Articles from the Historical Society in Josephine County Oregon

Floating Dredges of southern Oregon
by Michael Oaks

One of the first financially successful dredges to operate in southern Oregon was the Champlin Electric Gold Dredging Company, which operated on Foots Creek starting in 1903.

The initial investment was very expensive, but they could move a lot of gravel.

The Foots Creek dredge was a floating dredge that operated on its own self made lake. It was equipped with 36 8-foot buckets that could move 2000 yards of gravel per 24-hour period.

The Foots Creek dredge was initially a wood burner to supply the power. By 1905, electricity was supplied from Gold Ray Dam cutting the operation cost to half. Dredges operated at Wolf Creek, on the Rogue River at the mouth of Grave Creek, and other mining districts in Josephine County.

Gold was processed on board and the tailings (waste) were used to build up the walls of the lake. Some of these old dredges were used for scrap metal for the WWII war effort.

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