11x16 - No Questions Asked

[bunniefuu]

Our goal is to hit it hard.

Yee-haw!

[narrator] on this
gold rush...

[kendell] is that
everything we got?

-[groaning] no.
-[crashes]

[narrator] fred lewis
is confronted by not one...

-[fred] what the [bleep].
-[man groaning in pain]

[narrator]
...But two major setbacks.

Hold on. I'm gonna get
alex to come help.

-[man groaning]
-[bleep]

Holy [bleep]. Things siting
in there sideways.

[narrator] rick ness takes
matters into his own hands.

Up in the yukon
every second counts.

Hello.

If I don't get our


I don't see continuing on.

[narrator] and parker schnabel
is on track to break records.

-[parker] bravo!
-[all cheering]

Is there wildfires
close to your house?

[narrator]
when a disaster strikes...

Can you see the fire
from the house?

[hailey] it's really smoky.

Which way is the wind going?

[hailey] towards our house.

Grab what you can
and get out of there.

Look at that
deep [bleep] hole of boulders.

Love it.

[narrator] it's late summer
in the mountains
above keno city.

In a matter of weeks,
temperatures will plummet

And snow will blanket
the area for six months.

I'm always worried
we're gonna get
froze out of here

Before we hit our goal.

And this year that's
just really not an option.

If I don't get our


I just...
I don't see continuing on.

[narrator] this season,
rick's mined 642 ounces.

He now needs a least 70 ounces
every week to hit his goal...

But so far he's averaged
just over 60.

How is that pay pile
looking down there, mark.

Looking good, buddy.

[rick] hey, boys,
we're staying here until
we get that 1,000 ounces gold.

Yeah, copy that, bud.

[narrator] wash plant rocky
chews through 120 yards
of pay dirt per hour.

The plant's got be running
flat out 24 hours a day

For the rest of the season.

I've got to hit
my target this year.

Honestly, if I don't
this is just gonna be
my last year.

All right, bud,
I'll keep feeding this plant.

[narrator] to keep up,

Rick needs to run
nine truckloads
to the plant every hour.

[rick] I'm not taking my foot
off the gas at all

Because, you know,
this time of year
up in the yukon

Every [bleep]
second counts.

I need everything
to work perfectly.

We can't have any [bleep]
until we're frozen
out of here.

[chris] it's been
a trying year, I guess.

If we don't find a sizable
amount of gold, I mean,

It could be the same
boat as last year.

I don't, I don't really
want to think about not
going home with a gold bonus.

[mark] everyone here wants
to see that 1,000 ounces,
me included.

So, to hit our goal we need
every hour we can get.

So every hour we're running,
we're getting
that much closer.

♪ coming your way
coming your way, oh ♪

[engine sputtering]

[bleep]

-Hey, carl, you got a copy?
-[carl] yes, rick.

Yeah, man, something's
going on with the 700.

I need you to come up here
and take a look at this thing.

Okay.

[bleep] is going on here?

Holy [bleep].
Yeah, that [bleep] roller
is piled right up.

[bleep] damn it!

[bleep] thing's siting
in there sideways.

[narrator] one of
the 700's carry rollers
has bent out of alignment...

[bleep] me.

[narrator] ...And the track
is unable to move.

Not quite sure
what happened, but it did.

Something might have
got in there like a big rock
and got jammed in there.

Who knows?

See that one,
sitting right there.
It's nice and flat,

Holding the track up.
That's what it's
supposed to do, right?

They carry the track along.

See that one's
on an angle, right?

Without that roller there,
man,

You're gonna be
dragging your track
on your side frame.

You know we're doing
extensive damage, right?

So you got to have it, right?

So we're gonna have to
dig those bolts out and, uh,

Bolt that roller
back in there if it's not
too far gone, right?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Dude, it's coming out. Wow.

The reason this broke,
the bearings gone, rick.

[bleep] sick,
you can't be serious.

[narrator]
each of the 700's tracks

Runs on three carry rollers,
but one of them has seized.

[crashing]

When it stopped turning
the track forced it
out of position.

Now carl must remove
and replace the roller

Before the 700 can run again.

-No that thing's [bleep].
-Whoa, this is toast.

So here's the problem.
We don't have another roller.

[bleep] that.

Being where we are,
it's tough to see
who's got a roller.

And if there is going to be
one in the yukon, right?

So...

We're... We're playing the
waiting game again now, right?

This thing's sitting
until we get a roller.

Yes, sir.

[bleep] this.

[narrator] this far north,

A replacement roller
could take weeks.

