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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 2019)
C4 JOURNEY Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, July 31, 2019 Eagle photos/Richard Hanners Gold dredges in the Powder River Vally removed about 128,570 troy ounces of gold. The last dredge is still intact at a state park in Sumpter. Sumpter Valley Dredge: a monument to area mining Machines pulled $180 million in gold from Powder River Valley at today’s prices By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle R ich gold diggings in the Elkhorn Mountains of Eastern Oregon drew 5,000 residents to the town of Sumpter in the early 1900s. At its height, Sumpter claimed plank sidewalks, seven hotels, 16 saloons, three newspapers, two churches, an opera house and a red light district. A fire in 1917 burned much of the city. Today, about 175 people call Sumpter home, but the population booms during flea market events held on Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends. The year-round daily attraction in Sumpter is the gold dredge that recovered about 128,570 troy ounces from the Pow- der River Valley, worth about $180 mil- lion at current prices. The Sumpter Val- ley Dredge State Heritage Area covers 93 acres and sees more than 100,000 visitors Citywide flea markets are set up across Sumpter for the Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends. each year. The last of three dredges that traveled about 8 miles across the valley starting in 1913, Sumpter No. 3 was constructed in 1935 from pieces of the second dredge, which had sat idle for a decade. Sumpter No. 3 operated until 1954. The dredge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Res- toration work began in 1995, and the state acquired the site and associated equipment and buildings for a park after that. The principle of dredge mining is effi- ciency gained through volume, but it With 72 one-ton buckets digging at 20 buckets per minute, gold dredges traveled about 8 miles across the Powder River Valley. cost more to run Sumpter No. 3 than the gold could pay for, and the company was $100,000 in debt when it shut down. It took three men to operate the machin- ery and another 17 for maintenance, book- See Dredge, PageC5 VIDEO Full Bar • Burgers • Pizza • Broasted Chicken • Kid Friendly Until 8 p.m. 128397 Bates State Park CLYDE HOLLIDAY STATE PARK 31 sites, toilets, water, showers, hiking, tent/RV sites, electric MT. VERNON, OREGON 2 miles East of Mt. Vernon 541-932-4453 128408 128436
