rig

17.

wheel

18.

rows of pumps for thawing ground

19.

drills

20.

the boat

21.




tc_villain 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 1 on 9/15/2009 4:17 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Heres a couple more that I forgot to include.1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.




Loki 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 2 on 9/15/2009 6:38 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
That's really cool, it's always great to find old machinery in such good condition.

Wank | Wank | Wank | Wank | Wank | Wank
AKphill 


Location: Anchorage, Alaska
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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 3 on 9/15/2009 8:08 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
WOW!! You took some great shots. That kicks the crap outta #10's condition. Hopefully we can get out to it without problems. If your brother remembers the one guy's contact info, try to get in touch again.

Freak 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 4 on 9/15/2009 8:22 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Man, I am so jealous! That's the one that got away during my Dredge exploring career (well that and Fish Creek, which supposdly got blown up by Kinross). I never even had the exact location of yours until a year or so ago. We had a vauge idea where it was, but we totally trapped a pickup trying to take fire trails around the backdoor and had to get rescued

Nice work and sweet photos!



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http://spamusement...hp/comics/view/137
tc_villain 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 5 on 9/16/2009 2:30 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Thanks for the positive comments. I really wish I would have taken a little more time when I was there the first time to really look around. We might not be able to make it back there again, and its a rare find indeed.

AKphill 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 6 on 9/16/2009 7:49 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Maybe, just maybe we'll get lucky in a few weeks. Try talking to the Fairbanks Gold guy, he might offer us a tour if we tell him we're photographers interested in Alaska's gold mining history.

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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 7 on 9/16/2009 12:08 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
That dredge looks like one hell of a find. Good work! It's nice to see one that isn't all tagged up

Freak 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 8 on 9/16/2009 3:32 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by AKphill
Maybe, just maybe we'll get lucky in a few weeks. Try talking to the Fairbanks Gold guy, he might offer us a tour if we tell him we're photographers interested in Alaska's gold mining history.


That guy owns a LOT of stuff around Fairbanks, including (I think) the massive ice tower of doooom in Fox.

Now we just need to find out who owns the Space Needle off McGrath Road



Turn off the internet and go play outside.
http://spamusement...hp/comics/view/137
tc_villain 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 9 on 9/17/2009 3:14 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by Freak


That guy owns a LOT of stuff around Fairbanks, including (I think) the massive ice tower of doooom in Fox.

Now we just need to find out who owns the Space Needle off McGrath Road




I know, two dredges, the land in Fox, and he owns the old FE Company building off Illinois. Now that would be a cool place to check out. Unfortunately its got a lot of barbed wire fence and boarded up windows. A guy can dream, right?

AKphill 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 10 on 9/17/2009 5:33 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
There's still the send him an e-mail or phone call option.

M. Fuzzy 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 11 on 10/13/2009 11:20 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Wow, just wow. That thing is in great shape considering how old it looks. Just looking at all the levers makes one wonder what it might have been like working in an age when electronics and hydraulics weren't in common use. Awesome!

Keep it fuzzy.
Shockwave 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 12 on 11/15/2009 1:35 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
one hell of a find

don't talk shit about total
Raven928 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 13 on 4/2/2010 6:34 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
That boat is so beautiful. It has such a strange feel to it. Any history that you know of??

Freak 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 14 on 4/2/2010 3:34 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Those dredges were used to mine placer gold (from gravel) along the streams and ponds in the Fairbanks area. They've also been used extensively in California, Oregon, Washington, Canada, Colorado, as well as overseas. I believe there's a few still operating in China and Russia. Someone on here has a list of Google Earth coordinates for a lot of them.

The ones in Fairbanks were owned by the Fairbanks Exploration Company, or F.E. Co. They ran from the early 1900s until the 1950s. Originally built by the Yuba company in California, they were shipped to Alaska in pieces by steamship and assembled on-site. They were designed to move around a limited area by scooping out dirt and rock ahead of them, and depositing it behind, thus taking the pond they floated in along for the ride. When a particular streambed was exhausted, they would be hauled on rollers, or disassembled and moved, to another area.

The inside of each dredge was a whole gold-processing factory. The scoop buckets at the front dumped the gravel into a screen which sorted out anything large (which is why people find huge nuggets in the dredge tailings sometimes). The smaller stuff got processed further, which could include crushing, washing, and sluicing, to separate the gold from the dirt. They were after Placer gold, the stuff that's been washed down out of the mountain veins and into streambeds.


Interestingly enough, the ones in Fairbanks were all powered from the FE coal plant downtown, with wires strung out to each Dredge site. There were floating power poles to carry wires out to the dredge in their ponds.

Turn off the internet and go play outside.
http://spamusement...hp/comics/view/137
Louie 






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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 15 on 4/9/2010 7:50 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Theres gold in them thar dredges
[last edit 4/9/2010 7:50 PM by Louie - edited 1 times]

tc_villain 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 16 on 10/21/2010 5:04 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by AKphill
There's still the send him an e-mail or phone call option.


Phil, Check out this link to his site, theres a few pictures of inside the FE Co Building there. Pretty neat, I bet there is a lot more that you can't see.

http://www.fairban...agan-machine-shop/

decrepitude 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 17 on 10/21/2010 6:38 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Incredible site. No. 21 gives you the real scope and size of this rig..impressive.

Gutter Monkey 


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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 18 on 10/21/2010 6:51 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Holy crap, look at that massive sonnofabitch. It's like a small floating town.


Posted by Mr. Fuzzy
Just looking at all the levers makes one wonder what it might have been like working in an age when electronics and hydraulics weren't in common use. Awesome!


#5 in the second post reminds me a lot of the old train stations with the manual signal levers.

Therrin 

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Re: One of a Kind - Gold Dredge
<Reply # 19 on 10/21/2010 7:05 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
THAT IS SO FRIGGIN AWESOME!!


LETS PUT THAT BITCH BACK TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!

I'm actually really glad you posted this, it gave me another angle of research to check out on this stuff. Those are some really fantastic pictures too =D

Give a person a match and they'll be warm for a minute, but light them on fire and they'll be warm for the rest of their life. =)
UER Forum > Archived US: Pacific Northwest > One of a Kind - Gold Dredge (Viewed 5985 times)
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