-I sure hope someone has it.
-I don't know.

If they'll be coming
from somewhere down south

And it will take forever
to get 'em.

Find me some rollers.

Go get the 480 down here.

Oh, damn it!

[narrator] operator
matt thomas brings in the 480
to carry on loading pay,

But the three yard bucket
is just half the size
of the 700's.

It slows us down
loading trucks
when we have to use the 480.

And, you know,
we've got a limited
timeline here.

So any time we've got
equipment down

And we can't do
what we need to do,
it's hurting us.

[narrator] it takes
twice as long
to load each truck.

So not enough pay
is getting to the plant

To keep it running
at full speed.

[fred] hey, stuart,
give me a 20 count
every 20 buckets.

We're going to go for 5-0.

[man] we're mining.

[narrator] in oregon,

Rookie mine boss, fred lewis,
and his crew
of combat veterans

Have so far only mined
two ounces of gold.

[fred] I don't know
how much longer
we're going to get,

But it's getting cold fast.

The amount of gold we have,
my investors are definitely
not happy.

Highly disappointing,
you know?

I know it's not my fault,
but I can't help
but feel like it's my fault.

Not enough, not enough gold.

[narrator] six weeks ago
fred abandoned
the swamp cut...

[man] holy [bleep].

Oh, [bleep]!

Just not
a safe place anymore.

[narrator] ...And opened
new ground.

[fred] this is the
first official bucket load
out of liberation cut.

[narrator] now fred is banking
on it to save his season.

Master sergeant
stefan generally
digs pay with a 400.

[stefan] hopefully
this could be
like a really good week.

Have us a gold weight
that beats the one
we had last week.

Cost in operation.

No breakdowns. Knock on wood.

That's the name of
the game today.

[kyle] it's exciting,
but it's kind of
nerve wracking, you know?

[narrator]
sergeant kyle pletzke
loads the plant.

[kyle] came out here
as a group of injured vets.

And, yeah, here we are.

We're doing everything we can
in our power

To try to bring money home,
make life good again.

[narrator]
staff sergeant johnny stanz
received two purple hearts

For his service
in the marines.

I'm doing everything I can
to make sure
it's not going to be

Water's fault
that we can't mine anymore.

It's perfectly fine.

[narrator] now,
more than ever,

Johnny's new career
needs to pay off.

You know,
I got a pregnant wife at home.

I mean, money right now is
getting thinner and thinner
and with a baby on the way,

It's not long before
that dries up.

So we really got to find gold.

[thudding]

Come on, baby.
I know you can do it.

It's not really looking
too damn good.

That don't look like
pay it all.

[bleep]

There's no [bleep] way
I ran out of pay already.

[sputtering]

Hey, kendell. This is stefan.
You copy?

[kendell] go for kendell.
What's up, buddy?

You know what
you're looking at, brah.

It's looking like
I ran out of pay.

Um, this dirt I'm pulling up
is definitely not pay.

I need you to come take a look
just to confirm that for me.

-[kendell] all right,
I'll get down to you.
-Roger.

[sighing in despair]

[kendell] is that it for pay?

I don't like
the look of any of this.

You're just on bedrock.

[stefan] yeah, that's
not looking like pay.

Hey, fred, we are just
about out of pay.

We got nothing else
to feed the colonel.

[stefan] ugh, it's
not looking good.

No.

[kendell] it's all just
broken bedrock here.

That's all it is.

[fred] I was so hoping
it would go back further
and down further.

-Yeah.
-And you just hit
wall-on-wall, huh?

That's it. That was probably
pushing me up 2 to 3 feet
every time I tried to dig.

I mean, honestly,
I didn't think it was possible
but we basically payed out.

[bleep]

Well, that was fast.

I was going to say
I could keep digging

But I think
it would be a waste of time.

Oh, yeah.
Don't even touch it again.

Yeah.

Yeah we're going to
go ahead and shut it down.

[motor shuts down]

[fred] so much for liberation.

Got to do something here
because we're screwed
at this point.

There's got to be a place
on this freaking claim
that hasn't been touched yet.

There just has to be.

They didn't dig everywhere.

We're just not hitting
the right spot.

[kendell] see
what's available.

This sucks.

This definitely
isn't gonna do it.

Find a spot
for me to dig, man.

Back to square one,
but we'll test,
see what's available

And, uh, go from there.

This cut had about a tenth
of the amount of pay I thought
it was gonna have.

And now it's cashed out.

So we've got to
put our heads together.

We've got to attack
some other place

'cause right now
we are dead in the water
until we find another cut.

