PtmiNGTON.] DREDGING. 165 
A small land dredge running on a 40-foot track, and digging a canal 
beneath for the purpose of Laying a long bed-rock drain, was operat- 
ing on Bourbon Creek, one-fourth mile north of Nome, The work 
was in an experimental stage, and a large dredge of tin 1 same type, of 
500 cubic yards daily capacity, was under construction. 
A floating dredge of the dipper type, with sluices arranged on a sepa- 
rate hull, was under construction in Snake River, one-half mile from 
Nome, but the data relating to it are not available for publication. 
A small bucket dredger so arranged that the digging ladder can turn 
through an angle of 20° has been operating in Solomon River, 3 miles 
north from the coast for the last two seasons. 
In the operations of 1903 a 60-foot width of the channel of Solomon 
River was worked and was found to be unfrozen; the gravel averaged 
5 feet in thickness and rested on schist bed rock. The tenor is said to 
have been $1.13 per cubic yard. The greatest thickness encountered 
from the surface of water to bed rock was 12 feet. One and one-half 
feet of the schist bed rock was taken up by the dredge. The bed 
rock is generally soft, but has hard reefs. The largest stones found 
were 1 foot in diameter. The dredge was operated by 5 men on 2 
shifts, the amount of running time being from twelve to twenty hours 
out of the twenty-four. The men are said to have made a profit, 
paying a royalt}^ of 25 per cent on the output. The dredge is of 16- 
horsepower capacity and handles an average of 150 cubic yards in 
twenty -four hours. The operations consume two to three cases of 
gasoline a day, the average for fuel being $12.50. The total expense 
is figured at $30 a day. The experience with the pay is that the ground 
is very spotted, being in places rich and in places barren. There are 
32 buckets of 1 cubic foot capacity- on the ladder. A cut of 30 feet 
across is made in one setting. The ladder is made of 1-inch cast-iron 
pipe and can be lengthened by adding pipe and buckets. In 11)01 
the dredge was being operated lyy 2 men on a shift, one man running 
the winches, and one man attending to the engine and picking out the 
large bowlders and throwing them overboard. The bucket lips are 
made of tool steel. 
The sluices into which the buckets dump directly are fitted with 
punched-iron screen of the ''Caribou 11 pattern, described elsewhere, 
followed by Hungarian riflles. The sluice is *'»! feet in length, 23 
inches wide, and 12 inches deep, with a grade of 15 inches in 12 feet. 
The end of the sluice is 3 feet above the deck, and extends 6 feet 
beyond the end of the boat. Quicksilver is used in the upper box es. 
Seventy-five per cent of the gold is caught in the first 6 feet, and the 
balance in the next 8 feet. The tailings are frequently panned, but 
no gold found. 
The description of this dredge, the cost of which should not exceed 
$25,000, laid down, is given in detail, as it is reported on good author- 
