In essence, the dirt that was dug by the large electrically powered buckets was sifted and sorted, and the remainder was washed over a series of riffles allowing the gold to settle and be trapped.

The primary advantages that made the dredge more efficient than other methods were the volume of earth it could process and having its own water supply.

The Sumpter Valley Gold Dredge required a three-man crew to operate the machinery and 17 more workers to complete the crew for maintenance, bookkeeping, surveying, truck driving, managing and a few other roles.

Between them, the dredges traveled more than 8 miles (13 km),[4] extracting $10 to 12 million worth of gold.

The dredge was part of a paranormal investigation on the 2013 television series Ghost Mine.