Collection	Hawley, Brooks
Description	Dredge #1 (Sumpter Valley) Brooks Hawley note: This dredge of the Powder River Gold Dredging Co. started at the railroad Y at the Smelter in 1915. Its hull is a half mile above McEwen, now marks where it quit in 1924. Its career was neater than Dredge No. 2 upstream past Sumpter or the last dredge [# 3] of 1935-1954. Certainly no farmer made much selling land to it, mostly for $50 an acre and no higher than $75, but it didn't ruin as many farms as the last dredge. Quite a bit of its digging was in willow patches instead of meadows. Wish it had been the only dredge here. Bad enough to just have it. It is more in later years that dredges have been criticized. There isn't much can be said in their defense. If you have enough money to build a gold dredge, you don't need more money, about a quarter million dollars.
Object ID	1992.1.860
Place	Sumpter Valley

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Last modified on: December 09, 2017