09x06 - Hoffman's Ghosts

[bunniefuu]

Narrator:
On this "gold rush"...

Shut it down!
Hey!

Yeah, buddy!

First gold of the season,
you know?

It's exciting, right?
It is.

Parker: We've got to get a pile
of gold coming in.

There's something wrong with
this piece of dozer.

We've done some stupid ,
but this is one of the top ones.

- Hey!
- Holy.

That's deep.

Forty, 60, 70, 80, bingo.

Whoa.

captions paid for by
discovery communications

I'm like 7 weeks in now,
still don't have any gold.

I'm a week late on the $30,000

I owe on this wash plant
at this point.

I've got all kinds
of other debts.

Reality is setting in here
that I might screw this up

before I even get any gold.

Narrator:
Rookie mine boss Rick ness

has invested around $400,000.

He's deep in debt and has yet
to pay his crew a dime.

I haven't received any payment
since I've been here,

and my job was to come up
here and mine gold

and get paid for it,

and I've held up
my end of the deal.

I don't have a job
to go back to.

It really is the ultimate
risk in every aspect.

Rick has to be successful,

and all my money
is on him right now.

By the end of the week,
i got to do a cleanup,

show these guys some gold

so they don't lose faith
in me completely.

Narrator: Rick has set
a 1,000-ounce goal

to cover his costs.

Seven weeks in, this is just
the second full day

he's run his wash plant.

Starting off pretty slow here,
but you got to learn somewhere.

We're not smashing any records
right now,

but at least we're getting gold.

Narrator:
By the end of the week,

Rick needs the sluice boxes
to be full of gold,

but even then,

he has no way of separating
the gold from the concentrate.

Rick:
I got to get a gold room set up.

I got to show these guys
why we're here, you know?

Up until now, we just been
shifting dirt,

and I've got to show them
that there's gold in that dirt.

I've got Freddy dodge
on the case.

He's the best gold-recovery guy
i know.

Narrator:
Gold expert Freddy dodge

has spent $50,000
getting everything

Rick needs to set up
a gold room,

taking Rick's total
investment to $450,000.

-Freddy dodge.
-How's it going, Rick?

Well, here
is your gold-room stuff.

Wow.

Set of jigs, table...

-Yeah.
-...And a vault.

That thing is incredible.

I want you to fill it.

Let's go see where
the gold room is.

Yeah.
Let's jump in.

I was thinking, you know,
we'd put it right here.

Where's the concrete?

Oh, I don't...
I haven't had time, man.

I don't have
any of that set up.

I mean, we can't put it
on the gravel.

It won't work.

The table has to have
a secure pad to anchor into,

or the motion of the table
won't work right.

We need concrete.

It's going to be like $10,000
to get a 20-by-20 pad out here.

I can't spend $10,000

on concrete, man.

You know what?
I've got an idea,

something I'll show you,
may or may not work.

All right.

It's been 7 years
since I turned down this road.

I'm not even certain
what I'm looking for

is still here, but...

-Okay.
-...We'll know pretty quick.

-This the pad we need.
-Concrete pad.

No way.

If we can cut pieces out of this
and get it over there

without it breaking,
it'll save you 10 grand.

Man, that's huge.
I'm all about that.

You see the names in it,
in the concrete?

-Hunter?
-Now you know.

That's Todd's kids.

This is where the Hoffmans
started in the Yukon.

Narrator: Back in 2011,
Freddy helped Todd Hoffman

set up his gold room
right here.

Okay, guys.
This is a big moment.

It's our first clean out.

Well, let's just
make it happen.

All right.

We can't take it
all in one piece,

so I need to cut
it into some pieces.

-Yeah. You got a saw?
-I've got a saw.

Let's cut it up.

Yeah!

Yeah, buddy!

Ah!

Yeah, go for Rick.

Ah,

All right. It.
I'll be right there.

Hey, man.
I just got a radio call.

Something is going on
at the wash plant,

so I got to run.
You good?

All right. All right.

Shut it down!
Hey, stop!

What the?

Narrator:
Durt Reynolds' loose extension

has busted off the plant

and is hanging on
by its cables.

Yeah, I don't know
what the happened.

I guess the ground wasn't
stable enough

underneath that extension.

You think it's going
to undermine the pad?

Yeah.

Narrator: The sluice-box
extension shoots the waste water

away from the wash-plant pad.

When it broke off,

1,800 gallons of water a minute

started undermining the sluices,

threatening to collapse the pad

and topple the 20-ton plant
off the bank.

We need to get this
fixed fast,

or the whole thing
is gonna go off the edge!