-[fred] hey, kendell.
-Sup?

We gonna figure
something out, man.

-I got this old map...
-Okay.

[narrator] on the
elkhorn claim,

Rookie mine boss, fred lewis,
has run out of pay dirt.

He needs to find
new ground fast.

So right now we're [bleep].

So I think
our biggest problem is

This place was probably
picked over by hand
back in the early 1900s'.

Phew!

But I've done
some research here,
and I found a picture.

[narrator] elkhorn claim
was first prospected in 1896

By old time miners
traveling south to california.

They established a settlement,
named born.

And in 1898,
they appointed
their own mayor.

This is our claim.

Yeah, that's the mayor's house
being built right there.

No one's mining
under their house.

Certainly not
the mayor's house.

So just like you said,
we're gonna have to punch

As many holes in this ground
as possible

And try and find a piece of
virgin ground and go for it.

Okay, yeah, let's...
Let's test it.

[narrator] fred has abandoned
the swamp cut
and the liberation cut,

And he knows
other parts of the claim were
mined out by the old timers.

Fred believes his best chance
of finding virgin ground

Is a site underneath
where the local mayor's house
once stood.

[fred] if we get down there
deep enough

To find ground
that hasn't been disturbed...

That's virgin ground,
that's where we need to be.

Just spray paint
an "x" real quick,

So that that stefan
knows exactly where
fred wants us to dig.

-Hey, stu.
-Yeah, bud?

-X marks the spot?
-X marks the spot.

-Show me something.
-Got it.

Hopefully we can find some
better pay than
what we just found.

So whatever remainder
of the season we have,

We can run
good pay through it.

He just started digging
this test hole and he's
already come across a bolder.

I kinda like that.

It's a really good sign
this ground
hasn't been touched

And that there's probably
some gold here.

[machine squeaking]

Yeah, that means
I'm hitting some rocks.

-[thudding]
-[fred] wow!

[laughing]

-At least get us gold.
-Let's see what we got.

A lot of gravel.

I am noticing, on the left

It's clearly a tailings pile
that's been dug before.

On the right...

It hasn't been dug,
so we can chase pay
that way up.

If there's enough
virgin ground left,
it could save the season.

I'm gonna pan it first,
see what we got.

We are seeing
what our gold content is,

Literally right in the place
where we're most active
in the mine.

Hopefully, we'll see
the most amount of gold
we've seen so far.

-Find some gold.
-Yeah, no pressure at all.

What we're gonna need
out of this is have
a couple of flakes of gold.

I would say if we get
two to four colors
out of this pan,

It'll be a freaking good test.

Three colors.

[all chuckling]

It's better than
our liberation cut.

Maybe the best that
they got to offer here.

We need the best
to have the offer

Because outside that
we're [bleep].

Well, guys, what do you think
we just, uh, go for it.

We should get you busy
opening up that hole

Towards the swamp cut
downhill.

And just see what we see.

While as I'm digging this,
it's starting to look
more and more like pay.

I really hope this'll turn
our season from not great
to pretty dang good.

We're gonna name this
the mayor's cut

'cause the mayor's house
used to sit on it.

And that's why I think
there's still some
virgin ground down there.

We gotta move fast,
we gotta move quick,

We gotta get this
through the plant.

[parker] every year
we go to the next best piece
of ground we've got,

And we're hitting it hard,
and it's not gonna last.

[narrator] twenty-six-year-old
mine boss parker schnabel

Is in the last few weeks
of his season,

But still has fifty percent
of the airstrip cut
left to mine.

We really need
this season to pay off.

Like, gold prices are good,
fuel prices are low.

The big thing is
just building up some cash,

So that we can buy
a piece of ground.

And so that we've got
a lot of years of mining
ahead of us.

[narrator]
sluicifer and big red
are now working in tandem

To bank as much gold
as possible for
parker's mining future.

[brennan] we got two plants
side by side, you know,

We gotta fill part of
this old w*r chest up
with all this gold here,

So that we can put it
towards this new ground
that we need.

And get out of here
before it's -20,

And we can't run
a wash plant.

[mitch] bitter end
of the season here.

We just wanna try and keep
these wash plants running

Until we're either out of
thawed pay dirt
or good enough days to do it.

You never know when
you're gonna come out here,

And your wash plants
are gonna be froze up.

[narrator] co-foreman
and chief mechanic
mitch blaschke

Begins his daily checks
on the wash plants.

I just got a call from hailey,
mitch's wife.

And there's some pretty bad
wildfires down in oregon
where mitch lives.

