11x09 - Back to Alaska

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: On this "gold rush"...

We've spent a lot of
money drilling.

Narrator: Parker schnabel...

Parker: May not want
to follow me.

Whoa.

Narrator: ...Is on the hunt
for a new claim...

If the gold's not
good, it'll break you.

Whoa!

Narrator: ...To secure
his mining future.

Parker:
A lot of pressure riding on
the back of this little hole.

Rick: Push it! Let's go!

Cannot afford the plant
to shut down right now.

Narrator: Rick ness goes deep...

Rick: We're looking at at least


Sometimes you got to bite
the b*llet and just do it.

Narrator: ...To save his season.

Alrighty.

I didn't know that gold mining
had a lot to do with plumbing.

Narrator: And fred lewis's
first season as a mine boss...

Johnny!

Hey, turn off that water.

Fred: Turn it off!

Narrator:
...Hangs in the balance.

Fred: We keep getting kicked,
but we keep getting back up.

So, you guys ready?

♪♪

--[font color="#ffff00"] Captions by vitac[/font] --
[font color="#00ffff"] www.Vitac.Com[/font]

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪♪

Parker: Right now, I'm on
my way to fairbanks.

I really want to start
another operation.

Narrator: After seven years
mining in the yukon,


is back in alaska,

Where it all began, on a
mission to find new ground.

We've got a really good
opportunity on a piece of ground

That has had a lot
of historic mining.

It's for sale.

Guy that owns it wants


Which is a lot of money,
so hopefully,

Everything runs smoothly at
the mine site while I'm gone.

Narrator: To pay for a new
claim, for the first time ever,

Parker's left his crew to run
his yukon operation without him.

Parker: We've got a good shot
at making a lot of money,

And we're gonna need a hell
of a w*r chest built up.

If they can keep
that place going,

Then we can get another
operation up and rolling.

The only thing we
need is ground.

Narrator: Now, parker is


On his way to prospect the new,


I've asked liam ferguson,

Who has a sonic drill,
to come up.

Liam is the best in the business

When it comes
to evaluating ground.

Hopefully, it works out.

♪♪

This property we're looking
at about 2 miles long --

This creek, starting up
there about a mile

And goes downstream
about another mile.

Narrator: The smallwood claim
is 397 acres of ground,


from a huge gold vein,

Where a mine called fort knox

Has produced over


Now, parker must find out if
enough gold has washed down

From the mother lode to
make smallwood worth mining.

Parker: Looks like you
already been washing rocks!

Liam: Yeah, we've
got a few done.

He's hired liam ferguson
to test-drill the ground.

Hey, man. How's
your summer been?

Good.
Good.

Yeah.

Beating me
to the punch.

Yeah, we got a few days
head start on you.

We've done a little bit
of drilling now.

For the past five days, liam
has been drilling test holes

With his state-of-the-art
sonic drill.

At almost $20,000 a day,

It's already cost parker
nearly $100,000

Just to see if
there's good gold.

How many holes
have you drilled?

Probably done
about 25 or 30.

Oh, really?
Yeah.

So at least now
you kind of have

A bit of an idea on
what's going on,

And we can make a plan
where to go next.

A lot of fine gold
we'd mining, here.

Like dust?
Yeah, like flour.

We've seen gold, but it
seems to be pretty spotty.

There's definitely gold
here, but is there enough?

So far, liam has sunk
five test lines

That show only patches of gold.

Parker needs at least
five good results in a line

To prove this piece
of ground is worth

The 3-million-dollar price tag.

For the potential that is
here, you want to be sure.

You're thinking about
jumping downstream, then?

Yeah.

Do you want to
show me around?

Yeah. Let's go
for a walk.

Sweet. Oh, this
looks like fun.

How have you been going
back and forth this

When you're walking around?

Swimming across.

Oh [bleep].

Might not want
to follow me.

[ laughs ]

Whoa! Don't go there.

[ thud ]

Liam: The fairbanks region has
just a lot of gold here,

And there's been
a lot of historic mining.

So, fort knox is 3 miles
that way way

And it's producing


And this drainage is coming
right off the back of that,

So we know there's
gold in the area.

Are there any
bears out here?

[ chuckles ]
haven't seen any.

That's what dozer's
here for, right?

Oh, yeah. Appetizer.

[ chuckles ]

Breakfast time.

We didn't find any gold,

But we're probably gonna
eat a lot of blueberries.

Perfect. Bought a
new blueberry patch.



This is the [bleep] thing
about this creek.

It's all sitting
on top of mud.

So we should just
come down here

And slam a line in
somewhere in here, huh?

Yeah.

Liam: This is
kind of the zone

That I would be
interested in looking.

Liam: So, do you want
to aim for this line?

That's that one
we walked down.

Yeah.

You could put two, like,
right in the middle of this --

Two lines, like, there?
Yeah.

Maybe we do, like,
five holes a line?

