The Nome nugget., 1931-01-10
LOCAL NEWS
CURTIS COMPLETES JOB OF MOVING BIG DREDGE
 TO NEW LOCATION

If the Hammon Consolidated Gold
 Fields at Nome. was completed Thursday of this week when the Gredge was moved intact from its old digging location near Little Creek to a new site approximately one and d half miles across coun- try over inc tundra to Center
 Creek
 The work was done under con-
 tract to the Curtis Brothers of
 Seattle and is the first time that
 a large dredge was ever moved intact in this country and is also the first job of its kind that the Curtis Brothers have attempted in
 Alaska. The work has been under
 way practically four months but
 nearly one months delay was nec-
 essary in the fall awaiting cold
 weather to freeze the water soak
 ed tundra to sufficient depth to
 withstand the weight of the dredge and equipment.
 The moving was done under the personal supervision of MT. Frank Curtis, president of the moving company, who first came to Nome on the first trip of the steamer Victoria last spring. to make a survey of the work Curtis re- turned to Seattle and after receiv- Ing the contract brought to Nome on the steamer Denali. the neces- sary moving equipment to proceed with the job. He began opera tiOns August 24th last, and with an average crew of 30 men, and two tractors successfully accom- plished the job without a hitch
 The power used in moving the dredge forward was from electric motors hitched to blocks and cab les. The tractors merely being used to handle the equipment.
 During the progress of the nov ing the contractors were favored considerable by the weather man. no real blizzards Or heavy snow falls 9echring, which naturally made moving operations less ex- pensive as well as more desirable.
 With the first flooding of the pend and tioating the dredge onto a special foundation made for the preliminary work of raising the dredge to move it out of the pond. everything worked clock like Dur ng the mile and a half of moving he dredge ii was necessary to make four grade changes. In oth- Pr words when it became necessary to go up grade the contractor sim ply raised the dredge to a sufficient neighth by blocking to enable a level runway
 At the completion of the work the dredge was lowered down on set of timbers in the new pond, where it will rest until foated by water, then the timbers now under the hull will be pulled out by tractors.
 The hull was carefully examined and steam forced into it for several hours, after which water was pump ed into the hull to test it for leaks One small leak was discovered, and that was where hole had been bored for an iron rod when the1 dredge was first built. This was plugged and the hull and corking found to be in perfect condition.
 Frank Curtis, is president of the Curtis Brothers moving concern, with headquarters at Seattle and a branch offc at Portland, they main tain moving equipment valued at $160,000.00. and todate Mir. Cur tis says, they have never found any lob to big to tackle but what they have made success of it.
 In speaking of other big jobs which the Curtis Bros. have han dled. Mr. Cunts stated that a big ship which had grounded in a storm on the Pacific coast, was after having been examined by i've different engineers, given up as impossible to save. His con- cern was finally asked to mako . survey and Mir. Curtis personally