They've got
an evacuation order,
which doesn't sound like fun.

-Mitch!
-Howdy.

-You need to call your wife.
She got an evacuation order.
-Okay.

-Go deal with it.
-All right, thanks, man.

-[line ringing]
-[mitch] damn it.

-[hailey] hi.
- [mitch] oh, man.

What's up, babe?
Can you see the fire
from the house?

[hailey] it's really smoky.

Evacuating
all the way up to...

To where?

They're evacuating
my cousin's house

That lived by firwood school.

-Oh, gotcha.
-[baby crying]

[hailey] I know, I know.

So which way
is the wind going?

The wind is blowing
towards our house.

All right, babe.
Grab what you can
and get out of there.

-Okay.
-Be safe.

-Love you.
-Okay, love you, bye.

It's not good. It's close
and it's out of control.

And there's not enough
people or help
to get it under control.

It's tough, I mean,
what do you do?

-What's the verdict?
-Came out of nowhere, dude.

-Got a big wind storm,
-[bleep]



Oh, yeah. There's one
that's like two miles
from my house.

Puts life in perspective,
can't be home to help.

[scoffs]

I don't know
what I can do to...

At this point,
I don't even... I don't know.

I'll figure out what
I'm doing here,

But I'll come down
and let you know either ways.

-Okay, sounds good, man.
-All right.

-Hope the best for ya.
-Thanks.

-Hey, parker,
you got a minute?
-Yeah.

There's some really bad
wildfires down there,

And they're getting close
to us.

-Your house?
-Yeah.

I mean, if I get down there
in time, but I gotta try.

It's just outside
the next town.

-[parker] holy cow.
-So...

My wife's down there

Trying to pack up
everything she can
in the back her car.

You need to go
because it's just...

[parker] yeah,
when it comes to your home

Being threatened
by some fires,

It's obviously
a lot more important

Than whatever
we've got going on here.

I don't want you
to even consider not going

After the conversation
we've had. Yeah.

I would expect anybody here
to do no differently.

-Appreciate it. Thanks, man.
-Thanks, mitch.

You're making
the right decision, buddy.

[narrator] now mitch
has a four-day drive ahead

To reach his home
in sandy, oregon.

Give me a hug, brother.

-Take care
and drive safe, buddy.
-Yeah, will do.

-Will miss ya. See you later.
-Thanks, man.

Yeah.

Not good, boys.
Not good.

[narrator] at duncan creek

The ness crew
has been running
at half capacity

For over 24 hours.

This definitely sucks.

Without our 700, man,
we're running way behind
with our 480, right?

So, it can't keep up
to the plant right now.

[narrator] they should be
running nine trucks of pay
an hour.

With the 480 loading them,
they can only run
four and a half.

[mark]
I don't know how much longer
we're gonna be able to run.

We're on a fine line
between running
and not running here.

I don't know.
It's a bit of a nail biter.

[narrator] rick is on the hunt
for a replacement roller.

I found that carry roller
for the 700, and I ordered it,

But it's gonna be over a week
before that thing gets here.

And I can't have a 700
down that long. I mean,
that's my main machine.

Up in the yukon
every second counts.
So I made some phone calls.

Somebody in dawson
has got a used one

That I can use for now
to get me going.

If it saves me a day,
that's what I'm gonna do.

[narrator] he's come
to the man with the biggest
boneyard in the klondike.

[rick] hello.

-[minnie] how are you?
-Good, how are you doing?

-Long time no see.
-[rick] I know.

-You wanna come see tony?
-Yeah.

-He's in?
-He's in, he's hiding
in his office.

-He's actually
kind of looking busy...
-[tony speaking]

Good.
How are you doing, tony?

Good to see you.

Oh. It's not too bad.

It's much better
than last year.

Well, like we talked about,
I had that roller pile up
on my 700.

-And that's my main machine.
-[tony chuckles]

I found one, of course,

But I don't know what kind
of luck you guys are having.

But if they say it's gonna
take a week to ship here,
it's been taking two.

Getting parts with covid,
it's taking twice as long now.

I mean, there's places
where they don't fly
from anymore,

And you have to truck it out.
So, takes a lot longer.

Well, I'll tell you what,
once that other roller
comes in,

Instead of me bringing it
here, why don't you
come out and visit?

I would like to do that.

Yeah? Awesome.

Awesome, awesome.

-Bye, love.
-All right, thanks again.

-[woman] it's right here.
-Oh, perfect.

Ready for you.

-All right, thanks again.
-You're very welcome.