This has been the worst part
of the season

that we've ever had by far.

We're way behind schedule,

and we really need to start
bringing in some gold.

Narrator:
Parker schnabel has set

an ambitious
6,000-ounce season goal.

Seven weeks in, he's only dug up
315 ounces,

worth $380,000, a third of
what he had this time last year.

I'm just helping Brennan
down here,

you know, trying to keep
big red going,

keep it fed
and down to pay here.

You know, there's a lot of work
that needs to get done

and in a hurry here.

Well, big red is up and running,
and it's running full tilt.

It's running so good that we're
running out of pay very quickly,

might not be able to keep
this wash plant

fed for too much longer.

Narrator: Parker's claim is only
working at half capacity.

At the other end of the cut,

wash plant sluicifer sits idle

with no pay dirt to process.

Parker's new $1-million dozers
are working around the clock

to get
sluicifer back on the gold.

We started so late.

Now we're just doing
whatever we can

to get this frozen mud
and frozen gravel off.

It's hard on everything.

We're wearing out teeth on d10s
and these 700s,

but right now, that's what
we have to do to get ahead.

So right now, we're just
throwing everybody

and all the equipment
out into the cut,

trying to get
sluicifer going.

What the?

Thing.

That did not sound good.

Piece of
thing.

Mitch, there's something wrong

with this piece of
dozer.

It just completely
locked up on me.

Could you come take
a look at it?

Piece of.

We really need this dozer back
in the cut.

Like, we can't afford
to run out of pay.

Narrator:
At scribner creek,

big red
is sluicing 200 yards an hour,

but with a broken dozer,
it's running low on pay.

Without this whole dozer,

we're going to have to
shut the plant down.

Narrator: Parker is depending on
mechanic Mitch blaschke

to get the d10 back in action.

Hey, Mitch, what's the story
with that dozer?

I wish I had some good news
for you,

but that tr*nny is done.
It's locked up.

You think the whole transmission
is blown up?

We're definitely
going to have to pull it all out

to see what's going on in there,
but it's grenaded.

It's not something small.
I can tell you that.

Narrator:
Deep within the dozer,

between the engine
and the final drives,

the transmission
is a set of cogs.

Mitch believes these cogs

have chewed themselves
to destruction.

Can't even turn anything,
so that thing

is going to be down awhile
until you buy a new one.

Getting a new transmission
would take a week

and cost Parker $200,000.

By the time parts get here,

then are we going to rebuild
a transmission out here?

We're hardly staying afloat
as it is.

What about this one,
the old Hoffman special?

The old Hoffman special,
we've been robbing parts

off that thing
to keep the rest of them

going for
the last couple years.

Parker bought the Hoffmans'
old dozer in 2013

for 100 ounces of gold worth
around $140,000 at the time.

Parker schnabel.

-Hey, Todd.
-Welcome to Sandy.

I would like to talk
about a dozer.

-It's a d10.
-That's right.

I'll give you 100 ounces.
-You got a deal.

What about
that transmission?

They're the same transmission,
aren't they?

Well, I mean, in theory, yeah.
It's another d10n tr*nny.

It might look the same
on the outside,

but you go to put it in,
and it might not all match up.

We're pretty well
out of options, you know?

We need to be
out there ripping,

so I hate to ask you to do it,
but we've got to.

Narrator: Parker's plan --

cannibalize the transmission

from the Hoffmans' old d10

to save his new dozer.

We're going to spend
the good part of a day

pulling a tr*nny out of one
that we don't even know

what it's all about
to put it in another.

Mitch doesn't really seem
to like the idea,

but dirt needs to move,

and dirt will move...

And this dozer, too.
Dozer!

Hey, come on!

Let's do this.

We got to pull all these
hydraulics off,

pull this skid plate
off the back here.

Skid plate is out of the way.

You can actually see
the transmission.

This is it here.

So now we've got to undo
the driveline on the inside.

Right now, what I'm going to do
is pull the drive axles out.

By doing that, it'll allow us
to be able

to remove the old transmission.

Load it up.

Well, that's the last
of the small parts.

Now it's time
to pull the tr*nny.

Back it up a little bit
but real gentle here

because we're almost off
the end of the tracks.

Oh.

There it is.

Oh, that's real pretty.

Good.

Narrator: Next challenge --
Parker has to transport

the 2-ton transmission
to the broken dozer in the cut

on the other side
of the Indian river.

We need to build something
that we can, you know,

secure this in and...

Screw it.

We don't have time
to screw around.

I'm going to walk it
across the river.

I can walk it over there
in about 20 minutes.

