Arizona state miner., 1925-01-10
GOLD DREDGING
On G|LA RIVER

NV OA@sH Ebaa @t
After aeons of quiet and indiffer-
ent slumber it appears that Yuma
is about to wake up to find itself
the center of very extensive gold
dredging operations, which in area
and Importance bid fair to outrival
any single field undertaking of it's
kind in the entire state of California,
which has hitherto held the honor
of supremacy in placer mining over
all the other states in the Union.
AS far back as memory of fthe
earliest settlers extend there has
been notime that some part of the
San Pablo, Las Flores and Gila min
ing districts were not actively worked
by Indians or white placer miners
All of Yumas leading merchants and
banks bear witness that the old city
of Gila and Yuma from its inception
were supported entirely by the ad
jacent gold fields and the cattle busi-
ness. Millions of dollars worth of
placer gold was taken out by the In
dians and a fair scattering of white
miners and prospectors and disposed
of in trade or exchange for commodi-
ties, and to quote no less an authority
than O. F. Townsend, civil and min
ing engineer.
C. w. Aston, an old-timer who re-
sides in Los Angeles, was during the
war one Of committee of three ap-
pointed by the United States, Great
Britain and the Canadian govern
ments, to investigate the platinum
properties of the Omineca Timber and
Mining Company in the interior of
British Columbia, and was associated
with DR.. J. D. O'Neil of the geolog-
ical survey of Canada, who was one of
the party of the Stefansson expedi-
ton to the North Pole and was in
charge of the expedition on its re-
turn, the third party of the commits
sion being Captain Daniel Thornton,
quartermaster general, Beauregards
camp, U. S. A.
During the past two years Mr.. AL
ston has quietly kept in touch with
the situation at Dome, where the
party has been at work checking up
the values and suitability of the To-
cal placer grounds for dredging pur-
poses, with the result that he and his
associates have now taken over the
entire field and have undertaken to
place 100000 subic yard per month
capacity dredge in operation by Sep
tember 1, 1925; other units are to fol
low as fast as they can profitably be
Installed. Mr.. Alston, with the as
sistance of Mr. McPhaul of this place
has just completed rounding up all
suitable dredging ground extending
over an area of six hundred million
cubic yards of dredgable grave1s.
The funding capital was secured in
Los Angeles within the past two
weeks and Mr.. Aston is to leave
here for the East to raise an operat-
ing capital of several million dollars.
Gold dredging as a commercial en-
terprise has been established within
the last decade or two on thorough.
ly sound basis, SO that fields formerly
unworkable by the then known meth
DDS now offer remarkably sound and
remunerative returns.
The modern dredge handles as
much gravel per day as 10000 men
could formerly work by panning,
rocking or dry washing methods
Therefore, when it is considered that
the ancient methods netted the miner
from so cents to So or more per day,
one may get an idea of the magnitude
of the returns of a modern dredge,
handling this same material at a cost
of two and a half cents per cubic
yard. Testing and sampling opera
tions for dredging is in process.
Joe Redmondo, whose father came
to this country and settled at Gila
City i'll 1860, was in the mercantile
business there from 1860 to 1876,
states that the principal industry at
that time was placer mining, and that
there were some 1900 people engaged