[narrator] rick now
has a six-hour-drive
to duncan creek

To get his operation
back up to full strength.

Bingo.

It's always good to see
tony and minnie,

And it's good to have friends
in the yukon.

Kyle's gonna be
waiting on that roller.

But the reality is
all that's done
has cost me money.

So, if we're gonna hit
our 1,000-ounce goal,
it's time to get serious.

-Hey, carl.
-Yeah, buddy.

Let me show you what I got.

♪ hero, hero of the day ♪

-You like that?
-I'm happy.

Yeah, let's get this in,
and let's get some [bleep]
gold, eh, ben?

Yeah, buddy.

[narrator] this smaller 480
is loading pay

At half the rate of the 700.

Carl must install
replacement roller

To get the plant
back to full speed.

[carl] let's flop it up.

The good thing about tony is,
tony has got all kinds
of spare parts.

Can't complain, man.
He's getting us going,
so we owe him big time.

Yeah, fire it up.
Give me a spin.

Yeah, spin her!

Back the other way!

Looking good, guys.
We're in business.

-Let her down
there, buddy.
-Coming down.

I like that. I like that.

[rick] number one-o.
Yeah, we're back
to full speed.

I tell you, it sure is nice
having the 700 back,
isn't it, krusey?

This is it.
[bleep] go time.

We can start to
getting the pay
up to the plant.

Yee-haw!
Ride 'em cowboy!

[narrator] at his
elkhorn claim,

Fred lewis is counting
on a new cut of virgin ground

To save his season.

We're all in on this
right now.

We're opening up
what we're calling
the mayor's cut.

We got both
the excavator's out.

So, stefan right now
pulling off overburden,
stockpiling pay.

[stefan]
I'm seeing there's a really
good color in the dirt.

A lot of round river rocks.

No bedrock,
which is a good thing.

[johnny] it's starting to look
pretty good over there.

We're getting
a decent amount of pay.

And while they do that,
I'll make sure

Absolutely everything
involved in irrigation
is good to go.

It's usually a two-man job,
but sometimes
you gotta improvise.

Fred's found
some virgin ground.

So, I'm gonna
try and dig it out
as fast as I can.

See if we can test,
see if there's
any good pay there.

Let's just [bleep]
kick this mine's a*s.

How in the [bleep]?

[johnny speaking]

Where are you?

[fred] what the [bleep]?

-Hey!
-I freaking slipped
on this rock.

Give me your hand.

His knee does not
feel stable right now.

[groaning]

[bleep]

Ow, ow, ow!

Up on your back, buddy.
Ready, one, two, three.

[johnny groaning]

Hold on,
I'm gonna get alex
to come help.

Hey, alex, johnny's got
a pretty bad hurt leg.

Can you help carry?

Step down here, man.

We're gonna help you
up the hill, okay?

Can you get under his arms?

Pull me.

[groaning]

Don't pull hard.

-[all] ready, one, two, three.
-[groaning]

-[fred] scoot his back
up to that cab.
-Here you go.

-Sit comfy.
-[fred] you guys
are good here?

I'm just gonna take him
back to camp.

That's the same one.
That's the same acl
he got replaced.

-You feel anything pop?
-[groans]

[bleep]

You couldn't just
take me in that...
[groans]

[groaning]

All right, guys.
Thank you.

You all right? Be safe, bud.

We're all combat disabled.
We've all got issues,

But as of now right now,
we have one less person
on the team.

We just got to figure out
where do we go from here.

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

[narrator] fred lewis
is battling to save
his season.

Marine johnny stanz
is down with a knee injury

After a fall
on the mine site.

Well, johnny got hurt.
I really hope he's okay.

But we gotta do
everything we can

To get all the pay we can
out of the mayor's cut.

I spent a lot of years
in airborne units,

And for the most part
when you blow out that knee,
you're pretty much done.

So, we'll see.

Till then we'll just
keep on going.
That's what we do.

Keep on going.

[fred] what's up, johnny?
How you doing?

It's still freaking sucks.

-[sighs] mind if I check it?
-Yeah.

-Oh, jeez. Darn!
-Oh, yeah, yeah.

You got a lot of inflammation
on this side, too.

But I do think you've done
some damage on it.

Gosh dang it.

I gotta be here
to freaking help out.
I can't let the team down.

I just think being out here
working is gonna put you
at a higher risk.

The right decision
to make here is
to get you home.

[johnny] this sucks, man.

[fred] I know it sucks,
but I think

That the only answer
right now is for you
to go home and recover.

It's on me, it's my decision,
and I don't want you
to get hurt.

