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 that gold still remained in the deep gravels. After obtaining the mineral rights to the various claims along the stream, the company decided to bring in a gold dredge to recover the gold left behind by earlier prospectors. Although the first successful mechanical gold dredge had been built in New Zealand in 1882, it was not until 1890 that the Bucyrus Company of Milwaukee built the first successful gold dredge used in the United States. In 1897, the Risdon Company of California perfected the design used for most later dredges. The Yankee Fork dredge was of the California type, but was built by Bucyrus-Erie. It was purchased by the Snake River Company in 1939 and hauled to the Yankee Fork to be assembled. The dredge recovered over $1,200,000 in gold from about 6,000,000 cubic yards of gravel and was shut down in 1952 after all claims owned by the company were dredged.