12x26 - The Kid Vs. The King: Gold Rush Special

[bunniefuu]

[narrator]
On this Gold Rush...

I do all the work
and you get all the money.

[narrator] The true story of two gold
mining legends, Parker Schnabel...

This is a big moment for us.

and king of the Klondike,
Tony Beets.

[narrator] A relationship that
started out as master and pupil.

Good to meet you.

[narrator] But quickly turned
into a battle for power.

That's bull [bleep] Tony.

[narrator]
As the kid takes on the king.



[narrator]
We go behind the scenes...

Do you wanna be Tony Beets
when you grow up?

Why is that so funny?

to reveal the good...

the bad.

Have a judge tell me that, Tony.

and the ugly...

That's a whole new level
of bull [bleep] from Tony.

[narrator] ...of the biggest
rivalry in Klondike history.

Give me one good reason not
to tell you to go [bleep] yourself.

[narrator] 2011, 16-year-old
Parker Schnabel

makes his first ever trip
to the Yukon.

From his grandpa's claim
in Porcupine Creek, Alaska.

I've never seen an operation
outside of Porcupine.

He's on a mission to supersize
his three-man operation

and he's come to the Klondike
to learn from the best.

First stop, King of the
Klondike, Tony Beets,

and a meeting that will change
both men's lives forever.

Hey, Tony.

Good to meet you.

We're only moving


Tony moves
in probably five years

what's been moved in all of
Porcupine in the last hundred years.

I mean, it's pretty impressive.

He's digging up mountains.

How many ounces is that?



That's more than 200 ounces.

I've never seen
that much gold in the pan.

Things don't work out
at Porcupine,

I might crawl up here,
beg Tony for a job.

[narrator] The next season,

Parker asks Tony
to come to Alaska

and give him advice
on his operation.

He's been mining
for 30 some years.

He knows how to move dirt
and knows how to wash rocks.

Hey, Tony.

Good, how are you?

[Tony speaking]

Not recently.

You know, it started actually
with my grandpa

saying that it'd be a 15 feet to
bedrock and that was 40 feet up.

[narrator]
Following his grandpa's hunch,

Parkers only banked


[Tony speaking]

Right, it's never been drilled
or anything like that before.

Yeah.

Right.

See you, Tony.

[narrator]
At the end of the season,

even with Tony's help,
Parker only just breaks even.

Wow, look at that.



So you got two ounce of profit.

Yeah.

[narrator] Inspired
by Tony Beets' success,

Parker heads to the Klondike
the next year.

If I wanna play
with the big boys...

you gotta get up here
where the big boys play.

Hey, Tony.

Good.

Thanks.

[narrator] Tony takes a gamble
on the 18-year-old,

leasing him 300 acres of
virgin ground at Scribner Creek.

Right.

There's some good holes
in there.

I wonder what they mine.

No kidding.

No offense to Parker
but you're a busy man,

why waste your time trying
to help Parker Schnabel out?

[narrator] Tony takes Parker
under his wing,

lending the Yukon Rookie
his drill rig.

To help him find
the best ground to mine.

Sounds good to me.

I'm good to go.

But don't turn, don't spin it.

This thing turns
and it goes into the ground

and if there's gold down there,

it'll come up out of the hole
or something.

[narrator] The drill penetrates down
through the worthless overburden

to reach any gold-rich gravel that
may have settled on the bedrock.

[narrator] Parker's first
season in the Klondike

now rests on getting a good
pan from this drill sample.

[Tony speaking]

[Parker] Right on!

- Right there.
- Look at that.

A bunch of little flakes.

This is just the beginning,
you know?

I mean, that pan, we're gonna
be throwing thousands of those

through a plant every day.

The Klondike's the biggest sandbox
in the world and I'm ready to play.

Do you look up to Tony Beets?

Yeah, for sure.

You know, he's always taken
a lot of time for me

and showed me around
up in Dawson

and I think there's a lot of people
who you need to be careful about

and I think Tony's always been
straight up with me and I appreciate that.

[narrator] Tony's deal with Parker
is not just a friendly helping-hand,

he also stands to get a 15% royalty
on all the gold Parker mines that season.

- Everything all right?
- Been running good all day.

