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Oct 18, 2024

Snowstorm Dredge near Fairplay the only one left in Colorado – Loveland Reporter-Herald

Picasa The Snowstorm Dredge near Fairplay is the last remaining intact dredge in Colorado. It is a very large piece of complex machinery that includes an entire gold processing plant. The dredge is

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The Snowstorm Dredge near Fairplay is the last remaining intact dredge in Colorado. It is a very large piece of complex machinery that includes an entire gold processing plant. The dredge is not accessible to the public and is located inside an active gravel pit. (Kenneth Jessen)

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The inside of the Snowstorm Dredge is filled with machinery. These are the multiple sluice boxes where gold-bearing sand was processed using wooden riffles that were removed periodically to recover the gold. (Kenneth Jessen)

The Snowstorm Dredge near Fairplay is the last remaining intact dredge in Colorado. It is a very large piece of complex machinery that includes an entire gold processing plant. The dredge is not accessible to the public and is located inside an active gravel pit. (Kenneth Jessen)

Tucked away out of sight from Colorado 9 between Fairplay and Alma is the only remaining gold dredge in Colorado. There are only bits and pieces of other gold dredges in the state, but this one is nearly complete. The Snowstorm Dredge was constructed in the 1930s after most of the gold mining activity in the state had long diminished. The Middle Fork of the South Platte River, however, had never been mined.

Gold dredges are floating ore processing plants. Using large buckets on a continuous chain much like a giant chain saw, river gravel is pulled into the dredge. Inside the dredge, a rotating cylinder called a trammel separates the fine gold-bearing sand from rocks and gravel. The waste rock is sent up a conveyor through a long aft-mounted boom.

As the dredge moves forward in its own pond, grinding away at the gravel, the waste rock fills in the pond behind the dredge keeping the pond about the same size. Dredges in Colorado have moved slowly many miles through streambeds.

During operation, the dredge pivots back and forth. A large foot lowered from the bottom of the dredge allows the pivoting action. Cables mounted to the edge of the pond help in positioning the dredge.

Inside the Snowstorm Dredge are multiple, parallel sluice boxes with removable riffles made of wood. The sluice boxes are at a slight angle to allow water carrying the gold-bearing sand to flow over the riffles. Since gold is heavier than sand, the gold flakes become trapped in the riffles. The dredge is shut down periodically to allow for “clean up” where mercury is added to the sand to amalgamate the gold. Having trapped the gold, the worthless sand is flushed away. The gold is then recovered from the mercury and sent to a refinery to be purified.

The Snowstorm Dredge could process 600 tons of gravel a day as it inched along. It was shut down during World War II and operated once again in 1947. Its last operation was in 1976. Unfortunately the bucket chain was scrapped and the dredge turned into a stationary gold process plant.

This dredge is not accessible to the public and is located inside an active gravel pit run by Everist Materials L.L.C. Permission is essential to see this amazing piece of machinery. Safety procedures are also necessary as well as an escort to the dredge site. There are plans to move this large piece of machinery down to Colorado 9 where it can be properly displayed as one of the most important pieces of mining history in the state.

Kenneth Jessen has been a Loveland resident since 1965. He is an author of 18 books and more than 1,300 articles. He was an engineer for Hewlett-Packard for 33 years and now works as a full-time author, lecturer and guide.