In terms of monetary value, it wasn’t much of an investment, and they had no particular plan for the dredge. They marshaled the finances to purchase the dredge and surrounding property. 3 for sale,” Haigh was intrigued and mentioned it to another history-minded friend, Patricia Peirsol. Whatever the wording, even if simply, “Chatanika Gold Dredge No. And they had an ad in the paper,” Haigh said.įor sale: One ginormous, intact but inoperable, metal-and-wood hulking hydraulic relic at Mile 29 Steese Highway, complete with 50 acres of scraped-out pond and machine-made corduroy tailings mounds, a testament to the power and prevalence of the 1920s industrial gold mining boom in Alaska. “I’m a mining historian, so I knew about gold mining in Alaska and I’d been fascinated with gold dredges for years. Possibly bigger than the manufacturing machinery that made breadboxes, and was employed in significantly altering miles upon miles of Alaska’s landscape and hydrology.

Here’s another: It’s bigger than a breadbox. Here’s a hint: At the time, she was a mining historian, living in Fairbanks since 1970 (and now is a history professor at Kenai Peninsula College’s Kenai River Campus). Neither a hot tub, backcountry cabin, sport boat or any of the myriad other items for which Alaskans develop itchy spending fingers. The object of her desire? Not a snowmachine, nor a fish smoker.

That was the response of Jane Haigh, of Soldotna, upon seeing a classified ad in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in 1997. It was a quintessential impulse buy: completely unplanned, wholly unpractical, outside the bounds of discretionary spending, yet completely irresistible. The dredge is co-owned by Jane Haigh, of Soldotna, who bought it to try and preserve this 70-year-old, 300-foot piece of gold mining history. 3, outside of Fairbanks, is seen before being scorched in a fire in August 2013.

Gold dredges in alaska