Mr. Kriege said that the dredges’ impact on the riverbed was “like fluffing a pillow”

GOLD HILL, Ore. — When four dams on the Rogue River here were scheduled for removal, environmentalists predicted many benefits: more salmon and steelhead swimming upriver to spawn; more gravel carried downriver to replenish the riverbed; more rafters bobbing along 57 miles of newly opened water. 

What they didn't count on was an influx of New 49'ers, suction dredgers looking to sift through the tons of gravel for the gold once hidden behind the dams.

LINK (Via: The NY Times)