Gore, the General Superintendent of the New Fraser River Gold Mining Co., in reply to an inquiry from Mr. Two instances of the successful use of these machines are cited in the report of the Minister of Mines, in British Columbia, for 1897. The principal American makers of this type of dredge are the Marion Steam Shovel Company, of Marion, Ohio, and the Bucyrus Steam Shovel Company, of Wisconsin. This primitive dredge, which may still be seen in operation for channel-clearing, has been largely improved in speed and capacity by the substitution of steam for handpower, and in the form of the modern steam-shovel machine has a more extended use for gold-dredging. Nevertheless, in the early days of gold-dredging on the Clutha, when the virgin ground in the river was not, as now, buried beneath vast deposits of tailings, good results were attained, and not a few small fortunes built up, as the result of operations with these machines. The operation is slow and laborious, and even under the most favourable conditions cannot raise more than 2 or 3 tons of gravel per hour. In working, the dredge is moored in the stream, the dipper is lowered, drawn along the bottom, and then raised by the winch. To the dipper end of the pole, is fastened a rope or chain, carried back to a hand-winch in the dredge, by which means the dipper is raised. In its primitive form, the dipper dredge consists of a barge or pontoon, to the side of which is attached a long pole carrying a strong canvas or hide bag, or iron bucket, which is termed a ladle, spoon, scoop, or dipper, and which at times is provided with a blade or shovel.
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