We've busted our a*s
to get here and we're ahead,

we've got a good stockpile
of pay,

the plants running good,
pretty happy.

Hey, Tony.

Good.

Yeah.

You know, this week we're
pushing to do 1,500 yards.

Yeah.

It's our first week runner.

[narrator] As a landlord,

Tony's income now depends on Parker
running enough dirt to get good gold.

That's a lot of dirt.

I wanna move dirt
as bad as Tony does

but trying to do 3,000 yards
this week, that's [bleep] tough.

We're gonna have to really
get on top of our game.

[narrator]
To hit Tony's target,

Parker adds a new hopper
feeder to the plant.

Allowing him
to run pay dirt faster.

Stop!

We hit it! Right on the money.
Looking good.

There we go,
that's good, we got it.

I'm ready when you are.

Go ahead, Greg,
give her a scoop.

[narrator]
At the end of the week,

Tony arrives for Parker's first
cleanup as a Yukon gold miner.

Shut it down.

And to discover whether his new
tenant has hit his 3,000 yard target.

About 3,200.

Yeah.

The moment of truth.



No, not bad
for our first clean out.

Pretty nice looking stuff.

Pretty cool.

Thanks, Tony.

Start her up!

It just did something,
here it comes.

We got water!

Now you're talking.

[narrator] In his first season
in the Klondike,


is mining for gold

on land leased
from his mentor, Tony Beets.

Boom!

Whoa!

Parker is sluicing pay dirt
that Tony believes

is from the best part
of the claim

but Parker is not happy with it.

What we've been doing hasn't
been getting us where we need to be.

[narrator] Parker decides
to abandon the cut

and look for better ground
across the creek.

You know, I really think that there
might be some good gold over there.

[narrator]
But he hasn't told Tony.

[bleep] [narrator]

[narrator] Tony now has money at
stake if Parker leaves gold behind.

One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven.

Hey, Tony!

Some gold. Where's that from?

No, we... I was always
planning to go back in there.

[bleep]

No, that one... That's the
only one here that was frozen.

[narrator]
Parker has a choice,

do what Tony's demanding

and clean up the gold
he left behind...

or move to what he believes is
better ground across the creek.

I've got a plan
and we need to stick with it.

What's the point of leasing ground
if I can't mine it the way I want to?

Don't lease ground to somebody
that you don't think is gonna get the gold

out of the ground.

The whole reason
that I went up to the Klondike

was to do this on my own

and to succeed or fail based
on our abilities, not Tony's.

And I don't want...

I don't wanna be told how to
mine my ground, you know?

We signed a lease,

which means I have the right
to mine that place.

[narrator] Instead of going
back to the abandoned cut,

Parker runs a thousand-yard test

to prove his new cut
fantasy-land is going to pay out.

[Parker] We've been doing slow
and steady

and that's not gonna
win this race anymore.

You know, we need to find
some serious ounces now

and the ground on the other side
of the creek just isn't gonna do it.

So this is the last truckload
of the thousand yard test.

We need 20 ounces
and I don't know, I'm anxious.

Yeah, this is it.

That's all I got.

Pile of gold here,
we have a pile of gold here.

Whoa!

That's the biggest chunk
of gold we found all season.

That's like a proper nugget.

[narrator] Parker has taken a big
gamble going against Tony's demands.

He needs at least 20 ounces
of gold

to prove the cut is richer than
the one Tony wants him to work.

That's 12 more than I needed.

This is a good test result.

I'm sick of getting
questioned on my [bleep]

Let's... Well, we'll weigh it
up and get you cut...

You don't want your cut?

[bleep]

Man, Tony is just never happy.

He wants everything done his way

and that's not why I'm here,
you know,

I came up here
to do things my way.

The only way I could see
getting Tony off my back

is to pay him the royalty on that 800
ounces right now, and buy my freedom.

He's very intense and it is
very his way or the highway.


that's what I need.

You know, 90% of the time,
as you know,

is a good swift kick in the
a*s does me some good.

And Tony gives me
one once a week.

- Here.
- What's that?

That's the royalty on 800.

I'm paying up forward
so you can get off my a*s.

I've got a plan.
I just need to do it my way.

