This wasn’t the only dredge to work the gravels along the South Platte. It restarted operations in 1945 and continued until 1952. It then ceased operation as did most non-essential mines during the war. The dredge only operated for one year until the start of World War II. It was the largest dredge in Colorado, with over 100 buckets! It could process 15,000 yards of gold-bearing gravels per day and reach to a depth of over 100 feet. The photos in this article were taken during the construction of the Fairplay Dredge, which was setup southeast of Fairplay in 1941.

A number of gold mining companies considered setting up their own dredges. By now, there were many bucket line dredges operating throughout the West, and the gravels of the South Platte River were next. This changed after the Great Depression, when hard economic times renewed the interest in gold. The gold that could be easily accessed by placer miners was long gone, and only a few miners remained. In the early decades of the 1900s there was only limited gold mining activity in the Fairplay area. These tailings also extend up toward the town of Alma. This aerial photo shows just some of the dredge tailings from the historic diggings on the South Platte River. Long After the First Strike – Gold Dredges Arrive Hydraulic mining continued until World War I interrupted mining as the demand for gold dropped because of the war. Then in early 1900s, hydraulic mining was introduced and this renewed mining efforts all around Fairplay including at the Snowstorm Placers where the Snowstorm Hydraulic Company set up operations in 1902. Mining continued at this deposit until the early 1890s when the placer deposits were fully exhausted. This renewed interest in the area once again. This led to the discovery of the Snowstorm placers a few miles from Fairplay. However, as time progressed the placer gold deposits slowly exhausted and quite a few miners were forced to move to other places in search for new gold deposits. In the first few years of the gold rush these were the primary methods used to recovery gold in the area. The early settlers in Fairplay were primarily focused on placer gold which was easy to miner using simple tools such as sluice boxes and rocker boxes. It was during this time that the town of Fairplay was established. Many of these newcomers where business people who established stores, saloons, hotels, and brothels to serve the needs of the miners who were flocking to the area. Soon the new arrivals began to set up towns. The area proved to be quite rich as gold was discovered in creeks, rivers, and streams all throughout the state. Within several months the population of Colorado had grown from a few hundred indigenous people and a number of newcomers to over 30,000 people. This discovery created a buzz and in turn, triggered a major gold rush that brought in tenths of thousands of miners and prospectors seeking to find some rich gold. The gold remained in the ground for the next fifty years until 1859 when a group of local prospectors discovered gold nuggets in the ground near the area that was soon to be the city of Denver. In 1806 Jim Pursley, a Kentucky trapper discovered gold in the new lands in the area of what is now the South Park and reported to Zebulon Pike about his findings, but Pike was too busy mapping the newly acquired lands and preparing a report for President Thomas Jefferson to take notice. Gold was discovered in Colorado more than a half a century before the gold rush of 1859 took place. The huge cast iron buckets would scoop up gold bearing gravels and bring them inside the dredge for processing. The buckets of a dredge work very much like the chain of a chainsaw (obviously on a much larger scale). Within months the town was booming with business as miners in the nearby rivers and creeks settled there and many others kept arriving. These new group of arrivals finally discovered gold on the South Platte River and established their own town which they named Fairplay. Most of these new arrivals were not allowed to settle at Terryall as the early settlers wanted to protect their mining claims. The news of the discovery of gold at Terryall spread fast and many other prospectors began moving and prospecting on the South Platte River. They decided to stay and established a small town they named Terryall. They soon discovered gold on a small stream draining in the South Platte River. Many of these miners settling on the Rockies but quite a few decided to look elsewhere when they could not find sufficient gold keep them there for long. When news of gold in Colorado broke out in 1859, many miners from different places flocked the area in search of a fortune.

The town of Fairplay was established in 1859 when miners discovered rich placer gold deposits along the South Platte River.

Gold mining dredge