Northwest History. Alaska, Mines & Mining -- Dredging. United States.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1934
• Subjects: Alaska; San Francisco; gold; dredge; Bering sea; veteran skipper; Captain John C. Benson; gold mining; Alaskan rivers; Nome; gold flakes; storms; Alaskan salmon canning; the vessel; cubic yard; Gold King; Topcock bay; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Bering Sea; Norway; Pacific
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/101091

Ship Will Suck Gold Off Shore Of Alaska. SHIP WILL SUCK GOLD OFF SHORE OF ALASKA SAN FRANCISCO, March 21. (/P)— Gold that drew a San Francisco sailor-miner to Alaska 34 years ago is caling him back this spring to dredge the shallows of the Bering sea in one of the strangest treasure hunts on record. Veteran skipper of sail and steam, Captain John C. Benson first dreamed of salt water gold mining when he panned the Alaskan rivers and streams from 1901-1904. He had found gold flakes at low tide in the sandy beaches near Nome. Benson tried then with a flat bottom dredging barge to extract the gold from the sandy floor of the Bering sea. Storms wrecked the barge within a few days. Now "70 years and past," this sturdy native of Norway is busy converting an Alaskan salmon canning ship into the first sea-going gold dredge ever built. Two 10-inch centrifugal suction pumps are being installed, capable of sucking 8000 cubic yards of sand into the vessel every 24 hours. The sand will be fed into six amalgamators which will separate the gold from the tailings. In addition, four clam shell buckets will be rigged on the deck booms to dig down into the blue clay below the surface sand, bringing up a cubic yard of sand and clay apiece every; two minutes. From tests Captain Benson and his associates have made in the Nome waters he estimates the dredging will yield 50 cents gold to the cubic yard. He places the entire cost of obtaining the gold at 4 cents a cubic yard. Gold King, drawing 16 feet of water, will work along the Nome coast about one-quarter mile offshore. When a storm blows up, the 200-foot ship will put out to sea. When ice begins to form, the Gold King will move southward to Topcock bay, where it will spend the winter dredging. Then back to Nome cgain when spring comes. The 40 members of the crew are being signed at small salaries with; stipulations they will participate in 25 per cent of the expected net earnings.