Parker:
You know, there's a hefty
purchase price on this property,

And then we have no
infrastructure here, right?

So it needs to be
good ground to justify.

A lot of this ground's


So it's not cheap mining, right?

That's the kind of ground that,
if the gold's not good,

It'll break you,
trying to do that.

Narrator: The next site
parker wants to drill

Is a quarter-mile downstream.

The rig weighs
about 50,000 pounds.

It's pretty rough terrain.

[ rattling ]

Man: Stop!

Whoa!

[ grinding ]

You did it on purpose,
didn't you?

Well, we found
the soft spot.

We should be able to pull
it out here pretty quick.

Right here, this.

♪♪

Keep it revved up.

Parker: That's
more like it.

Parker:
It's a lot different than
the mining that I'm used to.

You know, we're very
good at mining, like,

Exactly 20 feet of ground,

And some of the deeper holes, I
think, have been over 90 feet.

So it's a deep, challenging
piece of ground,

Both to mine and drill.

♪♪

♪♪

[ groans ]

Well, we had a late
start to the season,

But we're definitely making
up for lost time right now.

We've already paid troy his


So everything from now on
is going in our own pockets,

And that feels great --
but if we're gonna hit

Our 1,000-ounce goal,
it's time to get serious.

Narrator:
Because of the lockdown,
rick ness was six weeks late

To start his mining season, but
he's making up ground fast.

With 302 ounces,

He's almost a third of the way
to his 1,000 ounce gold.

Now, he's ready to take
it to the next level.

Rick: What's up,
you g*ons?

Late again, huh?

Mark: Hey, what time is it?

[bleep] you.

[ laughing ]

Well, first of all,
I just want to

Thank you guys for
all the hard work.

You know, things are really
coming along good.

We're streamlining,

And we're looking like
we know what we doing.

[ cheers and applause ]

Mark: Took a few years.

Chris: Hey, fake it
till you make it.

We can crank things up,
and it's just in time,

Because we're moving on
from the cheap cut,

And we're opening up
the deep cut.

Mark: Wicked, man.
Yes, sir.

So that's a whole
different ball game for us.

We're moving over at 60 feet
overburden, in a lot of places.

That's a lot of junk
material to move.

It's gonna be expensive.

Karla, you're gonna have
to get in the rock truck.

Yep.
I'm just gonna have to kind of

Throw everybody
into the deep cut,

Try to get that stripped down.

See if we can get it
all done, you know?

It's doable now.
It's just like I said,

Me and you are
gonna jump in trucks?

We've got to get
the ball rolling,

So whatever we got
to do, right?

The reward there is, hopefully,


underneath that, right?

And good stuff, like,
two-ounce-per-100 type stuff.

That's what we tested
out at last year.

Carl: That's what
I'm talking about.

Alright. Let's get
after it. Deep cut.

Carl, try to keep your pants on.

I'm gonna try my best.

♪♪

It's gonna be one of the more
aggressive things I've done,

As far as mining goes.

Narrator: There are just
three days of cheap cut pay left

Before the wash plant runs out.

We're looking at at least


Sometimes you've got to
bite the b*llet and just do it.

Narrator:
To get the three-acre deep cut
down to pay dirt in time,

Rick pulls in the whole crew.

Karla: We have a lot
of overburden to move,

So this is gonna be a tough one.

I'm in the gold room full-time,
and I'm pretty swamped in there.

It kind of worries me.

I just don't want to get
caught with our pants down.

Chris: It's a time-crunch thing.

We're about out of
pay in that other cut,

And we've got a long way to go

And a lot of dirt to move
to get to this pay,

But it's gonna be
really worth it.

[ clanking ]

Oh, [bleep].

[ clanking ]

Something is just
not right with this thing.

[ rattling ]

No, that ain't good.

Hey, carl, you
got a copy?

Carl: 10-4.

Yeah, man, something's going
on with the bucket.

Get your truck out here and
take a look at this thing.

Without a 700, we're not gonna
get down to pay in the deep cut

Before we run out of pay
in the cheap cut,

So hopefully we can fix this
quick and get back on task.

Narrator: The 700 is
the only excavator that can

Move enough volume of dirt
for rick to stay on track.

It just never [bleep]
ends with this thing.

Carl: No. [ chuckles ]

All the welds broke.

It causes this pin to
go wherever it wants.

It's not in
good shape, dude.

I can stick my [bleep]
finger in there.

Yeah, and that's
not good.

My thoughts right now are,
my main production machine

Is just shot to [bleep].

Rick: It's my main machine.
I need it.

It's not working.
It's not good.

♪♪

♪♪

Carl: That's [bleep]
bad, man.

Rick:
I'm just trying to figure out
how to get through the season.

Narrator:
Rick ness has just three days
to strip 60 feet of overburden

And get down to pay
in his new deep cut,

But the bucket on his


How do we get
this to [bleep]...

