A Dredge named Pedro

Chicken Gold Camp is home to the gold dredge that once pushed its massive barge like body up and down these valleys capturing the gold that was lodged below in the most of the time frozen ground below it. Originally named gold dredge #4, it was renamed to reflect the name of the first creek it was designed to mine: Pedro Creek (when it was apparent that another company operated another dredge that was also designated as number 4). Personally I think in this day and age it is better to have a name instead of a number anyway. Unless of course you have the number that happens to be the next winner of the mega lotto in which case it is better to have the number and keep your name out of matters at least for a while.

But Mike Busby invited me to accompany a group on the on-site tour a couple days ago, and what a great tour it is! Mike's lived and mined in these parts for 30 plus or minus years and he's just plum full of all kinds of information a person would just be loving to learning about if gold or anything to do with it is right up there on your list of things you are interested in. It's not my intention to give the history of the dredge here, just a look at the enormous by relatively simple piece of machinery that helped to tame the goldfields of Alaska and the Yukon, and for that matter, many other placed in the world as well. You can look at the Gold Camp web site for a summary article on the dredge which also provides a link to a very informative article with a lot more "meat" that Mike authored. It's an amazing piece of machinery and what it could do in the worst of climates and conditions is a marvel to behold.


Here's a slide show from the tour: