09x04 - Rock Sucker / Mountain Carver

[bunniefuu]

My name is Mike Rowe,
and this...

Is my job.

On this episode
of [font color="#ffff00"]"Dirty Jobs"...[/font]

Some jobs suck.

Can you turn the cameras off?

- Okay.
- It's all I'm asking.

[Narrator] And some jobs
suck hard.

I haven't seen
that one before.

And some jobs suck so hard

they deserve their own song.

[Singing]

You heard that right,

I spent a day up on the roof,

sucking off the rocks

with an unforgettable family
of hard working rock suckers

in the great state
of Tennessee.

Yes, this goes against
the laws of god and man.

After that, we get stoned
in south Dakota,

while chipping away
at the largest

mountain carving
on the planet.

[Makes sound]

That's a rock hard adventure

at the crazy horse memorial.

Now, uh, get ready...

To, uh...

Get dirty.

Theme music playing...

[Singer] ♪ Yeah,
it's a dirty job ♪

♪ but someone's gotta do it ♪

[narrator] As promised,
I've come all the way

to Tennessee

to suck the rocks off a roof.

Who were the people
I'm gonna be meeting?

[Man] That over here,

Leonel junior
and Leonel senior.

Leonel junior
and Leonel senior

are gonna accompany me
on to the top of that building

for the express purpose of,
uh, rock sucking.

They heard us
talking about them.

They're coming.

They heard everything?

- I'm Mike.
- Nice to meet you.

It's a pleasure
to meet you, sir.

Nice to meet you,
Leonel junior.

Yes, junior.

Leonel.

The patriarch.

- What's your last name?
- [Leonel Jr.] oviego.

That's probably yours,
too, isn't it?

- Oviego.
- [Narrator] The oviego's

main tool for rock removal

is a truck that's really

a giant vacuum cleaner
on wheels.

You're not actually
putting on the roof.

- No.
- No.

You're preparing the roof
to be replaced?

- Yes.
- Exactly.

Why is rock on the roof?

So, back in the day,

I guess the chemists
couldn't get the glues right,

and they couldn't withstand
the heat

or the cold shifts
of the season.

So, they said, "hey, what can
we do to weigh it down?

Let's put some gravel
up there."

Okay.

I did hot tar a roof...

- [Leonel Jr.] yeah.
- ...One day...

- [Leonel junior] Yeah.
- ...In Pasadena.

And when I say one day,

it felt like a week.

It's gonna be interesting
to see which is harder,

getting the rocks on
or getting the rocks off.

The biggest quirk of our job
is going around

and finding people
that want it,

and then once they...
They're like, "is it free?

Is it full of trash?"
and I'm like,

"no, it's just gravel
we're trying to give it away

- so we can do our job."
- but it is free?

- It is free.
- [Leonel sr.] it is free.

You're like the Santa claus
of gravel.

Yeah, yeah.

- And every day is Christmas.
- Yeah.

[Narrator] Hear that, guys,
this Christmas,

give her
what she really wants,

33,000 feet
of genuine gravel.

I see, so all the rock
is gonna be flying

through here and this is just
subsequent damage

- from the last job.
- If we don't put it

straight all in any way...

- Yeah.
- ...The gravel will hit it

and it will destroy it,
and we had patched it up

the best we can until
it's paper thin and gone.

[Narrator]
The pipes are plastic

and the elbows are metal,

but neither I'm afraid
are long for this earth.

Half metal, half duct tape.

The rock pummels them
relentlessly.

You'll see.

It's held together with rope,

duct tape, maybe some spit.

Now, we're gonna start
going up

and we need to pull up these
one by one.

It's the neck
that I'm worrying about.

There we go.

Once again,
k*lled by safety, yeah.

Do you wanna throw it over
to him and he'll tie it up?

It'd be a treat.

Here you go, Leonel.

Yeah, we have one
of the elbows there.

Now, usually, we try
to handle this in two.

- [Mike] Uh huh.
- You would pull

and I would also pull.

- One, two...
- [Mike] I like that.

...Three.

[Mike] Oh yeah, I gotta watch
that rail, right?

Just anywhere and then
we'll [indistinct]

Well, that's a...
That's a pain in the a*s.

My dad likes to joke
with new people and say,

"hey, just tie from the...
From the lightest side."

[Mike laughs]

Your dad is a funny guy.

[Narrator] Plastic pipes,
in case you're wondering,

are weirdly heavy.

[Leonel Jr.] one thing
that always holds us back

is actually getting rid
of this gravel.

[Mike] Oh, you mean driving
around finding somebody

- who wants it?
- Yeah.

That's the part
I'm looking forward to.

Sitting in the passenger seat
of your vehicle.

Because the idea
of riding shotgun

while somebody else
does the work

sounds pretty good right now.

I'm the tech savvy of my guys.

- Uh-huh.
- And we just go through

satellite imagery,
see you might want them

and knock on their door.

What do you mean
satellite imagery?

We go on Google

and we see if anybody
has a field or a driveway

that looks like
it's just dirt,

we go ask them, "hey,
you want some free gravel?"

Are you getting this?

They're actually using
satellites.

Running reconnaissance
to find out

who in the Nashville area
might have themselves

a, uh... A, uh, what you call
a gravel deficiency.

It's about to get
a little tougher.

[Narrator] Leonel junior
had suck the rocks off

hundreds of roofs.

Many pipes, Nick,
many pipes to go.

His dad has vacuumed
a whole lot more.

I've been in this since I was
like 14 helping him.

- Yeah.
- And I was like, "dad,

let's go buy our own vacuum,
let's go do it ourselves."

And one day, he got ticked off
from his bosses

and said, "Leonel, I'm gonna
listen to what you said."

So, we went out and, uh,
bought our own

and, uh,
started our own, and...

Now, we, uh... We do a lot
of Tennessee's work.

This is all your fault.

This is all my fault, yeah.

[laughter]

[Mike] That's a great story.

Well, I was...

I was expecting
something larger.

We always think
when we set this up,

where's the gravel
gonna impact.

And then, set up the pipe.

I've done it in my youth,
set it up wrong,

and next thing I know,
there's a parking lot

full of gravel.

You realized you're still
in your youth, right?

Well, when I was younger.

So, if you wanna hold the pipe
towards the middle of it,

- we're gonna stick it in here.
- Uh-huh.

[Leonel Jr.] and try
to twist that as you go along.

Mmm-hmm.

So, it's jammed in there.

If you wanna put it down,
we're gonna hit it

by its tip with the hammer.

More?

Part of the game. That's why
we wear glasses on this one.

- [Speaking foreign language]
- [man] A little bit more.

Oh, just a little bit more.

- [Man] Perfect.
- [Leonel Jr.] that's perfect.

Well, not perfect.

[Man] All right.

[Speaking foreign language]

Do you wanna learn
how we apply

and waste all this tape?

I'm gonna learn everything

that you're willing
to teach me in your youth.

So, you can see here
how we just...

Uh, it's buttoned up there.

And then, we're gonna go
around and around with tape

as much as possible
to create, uh,

the seal so the suction
stays with us.

Sure.

Just like that.

Now, if you wanna
take over in a second

until you get to, like,
right around here.

You literally meant a second,
didn't you?

Yeah.

[Whimsical music playing]

[Whirring]

Well, I see now
why all your pipes

- are of unequal length.
- Yes.

Okay.

Oh, [bleep].

[laughs]

[Rock music playing]

[Leonel Jr.] and you said
it's [indistinct] There?

- [Mike] Yeah.
- [Leonel Jr.] perfect.

Now, you have to tape it.

Oh, of course.

A lot of shows would just
skip over moments like these.

Anxious executives
often say to me,

"just hurry up
and get to the work, Mike."

Well, I tell them,
"this is the work."

Sometimes you got
to lay a little pipe

before you start sucking.

I think that's about
perfect there.

That's what I'm sh**ting for,
about perfect.

We're just gonna go down
the ladder

and work down there
for a second,

and then come back up here.

[Mike] How many times
are we gonna be

up and down that ladder today?

[Leonel Jr.] a lot.

[Narrator] This truck is like
a giant shop-vac

capable of producing

an 85 to 90% vacuum.

It's strong enough to lift
a column of water

34 feet
straight into the air.

The elbow on the truck

connects to the pipes
on the roof,

just like the attachments
on your vacuum do at home,

except bigger,
much, much bigger.

So, just a quick little pass
or two on the rim?

- [Leonel Jr.] yeah.
- [Narrator] I will now prepare

the fragile rim
of a plastic pipe

for the dirty job
of industrial strength

rock sucking.

So this goes up.

- Down.
- What?

This was what they call
the, uh... The rim job?

Yeah.

I think that's perfect
right there.

Those marks on the side
of the vacuum

collect all the dust
and separates it to a cyclone

and a filter bag.

If we do not ground it

and there's a built up
of dirt,

this could blow up.

It could be a static b*mb,

the dust that is combustible.

Because the dust
basically becomes the tinder.

- Yeah.
- Right?

That's the thing
that will spark first.

- Correct.
- And then, everything else

just goes up like flash paper?

- Correct.
- Gosh, I hope

I'm around later today
to help you do that.

Yeah.

[Narrator] Coming up.

I suck a lot of rock.

You know what really sucks?

Aggravating
last month's injury.

You can't make
this [bleep] Up.

[Mike] I haven't seen
that one before.

Well, we're coming to that
point of the program

that we always get to
eventually...

Where everything sucks.

[Leonel Jr.] we're gonna
go up there now and, uh,

- set up the pipe.
- Yeah. Good.

It's been a while since
I've been up the ladder.

Is that our second roll
of tape today?

[Leonel Jr.] is it?

[Narrator] Right now,
Leonel is taping

an improvised handle
onto the nozzle.

As always, I have questions.

So, would you say the tip
is more important

- than the shaft?
- Yeah. Yeah.

[Narrator] I didn't say
they were good questions.

Hello.

Luke, I'm your father.

Now, comes the even
funnier part.

We got to push this gravel
into windrows.

[Mike] Into what rows?

Pick, uh...

A little piece there...

And then just push them.

[Mike] How many rows
do you want?

A windrow is a farming term

that refers to a row
of new-mown hay

or a small grain crop.

Up on the roof, it refers
to a line of rocks

just waiting to be sucked up.

With the pipes
finally connected

and the vacuum
finally fired up,

the time has finally come
to start sucking.

So, I'm gonna start sucking,

if you wanna come behind me
and all the gravel

that I leave,
just pile it back up to it.

So, when we're done
in the area,

we'll try to leave it
as clean as possible.

[Narrator] Full disclosure,
I have no idea

what Leonel
just told me to do

because I can't hear
a thing he said.

The vacuum truck
is louder than a 767.

He's not bending over.

He's using the shin basically
as a lever.

But the rocks
are entering the hose

about 80 miles an hour

and should your leg
get caught in the hose,

it will pull the blood
from your body

through your skin
into the pipe.

If that happens
and there's nobody down there

on the blue lever,

somebody as to run
over here...

Find the hammer,
and smash the pipe,

so all the blood vessel
doesn't get sucked

out of our body.

In other words, don't stick
your foot into the hose.

Hell, don't stick anything
in the hose.

I sucked a lot of rock, man.

Anything that is but rock

up on the roof
with a little help

from this treacherous tube,

it's a rock sucking
extravaganza.

Sucking rock,
it's a dirty job.

[Upbeat music playing]

[Narrator] I'm not one
to complain

but a couple of weeks ago

while building a tugboat,

I managed to treat my shin

to a third-degree burn.

The same shin,
as luck would have it,

that I need to guide
this k*ller hose.

You can't make
this [bleep] Up.

- [Leonel Jr.] no.
- Yeah, this is...

I did this
from the last job,

and now you're telling me

that the key
to doing this job right

is to put the hose
right on my wound.

That's why we always carry
long boots.

Yeah, that would've been
a good idea.

You know what,
I take it back.

I do like to complain.

Hey, Mike, I'm gonna show you

how we're gonna close up
these holes.

- I make two already.
- Okay.

This was a pre-existing hole,
you can tell

because the water
is coming up from it.

We'll try to clean this up
as much as we can.

[Narrator]
Underneath all these rock

is a roof
that needs repairing.

This is a print shop,
so even the smallest leak

carries disastrous
consequences

for the equipment
and the materials inside.

We get our caulking
and we stick it in there

as far as we can,

play with it a little bit

to seal up the hole,

and then we grab
a piece of gravel

to smooth that out.

I didn't know caulk
came in different colors.

They... It goes
according to its metal, uh,

that it was made for.

Huh, that's funny.

I've only ever seen
white caulk.

Here's the thing
about sucking rock,

it's not complicated,

but that doesn't mean
it's easy.

It's just another one of
those backbreaking dirty jobs

that has to be done.

And at this rate,
I'll be doing it all day.

On the positive side,
there's so much rock up here

the truck can't possibly hold
all of it at once.

So, once we fill the truck,
we got a built-in break.

This is my mother.

Is this the woman
I've been hearing about?

Yeah, she's the co-owner,
and this is my sister.

Are you hearing good
about me or bad?

I'm hearing very good things
about you.

- I like that.
- You are Ms. Patricia?

Yes, I am.

- Hi.
- Hello. Isabella.

- I'm Mike. How are you?
- Nice to meet you. Good.

- How about yourself?
- Nice to meet you.

You know, uh, your brother
is kicking my butt.

What will we be doing today?

We're gonna go look
for a dumpsite.

You'll be driving
the truck around?

Uh, the pickup truck.
Yes, sir.

Oh, I can't wait.
All right.

We're gonna break for lunch.

I'm ready to go
meet some weirdoes

and give away a thousand
dollars' worth of rock

or something like that.

- Let's go.
- Let's eat.

[Rock music playing]

[Isabella] You get on
the Google earth.

You gotta find someone that
looks like they want rock.

[Narrator] I know
what you're thinking,

what exactly does the person

who wants some rock
look like?

This is probably
a lot of some sort of.

It looks like they have
some gravel on their driveway.

Right.

[Isabella]
We'll probably go there,

right down the street.

If they say no,

then we zoom out
and keep trying.

All right.
This is your satellite map.

Uh-huh. Yeah.

And we're going right there.

It looks like they have
a lot full of junk.

[Narrator]
Our first potential taker,

the man behind the mask.

He looks like he'd love

a great big pile
of free rocks.

I'm Mike Rowe.

We're working on
an episode of dirty jobs.

- [Man] Okay.
- And we ran into Isabella

and we've been working
with them all day.

[Man] Can you turn
the cameras off?

- Well, we can, sure.
- [man] Please do.

I know that, but you...
Please turn them off.

- Okay.
- [man] That's all I'm asking.

It's... It's no problem.
Zach, I told you so.

I told you we're gonna
look like idiots

trying to give rock away,
so, uh, we're leaving.

[Isabella] [Indistinct]

Just like that,
it's an episode of cheaters.

You have to blur them out now?

No, we have to come back
tonight and k*ll them.

[laughter]

[Narrator] I'm kidding,
of course.

I almost never k*ll anyone
on the show.

I mean, for 20 years,
I've avoided shows like,

you know, where people
come out of bushes

and surprise people.

Now, I'm in one.

Well, the man behind the mask

was not what you would call
rock friendly.

So, if at first
you don't succeed...

No hiding in bushes.

All right. If it goes well,
I'll come and get you.

Hi.

We just sucked, like,
millions of these rocks

off a roof around the corner

and now we're trying
to give them away.

[Man] Um, honestly,
I'd take a dump truck now.

[Mike] You just want to do it
right now?

All right.

Zach, we got Tyler and Jason,

and it looks like
they've agreed...

You're thinking
maybe up there?

So, we've got...

You see where those
private house [indistinct]

- [both] Yeah.
- Right behind it,

we've already got
another load of gravel

waiting to be spread,
if not, two loads.

[Mike] Terrific.
So, we got a deal.

We'll come back
in a half hour.

You get $500 worth of rock
for free and maybe,

I get something that I can
use in this crazy TV show.

Well, yeah.

We cleared out for you.

- Thank you.
- I appreciate it.

- Much obliged.
- We appreciate it.

Thank you so much
for helping us out.

- Yeah, absolutely.
- We appreciate it.

It's like you won
a game show,

you didn't even have to play.

- [Ben] Exactly.
- [Tyler] Our lucky day.

- All right. See you soon.
- [Tyler] I appreciate it.

[Narrator] Coming up.
We're back.

Getting our rocks off...

And this goes straight down?

- [Isabella] Up, up.
- Up? Oh, okay.

[Narrator] Is not easy.

There it goes.

It's just like the last
couple of drops,

you gotta give a little shake.

And then...

[singing]

[Narrator]
We're still in Nashville

where I'm hoping
to drop a load

before the dinner bell rings

and the next round of rock
sucking commences.

There's a sense
I've never said before.

The truth is,
it's not about the dirt,

it's not about the job,
it's about people.

When I find a family
who's doing something

that's very difficult,
or dirty, or dangerous,

I think people really enjoyed
learning about it.

It's the American dream.

[Mike] Its a dirty dream,
but yeah.

We're back.

We finally reached
our drop off point.

Leonel, I'm gonna hop out.

- Okay.
- Okay?

- Okay.
- I'll see you there.

Twenty-three hundred
square feet of roof rock

is about to get a new home.

It's all coming together...

Sort of.

Leonel showed me this before.

There's a lot going on
in here.

Master switch goes up.

[Isabella] And then follow
the little symbols

and it's gonna be this one.

- Open that.
- Rear door.

[Isabella] Yup.
That one goes up.

- This goes straight down.
- [Isabella] Up, up.

Up? Oh, okay.

[Rock music playing]

[Mike] There it goes.

[Isabella]
That's good right there.

[Rock music playing]

Yeah.

It's just like the last
couple of drops,

you gotta give a little shake.

This is the filer box

that collects
the gravel dust.

It'll need to be cleaned out
before we leave.

Who could we get?

Pulverized river rock.

I don't wanna overstate it

but it might be the best
dirt of the season.

[Dramatic music playing]

[Mike] Leonel, it's official.

It's a dirty job.

[Isabella] It's all
in a day's work.

[Narrator]
More than a day's work.

With 30,000 square
feet of rock left to suck

and 2,300 square feet
per dump,

it'll take these guys


to give away
over 10 million rocks.

That's enough sucking
to make a fellow hungry.

So what are we eating?

Al pastor tacos
and some rice over here.

Good grief.

It's impossible not to like
and admire this family.

Three generations of oviego's

all focused on
building a legacy

for the next generation.

With hard work, good cheer,

and the willingness
to get dirty.

Thank you for today.

I learned a lot,
laughed a lot, sweat some.

And that my friends
does not suck.

This on the other hand.

[Singing]

From suckin' rock
in Nashville

and singing about it
to carving rock

in the black hills
of south Dakota.

I'm here now
in the little town of custer,

where another hardworking
crew is laboring

to finish a truly
monumental job.

The monumenting question
is the crazy horse memorial.

It was commissioned in 1939

and has never accepted a dime
of federal or state money.

When it's done,

it will be the largest
stone monument

on the planet.

The monument
is the brain child

of Polish-American sculpture
korczak ziolkowski.

Today, korczak is buried

beneath his life's work,
literally.

But I'm here to get a sense
of what it takes to carve

a massive face
out of solid granite.

Toward that end,
I'll be working on the tip

of one of crazy horse's
outstretched fingers

and a tiny piece of this
horse's mane.

Tomorrow, this monument
will look any different

than it does today.

But maybe
when the dust settles,

I'll have a better
understanding

of why this
incredible artist

began a wildly
ambitious project

he knew he'd never lived
to see completed.

Monique,
what an honor to meet you.

Welcome to our home.

[Narrator] Today,
korczak's daughter, Monique,

oversees the work as ceo,

the job she's held
since 2014.

What is the most
important example

you can show your family
and the people who work here?

- Show up every day.
- Right.

[Monique] And be grateful
for the people

that you get to work with.

And attitude of gratitude.

And... And remember why...

- Yeah.
- ...We do what we do.

[Narrator]
Monique, a sculpture

and a mountain carver,
in her own right

continues her father's vision

and leads to small
team of rock carvers

who labor each day

to bring the monument
ever closer to completion.

Hey, you guys,
this gentleman need to pee.

- Porta potty?
- Right over there.

Excuse me.
Back in a flash.

We'll pee for the moment.

The show will start as soon
as I take care of this.

Okay. Much better.

Three cups of coffee
and a bottle of water.

Let's start this show.

All right. Which one of you
geniuses in-charge?

- Mike.
- Mike. I'm Mike, too.

You're Mike?
It's great to meet you.

- Jessie.
- Jessie?

- Mike and Jessie.
- Nathan...

Mike, Jessie, and Nathan.

Man, it's great to meet you,
guys.

- Mike, Jess...
- Jeff.

We got a good day
planned for you.

We'll get you inside
and harness up.

Great.
Thanks again, Monique.

Wow.

Look at... Good grief.

The first few years
of the project,

korczak worked alone,

then he and his wife Ruth
had ten kids

to help shoulder the burden.

I'll tell you what I know.
It's big.

Up close, it's hard to get
your head around the scope

and scale of
the finish product.

But korczak
had a singular vision.

I think, the first job
is to get up to the top,

and then repel down
and knock of some lose rock.

So let's do that.

They are 700 steps here.

These guys make
nine trips a day

or about three miles
up and down.

They have it relatively easy,
though.

Korczak made
the original stairs

and he made more daily trips,

logging expl*sives
and tools by himself

to lay the ground work
for what you see today.

I don't need to take a break,
I'm just pausing to...

Enjoy the view.

It sound like I need...
to rest.

It's just so,
you know, gorgeous.

[Man] Yeah,
today we're above clouds.

[Narrator] The job at hand,
clear away any loose stone

off the face
that might fall on

to unsuspecting visitor.

Visitor's hate that.

Rope.

[Narrator] Nate
is the rope access expert

and his got most of his
trainings on the job.

Now, were you, uh,
like, uh, a climber

before you did this
or you just learned this?

I actually work
at the sheriff's office.

- Oh, yeah?
- Yeah.

[Narrator] This monument
really is huge.

Crazy horse's eyebrows
measure eight feet in height.

His eyelids span 18 feet.

And his head is 87 feet tall.

In comparison,
the faces on mount rushmore

only reach
crazy horse's eyebrows.

The finished monument
will be over 100 feet taller

than Egypt's great pyramid.

[Nate] Just kinda step over
for now.

- Nervous, Mike?
- Nah, good. I'm good.

[Nate] Good.

Oh, I mean,
I'm not sure I'm nervous.

Sure. Sure. [Indistinct]

It's only...
It's only a hundred...

- Yes, I... I see, yeah.
- [Nate] Let me get your...

Rope guards in place here.

I imagine this could do
a real number on the, uh...

Yeah, yeah.

Which called
the structural integrity

- of the, uh...
- Of that rope?

...Fabric component
of our lifesaver line.

What would you do if you
saw something, uh, untoward?

Get you on a different rope.

[Mike] How would you do that?

You... Help you jump
into his rope...

I'll... I'll snatch you off

and you can go
with me or Mike,

or we can rescue anybody
from about anyway.

Snatch me off?

Is that really
an expression for use?

- [Both] Yeah.
- When we come back,

Nate here
is gonna snatch me off.

- [laughter]
- Only on dirty jobs.

[laughing]

[Bleep] Damn it.

[laughing]

[Narrator] Coming up.

See I'm doing something.

I got the world on a string
or do I?

[laughter]

[Narrator] Today,
I'm helping carve

the world's largest
mountain statue,

crazy horse monument
in south Dakota.

At the moment, though,
I'm not sure what I'm doing.

What is that bell
I keep hearing?

It's like the sound of doomed.

That's [indistinct]

That really is ominous, man.

[laughter]

[Mike] There is so much upside
and not looking down, man.

[Zach] Just trust
your equipment.

- Yeah.
- [Zach] And the guys with you.

It's all top-top-end
equipment, for sure.

That's great. Good.
I'm glad we didn't, uh,

cut corners on the equipment.

Yup.

Let go of the handle,
it will close automatically

and you're safe.

You can be hands free.

It just like that.

- It just doesn't...
- Yeah.

[Zach] Is not natural,
isn't it?

I mean, it doesn't do
any good to pull anything,

I realized that.

Yes. This goes against laws
of god and man.

[laughing]

[Mike] Certainly physics.

In the category of stupidly
obvious questions,

this are granite, right?

- Yes. Correct.
- Solid...

[man] There's other stuff
in it.

[Nate] Yeah, there's other
pocket and different minerals.

Mmm-hmm. See, see.

I'm doing something.

[laughter]

This is not the memory
of the average tourist

wants to take on with them
from crazy horse.

[Indistinct] You rappelled
much then, Mike?

[Mike] I've been rappelling
all my life.

[Nate] Just not of this
side of crazy horse?

Just not on the side
of the mountains.

No, I just made
[indistinct] Repulsive.

I think we're good
to rappel down.

Yeah?
We'll do a big push and go...

- Go for it.
- ...Mission: Impossible?

- [Nate] Yeah.
- [man] Push three feet

and pull your head
at the same time.

[Mike] I'd feel better
without that iron bar

at my a*s, honestly.

[laughter]

Yeah, I know.

I made it looked easy.

Now, the risk of turning this
into a documentary,

chief Henry standing bear
commissioned korczak

to design the monument

as a way to remember
crazy horse,

the greatest Dakota hero.

Korczak took it from there.

Sounds simple, right?

It's not.
Just ask Jeff hermanson.

The fact that that nose
weighs a 139 tons,

it's been supported.

But we still wanna monitor
it to make sure

that we have no movement

and that it's preserved
for [indistinct]

I wanna know like
what was the moment

when you realized
that korczak was singular?

And that you were working
for a true believer, right?

Like, in the best
sense of the word.

When he brought me
and sat me down,

and, you know, told me
what this whole project was,

that was one thing,

but then when I started
working for him,

I knew that,
hey, this guy, you know,

really dedicated his life
to something.

I mean, he didn't get a chance
to see anything completed.

- That what kills me, man.
- Yeah, exactly.

- Well, he saw it.
- Exactly.

He saw it.
But he didn't see it.

And that's
what you saw in him,

just that vision.

Well, you can point it
to the face.

- Yeah.
- And you say, see.

- Yeah.
- It's happening.

- Right.
- Right. This is happening.

- Exactly.
- All right.

Where to,
over here or over there?

Um, we're going over here.

Great. Vaughn.

- [Vaughn] Yeah.
- How are you, man?

- I'm good. How are you?
- Great.

How was the scaling?

Everything
the brochure promised.

- Yeah.
- You're a, uh, a grandson?

Yeah, and my dad
worked up here

when he was a kid
and left when he was about 20.

And now, I started up here
six years ago, so...

How old are you now?

Thirty-three,
almost thirty-four.

- Are you loving it?
- Yeah, I like it a lot.

Yeah, it's great to be a part
of something like this,

you know, making history.

And then, I love the variety
of the job as well.

[Narrator]
Korczak's grandson, Vaughn,

carries on
the family tradition

by working on
a two-man drilling team

with Tommy,
through expert tool handling,

precision measurement,

and a whole level of math

far beyond my high school
algebra class.

These guys drill hundreds
of holes of varying depths

in order to remove
the overburden.

If it sounds difficult
and complicated,

it's only because it is.

Is there anything I can do,
assist in whatever is [indistinct]

You're gonna do
all sorts of assisting.

[Narrator]
Thanks to modern technology,

carving a mountain
is a lot easier today

than it was 70 years ago.

And by a lot easier,
I mean, not easy at all.

How deep this hole 317
is supposed to be?



- 5.9 feet?
- Yeah, feet. Yup.

We're gonna need
a bigger bit.

- Yeah, we'll get one.
- All right.

A bigger bit, bigger drill,
and everything.

And you might need
a bigger helper, too.

You know, when they say
it's not the size of the bit,

they're lying.

It's the size of the bit.

If you're joining us, I've
got the tip in the whole 317.

Pretty soon, I'm gonna get
the hole shaft in there,

and before you know, it is
my name that's gonna be done.

Okay, up a little bit,
line your line up.

[Machine whirring]

This stuff is hard as rock.

[Mike] And what's gonna go
in this hole?

We'll feed, uh,
the diamond cable

through the hole

and you'll see that
later, too.

We'll do a [indistinct]
With you.

When you're going,
you kinda got to hold

that position
a little better.

Yeah, it sounds...

Pulling you up
or pulling you around,

you gotta really pay attention

with how you
position yourself.

We're close. We're at .85...

It's not bad but
we're a little lower now.