To work?

We could try
centering it,

Getting this gouge
of it welded back on.

Weld, weld, weld, and
make it tighter, right?

Just trying to build
this up more.

Ugly.

This thing takes
a lot of force.

Yeah, I know, man.

It's gonna be real low-budget
and hope for the best, right?

Rick:
There's a collar on the bucket
that holds the pin in place

That the bucket rotates on,

And now the pin wobbles
in there like that,

And it causes all
kinds of damage, so...

We just need to get
this bucket off,

Re-weld this collar back on.

We can't just run it like that.

Narrator: The bucket is attached
to the arm by two pins.

On one of the collars
that hold the pins in place,

The weld has sheared off.

Without it, the pin wobbles,
making the bucket unusable.

Carl plans to weld the collar
back on to secure the pin.

Carl: So, yeah, man,
this is our money-maker.

This is our main hoe.

Without this thing
we're [bleep], right?

So, try to get that centered
and welded up, but we'll see.

There's no warranty
on this job.

We're doing it, though.

[ hammering ]

I'm just about ready to
attempt to throw a pin in it.

Alright, she's heavy.

Yeah, I'm gonna need
a hand here, rick.

I'm strong, but I'm not
that strong.

You want me to show you how
to do it by blowing on my back?

[ laughing ]

[ groaning ]

Carl: There you go.

That-a-boy.
You got her.

Is it in tight?
Yeah.

Tight!

The bucket's going back on
easier than it normally does,

So that's nice.

Couple nuts, and we're
back in business.

You're good to move it
if you want.

Rick: Oh, yeah.

That's it?

You made it look
easy, buddy.

Narrator:
Carl's got the 700 back up
and running in just 3 hours...

That went good, man.

That was awesome.

...And rick still has
a full two days left

To get down to
gold-rich pay dirt.

Carl saves the day again.

I'm not convinced you don't pull
that [bleep] on purpose.

[bleep]. "it could be
down for a week, rick,"

And then you pull it out of
your a*s in a couple hours.

I didn't think that
was gonna happen, though.

I love it.

This machine is digging
dirt in the morning.

♪♪

Fred:
I would say camp life, pretty
much like deployment life --

A bunch of dudes, and khara,
stuck in a small, little place,

Not a lot of room to get around,
and they're all messy teenagers.

Narrator: 1,500 miles south,
in oregon's elkhorn mountains,

Fred lewis is 9 weeks
into his first season

Running a gold mine.

Fred: So we've got all the
equipment now, and the team is

Biting through their lips
right now to get to work, so...

The attitude in the mine

Couldn't be any
better right now,

But I put my last 20k
down on the mine --

If we don't start
seeing a return, I'm done.

Narrator: So far, with his
crew of combat veterans,

Fred has less than
an ounce of gold.

Everyone's ready to slay it and
get up there and pull some gold.

Johnny's the first one up,
because he's got to go up

And check his ponds to make
sure the water's flowing

And make sure
our ponds are full,

So he's all chipper
and dapper in the morning.

Johnny: Guten morgen, world.

I wake up at 6:00 every morning,

So that I can go and have
the pumps running by 6:30,

So we can start the process
of getting water

From the lower cut
up to pond number 2.

I think this is fred
trying to put me back

Through boot camp, right now.

Crack the whip
and make me get up early

And start
the whole thing pumping.

But he called on a marine,

So he knew he called
on the right guy.

Narrator:
Staff sergeant johnny stanz
runs the irrigation system

That feeds the wash plant.

Johnny: The guys count on me,
and I like being counted on.

Narrator: But this is his
first job on a gold mine.

Johnny:
So, let's check it first,
to make sure gas is filled,

But luckily, I went with fill it
up at the end of my last cycle.

I normally do that,
but I still got to check,

'cause with a brain injury,
sometimes you forget.

After I got blown up
in the marine corps,

They tell me "you're retired,"

So I was like, "what the
frickin' heck do I do now?"

So I do wounded veteran
sporting camps,

And I meet a guy named fred --

Weird guy, had a big,
old beard.

Weird guy, which was perfect
for me, 'cause I'm a weird guy.

Years later, he calls
me up and tells me,

"hey, I'm starting a gold mine
out here in oregon.

You want to join me?

Took me about that long to
decide, "yep. Sure as heck do."

So, now the pump's all primed.
The pump's full of gas.

We've got to
reconnect our hoses --

Got to make sure
these connections

Are good and tight, sealed.

Got to be thorough,
'cause this is one of my duties,

And the guys are counting on me.

Without this, who knows
if we're gonna get gold.

I'm gonna go start the water.

[ engine starts ]

Water's flowing, baby!
Water's flowing.

Narrator: Dirty water flows out
of the wash plant into pond 1.

The tailings settle and clean
water flows into pond 2,

Where it can be
pumped back to the plant.

