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Feeding the Monster
Barn-sized, bucket-toothed,
the Sumpter dredge
floats in dust and rust
on the outskirts of town.
From 1935,
it ate dirt
to find gold
in these Blue Mountains.
Three men fed it,
one doing the chewing
while two raced about
wooden decks and iron ladders
oiling jaws. Ragged piles
of rock scattered across forest floor
trace a path
the dredge swam
in its moving, man-made lake,
devouring countryside
like a cartoon monster,
until money men decided
feeding it
cost more than they could earn
selling gold it spat out.
Since 1954, the dredge
has sat silent in Sumpter
like some dinosaur statue.
Last year they turned it
into a state park, complete
with push-button audio.
Stand on its splintery bow
and listen
to a smooth voice tell
how for years the monster
bellowed across northeast Oregon,
laying waste to wilderness
as it churned dirt to gold.
—David Jordan
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