The rocks deposited behind the dredge (by the stacker) are called 'tailing piles.' The holes in the screen were intended to screen out rocks (e.g., 3/4 inch holes in the screen sent anything larger than 3/4 inch to the stacker). The material that is washed or sorted away is called tailings. The cylinder has many holes in it to allow undersized material (including gold) to fall into a sluice box. On large gold dredges, the buckets dump the material into a steel rotating cylinder (a specific type of trommel called 'the screen') that is sloped downward toward a rubber belt (the stacker) that carries away oversize material (rocks) and dumps the rocks behind the dredge. The material is then sorted/sifted using water. The original gold dredges were large, multi-story machines built in the first half of the 1900s.Ī large gold dredge uses a mechanical method to excavate material (sand, gravel, dirt, etc.) using steel 'buckets' on a circular, continuous 'bucketline' at the front end of the dredge. Lindburg said he was impressed with the ingenuity and perseverance needed to deliver it.

Mackay was the nearest train depot for shipping pieces of the dredge. It was powered by two 350 horse Ingersoll-Rand, 7 cylinder diesel engines, burning 400 to 500 gallons of fuel a day.Ī gold dredge is a placer mining machine that extracts gold from sand, gravel, and dirt using water and mechanical methods. Roland, along with his father, and brothers hauled most of the 988-ton dredge in 60 loads from Mackay to the Yankee Fork, where it was assembled from May to August 1940. The Yankee Fork gold dredge operated into the 1950s, near Custer. West Yellowstone to the Dredge = 288 miles Before you leave Challis be sure to stop at the Land of the Yankee Fork State Park which includes an Interpretive Center that is run by Idaho Parks and Recreation Department. Once you leave paved road, you’ll see dredge tailings along both sides of the road, reminders of the path the dredge traveled during its years of operation.įrom Challis take Hwy 75 west to Sunbeam (42 miles from junction of 75 and 93) then right 10 miles to the dredge. The dredge sits on the left side of the road. The nearest town is Stanley which is 22 miles from the dredge.įrom Stanley take Hwy 75 east to Sunbeam (13 miles) then turn north and follow the Yankee Fork river 10 miles to the dredge. The dredge is located in the central mountains of Idaho close to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area. Please write to us about your experience with this museum, for corrections of our data or sending photos by using the Contact Form to the Museum Finder.

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Yankee fork dredge