But... Because the point is,
when this goes in 5.9 feet,

it needs to line up
perfectly with this hole?

- [Tommy] Yes.
- [Vaughn] Yeah.

- And the vertical hole.
- And a vertical hole up here?

- Yeah. Yeah.
- Because the wire is gonna

basically go through
all of it?

[Vaughn] Yeah. And if they're
not lined up very well,

it makes stringing that wire
through a lot harder, so...

- Yeah, of course.
- [Vaughn] Yeah.

You're basically threading
a rock needle

with a steel wire.

You got it. Yeah.

[Narrator] These holes
have to align perfectly.

Precision is the order
of the day.

- I can't hear a [bleep]
- [Tommy laughs]

It's a little bit
more violent.

[Tommy] There's nothing
you can handle.

- [Mike] How bad it is?
- The pressure will be done

- with the wind again, so...
- [Mike] All right.

[Tommy] You just [indistinct]
It's coming up.

[Narrator] No pressure,
but I hope I'm not the one

who screws up hole 317
in korczak's master plan.

If I know pressure, I mean,
there's some pressure.

We'll put on a longer
piece of steel now.

I really feel like
there's a lot of debris

- coming back at me.
- Yeah.

And, uh, you're kinda sitting
right above the exhaust here.

And so it will sh**t oil
right at you.

If you're leaning back
just a little further,

you won't get hit by...

[Mike] That is a, uh,
tremendous tip.

[Vaughn] Yeah, sorry,
it's a little late...

[Mike] About 15 minutes
too late, but I'll take it.

[Tommy]
We're right at 6 feet, so...

[Mike]
So, we missed the hole?

[Tommy]
Yeah, we must've missed.

- [Mike] Oh, crap.
- I know.

I know.

That's why this thing
is gonna take a hundred years.

Well, I missed.

These guys will need
to re-drill the hole.

I wished them well.

Meanwhile, I'm moving on
to the next station.

All right.

Precautionary tale.

Coming up.

Oh, man, I can literally
crush this [makes sound]

The main thing to remember
when carving a mountain...

Can I get another hat?

Never lose your head.

[Narrator] This jet torch
uses diesel fuel

and compressed air

to create a concentrated
stream of fire

that's 3300 degrees.

We're going supersonic
right now with the torch.

It's gonna get kinda wild.

It uses a process
called spalling,

to instantly vaporize
the rock.

Removing the drill marks

and leaving behind
a smooth finish.

But you can really see
the difference, right?

[Man] Yeah. Uh, you can see it
breaking off [indistinct]

[Mike] So, like,
all that is been torched?

[Man] Yeah.

[Mike] Well, thank you.
You have a...

You have a large
and powerful rod, mate.

Use it wisely.

[Narrator] Welcome back
to crazy horse monument

in scenic south Dakota.

- Mike.
- Kenny [indistinct]

[Mike] Kenny? Pleasure.

Watch that first step, mate.

[Kenny] Have you been out
here yet?

[Mike] I've not been here.
No.

[Kenny] Oh, okay.
Well, here's our finger.

[Mike]
That will be the finger?

[Kenny] This is the finger.

Yeah, this is
the pointing finger.

- [Mike] Uh-huh.
- And you see all these

holes here, um,
have been drilled

to certain depths.

All these holes
will eventually be filled,

- or...
- Gone. They'll be gone.

We're taking this
rock all up.

Yeah, this is all
what we're burning right now.

[Narrator] Using korczak's
original 134th model

as a starting point,

the crew painstakingly
transfers measurements

onto the mountain itself

and creates a reference
with these finished holes,

accurate to one,
one thousandth of a foot.

They are literally
scaling the model up.

The holes let the workers
know exactly

how much overburden
to remove

in order to create
the desired contour.

Hey, how are you, man?

- Mike.
- Smoky.

- Smoby?
- Smoky.

- Smoky?
- Yes, sir.

- That's awesome. Smoky?
- Yes, sir.

- What's your last name?
- Myer.

Smoky myer.

- Yeah.
- You know Oscar?

Oh, yeah.
Yeah, he's my cousin.

[Narrator] Kenny and smoky
are working on

the statues finger
and the horse's mane.

[Kenny] We're gonna start
by getting this cable

through that hole
and out the other hole

that's already been
drilled down there.

So, this cable
is basically your blade?

It is, it is.

These-these are... These are,
uh, diamonds [indistinct]

Of course, sure.
Very tasteful.

- Yeah.
- For her

mmm-hmm, for him.

- This is our drill rod.
- [Mike] Mm-hmm.

[Kenny] We put
the [indistinct] On it.

But I've got a magnet on here
on this end.

Mm-hmm.

Smoky's got a string
with a magnet on end of it.

- Ingenious.
- Just super simple

but this is how...
This is effective, right?

So, he's gonna drop
that cable in the hole

with the magnet
and you're gonna...

I'm gonna push that
through that hole?

Yup. And then,
we're gonna pull it out.

