On Yankee Fork Road - Custer Motorway Adventure Road near West Fork Yankee Fork Road, on the right when traveling west.
You now stand among the remains of Bonanza City, laid out in 1877 and the Yankee Fork's first mining camp. Pack trails linking Ketchum, Stanley, Loon Creek, and Challis converged in Bonanza. At its peak, Bonanza had over 600 residents, a rectangular . . . — — Map (db m109990) HM
On Yankee Fork Road - Custer Motorway Adventure Road near Ramey Creek Road, on the left when traveling south.
Near here, the initial pond of the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge was constructed to allow the assembly of the massive four-story floating machine. It was a major operation to transport the equipment and pieces needed to build the dredge. Some pieces were . . . — — Map (db m110005) HM
On Yankee Fork Road - Custer Motorway Adventure Road near Loon Creek Road, on the right when traveling west.
Thoughts of dredging the Yankee Fork began in 1899 when business groups bought up placer claims along the creek and were revived up again in 1904 when the Boston & Boise Dredge Company drilled test holes. Rising gold prices stimulated interest again . . . — — Map (db m109989) HM
On Yankee Fork Road - Custer Motorway Adventure Road near Loon Creek Road, on the right when traveling west.
Workers on the dredge included the winch men, stern and bow oilers, and the gold man. A ground crew cleared the area ahead of the digging and helped set the "deadmen." The dredge master oversaw the entire operation, deciding were to dig, when to . . . — — Map (db m109988) HM
Near Yankee Fork Road - Custer Motorway Adventure Road near Loon Creek Road, on the right when traveling west.
The first prospectors on the Yankee Fork searched for small particles of gold known as "placer gold." Eroded from exposed ore veins in surrounding hillsides, placer gold washed down valley walls and collected in stream channels. Prospectors used . . . — — Map (db m109987) HM
On Yankee Fork Road - Custer Motorway Adventure Road near Westfork Lane, on the left when traveling south.
The large piles of rock and gravel around you were left over from dredge mining operations that took place in the 1940s and early 1950s.
The 4-level Yankee Fork dredge floated in water as it dug its way upstream, extracting gold and silver . . . — — Map (db m109991) HM
On Yankee Fork Road - Custer Motorway Adventure Road near Loon Creek Road, on the right when traveling south.
The dredge operated 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, using only 3 men per shift. The winch man (1) was in charge, controling (sic) the dredge from his vantage point four stories above the deck. From there he could raise and lower, and vary the speed . . . — — Map (db m109948) HM
On Yankee Fork Road - Custer Motorway Adventure Road near Loon Creek Road, on the right when traveling south.
Starting in 1872, the valley bottom along the Yankee Fork, was hand placered in the search for free gold. Later, the Snake River Mining Company tested the ground along the stream and found gold still remained in the deep gravels. After obtain the . . . — — Map (db m109949) HM
