[narrator] On this Gold
Rush, a worldwide crisis...
This is a massive challenge.
[narrator] ...locks
down the Yukon.
I'm still at home, not
being able to do anything.
[woman] Tony, Tony,
Tony, it's the film crew here.
[narrator] But
out of the chaos...
[Tony speaking]
[narrator]
The perfect storm...
The more [bleep] up the world
gets, the higher price gold should go.
[narrator] Soaring
gold prices...
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] And plummeting
fuel costs...
[Parker] Doesn't
get better than this.
[narrator] Create the
opportunity of a lifetime...
- It's like the American dream, if you ask me.
- [saluting]
[narrator]
To strike it rich.
We're trying to buy
a piece of ground in Alaska.
That's [bleep] badass.
I want to hit it big.
I want to be a huge success.
[Rick] That's a beauty.
[Tony speaking]
I've emptied every
penny I own on this.
- Oh!
- [man 1] That is insane.
[man 2] Holy smoke.
- [man 3] Wow!
- Hell yeah!
[narrator]
Every second counts...
Don't stop for nobody.
[narrator] In the
shortest season ever.
[Parker] This is
definitely a record-breaker
[narrator]
It's late May, 2020.
[Parker] Home sweet home.
[narrator] And the miners
are only just returning
from the long
offseason lockdown.
[Parker] It's the latest start we've
had since showing up in the Yukon.
With this virus going
on and COVID,
this is definitely gonna be probably
one of the more challenging years
that we've ever had.
[narrator] The pandemic has
put 25-year-old Parker Schnabel
over a month behind schedule.
Now he's in a race
to make up lost time
and cash in on
soaring gold prices.
Gentlemen.
[Mitch] What's happening?
I mean, the best thing that's
happened right now is
fuel price is really low
and gold price is up.
That's a good thing because
we're trying to buy
a piece of ground in Alaska.
Now you guys need to
make us some money
so that we can pay for it.
We need a w*r chest.
Get a wash plant running
and hopefully you can find us
something in
Alaska, that'd be nice.
- Yeah, it would be.
- Sweet.
Pull it up.
[narrator] To build
his w*r chest, Parker...
[Parker] Let's do this.
[narrator] Turns to the
last cut, the richest ground
they've ever mined.
Here we go.
[narrator] Co-foreman, Mitch
Blaschke and Brennan Ruautt
fire up Big Red.
- [Brennan] Big cap.
- [Mitch] Good to go.
Yay!
[narrator] Four miles west on
the 2,000-acre promised land,
Parker takes a big
risk with his premier
wash plant, Slucifer.
[Parker] Right now I'm letting
Tyson run Slucifer.
Mitch and Brennan are
gonna be pretty busy.
And Tyson's come a long way.
So I think it's a good
chance to see what he's got.
Hopefully this doesn't
bite either of us in the a*s.
[narrator] Operator Tyson Lee
has been on Parker's crew
for five years, but
this is his first time
in charge of a wash plant.
[Tyson] The heat's on my
shoulders to step up to the plate.
It feels good to have
that responsibility on me.
It's, you know, it's kind of
what I've been hoping for
over the past few years and it's
time to show them what I can do.
Come on.
Rise to the occasion.
Over here.
Come on.
Done everything right. I've
done all I can. So here's to hoping.
[dramatic music playing]
[Parker] Where's all
this water coming from?
[bleep].
Holy crap!
Tyson!
[narrator] A torrent of 3,300
gallons of water a minute.
[Parker] Holy [bleep].
[narrator] Is
undermining the pad...
threatening to crash the
[Parker] I'm just gonna throw
some rock in there and hopefully it'll...
it'll keep her shored up here.
[narrator] Parker's solution,
use coarse tailings
to strengthen the pad.
[Parker] So hopefully
I don't disappear.
I really think
it'll be all right.
[narrator] An hour later,
his fix seems to hold.
[Tyson] Do you think it helped?
Oh, yeah, it helped a lot.
[Tyson] Now we just have to see
if there's any gold in the ground.
Your problem.
Right on.
Ten forward.
[Parker] You... come on,
you knew it was coming?
[Tyson] Yeah.
[narrator] Just two
weeks after arriving,
Parker has both his
operations up and running,
and he is one step closer to his
dream of expanding his mining empire.
