Alaska-Yukon Cruise Tour

Chicken Creek Mine history

   Gold was first discovered in the Chicken Creek drainage in 1896, 10 years after the initial Fortymile discovery, and has been mined continuously since then with the exception of the war years. The Fairbanks Exploration Company, a subsidiary of the U.S. Smelting Refining & Mining Co., acquired most of the claims during the 1940’s and dredged 2 miles of the creek from 1959 to 1967.

   Since then, several family operations have mined on the creek. The drainage has most likely produced over 100,000 oz. of gold. The current company began operating the Chicken Creek Mine in 1990 as lessees and purchased ground in 1998. In 2000, they began to implement a sustainable development plan incorporating mining, reclamation, tourism and local history. In 2001, the efforts were recognized by the State of Alaska when they received the prestigious Alaska Governor’s Award for Mine Reclamation.

   In 2006, they were recognized nationally as the small mine operator of the year by the U.S. Interior Department with the Reclamation and Sustainable Mineral Development Award. Lately, the mining operation has taken a back seat to the rest of the business, but they continue to operate the Chicken Creek Mine as time permits. When they are operating, tourists are welcome to view the operation. And when they are not, there is plenty of gold for tourists to find, since most of the remaining ground is available for panning and recreational mining opportunities.     

   The 3-cubic-foot dredge (measurement of the bucket capacity), the smallest in the F.E. Co.'s dredge fleet, mined over 55,000 ounces of gold in the eight years on Chicken Creek.    

   In 1998, after sitting idle for 31 years, the million pound dredge was moved in one piece to its present location at the Chicken Gold Camp & Outpost. The dredge was opened to the public in August 2005. It is the most complete bucket line gold dredge open to the public in Alaska and perhaps North America. Adjoining the dredge there is an assemblage of historical gold rush equipment.    

   The Grand Opening of Pedro Dredge was held in 2006; tours are now offered daily throughout the season. In June 2006, years of work were rewarded when the dredge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 Gold Dredges of the North

   Most people believe that gold mining in the Yukon and Alaska was primarily done with gold pans, or possibly sluice boxes. In fact, those methods were only used for testing streams, and in the early stages of mining in some areas such as the Klondike. Relatively little gold was recovered, and it wasn't until the arrival of huge dredges that gold production soared.      

   With buckets that gouged out several cubic yards of gravel on each pass, enormous amounts of material could be processed by a dredge, so even fairly poor ground could be profitably mined.      

   The bucket-line dredges that changed the character of gold mining in Alaska and the Yukon were invented in New Zealand. Many changes and additions were made to make them suitable for working frozen ground, but the technology changed little for the 80 years they were in use. Although they look complex, the basic concept is very simple - the buckets scoop up the gravel and dump it into sluice boxes inside the dredge, water is pumped in to separate the gold from the gravel, and the worthless gravel is then dumped out the back.      

   Preserving machinery the size of a gold dredge can present enormous technical problems. In 1996, Dredge No. 4, which is owned by Parks Canada, was found to have structural damage which required extensive emergency repairs to save the gantry structure.      

   Several private attempts are being made in Alaska to develop tourist-based operations with a gold dredge as the center piece. One such dredge, the Sixtymile Dredge, was moved in September 1999 from the Sixtymile gold district near Dawson to Skagway. Dredge #8 is also open for tours in Fairbanks, and the Pedro Dredge in Chicken is being readied for access.      

   The use of huge dredges such as the ones in the Klondike and at Nome is limited to Siberia now. In North America, it may well be impossible today to get an environmental clearance to conduct such large-scale stripping of valleys. The Walter Johnson Dredge, which operated on Clear Creek in the central Yukon in 1981, did some reclamation of the tailings area. Visitors, however, often make negative comments about the huge barren tailings piles along the Klondike Highway south of Dawson City.      

   Most modern dredges are much smaller, and use suction to bring up the gold-bearing gravel from river bottoms. Many are used by "recreational" miners due to their relatively low cost and ease of use.      

   The largest and most famous of the dredges were manufactured by Yuba or Marion, but many other companies built dredges of various sizes.