In 1977 I was hiking through the woods one day,
it was in the Elk Horn Mountains out Sumpter way.
When upon the remains of a dredge long burned,
by the mid 1930’s of 3 dredges only one turned.
As I looked at the bones of this burned out dredge,
in the last pond that it dug its demise I read.
The damage to the valley and river bed made me sad,
from a day when men cared little for damage it had.
The fishing was good as the stream flowed on through,
the old timber bones great for cover and food.
All of the dredge’s metal parts were long gone,
just all thread bars poking from an old growth beam lawn.
Grass and vegetation grew from great cracks in beams,
yes, nature claims back almost everything it seems.
See dredges dig large ponds as the mine their way,
using the water around them to wash dirt away.
Filling in behind with the tailings they would,
as they floated the land scooping the soil up good.
Cast in black heavy iron the buckets like cauldrons,
looking much like a large fifteenth century armor Pauldron.
Seven yards a minute of farm and river bed it could take,
through its internal workings to filter and shake.
The buckets traveled the boom on a great chain,
scooping the river rock into the maw of the thing.
Inside giant drums with various holes for screens,
would sort away the gold from rock and mud it seems.
Old Dredge #3 resides in Sumpter these days,
in its last own pond, it dug as it worked its way.
This one I viewed was the remains of Dredge number one,
parts used to outfit number 3 dredge when done.
The dredges worked from nineteen twelve to thirty four,
then #3 was built and ran for yet twenty more.
In 1954 the last dredges life span was complete,
not enough gold recovered for expenses to meet.
I don’t know of the bones of dredge number one,
but number three dredge still lives, and I toured that one.
A mechanical vision though the carnage they wrote,
on the valley and river, the tailing piles still poke.
Now part of Oregon Parks and Recreation so live it,
a valuable piece of history and a wonder to visit.
In a little town called Sumpter not far from Baker,
learn from the past to help ensure the future.
Timothy L. Van Dyke
7/23/2016