Chicken Gold Camp & Outpost Home Page Camping at Chicken, Alaska Cabin & Room Rentals at Chicken, Alaska The Outpost Activities in the Chicken, Alaska area Pedro Dredge - a National Historic Site at Chicken, Alaska Recreational Gold Mining at Chicken, Alaska Chicken Creek Mine How to find us Testimonials Reservations Contact Us Alaska Travel and Mining Resources



Take a tour of the


The Pedro Gold Dredge - Chicken, Alaska
The Pedro Gold Dredge - Chicken, Alaska Click each photo to greatly enlarge it

Alaskan gold nugget     The Pedro Dredge, originally owned by the Fairbanks Exploration Company (FE Co.), a subsidiary of the United States Smelting Refining & Mining Co. (USSR&M), was built by the Yuba Manufacturing Company in California, and was shipped to Pedro Creek north of Fairbanks in 1938. It was assembled there, and operated until 1958. The following year it was disassembled, trucked over the Alaska and Taylor Highway to Chicken and reassembled over a 3 month span. The dredge commenced operations on lower Chicken Creek in September of 1959 and worked approximately five months every year thereafter until October 1967, when it produced its final cleanup.

    The 3-cubic-foot dredge (measurement of the bucket capacity), the smallest in the FE Co.'s fleet of 8 behemoth gold mining machines, mined over 55,000 ounces of gold in the eight years on Chicken Creek, equivalent to roughly 80 million dollars in gold at modern prices.

    In 1998, after sitting idle for 31 years, the million pound dredge was moved one mile in one piece, on a trailer constructed in place, to the Chicken Gold Camp & Outpost. It was moved a short distance again in 2009, floating to it's present location. The dredge was opened to the public in August 2005. It is the most complete bucket line gold dredge open to the public in Alaska and perhaps North America. Adjoining the dredge and throughout the Gold Camp/Chicken RV park, an assemblage of historical gold rush equipment and buildings, including a vintage machine shop, can be viewed for free. Gold panning is available at stand-up troughs under the stacker of the dredge, and modern recreational mining is provided on historic gold producing claims nearby.

    The Grand Opening of Pedro Dredge was held in 2006; tours are now offered daily throughout the season. In June 2006, years of work were rewarded when the dredge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

    For much more information on our dredge, see Mike's article at ExploreNorth. A great deal of other information about Northern gold dredges and mining generally, can also be found from the links on that page.



The Pedro Gold Dredge at the Chicken Gold Camp - Chicken, Alaska

The Pedro Gold Dredge - Chicken, Alaska

Twin Cat engines
Twin cat engines in an old gold dredge - Chicken, Alaska
The pilot room
The pilot room of the Pedro Gold Dredge at the Chicken Gold Camp - Chicken, Alaska

The boarding ramp
Old gold dredge - Chicken, Alaska
Fireweed at the dredge
Fireweed at Chicken, Alaska


Home | Campground | Lodging | The Outpost | Gold Dredge
Activities | Our Location | Reservations | Contact Us | Links & Resources

Chicken Gold Camp & Outpost
PO Box 70
Chicken, Alaska   99732

Phone: 907-782-4427

Email: chickenrvpark@gmail.com