Efforts to dredge the Yankee Fork began in 1899 when business groups bought placer claims along the creek, revived in 1904 when the Boston & Boise Dredge Company drilled test holes, and gained new momentum in 1932 as rising gold prices led the Yankee Fork Placer Company to bring in a diesel powered dredge, though inadequate equipment caused that project to fail. The Silas Mason Company and later its subsidiary the Snake River Mining Company brought in machinery and tested the ground again, and by 1940 a work camp had been constructed as workers awaited a custom-built dredge. Dredging continued off and on until 1947, when operations ended because a bedrock reef blocked access to better paying ground. Warren Dredging Corporation, partially owned by J.R. Simplot, bought the operation in 1949, overcame the bedrock reef problem, continued operations until 1952, and moved the dredge to its present location in 1953.