The Sumpter Valley Dredge Is A Gem From Oregon's Mining Days

Many of Oregon’s historic gems are long gone, relegated to dusty history books, but luckily, some of our historic sites are still preserved. The beautiful Elkhorn Mountain Range was once bustling gold mining region, and you can still visit a historic dredge that was part Oregon’s gold boom today.

You'll find the Sumpter Valley Dredge in the town of Sumpter in the northeast corner of the state.

The dredge is one of the few remaining gold dredges in the country, and also one of the largest. It was the third dredge built along the Powder River, so its actual name is Sumpter Valley Dredge #3. However, it's the only one still standing.

This enormous dredge created huge scars in the land during its mining operations between 1935-1954. During that time, three crew members at a time operated the dredge 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They managed to extract $4.5 million worth of gold here.

The huge boom contains 72 buckets, each with a capacity of one ton.

The buckets moved along a chain-driven conveyor, dug up a huge part of the riverbank, then returned the rock to the dredge. During its operation, this dredge chewed up 1,600 acres of the river valley in its quest for gold.

Inside the dredge, a series of drums separated the large rocks from the small ones and sent the materials on to be sluiced to find the gold.

You can visit the dredge and take a tour to see its inner workings. The Sumpter Valley Dredge State Historic Area is open from dusk to dawn, seven days a week between May 1st and October 31st.

While you're there, take some time to explore the 1.5 miles of trails in the area. Take the Ridge Trail and follow the spur that takes you to an overlook with a great view of the dredge below.

For more information about the Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area, visit its page on the Oregon State Parks website.

Oregon’s history is fascinating, isn’t it? Here’s another historic place you might want to check out – it’s one of the most unique barns in America.

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Catherine Armstrong

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