Tonopah No. 1 dredge boat

Abstract

Photograph showing the sixth dredge boat to operate in the Breckenridge area (the caption on the verso of the photograph is incorrect). It was constructed in 1908 by the Bucyrus Company along the Swan River and owned by the Colorado Gold Dredging Company. This dredge operated until sometime in 1909. It then sat idle on the Blue River (not far above the mouth of the Swan River) until 1913 when it was purchased by the Tonopah Placers Company and renamed the Tonopah No. 1. A new line of 100 buckets was installed, which enabled it to dredge to a depth of seventy feet and mine up to 4,000 cubic yards of placer gravels per day. These buckets fed gravel from the placers into the dredge where it was milled, and its stacker deposited the tailings along the river channel. The dredge was electrically operated, and the Tonopah Placers Company had its own electrical plant, which supplied the power for their dredges and the town of Breckenridge during the summer.