It's nice to finally see some
money coming in, hopefully,
assuming there's
gold in that [bleep].
[Rick] Back in Keno, buddy.
Oh, look at this,
the bar's even open, Kruse.
[Chris] Just my luck.
Bars are back open and we've
got [bleep] ton of work to do.
[narrator] Six weeks into the
short mining season, Rick Ness
and his buddy Chris Kruse are
finally out of lockdown
and back in the Yukon.
I'm real late.
I needed to get my
equipment running.
I need to get crew up here.
I'm actually starting off
worse than I ever have,
that I'm starting off in a hole
this year, and that feels terrible.
[narrator] Last season,
Rick barely broke even.
This is his last chance to
prove himself as a mine boss.
[Rick] Last year
was [bleep] brutal.
Quite honestly I spent
all winter
trying to process
how last season went.
I've never had such a kick
in the a*s like that,
but I worked pretty hard all
winter to try and get some money to
give this another shot.
There's a whole lot of
redemption waiting for me.
If I didn't think that,
I wouldn't be here.
[narrator] Rick has staked
his mining future
on a new 2,000-acre claim
on lower Duncan Creek.
But before he can
run any figure,
he has to move his entire camp
eight miles to the new site.
And there is only one man
for the job,
Yukon trucking legend,
Nathan Thornington.
- Good. How you been?
- Moving camp first.
[Nathan] It rained last night so
those roads are just super slick.
More weight the better.
[Rick] Good, good.
[Nathan and Rick laughing]
[narrator] To get Rick mining
as soon as possible,
Nathan needs to haul seven
loads down winding mountain roads
by the end of the day.
[metal rumbling]
[Nathan] Whoa!
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
You gotta get those guys.
How far are we from there?
[producer speaking]
[bleep].
Yikes.
[narrator] The trailer
and its 1-ton load are hanging
over a 200-foot sheer drop.
[producer speaking]
I don't think so.
I just don't even
want to look at it.
[Rick] It had to
[bleep] rain last night.
[Nathan] Yeah, see, as soon
as it got here, it just slid.
[Rick speaking]
[narrator] It takes Rick
a full five hours to walk in
the only machine strong enough
to pull the trailer out of danger.
His 70-ton 700 excavator.
It's either gonna lift this
thing out of there or it's not.
If it's got the power,
but if it doesn't...
[Rick speaking]
[Rick] Am I good to lift?
- Yeah.
- [Rick] Okay.
Easy.
[Nathan]
Try pulling a bit more.
[Rick laughs]
More or less.
[Nathan laughing]
Saved probably the first or
second most vital part of my camp,
that's the, that's
the bathroom shack.
[bleep],
not a [bleep] scratch on it.
[Rick laughing]
What the [bleep].
[Rick] Those might
be the four most
pathetic looking yet strongest
trees in the [bleep] universe.
All right, get her moving.
[narrator] The next day, Rick
hauls in the final pieces of his camp
and assembles
his slimmed down crew.
All right.
Well, we got everything moved
over, the camp, the equipment,
now it's time to get to mining.
We're all here, this is,
uh, this is pretty much it.
We're going for
a thousand ounces this year.
I know we've got
a short amount of time,
but if we just work and pound it
out together, I think we can get it.
Let's do this.
We good? All right.
- Let's do it.
- Yeah.
And just like that
we're up in sluicing.
[narrator]
Nearly seven weeks late,
Rick's crew finally
start their season.
[Chris] I'm amazed that
we're even here at this point.
It's a testament to Rick
getting all that work done.
It's pretty damn amazing.
This year, man,
already a huge change.
Rick stepping up,
it's huge for us, right?
[Karla] It's a whole
different energy this year.
We can only hope that there's
gold in this little spot.
[narrator] Rick is one
step closer to redemption.
[Rick] I'm taking this
year very personal.
Honestly, when we walk out
of here this fall,
I think we're gonna have a huge
amount of victory in our corner.
[narrator] In 2020, as gold
prices soar to record highs,
a greenhorn seizes the moment
to set up his own gold mine.
This is probably the biggest
risk I've taken in my life.
[Fred]
I don't have a job right now.
I've got nothing coming in.
I'm not willing to
take that laying down.
The American dream is to go
out and get it with your own hands.
I want to control my own fate.