Yeah, but if something
cuts loose here,

you're going to be fishing
this thing out of the river.

I'll take it on
personally, mit.

I'm a little bit nervous
about this whole thing.

All right.
I'll meet you over there, Mitch.

I don't know
what he's thinking.

He doesn't want to wait,
have us build something

that we can actually move
this transmission

without tearing it up here,

but, you know,
he's in a big hurry.

He just wants to carry it
across the river.

That thing is swinging like
a wrecking ball right now.

Narrator: If Parker wrecks
the tr*nny, it'll cost him

200 grand
for a new replacement.

Parker: Probably isn't the
brightest idea in the world,

but this year
with how far behind we are,

these dozers are just
so damn critical.

Here goes nothing.

Holy.
Whoa.

That was genuinely close.

You can see the water
on this side is pretty deep,

and, you know,
this river changes all the time.

All it's going to take
is for him to have one mistake,

dunk that thing in the water,
fill it full of gravel,

and it's just
going to be junk.

We've done some stupid
,

but this is
one of the top ones.

Hey!
Watch this side!

There's
a pretty good hole!

That's deep.

There's no traction.

Normally, you'll set the bucket
down and use that

to help yourself
get up out of the river here,

but Parker can't
set it down.

I got nothing.

I need my bucket to pull me up.

Come on.

She's getting out of it!

Nice job getting her
across there!

Almost there.

There we go.

Whew! Ha ha!
Yeah, buddy.

Nice job.

So you think you can get
this thing back running now?

Yeah. I can't guarantee you
with this tr*nny.

Narrator:
Klondike legend Tony beets

wants his kids to be mining
long after he's gone.

He needs dredge 2
transported to his own ground

and mining for gold a.S.A.P.

The 72-year-old dredge

is located way off the road
network at thistle creek.

Getting it back to Eureka
involves a 100-mile barge trip

down the Yukon river followed
by another 60 miles by road.

Tony wants to lift out
the bucket ladder,

but the winch
is in the way.

Piece by piece.

Okay.

Narrator:
Mike beets fires up the crane.

Whoa, what the?

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
Whoa.

Stop. Stop.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
Stop.

Stop. Stop. Stop.

Narrator: Tony beets is racing
to dismantle his second dredge.

He's attempting to lift out
the bucket ladder,

but he's gotten stuck
removing the winch.

It free over on this side?

3 feet, 5 feet.

There she goes.

Well, I have two people
trying to give me directions.

One person only, please.

Narrator:
The winch is down.

Tony is ready to haul out
the heaviest part of the dredge,

the bucket ladder,
with a two-crane lift.

Yeah?

Okay, Mike, up slow, please.

This thing is
a big awkward.

Narrator: The bucket ladder
weighs 14 tons,

and with the two cranes'
combined lifting capacity

of 70 tons,
the haul-out should be simple.

Just under 10 tons,
so 10 tons.

Narrator:
On first inspection,

Tony didn't
see four 16-inch bolts

that hold the bucket
ladder in place.

The solution -- torch them off,
then reattempt the lift out.

Dredge 2 has stood
at thistle creek

through 72 years
of klondike weather.

To free the rusted bolts...

...joey and Cody fire up
oxy-acetylene torches

that burn at over 5,000 degrees.

Hey, so you got a fire
going on over here.

You know, torches, woods,
stuff catches on fire, right?

No big deal.

Want me in this one?

Narrator: The bolts are out.
Time for round two.

A pontoon on the deck
is blocking the cranes

from lowering
the bucket ladder.

You're always fixing some
storm out here.

So I'm just going to have
to pull this out of here

and going to shove
everything back into place.

Try it again.

Narrator:
At quartz creek,

durt Reynolds
is at a standstill.

The sluice extension
has fallen off.

Rick needs to rebuild the pad

before he loses his wash plant
off the bank.

I got to just do what I can
to shore it up.

We got to get this dirt in here.

We got to just keep
piling it in here.

Little more.

Keep going.

Good!

It ain't pretty.

As long as it holds it in place.

It seems like it's not
damaged or anything.

It's lined up.
It's tight.

Well, if that don't work,
i don't know what will.

All right.
Good job, guys.

Fire it up, buddy.
Let's get some gold.

-Fire it up.
-Okay.

If they would've went
any longer,

our sluice box
would've been down here.

Then we'd have been hurting.

I guarantee it wouldn't have
survived unscathed,

and if that thing gets
up,

that's the only one we got.

I think it is fixed for now
at least,

so if they can get back
to helping Freddy,

we can get
a gold room together.

