The dredge, located in French Gulch was listed as endangered in 2015. Breckenridge Heritage Alliance Executive Director Larissa O’Neil said the listing helped the nonprofit work with the advocacy group and other agencies to get funding necessary to preserve the site before it was lost for good.
“It’s such a unique site,” O’Neil said. “We’re talking about a partially submerged vessel. We literally have a boat at 10,000 feet that’s sitting in a pond that’s been sitting there for a hundred years, and it’s just so abnormal to this area.”
O’Neil said it cost about $350,000 total to restore, with the State Historical Fund, town of Breckenridge and Summit County government being the top three contributors. According to Colorado Preservation Inc., the Reiling Dredge is now considered to be one of the most intact dredges in the United States.
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News