Man, that's really tough.
Johnny is one of best friends.

And I started
this mining season

To get everybody
to learn a new purpose,
and to get better.

And I feel like johnny
coming out here
and getting hurt...

I kinda feel
a little responsible
for it, but...

It really just sucks
for the team.

Like, sucks, dude.

[groans]

Freaking fred took
my choice away, though.

And I have to pack up
to get ready to go home.

[groans]

[narrator]
while johnny packs up,

The rest of the crew
runs the first pay
from the mayor's cut.

All right, dude,
super easy.

[narrator] stuart mckenzie
takes over for johnny
at the pump.

So I think what we're
gonna do with
the irrigation position...

-Yeah.
-...Is we're just gonna
have to share it.

-But you're not here
permanently.
-I know.

You're just gonna
have to cover while
we figure things out.

No, I get it.

All right, guys.
This one's for johnny.
It's time to get to gold.

[stefan] my goal
for this morning.

Just to dig my a*s off.

Dig, feed, find gold.

That's what we need to do.

Run, run, run.

[over radio] stuart,
you ready down there?

-[stuart] let's go.
-All right, brother.
Fire it up.

[engine whirring]

-[engine stops]
-[bleep]

-[all laughing]
-[bleep]

First time firing up the pump
and it's not starting on me.

[engine starts]

Whoo!

[fred]
good job, stuart.

[stuart] psi is at 38. 3-8.

Water's going.
It's what we do.

[fred] fire it up.

It's our first run
on the mayor's cut.

We're still running the plant.

We're still feeding
the colonel.

And we're still catching gold.

Brennan, hey, hey.

Yeah, go ahead.

It's gonna be a fight
to the end this year.

I'm new. I don't know
what to do. [laughs]

[narrator]
at the indian river,

Parker schnabel is a man down.

[tyson] mitch had to
go home 'cause

There's fire near his place
in oregon.

So right now I'm just having
to take care of sluicifer,

And brennan's with big red.

I really hope we can
pull it together this year

And that losing mitch
doesn't cost us the season.

[mitch] come on.

[cell phone ringing]

No answer.

[narrator] mitch blaschke
is on his way home

To his wife and baby

After wildfires forced them
to evacuate

And take shelter with his
parents 20 miles away.

I'm almost to
my parent's house.

Just gonna check on
hailey and mia.

Been a ton of smoke
on the drive down here,

And, you know,
I haven't heard any status

Or update on our house.

Definitely makes me think
twice on, you know, if mining
in the yukons...

Am I making the right choice?

I don't know. I just don't
even know what to think.

It was 2,200 miles. I finally
made it. I'm glad I'm here.

-Hey, baby. Hi.
-[hailey] hi.

-Hi.
-Oh, you've gotten big.

-[dogs barking]
-well, I hear you got dogs.

-Yeah, yeah.
-Yeah?

We're safe. We're safe.

Thank god
you're all right. Yeah?

-Can I see her?
-Yeah.

Hey, chickie. Remember me?

Huh? You don't know
what to think.

Oh, you want your mom back.

Well, you've been spending
a lot of time with her.

[hailey] that's okay.

-[mitch] I'm so glad
you made it out of there.
-Me, too.

[hailey sniffles]

-[baby cooing]
-hey, daddy's home.

[baby cooing]

[mitch] what all happened?
Like...

I just, I just grabbed
some stuff and...

-[baby crying]
-[mitch] yeah, well...

-Grabbed her.
-[baby continues crying]

-I didn't mean...
-Grabbed her and the dogs

And also reports of looters,

And people holding
people at gunpoint,

And I don't really feel
comfortable going back
with her.

[mitch] just stay here.

I'm gonna go home
to see if there is a home.

But I'm just glad
you guys are all right.

-[baby fussing]
-hey.

-Hey, it'll be okay. Yeah.
-Just call me whenever you...

[narrator] the fires
have now passed,

But mitch doesn't know

If they destroyed
the family home.

[mitch] this definitely
isn't looking good here.

I mean, stuff still smoking.

And the closer I get
towards the house,

It seems like the worse
it gets.

And you look at all this
tree here, it's cooked.

I mean, look at this place
here, this guy's stuff,
I mean,

Burnt down the front.

Stuff burnt down the back,

Still smoldering over there
on the side.

That was a church right there.

And the only thing left
standing is the chimney.

Yeah, this definitely
is not looking good.

Crossing my fingers here
and hoping for the best,
but...

There she is
and it's still standing.

[laughs]

Oh, man.

I think everything's
looking good,

Ducks are there, too.

