The dredge left Seattle on July 13, 2013, for Nome. The engines were freshly rebuilt, and the tug required very little preparation to make the trip. The draft is shallow enough for the inner harbor at Nome, yet it is a big enough tug to make the 3,000-mile voyage to Alaska. Another tug, the Patricia S., was purchased locally for the tow and tending in Nome. We determined that the Sam M. push boat was not the best boat to tow the Jay Cashman dredge to Nome during the construction of the dredge in Seattle. Installations included: a four-point anchor system, a 10-inch pump, two new auxiliary generators below deck, and an entire wash plant system for catching gold, including another 400 kW generator to power it. To begin work, everything on deck was removed except for the excavator and spud winches. Once this was done, and everything was afloat, preparations to the Jay Cashman dredge began. The first step was to prepare the equipment for another heavy lift to remove it all from the Foss deck barge. About a month later, the entire package arrived in Seattle. In Morgan City, we hired a large crane to lift the Jay Cashman dredge, the PC 1250 excavator, and the Sam M. push boat onto the Foss deck barge. The Sam M. push boat was towed to Florida, where it met the Jay Cashman dredge.įrom here, the Sam M. push boat brought the dredge to meet the Foss deck barge in Morgan City. en route for Seattle via the Panama Canal. Sterling Equipment President Bobby DeCrescenzo found an inexpensive means to transport the equipment that worked with our schedule – on a Foss deck barge leaving Morgan City, La. We ultimately chose our dredge, the Jay Cashman, to be sent to Alaska once it finished work on the Dania Canal in Florida. A year of planning and searching for the appropriate dredge ensued.

We found partners and created a joint venture under the name Liberty Mining. The first thing we needed was a place to dig. Clips from the TV show 'Bering Sea Gold' were shared, and ideas began to flow. For that and other reasons, we tabled the discussion.įast forward to early 2012, when we revisited the project during a brainstorming session in Jay Cashman's office. The initial idea required a hefty capital investment. We first considered the opportunity to mine gold off the coast of Nome, Alaska in 2010.

Can you use a small dredge in alaska