Yeah.

Thanks, Tony.

Let's be honest, you can be
kind of tough on Parker, right?

[narrator] 18-year-old Parker mines
fantasy-land until the end of the season...

then it's time to find out if he was
right to take on his powerful landlord.

He came up here
with an 800-ounce goal,

you know,
and that's a pretty lofty one.

I mean, that's four times
what we found last year.

And...

it's about 836.

[guys cheering]

Holy cow!

- Hey, are you serious?
- Yeah.



Thanks, Tony.

[narrator] Coming up...

Just show up in the spring
and shutting us down?

A contract.

That's bull [bleep] Tony.

Whatever, Tony.

[bleep] that.

Last season, by every measure
that I know was a huge success for us.

[narrator] 19-year-old Parker Schnabel
mined over a thousand ounces of gold

under the watchful eye
of his mentor, Tony Beets.

Before he starts
his second season,

he heads down to Arizona to ask
Tony for a new piece of ground to mine.

Tony told me that if I did well last
year, he'd give me better ground.

I'm here to get it.

Hey, Tony.

Long time no see.

Well, I mean, like we said
last year, you know,

that was a bit
of a training ground...

but this season, you know,

I'm prepared to throw everything
we made last year into it

but that means obviously like,
you know, we need better ground.

I expected this
to go differently.

It's quite obvious to me
at this point

that you're leasing me ground
that you would never touch.

Obviously, there's no
negotiating here, so...

Well, you make it hard
to be happy.

[bleep]

It's like going
into the wolf's lair.

Definitely came out of there
with my tail between my legs.

I left myself
with no other options really.

It's either big nugget
or Tony's ground

and whatever ground
Tony decides to give me.

That ground that we had
last year wasn't great ground,

it really wasn't,

and we moved a hell of a lot
of dirt to find the gold we did.

And to be honest, we had
a hard time making money,

even finding over a
million dollars' worth of gold.

We didn't get rich last season.

[narrator]
Parker accepts Tony's offer

to mine the same poor ground
for another season.

All right, let's crank her up.

The kind of yards we have to
run, we don't have time to waste.

Rocks just need
to go through this

and hopefully,
there's some gold in it.

What's the problem?

What are you talking about?

A contract.

Yeah.

You just show up in the spring
and shutting us down?

Tony, we just [bleep] got
started sluicing, really?

That's bull [bleep] Tony.

Whatever, Tony. [bleep] that.

[narrator]
Fitted into the sluice box,

hydraulic riffles use jets of
water to agitate the pay dirt.

The water washes away
the lighter material

and worthless black sand,

allowing the heavier gold
to sink to the bottom.

Out with the old,
in with the new.

[narrator]
Parker's crew spends two days

fabricating and installing
the hydraulic riffles.

I mean, it was pretty annoying

but we're back up and running
so hopefully, those riffles work well.

We're running dirt.

[narrator] After three days
of running with riffles,

it's time for the first cleanup

and gold weigh
of the new season.

Yeah, there's gold in there.

Oh, there's a pile
of gold right there.

It might be a lot of work but
maybe these riffles are working.

Hey, Tony.

Yeah.

Yeah, they seem to work fine.

I mean, they caught
most of this stuff.

It's actually a decent [bleep]
wack of gold right there.

Let's see what this is.

[narrator] With Tony's
hydraulic riffles in place,

Parker's gold-take
keeps rising...

but the more gold he gets,
the more he has to pay to Tony.

Oh, yeah.

Thanks for reminding me.

Tony's contract dictates that the
royalties go up from 15 to 20 percent,

once Parker hits 1,500 ounces.

Government of Tony Beets.

Nothing.

Now I get to give Tony Beets
an extra cut for nothing, really.

You know, I guess that's the
Tony way, work more for less.

If Tony had it his way,

he'd drive my business in the
ground to put a few bucks in his pocket.

I don't know who started
calling him a Klondike Legend

but it's more like [bleep]
Klondike [bleep].

I'm sick of this [bleep].

It's gonna be tough
but, hey, what's easy?

Especially around here.

[narrator] 2015.

It's been three years since
Parker came to the Klondike

seeking advice from Tony

and after butting heads
over royalties last year,

Parker's hoping to turn
a corner.

