Biophilic Regeneration Series:
The Dredge
inspired by Breckenridge and Summit County’s mining history.
The performance happens near Reilling Dredge whose bones still lay nearby. Reilling Dredge operated in French Gulch from 1909 until 1920. It was one of nine dredges that operated on the Swan River, Blue River, and in French Gulch between 1898 and 1942. These dredges searched for gold by literally turning the river ways upside down, leaving massive rock tailings piles in their wake. The sculpture sits in the tailings pile and as the audience approach it suddenly begins to spit out rocks.
Helen Rich, a Breckenridge, author, described it this way: “The dredge squats on a brown-green pond, and wherever the dredge goes the pond goes, too. The water comes from a near-by mountain creek and it is clear when it flows into the pond, but not after that. A gold boat looks like a prehistoric monster. It has a deck the same as any other boat, but at the bow there are gawky neck-like timbers called gantries. They support the bucket ladder, and the bucket ladder holds the digging buckets… This machinery acts like a stomach. It takes gold for its food and spews out what is doesn’t want… All day long, all night long, the conveyor belt carries everything that isn’t gold up the stacker and lets it drop. Splat. Plop. As the monster lumbers forward it leaves behind tailings piles higher than a two-story house.”
The dredge spews rocks for a few minutes before it starts to shake as something larger emerges.
An strange alien like golden object begins slowly spilling out of the dredge.
The dredge struggles as the gold emerges and suddenly it looses hold and the object deflates and falls to the ground.
And the process of spitting out the rocks begins again, but now with the golden hands of the dredge in view.
Just a few humans destroyed massive areas around Breckenridge for gold. Now we are left with devastated landscapes. Over 100 years later the French Gulch is still a rock river, abandoned by the humans who ravaged the land to take her gold. And the monstrous dredge also sits decaying and abandoned in a puddle of her making. This sad monster made by human hands is the inspiration for my artwork. But also the knowledge that there is still a chance to put it right. In the nearby Swan river sits another abandoned dredge, The Tiger dredge. This valley is in the process of restoration. The rocks must be removed and crushed and the riverbed physically carved into the mud with machinery. This land is healing. As you walk along the new river which quickly repopulated with wildlife you can see that while humans do great harm they can also mend these mistakes. I recommend you walk to the edge of the restoration where the healing Swan river abruptly meets the dredge's rock piles, and feel the simultaneous pain and healing of our earth.
The Dredge was preformed as part of BIFA in 2025, and the artwork was created while Nicole was artist in residence with Breck Create in 2024.
