Matthew Wert
Bucyrus Mining Dredge, CO
Here's a shot I captured just the other day when I was out shooting with a photographer friend of mine here in Colorado of an old gold mining dredge covered in snow outside of Breckenridge, CO leftover from Colorado's old mining days. This particular dredge is Bacyrus Dredge, which was active around 1899-1904. Hope you enjoy, and have a wonderful day/night wherever you are!
A little description on this dredge: "The dredge consisted of a hull and associated machinery that floated in a large man-made pond. A continuous line of digging buckets at the front of the dredge excavated sediments to bedrock, bringing the gold-bearing gravel to the surface. The gravel then flowed through a trommel, a large, inclined rotating metal cylinder with holes of various sizes. Water washed the finer material through the holes onto sluices, where riffles trapped the gold. A long metal trough that also served as a sluice dumped waste rock at the rear of the dredge... Dredges moved up or down the waterway by using winches on the front end of the hull that were attached to anchors on shore with cables. Manipulation of the winches enabled the dredge, while mining, to pull itself back and forth as well as forward... A total of nine dredges operated in Summit County from 1898 to 1942. Together, they produced an estimated $12 million in gold - approximately $800 million in today's dollars."
Bucyrus Mining Dredge, CO
Here's a shot I captured just the other day when I was out shooting with a photographer friend of mine here in Colorado of an old gold mining dredge covered in snow outside of Breckenridge, CO leftover from Colorado's old mining days. This particular dredge is Bacyrus Dredge, which was active around 1899-1904. Hope you enjoy, and have a wonderful day/night wherever you are!
A little description on this dredge: "The dredge consisted of a hull and associated machinery that floated in a large man-made pond. A continuous line of digging buckets at the front of the dredge excavated sediments to bedrock, bringing the gold-bearing gravel to the surface. The gravel then flowed through a trommel, a large, inclined rotating metal cylinder with holes of various sizes. Water washed the finer material through the holes onto sluices, where riffles trapped the gold. A long metal trough that also served as a sluice dumped waste rock at the rear of the dredge... Dredges moved up or down the waterway by using winches on the front end of the hull that were attached to anchors on shore with cables. Manipulation of the winches enabled the dredge, while mining, to pull itself back and forth as well as forward... A total of nine dredges operated in Summit County from 1898 to 1942. Together, they produced an estimated $12 million in gold - approximately $800 million in today's dollars."