How are you doing?
Good to see you.

And work out a new lease for
Tony's Scribner Creek Claim.

I ask for another contract

because when we left
in the fall,

it didn't seem like
you had any problems with us.

Yeah, let's go ahead.

[narrator] But there's another clause
in the contract that causes problems.

Parker must not mine any other
ground while he's at Scribner.

I'm not signing that.

Tony won't talk to me.

Have a judge tell me that, Tony.

I'm gonna hold off on this.

If you want me to stop working
today, then...

get a judge
to tell me to stop.

Okay.

That's a whole new level
of bull [bleep] from Tony.

[narrator] Parker leaves the meeting
with no lease and no ground to mine.

But the tables are soon turned.

Tony Beets wants to hire Parker's
ex-foreman Gene Cheeseman

as the captain for his dredge.

But Gene's contract with
Parker has a non-compete clause.

[Gene] That's really gonna...
Really gonna screw me over.

[narrator] But it won't be that
easy for the King of the Klondike.

For first time in, well, ever, I've
got some leverage with Tony.

So he tried to cast Gene in
for some ground.

You know, they have
a virgin ground that's drilled

and real good,
real productive ground...

and they're offering it
to everybody except me.

[narrator]
Parker heads to paradise hill.

He wants 12 new claims of virgin
ground in exchange for Gene Cheeseman.

[Parker] It's not rancid.
It is business.

I didn't know how
it was gonna turn out

but it was a card worth playing

and I felt bad about that

because Gene didn't deserve
to be in that position

but it's the only way
I could deal with Tony.

We're gonna work these claims,
we're gonna be able to get into them.

Do a little chunk if we want to.

That works for me.

[narrator] Parker has
out-maneuvered Tony for the first time.

I've got ground.

Tony's got a dredge captain,
everybody's happy.

[narrator] The 20-year-old
miner's hard bargain pays off.

Parker mines his new claims,
smashing his 3,000 ounce goal

and going on to the biggest
gold haul of his career.

So that's 353 ounces.

- Whoa!
- Wow!

So that takes us to 3,362.

[narrator] With Gene Cheeseman
at the helm,

Tony gets more than 730
ounces of gold from his dredge.

But Tony's pride has
taken a knock

and his relationship with
Parker will never be the same.

In 2017,
Parker has earned enough

to realize the dream
of a lifetime

and get out
from under Tony Beets

by buying his own ground.

We're Yukon landowners, Rick!

No [bleep] way!

- Wanna look?
- [bleep] yeah, man!

After five years
we've finally done it.

Oh, yeah!

[narrator]
Parker has spent $500,000

buying 11 claims
on the Indian River,

next door to where Tony
runs his dredge.

You know, it's the first chunk
of ground

that we've bought
here in the Yukon

and, you know,
after five years of looking,

I'm pretty happy
that we made it happen.

But it's also pretty damn scary.

All right,
here's the first push.

[narrator] In 2018, Parker
starts mining his own ground.

It does feel good to not be
mining Tony's ground this year.

We don't have a landlord
for the first time ever.

Having our own ground and
having other options for the first time,

that's pretty cool.

[narrator] But Parker needs
Tony's permission to pump water

because Tony's ground lies between
Parker's ground and the Indian River.

A little bit more water
than I anticipated here.

Oh, yeah.

[narrator] Just weeks into the season,
Parker discovers part of his cut is flooded.

He tasks Brennan Ruo with
draining the water into Tony's ground.

Holy [bleep].
There's a lot of water.

Looks like our water problem just
turned into Tony's water problem.

[narrator] Brennan sends hundreds
of thousands of gallons of pond water

onto Tony's claim.

Yeah.

What?

So I'm not gonna get your permission
to pull water from your property?

But, Tony...

if I go through that process,
we won't be mining this season.

You and I both know that.

What you're telling me right
now is to end my mining season.

And this mining season is
gonna end before it started.

[narrator]
With no access to water,

Parker is forced to abandon
his own ground,

returned yet again
to Scribner Creek,

lease Tony's ground, and pay
royalties to his one-time mentor.

We've lost a ton of time, we're a
month away from sluicing at best.

