164 
Date, 
GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. 
Shift sheet of Lewes River Mining and Dredging Company. 
[bull. 2(>3. 
Number of shift, 
Winchman, 
Lost time. 
Ladder and bucket line 
Stacker 
Winches 
Screen 
Pumps 
Lines 
Clean ups 
Oiling 
Boiler 
Condenser 
Line shaft 
Engine 
Materials used. 
Remarks. 
Hours. 
Minutes. 
Character of ground, 
. Total running time, 
Total lost time, 
Depth of ground, feet, 
Foreman, . 
No dredging operations were in progress in the interior of Alaska 
during the summer of 1904. 
In Seward Peninsula two dredges were operated in Solomon River 
and two land dredges were in operation in the vicinity of Nome, while 
another dredge was being constructed in Snake River near Nome, and 
a dredge was operating in a small way in Niukluk River, 1 mile above 
Council. 
About one-fourth mile east of the town of Nome a small land dredge 
was operating on beach sand in the maritime strip. The section oi 
which the dredge operated was 12 feet in thickness, and consisted of 
6 feet of beach sand, 4 feet of clay, 2 feet of gravel, and 2 feet of 
underlying broken .schist. 
The dredge, which cost $5,500 in Seattle, was operated with a 6- 
horsepower gasoline engine. In addition, power was furnished to a 
centrifugal pump, which had the suction pipe led 60 feet out into the sea 
water. Eighteen gallons of gasoline, costing 40 cents a gallon, werei 
burned in ten hours. The dredge was mounted on trucks surmounted 
by a turntable, allowing it to turn on a circular track. The average 
capacity was said to be 200 cubic yards a day. This represents one 
of the many attempts which have been made to dredge the Nome beach 
sands, none of which, so far as known, have met with any success. 
This material is unfrozen, but many difficulties are encountered. 
Storms which render the beach uninhabitable are causes of long delay, 
and the attempt to pump the sea water is a cause of constant trouble on 
account of the seaweed and wreckage which cloo-s the screen. 
