SUMPTER, Ore. — Rella Brown stands on the top center deck of the Sumpter Dredge admiring the massive mining rig built in the Great Depression.
A ranger assistant of Oregon State Parks, Brown points to a large metal structure partially sticking out the ship’s front. It looks like a rusty Ferris wheel featuring spoon-shaped buckets that weigh a ton each.
The hopper used to carry ore into the ship by scooping it up and rotating it toward the dredge’s mouth. From there, the rocks were washed and filtered for gold in a metal container called the neck.
Brown uses anatomical terms including mouth, neck and belly to explain the complex machine to children.
Today, the former workplace is a tourist attraction restored by Oregon State Parks and Friends of the Dredge, an organization devoted to the preservation of the historical piece.
One floor below, curious tourists pass by and look up to hear Brown’s explanation of the hopper’s function. The public isn’t allowed on the top floor due to safety concerns, and Brown usually has to explain the elevated hopper by using a laser pointer from the ground floor.
“People really want to come up,” Brown said, “every day.”
Locked doors block the stairway to the top floor. Brown said she still occasionally finds people climbing over and sneaking upstairs. She is limited in her tours to the downstairs area.
Friends of the Dredge board members are looking to change that.
Significance
Board member Jack Walls joined Brown on a rare top deck tour last week. He said he sees the value of the investment because of the historical significance of the dredge.
“Why save anything?” Walls said. “(The dredge is) a place to get an appreciation. Where would we be today if we didn’t have our history?”
Brown has a slightly different perspective. Beyond today, she said she sees the dredge as a lesson for the future. The tour is an opportunity to show people the pros and cons of dredging, she said.
Before the 1,260-ton structure was built, the area was a grassland used for crops and grazing.
The dredge churned the valley into a series of gravel piles and ponds.
“History helps you to see, so that you can make a good determination,” Brown said. “Do I to tear up the land to get the gold? Is it worth it? Or is the land more valuable?”
She said she feels her tours can be more informative if the top floor is opened. Before it can, though, restoration must start from the bottom up. The first priority is addressing uneven support structures at the dredge’s foundation, Walls said.
Since the park bought the dredge in 1992, the hull’s wooden support beams have rotted away.
“They look like a beaver has been down there and chewing on them,” Walls said.
He speculates that the 18 inches of water filling the hull likely contributed to the wood decay.
The park has hired an historical architect to examine the foundation in early August.
Walls said he is confident that before anything else is done, the water in the hull must be drained or pumped. After that, he said he wants workers to replace the wooden beams with concrete.
Park Manager Dennis Bradley said he is unsure of the cost of the project without a structural assessment. In the meantime, Friends of the Dredge is on the hunt for grants from private organizations.
Workers recently restored the rotten beams on the dredge’s roof using more than $77,000 in grants. That’s relatively inexpensive compared to previous projects.
Though future projects don’t have an estimated cost attached to them yet, Walls estimates the hull work could cost more than a million dollars.