But we'll still have
a really good season.

Don't spill it.

At the end of the season,

Parker gets more than


worth close to $9 million.

We're paying more royalties this season
than we found our first season up here.

[narrator] Parker has to hand over
ten 100-ounce bars to landlord Tony,

worth $1.2 million.

He intends it to be his last
ever payment to the Dutchman.

Listen, I brought you
guys something.

Yeah.

There it is.

Thousand ounces.

Yeah.

[narrator] With this payment,

Parker had given Tony
over $5.2 million in royalties

over the six years he'd mined
Tony's ground in the Klondike.

We've had our ups and downs
over the last six years

but I just wanted to thank you
for the opportunity.

There's nobody in the Yukon that
would have given me the opportunity.

I'm happy for you.

Last time [bleep] doing that.

I'm free!

[narrator] Coming up...

The tables turn again...

when Parker is left holding
all the cards.

Give me one good reason not
to tell you to go [bleep] yourself.

Tony and Parker's competitive
rivalry extends beyond mining.

Coming in hot.

- [g*nsh*t]
- [Tony speaking]

[Parker] Oh, man!

Go for it.

We're no sn*pers yet, Tony.
Not quite.

[narrator] In 2019, there's a new
twist in the love-hate relationship

between Parker Schnabel
and Tony Beets.

At the start of the season,


water license to mine his new ground

and get out from under Tony.

The good news is we're gonna
be mining here

on a piece of ground we bought
a couple years ago

and I actually am pumped
for the first time

to not be paying a boatload
of royalties.

[narrator] And after 30 years
in the Klondike...

it's Tony
who is on the back foot.

Well, we don't have
a water license.

We have to leave.

[bleep].

So what does that mean
for the season then?

[narrator] Tony's only option is to mine
a claim upstream near a bush airstrip.

Little flake, isn't that Parker?

Yes, it is.

You did that
personally yourself.

And you have to be nice.

Seriously!

Not too bad.
How's your winter?

We're definitely up against
it with these licensing issues.

Yep.

Oh, now we're buddying up?

What happened last spring, Tony?

Give me one good reason not
to tell you to go [bleep] yourself.

There's been some bad blood
at times, Tony.

But I'm gonna be calling in
a favor one of these days.

And so, you know, right now
we might not need anything

but down the road, here
this season, I very well could.

And so, I'm fine with it.

I'm going to usually try
to put my best foot forward

because it's a small
community up there

and you never know

- when you're gonna need help from somebody.
- Right.

And so, you know, despite any problems
that Tony and I have had in the past,

I wanted to try to help him out.

[narrator] Parker goes on
to mine out his own ground,

having his most successful
season to date.

[bleep].

You're shy guy!

[Parker] The amount of ground
we're going through is crazy.

Just keeping ground out ahead
of [inaudible]

is gonna be our big challenge.

[narrator] In 2020, Parker runs
out of pay dirt on his own ground

and needs to lease a new claim
from his old landlord

but after years of conflict,
he has no idea what to expect.

Part of the reason why I'm here

is we're just about done
like around our camp.

This licensed ground right now
downstream from us,

kind of around the airstrip...

I'd love to mine it,
if you're game.

Okay.

Thanks, Tony.

Wow!

That was definitely one of the most
strange meetings I've had with Tony Beets.

Good result, I'm just still
confused by the ease of it.

The thing about Tony is he's
a big teddy bear, really.

You just have to break through
that outer shell

and you just have to get
the teddy bear Tony

and when you don't get
teddy bear Tony,

you just need to leave
because...

Here we go.

- Yeah!
- Yeah, buddy!

[narrator] Almost a decade
after their first meeting,

Parker and Tony have finally
found a way to get along.

The two former
gold mining rivals

now share the Klondike spoils

without all the customary
squabbling.

Yeah!

I've, you know, grown up
a little bit

and I don't poke the bear
so much as I used to.

Well, maybe I have mellowed.

How do you know?

I will say that Tony's
mellowed out a bit,

I'm not gonna take
all the blame.

I'll always be very grateful
for the opportunity...

that that Tony helped give me
in the Yukon.

Don't get soft,
now don't get soft.