But overnight,
the ponds drain out,

So johnny needs to pump water up
to fill the ponds each morning

Before they can
fire up the plant.

Success!

Upper pond is filling up.

As you can see, it takes awhile,

But that's why I got
to wake up so early.

This water, I consider it
the blood of the operation,

And I'm the heart.

I've got to pump it
to the brain, the kernel.

It's got to figure
out the dirt from the gold.

We all got to work together
to get this mine to be

As successful as possible,

And I'm really grateful to fred
for giving me this opportunity.

How's it going, guys?

Kendall: Good morning.

Ohh.

Give me a little
spin, johnny.

What the --
you're dry.

I'm getting better at this.

[ laughs ] you're learning.

Alright, you guys ready
to get up to the mine?

Yeah.

Let's get fired up!
[ clicks tongue ]

Fred: Johnny's got a
pretty big responsibility.

He's our irrigation specialist.

It's quite complicated.

A lot of moving parts, but as
long as the water's flowing

From the swamp to the pond to
the kernel, we're in business.

Fire it up, johnny.

Here we go.

[ starting ]

Woo!

Here comes the water!

We're up and running!

Start feeding
it, stuart.

♪♪

That water is starting to
get kind of low over there.

Stuart: Fred!

Hey! Fred!

Hey, hey, hey!
Turn off that water!

Johnny! Johnny!

You need to take this! There's
water sh**ting down there.

[bleep] damn it!

Turn it off!

♪♪

[ water hissing ]

Narrator: In oregon, fred lewis

And his crew of rookie
miners are shut down.

It's that 90 degrees.
It keeps [bleep] leaking.

If we don't get up and
running quick, we're screwed.

I was over there
working on that,

And this 90-degree
turn blew.

Narrator:
Marine veteran johnny stanz

Is responsible
for the water supply.

Here's our problem, man.

You got one clamp on there,
and it ripped it right off.

So, here's our
irrigation line.

You need at least two clamps
here to keep these suckers on.

There's a lot of pressure.

I'm not very happy about it.

No water equals no gold,

And I'm on the verge
of losing everything

It totally ripped.
Ripped the hose right off.

It sure did.

We're getting nowhere every
single day. This sucks, man.

We will be lucky to get


At the [bleep]
rate we're going.

At the rate we're going,
we're not getting anything.

I know. I know.

Fred: You got to have your head
on a swivel down here.

Yeah, man.
I saw it from up there.

The geyser sh**ting up


Johnny: When I'm working
over here,

I don't got eyes out
on top of my head.

I could hear it.

Kendall: Yeah, we could all see
it from over here, dude.

I only heard
this puppy.

You got to pay attention
to all that stuff around you.

Chalk it up to newbs.

But hey, [bleep] happens.
Nobody got hurt.

Lesson learned, johnny.
Yep.

Told you irrigation
ain't easy.

I didn't know that gold mining
had a lot to do with plumbing.

You clamp that to the hose,
and just screw this into there.

It is my job to check
all the connections.

I'll admit that.
That was my bad.

Fred seems like he's
losing confidence in me --

But at the same time,
I'm new to this.

Never done any of
this crap before.

Dang. She's tightening.

I just gonna do my best,
make sure everything's a-okay,

The way it should be,
and if it goes wrong,

I'm just gonna have to
deal with it when it comes.

Fred: So, we replaced
these two pieces.

Our clamps aren't holding very
well, so we've double down.

I got a muffler
clamp on here.

It can't leak, or we're gonna
lose all our pressure.

Alright. You good?

Yeah.

Alright, we're ready to
roll. Let's do this.

Fred: [ on walkie-talkie ]
any sign of water, shout.

Seems like what we're doing more
up here is solving problems,

And we're not really doing
a lot of gold mining,

And I think that is
hurting my chances

Of getting my investment
back this season.

[ sighs ] it's getting
frustrating.

♪♪

♪♪

Parker: There's some historic
drilling on this property

That showed pretty good promise.

Unfortunately,
we're having a hard time

Replicating those results.

Narrator:
Parker schnabel is prospecting
smallwood creek, alaska.

Gonna jump downstream,
and hopefully

We can find
some gold down there.

We're gonna head down
the road about 2,000 feet

Into the east side
of the valley.

The gold seems to be
favoring that side,

So we're gonna start there.

Narrator:
In a new test area downstream,

Parker and liam will drill
two new lines of holes.

Parker must find a
consistent line of gold

To be sure the ground
is worth the price tag.

Drill's running alright?

Drill's been
running really good.

So far, the gold they've
found is 100 feet deep,

And would be five times the cost

Of what he's digging
now in the klondike.

Liam: So now we're
bringing a core out.

So, you drill
the core barrel down,

Push the casing over
top, pull it out.

Bring it over here.

♪♪

Parker: A lot of clay
and vines, huh?

Yep. It's kind of almost
like a decomposed gravel.

