Chatanika Dredge

Radio Control
I flipped the joystick 1200 times to trigger the shutter (the 4 GB SD card filled up 10 minutes before I pulled it down).
The S95 captured 1170 photos in 1.5 hours while the Fled flew over the relic Gold Dredge #3 of the Fairbanks Exploration Company (F.E. Company). It was built in place in 1927-1928 and dug its own pond which it moved around until 1958. Hundreds of acres of the Chatanika River valley were turned into these concentric ridges of tailings as the placer gravels were devoured by the floating dredge and disgorged by the systematic arcs of its conveyor arm.
Thousands of acres of river valleys in Alaska were churned into this.
Thousands of acres of river valleys in Alaska were churned into this by floating gold factories during the early 20th century.

Final resting place
This was the second largest gold dredge in the Fairbanks mining district. It appears to have just finished depositing its last arc of tailings.

The upper few dozen feet of river gravel poured through the dredge, and only the gold stayed onboard.

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