Dredge Cable

Manhattan (NV) is about 60 miles north--I've got an album on it as well. I'm surprised there was enough water there to float a dredge! They were used for placer mining, moving along in their own little pond while gouging up the ground on one side and ejected the spoil on the other. They were a source of more environmental damage than most mining techniques, because the coarse spoil ended up on top and ruined the land for agriculture for a few generations or so. There are still lots of dredgelands visible around places like Sacramento, California. At least they're one place where building suburbs on top is probably an improvement!