You can see bits of that
bedrock that's in it,

That's broken down,

So when you wash it,
it's mostly all fines.

We were hoping the gold
starting to pick up down here.

In the valley's a bit narrower,

So it might concentrate
that pay zone.

[ rattling ]

♪♪

Narrator:
Liam runs the first sample

From the new site
through his test trommel.

Parker: Was that the bottom
of one of the holes?

Yeah. You can see there is
a piece of gold in there.

Oh, good.
There's one piece.

That might be a second.

Yep.

It is a bit there.

Narrator: He takes the
concentrate from the sluice run,

To pan it in his
mobile gold room.

[ sloshing ]

I'm starting to see some
colors here, some.

This stuff's been
really tricky to pan.

There's a lot of
really fine gold,

And it just wants to float.

So that probably looks like
about two mgs of gold.

For these holes to be viable,

We kind of want to see
about 200 milligrams.

Parker: So this is
the bottom of that hole?

Liam: Yeah.

And that's at 100 feet?

Bedrock is at 101.5.



So, you don't mine 101.5-foot
deep ground for that.

The plan now is, we're pretty
much done, this line,

And we're gonna head down to
the next one across the valley.

Fingers are crossed that it
might be viable down there.

Narrator: The results
are still way below

The 200 milligrams
that parker needs to see.

Everything now hinges
on the final line of holes.

So, this is the last
one on this line.

Yeah.

On almost every line, there's
been one, maybe two good holes

That probably
would be minable.

The problem is they
aren't together.

They don't line up.
They're not back-to-back.

But we're getting 50 to 100
pieces of gold in a good hole,

So you might be
hitting pockets,

And the ground might have
richer pockets throughout.

I think this is some
expensive ground to mine.


Intermittent frost.

Yeah. It needs to
be excellent ground.

Liam: There's definitely
good gold there,

And we're finding good results,

But it's just not gonna
be an easy call.

So we're really gonna
have to sit down

And work through the numbers

And make a solid plan before we
can decide if it's worth money.

Gonna be a super tough call
for parker to make.

♪♪

[ equipment running ]

Swept by the plant
not too long ago,

And it's looking pretty
desolate down there,

So it's gonna be
a bit of a risk

Opening up the deep cut here.

Narrator: Rick ness is
racing to open a new cut

That could double
his gold yield.

What do you think about
this second cut, krusey?

You think it's gonna pay


Like it did last year
when we tested it?

Well, I certainly hope
that's the case.

It's what we need, man.
Yeah, me too,

'cause we're moving an awful
lot of dirt to get to it.

Narrator: Rick has just half
a day's overburden to strip,

Before he can run pay dirt
to the wash plant.

Hey, rick, rick.
You got a copy, rick?

Yeah, go for rick.

You know we're running
low on cheap cut pay.

We're gonna run out
before the shift.

Yeah, man, I get it.

You guys are k*lling
it out there,

But I just heard
the plant's running low,

So you're gonna have
to speed it up.

Rick: Dude, this is a
glory hole right here.

Hopefully, by the end,
we'll be into the good stuff.

Ooh-wee.

I guess, take that away.

Karla: We finally got
three tracks running.

We're all got our nose
to the grindstone.

Time is of the essence.

♪♪

We need to get this cut down if
we want to keep up to the plant.

It's two inches of dirt,

So we need to have all hands
on deck down here, right?

Rick: We're running out of time.

We cannot afford the plant
shut down right now.

We got to [bleep] make it.

Push it! Let's go!

Our pay pile is dwindling.

Carl: We're gonna be fighting
it for a bit here,

But hopefully things start
to come together for us, right?

Mark: Hey, rick?

Gotta let you know that this
is probably the last load.

I don't think I can scrape any
more out of this cheap cut pay.

[ groans ] this is the last
thing we needed to happen.

We're doing all we can to
get this overburden moved.

♪♪

Rick: Yee-haw!

I'm pretty sure I'm scraping
the top of pay dirt here.

That's the stuff
we're looking for.

Alright, here we go.

This is the first load of pay
dirt out of this second cut.

Chock full of gold, they say.

Rick: I tell you, I'm loving

The material coming
out of this hole.

I bet you there's gonna be
some big, old [bleep] clonkers

In the box coming out of here.

To the plant with you!

Man, that was really,
really close,

But everybody showed up.

Disaster averted,
and on to bigger things.

Narrator: If the deep cut
delivers 2 ounces per 100 yards,

Rick has a good shot at hitting
his 1,000-ounce goal this year.

Rick: 30 feet of pay in here
like there's supposed to be --

It should get us through
the rest of the season.

♪♪

Everything's going
really well right now.

We're up and running, we're
running pay through the kernel.

Narrator: In oregon,
fred lewis brought together

A crew of veteran buddies
on the promise of gold.

But after five weeks
of failures,

They have less than an ounce.

Fred: What the [bleep]'s
going on?

