June 3rd, 2024 - Chicken and Gold and the Dredge (2024)

First thing this morning I went to sign up for the Dredge Tour. We were the first ones on the list but they needed six people. So I decided to walk around Chicken.

Here are some interesting links about Chicken and the area:

https://www.alaska.org/destination/chttps://www.alaska.org/deshicken#:~:text=Chicken%20is%20located%20in%20a,rush%20towns%20in%20the%20state.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken,_Alaska

https://www.valisemag.com/visit-chicken-alaska/

The history of the Gold Camp where we are staying - yes, there are still active mines:

https://chickengold.com/index.html

"How did it come to be named Chicken? The story goes that Ptarmigan (now the Alaska State Bird) were prevalent in the area, and supplied a crucial food source for miners in the early days. When the town got its post office and was incorporated in 1902 the name Ptarmigan was proposed. However, there were concerns that it was too difficult to spell. Luckily, the Ptarmigan has a strong resemblance to Chicken, and everyone knows how to spell Chicken."

Pictures from my Walk-about:

Miscellaneous parts for the dredge operation:

One of the original cabins:

From there I continued my walk towards "Old Town Chicken" only to find out that there are many "No Trespassing Signs". I did find out later that they are no longer doing tours. Bummer. We missed the tours in 2007 and 2009.

So I decided to head to the other campground and gift shop. Each of these campgrounds have unique items on their grounds - many collected from the area.

The blue spot in the middle of the road is Andy riding his bike:

Swinging Bridge over the creek - Yep, we walked across:

Chicken Creek - they still do gold panning on the creek and still find gold:

Old Town Chicken:

We are staying right behind that building:

As I was heading back, Andy caught up with me to tell me that the tour is on. I headed directly to the shop where I found out others were looking for me. It all went well and away we went.

Now I do not remember a lot of the details of the tour so I will do my best here. Sadly, there is very little information on this dredge and its operations.

The chute on the right is where the tailings came out - the larger pieces. The dredge moved so they were distributed in a fan like pattern. (Yes, this huge piece of equipment "floated"!

The smaller tailings came out this chute:

When the dredge was shipped from California, it was taken apart and the pieces labeled:

The buckets were attached to this arm:

When it moved to the Chicken area, it was powered by these huge generators:

The buckets would scoop up the dirt into a conveyor belt that feed into a tube. The tube was always turning. The dirt would fall into these long troughs. Since gold is heavier that water, the gold would drop to the bottom of the trough and be picked out later.

Our tour guide is standing in the trough. Those slats are what the gold falls thru:

And there are smaller screens to make sure it is all caught:

One of the interesting things our guide told us was that this dredge was used for placer gold - small sizes. If there was a gold nugget, it went with the tailings. He told us that folks have found some nuggets in those tailings over the years.

The inside of the tube and conveyer belt:

The inside of the larger tailing chute:

The cables that connect to the arm with the buckets:

The captain's office:

When they shut down, they just left - everything:

There were many mines in the area and many times they found bones - like mammoth bones or other extinct animals. Here are some that have been collected:

We were told that many of the fossils and bones that are now in the Fairbanks Museum are from this area.

The dredge was shut down for many years and then moved to its current location. That also include the whole camp.