F.E. Company Dredge No. 4 | |
Location: | Along Airport Road, south of mile 66.4 of Taylor Highway, Chicken, Alaska |
Coordinates: | 64.0698°N -141.9385°W |
Built: | 1938 |
Builder: | Yuba Manufacturing Company |
Added: | May 18, 2006 |
Area: | less than one acre |
Refnum: | 06000435 |
Designated Other1: | Alaska Heritage Resources Survey |
Designated Other1 Name: | Alaska Heritage Resources Survey |
Designated Other1 Color: |
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Designated Other1 Abbr: | AHRS |
Designated Other1 Number: | EAG-00069 |
Designated Other1 Num Position: | bottom |
The F.E. Company Dredge No. 4, also known as the Pedro Dredge and the Chicken Dredge, was originally owned by the Fairbanks Exploration Company (F.E. Co.), a subsidiary of the United States Smelting Refining & Mining Co. (USSR&M). It was built by the Yuba Manufacturing Company in California, and was shipped to Pedro Creek north of Fairbanks, Alaska in 1938. It was assembled there, and operated until 1958.
The following year it was disassembled, trucked to Chicken, Alaska and reassembled. The dredge commenced operations on lower Chicken Creek in September and worked for approximately five months every year thereafter until October 1967, when it produced its final cleanup.
In 1998, the 500 ton dredge was moved overland to its current location at the Chicken Gold Camp.[1]
In 2006, the dredge was added to the National Register of Historic Places and was opened to the public.[2]