Kendall!

Hey, kendall,
the waters off.

Johnny!

Johnny, where
the [bleep] are you?

Hey, get up
to the puff, now.

Johnny: On my way.

Fred: Dude!

You've got to
be here, man.

Johnny: I know, but I
got to be there, too.

Where were you?

I had to go down there,
to the other pump.

This pump was running,

But there was no water
going to the plant.

You got to be here
at all times, man.

Look at how dirty
this water is, dude.

This freakin'
thing sucks.

We got to make sure that
you're letting me know

If this is getting dirty.

I know. That's why I
wasn't at the pump.

I thought if we can pump
some more water from the cut,

Get it up here,
dilute it a little bit.

Yeah, I see
your thought.

We're gonna have
to fix this, man.

Hate to say this --

We're gonna have to
pull the hose.

If anything stopped
this from running,

It's either clogged up in here
or clogged down in there.

I feel like johnny's not giving
me 100 percent, at this point.

I always give people
a second chance,

So I'm gonna give him a chance

To pick his bootstraps
out of the dirt

And to figure this job out,
and if that doesn't happen --

Well, I'll have to think
about some things.

Narrator: First to check
is the foot valve.

What the [bleep]?

Dude.

This is ridiculous crap.

Look at that.

That's, like, compacted,
too, dude.

Yeah, I know.

[ squishing ]
oh, man.

It's completely stopped up.

Our problem is, our pond is
not settling fast enough.

Yeah. We definitely
need to filter it.

Well, I don't know if
we need a filter,

Or if we just need
to make it deeper,

Because that, I think,
is caused by this

Sitting too close
to the bottom.

The volume of water is our
biggest hurdle right now.

I think the filter. We gotta
filter all this crap out.

Your plan would shut
us down for two days.

You know what that means?
No gold this week.

Putting in my filter
would take 24 hours.

Alright, well, if you're
right, then I'll be shamed,

And if I'm right,
you'll be shamed.

Alright.
No shame, baby, no shame.

Get that fixed.

Can I get
kendall down here?

I'm on my way.

Right now, the whole pond
is dirty, so I thought,

Why don't we build a little
beaver dam to filter it out?

Narrator: Johnny's plan?

Build a wall of rocks
across the pond,

Line it with sheets of wire mesh
to filter out the tailings

And provide clean water
to pump to the plant.

I'm not 100 percent
confident

That it's actually gonna
clean your water.

Fred: Well, there's only
one way to figure it out.

Let's get some rocks.
Let's do it.

First stone is about to
go into the johnny dam.

Alright. Stretch out
as far as it can.

Ha-ha! Perfect!

Yeah, we got to get
this dam built.

I'm liking it.

Nice.

Hopefully, this
pays off in the end --

Let us run a little bit longer,

So we actually
can get more gold.

Johnny: It's really starting
to take shape now,

It's gonna act as

A really good filter
system for the water,

So that none of this
garbage will get through.

One more rock ought to do it.

[ thud ]
in she goes!

Alex: Unbelievable.

You did a real good job
on this dam, fellas.

Why don't we pack
it in for the night?

♪♪

We let the upper pond 2 dry out.

I can go down there and do
phase 2 of the johnny dam.

I'm gonna the mold screens
around the rocks,

Make a nice filter.

Nothing's getting in
that suction tube.

Narrator: The metal fencing
should stop fine material

Passing through the dam.

Johnny: We're gonna be able
to run way, way longer

Than we have been and
actually find some gold.

Fred: Hey, hey, hey.
Hey.

Well, what in the hell have
you got going on here?

Oh, this is a johnny dam.

Standard-issue
filtration system.

I like it.

I never seen anything like
it, but I do like it.

Fred: So, johnny's finalizing
the steps on the johnny dam.

It's looking pretty good.
I like the idea of the rocks.

It's definitely a good
idea, to stop debris.

My only concern
is maybe that fencing

May get a little clogged.

Let's [bleep] fire up the plant
and get this thing tested out

And start running
pay through the kernel.

You think it's


I don't want to say 100 percent,
'cause that sounds c*ck.

I'm gonna go ahead
and say 99.99999999 percent.



Fred: Johnny, it's
on you, buddy.

[ engine starting ]

I'm a little anxious.
Got to see how this works.

Water's coming!

Fred: Right now, this water is
public enemy number one.

If we can run this plant
four hours straight,

The kernel's eating gold
the whole time, we're winning.

Man: The more we run,
the more gold we can find.

Let's just put some dirt through
it and see what we can get.

♪♪

Fred: The water's still looking
clean coming out of the kernel.

Right now, it's clear as day.

The johnny dam is doing perfect.

I couldn't imagine
it doing any better.

We got all the garbage
on this side.

I couldn't be happier.

Johnny dam's working properly --
I hate to admit it, but it is --

And we've got good water
supply in pond 1 and pond 2.

Fred: Johnny!