I feel very thankful that
it's all still here, so...

Uh... Gotta let hailey know.

-[hailey] hello.
-Hey, baby.

-Hi. How's it going?
-Hey, it's good.
I got down here.

Everything's fine.
The house is here,
ducks are here.

-Everything looks good.
-Oh, thank goodness.

I'll just, I'll get mia
together and the dogs

And we can head down there.

-All right.
-Okay. I'll see you soon.

-Okay. I love you. Bye.
-I love you, too. Bye.

Nice little shed.
You're fired.

We're taking it out.
We're getting down to
that virgin ground.

I don't care
what's in the way.

[narrator]
at the elkhorn claim,

To expend his cut,

Fred wants to move a shed
without damaging it.

Gonna test your precision.

We wanna save this roof.

-We could use it
if you don't destroy it.
-[laughing]

Uh, yeah, I guess.

[fred] all right, here we go.

[stefan] all right.

Get my bucket up
underneath there.

Nice and slow.

[fred] not that way.

[laughs maniacally]

Trying to get it
behind those trees.

Either I'm gonna
get it down in one piece

And it will be cool.

Or I'm not gonna get it down
in one piece,

And it'll be real cool.

[laughing]

-It's down!
-[fred] it's a fixer upper.

[stefan laughs]

[baby crying]

[narrator] in oregon,
the worst of the wildfires
are over.

Mitch blaschke is back home
with his family.

You know, I got to say I was
definitely looking forward to
getting home.

I didn't think I'd be
getting here this soon.

Now I'm going from, you know,
working on dozers

And wash plants to
making bottles here.

[skype ringing]

Got it. Here.

-[parker] hi, mitch.
-How's going, parker?

-Good. How are you?
-Uh, doing better now, man.

It looks like
you're in your house.

Yeah, in the house.
It's still standing.

We got really lucky, man.

It got really close to us.

Unfortunately, some people
did lose their houses
down here.

Um, it was, it was a bad deal.

But I'm in our place
down here now.

I think, you know,
everything's good and safe.

I mean, I was planning on
trying to head back up.

Whether you come back
this fall or next spring,

You've always got a spot here.

-All right, buddy.
-All right.

-Let me go how things go.
-All right, talk to you later.

-Have a good night. See you.
-Bye.

You know, it's just really
nice to talk to parker

And know that, you know,
he stands behind my decision,

And, you know, that I've got
a good place up there

And, you know, I might not
make it back this season,

But I'll certainly be back
in the future.

So, uh, I'm just glad
to hear that,

You know, he understands
why I had to come home
and stands behind it.

[rick] what's up, guys?

Oh, just talking about stuff
we probably shouldn't be
talking about.

-[rick] yeah, probably.
-[all laughing]

[narrator] at duncan creek,

Rick and his crew get ready
to weigh their gold for
the week.

We got 700 this week, huh?

Oh, it never ends, dude.
Oh, I love that thing.

[rick] I'll tell you. I mean,
that's, it's good machine,

But when it goes down,
it hurts.

-It is the work horse.
-But we did keep sluicing.

Um, just not at the rate
we would have been at, right?

I don't like going
in reverse, buddy.

But, uh, luckily,
you came through that roller.

Yeah, really.
I gotta thank tony
for that roller, right?

-Yeah, we owe tony one.
That's for sure.
-Yeah.

-So, um, I think
we just weigh it up.
-[bleep] yeah, buddy.

[narrator] to make
his 1,000-ounce goal,

Rick now needs to bring in
at least 70 ounces every week.

[rick] all right, we got five.

We got ten, 20, 30,



We got 51.55.

[narrator]
worth almost $100,000,

But short of what he needs
to stay on track.

[rick] I'm not gonna lie.
That seems a little light.

I think it's better
than last week,

But, um, I think that we...
I think we can do better.

-Yeah, buddy.
-I'm not too worried yet.

It's kind of two weeks
worth of problems that
we've had, right?

But 700 is back in action.
The ground's good.
We know it is.

All we need is a few
clean good weeks,

And we're gonna smash
our 1,000-ounce goal.

-[bleep] yeah.
-[bleep] yeah.

-We got to move on.
-Yeah, exactly.

There's grounds out there.
All we gotta do is go get it.

-Right. Let's go get it.
-Let's go get it.

-Well, let's go get dinner.
Right.
-Tomorrow we will.

Redemption, boys.

It's nice to get help
from friends.

It's pretty cool,
uh, you know.

Rick's a good guy,
and when you're a good guy,

Other good people are willing
to help you out in a pinch,

So saved us some
time and money.

