We spent a week exploring central Idaho and we fell in love with this area. It is a short drive from Utah and there is a lot to see and do. One of the stops that we made was to the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge. Dad had seen a gold dredge when he spent a few years living in Alaska, but our boys had never seen one. It was fascinating to learn about the history of this area and to learn how the gold dredge worked.
History
The Yankee Fork Dredge began work in 1940 and worked until 1952, when it closed down. This massive machine inched along the river bed, creating its own wet footprint. A crew of men onboard extracted gold from the tailings that were dredged up. For a small fee, you can tour the inside of the dredge, which is maintained by volunteers.
Yankee Fork Gold Dredge
The tour through the dredge is self guided, but there are volunteers in different areas. The volunteers were really knowledgable and showed us how the dredge worked. We maneuvered the levers and explored the old machine. We also asked questions because we did not know what in the world was happening inside this huge machine, and they patiently explained how everything worked.
It took us about 45 minutes to work through the different areas of the dredge. The tour ends in a small gift shop area that also has some info on the people who worked on the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge in the few years that it was operating.
Make sure that you drive about one mile past the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge and visit the Custer ghost town. It is a ghost town with a ton of buildings intact and in a beautiful place, too. These are two adventures worth pairing together. For current hours and pricing, visit their website: Yankee Fork Gold Dredge. If you are looking for other things to do in the area, check out these posts:
- Things to do in Stanley, Idaho
- Things to do near Challis, Idaho.