It takes a big man to
admit when he's wrong.

It does, and
you're a big man.

Whatever you got to tell
yourself -- I was right.

Johnny, you took rocks
and wrapped them in fence.

Why would I think
that would work?

But it clearly works.

I'm just I'm just sitting
over here in pride.

Actually, I'm starting to
feel more and more confident

That you can do this,
so good work.

I try --

Don't take that compliment
to your head.

You know, johnny's a funny guy.

I've been friends with him
for years, but he's a goofball,

And I feel like some
of the mistakes he made

May have been because
he was a little laxed.

Now that he knows how important
his job is, he stepped it up,

And I think he's
taking responsibility,

And that's what we
need on this mine.

So, everybody has a
pinnacle to their career --

Buzz aldrin landed on the moon,

Alexander graham bell
invented the telephone,

And johnny made the johnny dam.

Johnny b. Goode, baby.

Fred: We've got our
water situation solved,

So we can now operate
at full capacity,

And it's all up to
gold, at this point.

We're ready to mine, and
we're ready to mine full-time.

♪♪

Narrator: Tony beets is
almost 1,000 ounces towards

His 3,000-ounce season goal,
but in the midst of mining,

He's been pulled away
to deal with an emergency.

Tony's 60-ton yukon barge,
the jasmine b, is sinking.

He must repair the boat, before
she's lost to the mighty river.

First, he has to winch
her on to the oshkosh.

About six inches!

Yeah, I think
they're good.

Now that the back of
the jasmine b is pumped out,

The hull can be repaired.

[ birds chirping ]

♪♪

Fred: Rally on me.

Narrator: In oregon's
elkhorn mountains...

You guys ready?

Yep.
Kendall: Let's do this.

...After six weeks getting
the mine up and running,

Fred lewis gathers his rookie
crew for their first gold weigh.

Fred: I really want to
point out, you guys,

That we had a lot of
adversity thrown at us

These first couple of weeks.

I know we had a lot
of water problems,

But the johnny dam
was a great idea.

I think with some little
tweaks here and there,

You might actually be the
sergeant of irrigation one day.

I'll take a corporal of
irrigation, for now.

I'll give that to you.

A lot of teams might
have stopped by now.

We keep getting kicked,
but we keep getting back up,

And I think that's what's
gonna define us, so...

You guys ready?

Yeah, let's do it.

You're gonna
need a bigger pan.

♪♪

Alright -- .28.

Kendall: Yeah!

Quarter of an ounce.

Narrator: Worth $490.

Look, guys, we are
a rookie mining team.

This is our very first gold way.

We should feel pretty proud
about what we've done,

And I'll take it.

We're gonna get better.
I know we're gonna get better,

'cause we're starting
at the bottom,

And the only way to go is up.

Johnny: Did you just
think of that?

You better believe it.
That was good.

[ laughing ]

First go around.
It'll get better.

Johnny: Started out a
little bit of a rough week.

The pumps were
giving us problems,

The hoses were
giving us problems,

But the johnny dam
worked perfect.

We finally got our
first gold weigh.

Only one way to go
from here is up, baby.

Man: It's all coming together
after this gold weigh.

We finally get to see, kind
of, the fruits of our labors.

So if we can keep
everything working,

Keep everything up,
and keep growing as a team

And growing as miners, I think
we're gonna do really well.

Fred: Alright, guys.
Let's go back to work.

Alright.
Okay.

And the sun comes out.
See? It's a sign.

Even though our gold
count's not too big,

That tells me a lot.

That shows we can pull
gold out of the ground,

And we can succeed
as a mine team,

And that's the most
important part to me.

♪♪

Narrator:
Out at smallwood creek...

For this line,
you don't really know

What we're gonna
expect here,

So we'll just be saving
all the gravel we find

And wash it, to figure
out what's going on.

...Parker and drilling
contractor liam ferguson

Drill the final line
of test holes.

♪♪

Parker: Liam's just finishing up

Panning the last couple
of holes we've done.

Narrator: Parker's spent nearly
$20,000 on drilling 8 lines,

But still hasn't seen
the results he needs.

We're finding some decent stuff,
but it's just really spotty,

And I think it's probably
a really narrow pay streak,

And quite deep,

And we've spent a lot of
money drilling so far --

So we'll weigh these out.

Narrator: He needs a solid
line of good holes to make

This deep ground worth
the 3-million-dollar price tag.

Liam: Start with this one first.

Narrator: They pan
the final drill samples.

This one looks better than
the other ones we did today.

It's the one we got
the most hope for right now.

A lot of pressure riding on
the back of this little hole.

Narrator: 200 milligrams
would make the ground viable.

♪♪

♪♪

Liam: Do you want to go


I don't know where all
the other gold's gone.

It's supposed to be there.

It's not like we're
hitting dead holes.

Like, there's gold here.

Yeah, but no major hits.