- Come on, this is...
- This is insane.

Uh, I... I... I can see it
in my minds eyes.

One of the few things
I can actually visualize.

This technology is borRowed

from the stone
quarry industry

that operates
on the same principle

as the survival saw
that you might use

to cut a tree branch.

It's a bit more advance
than the sledgehammer

and steel drill
of korczak's deck.

- Uh-huh.
- Bam, just like that.

- So, 13 pulleys...
- [Kenny] Right.

...Are all gonna start
turning at the same time.

And they're gonna apply
more and more...

I guess you're gonna apply
more pressure

- as it goes, right?
- [man] Yeah.

Yeah, it's-it's, uh,
it's gonna do...

It's gonna pull up
on it constant.

How do you regulate that?

I got dispense remote here.

[Mike]
You got a remote control?

Yes, sir.

And where are you gonna be
operating that from,

up there some place?

[Man] Yeah, we can come up
here and operate.

Ours is a whip zone.

We call a whip zone,
cable brakes

and it's pulling
in your direction,

comes over, smacks you,
not a good day, right?

[Mike] No, no.
I'm in the whip zone here.

Your intention to be
somewhere around 80 to 90.

[Mike]
Is that this number here?

[Kenny] Yeah.

But with the speed
you're going,

higher your speed,
higher your tension.

Not what you're looking for,
you know.

[Indistinct]
Starts whipping around.

[Mike] Yeah.

[Man] Sometimes you can
ramp up the speed

or you just gotta deal
with very small.

[Mike] What path I see
that's happening?

[Indistinct]

[Kenny] We're gonna use this
hydraulic splitter over here...

[Mike] Uh-huh.

...To, uh, break this rock up.

[Narrator]
A hydraulic splitter

was only a matter of time

until somebody handed me
a hydraulic splitter.

So, the way
this is gonna work

is this is gonna go end

and these things
are gonna separate?

- Yup. Yeah. Correct.
- Oh, wow.

Yeah, there's a wedge
in the middle there

that will... That will push
those two outer pieces out.

Yeah.

And we'll just shake it
and see.

Okay. Yup,
it's tightening up right now.

Oh, I thought it was gonna go
like a jackhammer.

[Kenny] No, no, no, no.

[Mike]
It's just gonna expand.

[Kenny] Yeah, yeah,
it just expands.

[Mike] Oh, this is awesome.

Oh, man, I literally thought
this would [makes sound]

Well, that was that
drill there.

- We didn't get to it.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good.

Yeah, I'm sorry,
I missed that one.

You get your bar in there
however you can,

jam it in there,
fire it away.

There it is.

Okay. That's, uh,
that's probably, uh,


and we'll just keep going.

[laughs]

There we go.

Crap,
that was my favorite hardhat.

[Kenny] That happens
all the time, man.

I'm absolutely falling apart

one safety piece of ppe
at a time.

You know, it might look like
I'm throwing rocks off a mountain

but I'm actually creating
the horse's mane.

- [Kenny] There you go.
- Something like that, right?

You see I'm trying
to put a spin on it.

[Kenny] Perfect.

I'm actually aiming
for my helmet.

[Kenny] Don't stop
but don't get...

There you go.

Buried the helmet.

- Smoky.
- [smoky] Yes, sir.

Thanks, man.

Thank you.

Super satisfying.

Kenny.

I don't have a chance to
officially thank you, thank you.

- Well, thank you for coming.
- I appreciate it.

Thanks for telling
the story through media.

- Are you kidding?
- Seriously.

Anybody who says [indistinct]
A hundred years to go carving,

a piece of history
out of the living rock

of the black hills.

- Yeah.
- Deserves attention.

Does Monique still like me?

- She loves you.
- Good.

She thinks she's gonna
probably propose [indistinct]

You know, I... I just...
I wouldn't say no.

I mean, it depends
what she proposes, obviously.

And here we are at the
end of a rock carve episode,

courtesy of two
very different dirty jobs,

each set a stone.

From sucking the rocks
off a random roof

to chipping away
off the granites

from a massive mountain.

At the center of each,

a family determined to finish

what their ancestors started.

To them
and to those workers

about the rock,
we salute you.

All in all, pretty great day.

You find yourself
in south Dakota

or anywhere close,
you come here to crazy horse.

You'll love it.
You'll say hi to Monique.

She's pretty sweet.

She lets you know
if she likes it

or if she doesn't.

That's the truth.

- Tell me about it.
- Really?

I'm just gonna take him
right down the complex,

our home, somewhere.

[Engine revving]

[Mike] Oh.

[Monique]
So, tell me about you.

[Mike] ♪ Here's the part
where I don't have no words ♪

♪ To sing anymore ♪

♪ And so I'll walk off board
the city view ♪

[singer] ♪ The city view ♪

[Mike] ♪ My work is done,
so the credits are roll ♪

♪ As this here too goes out
from me to you ♪

[singer] ♪ From him to... ♪