Photo Description
There were two seperate periods of dredging, 1913-1924 and 1935-1954. This was defined by the two prices of gold, $20 and $35 an ounce. It was when President Roosevelt increased the price of an ounce of gold to $35 in 1934 that the idea of a new gold dredge, the Sumpter Valley Dredge, began.
The dredge was built 2 miles from its present location. Much of the heavy machinery used was salvaged from one of the older dredges, idle for ten years.
The Sumpter Valley Dredge was responsible for over 6 miles of tailings that can be seen throughout the valley. The dredge weighed about 1,240 tons. the 72 one-ton buckets, containing 10 cubic feet of material, would dump 25 buckets per minute. This meant that the dredge moved an average of 280,000 cubic yards of Sumpter Valley soil per month.
The 250 hp. bucket line motor was powered by a 12-mile, 23,000 volt electric line from a portable substation. Three thousand gallons of water per minute were supplied by two 10-inch and one 6-inch pump. This water, along with six 24-inch jigs and sluice boxes were used for gold recovery. The boat hull measures 52x120x11 feet and the stacker is 96 feet long. The dredge cost around $350,000 to build and produced $4.5 million in gold at the price of $35 per ounce.
More info can be found at the Oregon State Parks Web site:
www.oregonstateparks.org