Narrator: Over at Rick's camp,
Freddy dodge is building Rick

a gold room on the concrete pads
he's recovered.

How's that, karla?

Yeah.
That might work.

How's it going, Rick?

Good, man.
This looks good.

What are you running here?
-Just the stuff

I brought up from fairplay
just to set the table up.

Oh, no kidding.

Yours
will be on here next.

Oh, I hope so.

Man, this concrete
turned out great, huh?

It looks like it's been here
for years.

Yeah.
This is ready to roll.

That's great, man.

Now we need your stuff up here,
and we'll start cleaning it up.

Yeah. I'm glad you're here, man.
It's awesome.

I've been having a lot
of bad luck, and, you know,

he came right up here,
made this happen,

saved me 10 grand, you know?

This is a win.
I'll take it.

I'll celebrate a small victory.

Hopefully Mitch can get
that transmission in

and get that dozer back
running now that it's over here.

Narrator: At scribner creek,
sluicifer is still idle,

and big red's pay pile
is getting low.

Parker is relying on
a transmission transplant

to get his broken
dozer back stripping.

Parker:
We're just fighting frozen
mud every step of the way,

and it's pretty critical
that we get these dozers

going and find some
pay dirt.

Narrator: Mechanics Mitch
and Chad have already

removed the broken transmission.

Now they need to figure out how
to fit the 2-ton replacement.

Now we got to slide
this transmission in,

hook everything up,
cross our fingers

and hope it all works right.

Narrator: The precision part
needs to be fitted

at exactly the right angle,

or it'll be damaged
beyond repair.

Man: We're just going to have
to be really careful.

Try not to tweak this thing
getting it in there.

You ready for the lift,
and we'll just pick it up,

walk straight in?

Yeah, man.

There's no room for error here.

Narrator: This delicate
operation usually requires

a workshop
with specialist lifting gear.

All Mitch has is an excavator.

How are we looking there?

You got to come right
and just come down slow.

Come down.

You got to
watch this side.

She's going to be tight,
damn close.

She's, like, an inch
off those rails, Mitch.

That's more like it.

It's in as long
as it all works.

Well, it might not
be rebuilt.

It might not be new,
but it's back together.

This is just the Yukon
chop shop.

I'll let Parker know.

Yeah, we got this transmission
in, man.

It's ready to go.

This thing ready to go?

Just finished it up.

-Yeah, man.
-Sweet.

No warranty.
=no warranty?

No warranty,
no guarantees.

Should we see
if it goes into gear?

Tear it up.

Long as it moves,
we're in good shape.

Narrator:
The engine starts,

but the test is getting
the transmission into gear.

Into gear.

Hell yeah!
There we go!

Yeah, that thing is moving
faster than it ever has.

Yeah, man.
She sounds good, too.

We can get back to big red

and keep stripping
and keep that plant running.

That's the number
one goal here.

Great.

Yep.

Narrator:
While Tony and Mike beets

have been tearing down
dredge 2...

...at Eureka creek,

daughter Monica has been mining
for gold with her wash plant,

and son Kevin has been operating
dredge 1 all week.

It's time to find out
how much gold they've produced.

Maybe we should see
how much he has

so I can go pay some bills.

Tony needs 300 ounces a week
if he's going to hit

this season's
6,000-ounce target.

Monica is up first.

Yeah, 20, 30, 60, 90,
100, 110...

...170, 180...

200, 210...

225.88.

Narrator:
Worth $270,000.

It's awesome
to even be producing.

Monica: That's actually not bad
for a week.

Let's go see what Kevin has.

10, 20, 40...

50, 70, 90...

...112.12 ounces.

Narrator:
That's a combined total

of 338 ounces,
worth over $400,000.

Our grand total
is 1,120 right now.

You guys are doing great,
but keep it up.

Narrator:
The beets family is way ahead

of where they were
this time last year

and way ahead of rival Parker.

You guys want to pack this
up,

and then
we get back to work?

What do you think?
Ready to fire it up, karla?

Yeah, let's do this.

Narrator: Karla gets a lesson
in fine gold recovery.

Using this table so you're
separating your gold

from your concentrate.

See this light stuff here?

Let's kick it to the side.

The amount of water right there
is keeping the black over

but still allowing that gold
to go in the cut...

-Right.
-...Because the gold is heavier.

That's where the magic
happens right there.

Yeah.
Look at that.

We aren't losing a speck
of gold right now.

Don't get nervous because
you can't lose anything on here.

"Don't get nervous,"
says Freddy.

He's got his first cleanup,

and those guys can see
their first gold.

They can see why they've
been up here

all spring fighting
and digging.

