In spite of the fact that the dredge method of alluvial deposits development has been used for quite a long time, the available literature on dredging is very poor. The overwhelming part of monographs and journal articles devoted to this issue, as well as related to it - the use of dredges, is descriptive in nature, and only a small part to some extent approaches the issues of the theory of soil cutting.The most important stage in determining the load overcome by the motor of the dredge chain is to establish the value of the total resistance to digging the soil, the causes that cause load fluctuations, and the magnitude of these fluctuations.