Bucket Dredge Pictures - 1940's to1960's

IDdesertman

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Hey guys, I thought these would be worth sharing. I while back I had a lady email me saying that she had boxes and boxes of mining pictures on 35mm slides, several hundred pics in total. She was going to throw them away because she didn't know what to do with them. Luckily she contacted me and asked if I wanted them. Heck yes I do!

The pics were taken by her late father, Charles Romanowitz who he worked for the Yuba Dredge Company from 1941 through the mid 1960s. He traveled around to various goldfield around the world. I've got to sort through them and transfer them to digital. There are hundred of pictures, as far as I know they haven't been seen by anyone for decades. Most of the pics from California and Alaska, but also some from Korea, Russia, Indonesia, and the Panama Canal.

For a mining nerd like me these are pure gold. Lots of the pics show the internal workings of the dredges, stuff that you don't see very often. I'll share a few here..This first batch of pics is from a dredge in Good News Bay, Alaska. This one was actually a platinum dredging operation..
 

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Grew up in Folsom and as kids we used to play on the huge piles of tailings lol.
 

Nice find and thanks sharing them!

I have a question about bucket dredges. They all seem to float. Do they dig out a pond to get started? Thanks

Yes they dug a pond. Sometimes the earlier ponds were dug using mules and a "Fresno" or other type scraper.
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What a beast...
 

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The only notes I have on this one is "Capital #3". Not sure where it was..
 

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