They'll see it.

Narrator: After Mitch's
quick-fix transplant,

it's time for Parker to see
if he's finally back on track.

That's from big red?

Yeah..

Well, Mitch, I'm glad you got
that dozer up and going.

She's back pushing dirt
pretty good.

Anyway, I say somebody
throw that on the scale

and see where we're at.

Narrator: Parker
set a 6,000-ounce target.

He's behind, so to reach
his season goal,

he now needs
330 ounces every week.

See what we got.

There's 20, 40, 60,

70, 80, 100,

140, 150, 170, 180...

-Keep it going.
-...190.

Going to make it?
Get all the dust out of there.

201.4.

Narrator: Worth $240,000.

I think we just went from way,
way behind to way behind.

-We're gaining.
-We're gaining.

We're gaining ground.
-That's what matters.

I mean, really, without
sluicifer running,

we're kind of at 50%,
you know?

Like, it's a tough battle
with only one plant going,

and we haven't managed
to have them both going yet.

Narrator:
Parker has 523 ounces,

half the gold he had
this time last year.

We just got to get those plants
both up and going

and keep them both up
and going

and start doing double
or triple that every week.

Right?
-Yep.

That's what we need.

Good job, guys.

Lot of gold coming in
from old big red.

Let's keep her going.

Thanks again, Mitch.
-All right.

No problem.
Good job with that transmission.

Thanks.

First gold of the season,
you know?

There was gold
in the sluice box.

Yep.
Remember, we've only managed

to run the wash plant
for about a day and a half,

so any gold in the box
would be good.

Narrator: At quartz creek,
Freddy's gold room is done.

Rick is ready for his
first-ever gold weigh.

Hey, guys, you want to meet
Freddy and I

down at the gold room?
We've got our first gold here.

Let's weigh it up.

Narrator: No one has been paid
this season,

and the crew has been waiting
7 weeks to see some gold.

-Fellas, ladies...
-Thank you.

Remember in the beginning
when I told you guys

that gold mining
was going to be easy?

This first week running a plant,
we had a lot of problems.

We had a lot of issues,
but I think you're starting

to see the method
to the madness, right?

What we have here
is you guys' first gold.

-Look at that.
-Yep.

- Whoo!
- It's exciting, right?

It is.

You guys got to see
the first gold that you've ever

got to dig out
of the ground yourselves.

You guys
will never forget that.

-We can mine gold.
-Awesome!

Yeah.

-You guys ready?
-Yeah.

Let's weigh it up.

Narrator: Seven years ago,
Rick's ex-boss, Parker,

mined just 10 ounces of gold
at his first weigh in.

All right.
We're starting out low here.

There's 2, 5, 10, 20, 25.

Hope it's
a hundred.

...30.

Yep.
Here we are, 30.28.

-Yeah!
-Whoo!

- You know what?
- Not bad for a week.

-Yeah.
-Hell yeah!

-Yeah!
-That's $36,000 right there.

Yeah,
that's fantastic, man.

I'm super, super stoked.

You know, we questioned
your leadership there

for a while,
and this really happened.

-Yeah.
-How much of this is ours?

Remember there's a lot
of operating costs.

Very little bit here,
some bills got to get paid.

To be honest with you, I still
owe $30,000 on that wash plant.

We wouldn't have this gold
if we didn't have

the wash plant, so...

-Yeah.
-I get it.

Exactly.

But the main thing is,
it does get gold.

It's why we came here,
and you've made it.

You've all made it.

You're officially gold miners
right now,

and that's
the honest-to-goodness truth.

We're learning
the hard way,

but I think that's
the only way up here.

Listen here, you greedy son
of a.

I need some more,
so let's get back to work.

- Yeah.
- Let's mine.

-Yeah.

But, man, I got to get
more than that.

-You will.
-Yeah.

You know what?
That's a start.

Yeah. Yeah. If we get some solid
run time in this next week,

hopefully you can
show them a lot more.

That's 30 ounces.

That pan of gold
right there just paid

the rest of your plant off.
-Yeah.

Next week,
you may do 100 ounces.

-Yeah.
-Kick-a*s.

Thanks, buddy.

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

I just hired this dude.

What is he doing?

If you know what
you're doing, do it.

If you don't, then
we've got an issue here.

So let that be gone.

-She sunk.
-It's toast, Kevin.

Time for around is over.

The pump is broken.

Rick, stop!

We're surging bad.

Oh,.

We can't go the whole season
like this.

You know, we've had
our problems.

Honestly, I'm not
going to give a big speech.

I'm just going to go like this.