I think we're gonna stop
drilling for now.

Yeah, I agree.

As for buying
this place right now --

I'm not putting all
my eggs in this basket,

'cause 30 mgs at 100 feet,

That's sounds like a nightmare
waiting to happen.

Yeah, that's an easy way
to lose a lot of money.

The gold wasn't as easy to find
as what we were expecting.

Thank you for coming out
here and making it happen.

I will say that there
would have been

A lot more fun ways
to spend 200 grand, liam,

But I'm glad
it's going to you.

Hey, if you just
bought a helicopter

And said "we're not
going drilling,"

I'd be more than happy.
I'd be like, "sweet."

♪♪

[ buttons click ]

[ cellphone rings ]
see how everybody's doing.

Mitch: Hello?

Hi, how are
you guys doing?

Oh, we're doing good.

Narrator: Parker calls
foreman mitch blaschke

To check his progress
on indian river.

The plants are
running alright?

Sluice for big red's been
plugging along really nice.

We're mobbing
through it here, man.

You're definitely
gonna need to

Find us a new ground
here pretty soon.

We've had
a hell of a time

Trying to hit some
gold with the drill.

Pretty frustrating,
for sure.

Alright. Thanks, mitch.
Have a good rest of your day.

Alright.
You too, man. Bye.

Sounds like they hardly
even miss me.

Mitch: How's it
going, chris?

Hey, mitchell.
What's happening, man?

Narrator:
Mitch is responsible for

Hitting the gold targets
while parker's away,

But they haven't put any
on the scale since he left.

Just busy.

Yeah, I bet. It shows,
man. It shows.

What are you thinking?

We'll just weigh all this
up when he gets back?

Yeah, I think so.

It ought to be
a cruncher, for sure.

It's gonna be a trophy.

You gonna let me have
a look, at least?

Yeah.
Check this out.

[ creaks ]

[ laughs ]

No way, man.
Yeah.

Those are two-hand buckets,
right there.

You're lifting
with two hands.

Yeah, that's a lot.

We won't know till
we get on a scale,

But that's looking
pretty damn good.

Okay.
Alright. Thanks, chris.

Yep. No problems.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: At duncan creek...

That's the right stuff,
right there.

...After four days running
pay from the cheap cut

And one from the deep cut,

Rick ness and his crew assemble
for a double gold weigh.

In classic fashion,
with a breakdown,

We came dangerously close
to running out of pay.

Just in the nick of time, buddy.

Well, wouldn't have
nothing to dig it with,

If not for you, carl.

How many ounces you think
are in that hole there?

Oh, last year, I mean --

We pulled 800 yards out
of there, ran it,

And there was 17 ounces.
That's unreal, man.

So, yeah, we'll do a little more
math on the scale, I guess.

[ laughs ]

Narrator:
First up, the cheap cut gold.

That looks good, rick.

Rick: We got...





Narrator: Worth over $98,000.

I could get used
to this, rick.

That's good. That's what
we've been putting up,

But you know the deep cut's
better than that, right?

So this is from one day

Of running the deep
cut, right here.

[bleep]

Holy smokes, dude.

Narrator:
Next, the gold from running
just one day of deep cut pay.

Get ready.

So we've got another 10...
Another 20...

Another over 30...
[ laughing ]

That's one day?

...And we got 35.21.

Oh, buddy.

Oh, man.

Narrator: Worth $62,000.

That's pretty cool.
Yeah, buddy.

Narrator:
Together, it's the biggest
weekly gold weigh of the season.

That brings us to 91.57.

Which boosts their season
total to 393 ounces,

Closing in on their


Carl: I don't know what's
more impressive,

The gold weigh, or
you figuring that out.

You got a guy on site
that knows math.

We're [bleep] set, boys.

Narrator: At almost 100 ounces
a week, rick and his crew

Could be looking at a
two-million-dollar season.

Time to start hammering down,
throttling that dirt out there.

Do it, dude.
Yes, sir.

Carl: So another big week here,

And a couple more band-A*DS
on some problems,

But we're keeping
things rolling,

So nothing wrong with that.

We're getting gold
coming in. I'm happy.

Yeah, I'm ecstatic, man.

I've never seen that
much gold in one gold weigh.

We'll keep at it.

Well, we are done
with the cheap cut,

And so far, the deep cut's
looking really good,

So let's just hope
it stays that way.

♪♪

Narrator:
Next time on "gold rush"...

Rick: Get down
here now! Now!

Rick ness's


Your back's hurting?
[ groaning ]

...Hits the skids.

That's a major,
major [bleep]-up.

Tony beets' season...

Looks like something
I would buy.

Heads for liftoff.

Let's haul it out of there,

Throw it in the rocks,
and see what it does.

And parker returns from
three weeks prospecting...

Parker:
Don't drop it.

To the mother of
all gold weighs.

There's your airplane.
That's, like, 20 airplanes.