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The Archaeology of the Gold Dredge: The Final Phase of Placer Mining

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Abstract

Bucket-ladder dredges are a relatively rare maritime archaeological and historical resource. Based on a North American assessment of all known surviving examples, including those preserved as historic sites as well as archaeological resources, the maritime origins, of these craft are clear in the construction of their hulls as well as the matrix in which they worked. Floating in ponds they had self-excavated, these large floating industrial facilities represented the last stage of placer gold mining as the late nineteenth century transitioned into the early twentieth. These dredges are, as floating craft, maritime archaeological resources as well as historical and mining archaeological resources. While only a handful of dredges are known to exist as archaeological sites or are preserved as historical sites, the material record of their activities is much larger. Vast landscapes of dredge soil, altered ecosystems, and associated infrastructure are evidence of the evolution of gold mining in an increasingly industrial progression. In that, these craft are also contributors to their own, self-made landscapes that again, it is argued, are unique maritime cultural landscapes.

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Acknowledgements

The provision of data, photographs and research by David L. Conlin, Timothy Fisher, MaryBeth Fitts and Gordon P. Watts, Jr., Brian McBeth and Garrett Groth of Oregon Parks and Recreation is appreciated and facilitated this assessment. I am also grateful for the input and contributions during the Sumpter Valley Dredge assessment of Deborah Marx and Kyle Lent, and technical edit of this article by Michael Brennan.

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Delgado, J.P. The Archaeology of the Gold Dredge: The Final Phase of Placer Mining. J Mari Arch 18, 269–295 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-023-09363-6

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