Large piles of rock and gravel here remain from dredge mining operations in the nineteen forties and early nineteen fifties. The four-level Yankee Fork dredge floated in water as it dug its way upstream, extracting gold and silver from the river bed. As it pivoted back and forth, anchored by a fifty-five-foot post called a spud, it left an arc of fan-shaped tailing piles behind. Large cobbles were sent to a mounted conveyor belt, or stacker, while finer sediments were deposited outside the dredge. These dredge piles are evidence of Idaho's mining heritage and are being preserved as an important part of Yankee Fork's history.