[narrator]
at the elkhorn claim,

The lewis crew gathers

To weigh the last gold
from the liberation cut,

And the first 100 yards
of their new cut.

So I got kind of mixed
feelings about this week.

We got the mayor's cut
opened up.

I see a lot of possibilities
there, but we've also
got johnny.

His injuries kind of
dampened it a little bit,
but I don't know.

I don't know what else to say.
I'm sad because of it.

I'm sad, too. Sadly.

He's making the right move.

-But you can leave
your snacks.
-Yeah.

-They're in the cabin.
-[all laughing]

You guys ready to see
some gold? See what
we got this week?

[all] hell, yeah!

[narrator] so far this season,
fred has mined

Just 1.97 ounces of gold.


cleanup yet.

[narrator] worth just $1,400,

Barely enough
to cover their fuel.

What? 2.74
for the season, guys.

Still ain't [bleep].

[johnny] this gives me
a little bit of hope

That he is gonna freaking get
out there and get a lot more.

It just sucks that you're
not gonna be here for the end.

You know, to see it through.

[fred] biggest thing I wanna
say is don't get discouraged.

This is just another obstacle.

You've already pounded
through ten million times

More difficult than this.
And we got your back.

I appreciate it.

I really appreciate, uh,
fred inviting me
on this little trip.

Every new adventure
in life has a place,

And this one has a,
has a high place in my heart.

-It was an awesome time.
-[car honks]

-Looks like that's
your ride, bud.
-[indistinct chatter]

It's a little earlier
than I thought,

-But, oh, well.
-You wanna use my shoulder?

If he can prove to me
that he's healed, we'll
definitely take him back.

But right now the priority
is to get him healed.

Everybody will line up
for the hugs.

-I'm gonna miss you.
-Take care of yourself, okay?

[fred] it's unfortunate that
he's gone, but the team
has to pick it up,

And we're gonna have to
fill in that gap and get on
the gold

'cause if we can't get that
plant running and put serious
pay for the plant,

None of us are going home
with anything.

Bye, johnny.

Hey, how's you guys going?

-Not bad, how are you?
-Good.

[narrator] parker and his crew
gather for the weekly
gold weigh.

Just really [bleep]
that mitch has to leave.

Yeah, I know, right?

What a natural disaster
going on at home there, eh?

I tell you, I've never seen
mitch look so
stressed out ever

Since I've been here.

-[all] yeah.
-He was pretty scared

Of losing everything
he's worked so hard for.

Well, I guess hailey
and the baby are fine.

Yeah, which is the most
important part.

Anyways, he needed to go.

It was...
It was the right thing.

So how'd the week go, doumitt?

[chris] you know,
you guys really did good.

Both plants from the same cut.

Yeah, they were both
pretty much running the same
pay, hey, brennan.

-Yeah.
-With the trucks on.

Yeah, they were, weren't they?

Oh, yeah. I read off to
see him back piece of
the cut there.

[narrator] with mitch gone,
tyson lee on sluicifer

And brennan ruault on big red
went head to head.

Well, why don't you
bust them out and show us

-'cause that was
a terrifying week.
-All right.

[narrator] first up,
sluicifer.

Ten, 30, 50.







[narrator] worth $305,000...

-161?
-Right on the nose.

[parker] nice and steady.

It's not bad at all.

Yeah, it's consistent.

And here's big red.



-161.2.
-[all laughing]

[narrator] just point two
ounces more

Than tyson's haul
with sluicifer.

[all laughing]

[chris] that's how much more
gold he got than you.

-There you go. What is
the chances of that?
-Huh?

-I guess the gold's
consistent in that cut.
-Seriously.

-That gives us a weekly
total of 322.2 ounces.
-[tyson whistles]

So our season total now
is 6,090.6 ounces.

[narrator] worth $11.2 million

And nearly 35% above
this time last year,

Despite the late start.

Been a pretty [bleep] week
for us here.

We had to lose mitch,
but I mean, it's totally
understandable.

And look at that. The plants
pretty much tied each other

In gold. When the hell
does that ever happen?

[narrator] on the next
gold rush...

Tony beets' hopes for
a 3,000-ounce season...

-[woman] whoa, whoa, whoa!
-...Are washed away.

Rick ness receives
devastating news.

Just got a message
from my doctor

That I have a big tumor
on my spine.

[rick] holy [bleep].

We're all in
on this right now.

[narrator] and fred lewis
fights his biggest battle yet.

[fred] whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

-Holy crap.
-Oh!