[narrator] Former Green Beret
medic Fred Lewis
got a taste for gold
working with Parker
in Papua New Guinea,
Australia and the Yukon.
[Fred] I was 14 years
in the military,
and then when I got out, having that
purpose, it was just gone in one day.
I was a wrestling coach, a
girls volleyball coach, a farmer.
I did all these things just
trying to find a [bleep] purpose
and none of it made
any sense to me,
until I found gold mining.
[narrator] Fred has gambled
his life savings,
$20,000,
on a lease to mine a 36-acre
claim in Oregon's Elkhorn Mountains.
[Fred] I've emptied every penny I
own on this and borrowed some,
but this is a place that we
can pull gold out of the ground
and give ourselves a living.
[narrator]
To help him mine...
This is the road, man.
We're way up here.
[narrator] Fred calls in
a crew of combat veterans.
I think that's Fred right there.
[Fred] In my mind,
these are my heroes.
These guys have gone through
so much [bleep] in their lives
and fought so much adversity.
So what I wanted is to give
these guys not only an adventure
and a moment to have that
camaraderie back again,
but I could give them
a whole new purpose in life.
This isn't just
about gold mining,
it's about coming together
as brothers,
living the American dream
and pulling gold out of the ground
to make ourselves our own living.
Yeah.
We're gonna beat the odds.
Seriously.
You guys in?
- Hell yeah!
- [man 3] Yeah!
- Let's [bleep] do it then.
- [man 4] Let's go.
One, two, three...
[narrator] There's
just one problem,
most of them have
never mined before.
[narrator] In Oregon, former
Green Beret medic, Fred Lewis,
and his crew of combat
veterans are on the hunt for gold.
[Fred] Everybody here
is a novice, so I know
where their heads at right now.
They're... they're probably
completely out of
their element, but
I can relate to that.
So I'm hoping I can
shed some light on
this pretty quick to 'em.
I have zero percent experience
mining gold, mining anything,
but I started to think,
man, I could strike it rich.
[narrator] Former marine,
Johnny "Stingray" Stanz
will be in charge of
Fred's water system.
I had to retire after ten
years in the Marine Corps
when I got a really bad brain
injury from getting blown up
in Afghanistan by
a roadside b*mb.
I actually got some
pictures on my phone.
Um, I was in
the bed of the truck,
manning the squad automatic
weapon when the b*mb went off.
[narrator] Johnny was hurt
so badly,
doctors rated his chance of
walking or talking again at zero.
[Johnny] Still not 100%,
but definitely better than
I could be and look
at me gold mining.
How many people can say that?
It's gonna be a freaking task,
but
why would I have become special
operations in the Marine Corps
if I didn't like challenges.
[narrator] To turn a bunch of
injured marines,
tank drivers and recon
Scout sn*pers into gold miners.
Fred's relying on Air Force
veteran Kendell Madden,
who learned the business from
his uncle, gold catching legend,
Freddy Dodge.
[Kendell] One of the only guys
here with mining knowledge,
so teaching these guys
something I take a lot of pride in.
I'm really confident that these
guys are gonna pull through,
be a bad-a*s team
by the end of the year.
[narrator] Kendell's
first student...
[Kendell] Try to keep
the bottom of the bucket flat
and level as you pull it in.
[narrator] Retired
Green Beret Master Sergeant,
Stefan Generally.
I spent my first ten years in
the army mechanized inventory.
So I've driven in combat.
I figured driving this thing
should be a piece of cake.
I was wrong.
[Fred over radio] Probably have
to throttle up on that, bad boy.
Say that again?
Curl your bucket more.
Gotcha.
Put it down, put it
down nice and soft.
[Kendell] Get
it, get it, get it.
Oh, buddy.
[bleep].
Damn.
[Fred] On a big rock
like that, next time,
set it completely on the
ground before you let go of it.
I wasn't trying to let go of it.
[both laughing]
I wasn't.
So right now that big
rock's in the way,
we can't do anything. We're
gonna have to lift that rock.
Man talk about frickin'.
Oh, Harry.
[Fred] We've all proven
ourselves as far as tenacity
and overcoming obstacles.
This is his obstacle right now
and he's gonna figure it out.
[Kendell] Yes,
and just put it to the left.
You got it.
Oh, there she goes.
Perfect.
Let it be.
Works for me right now.
[narrator] After graduating
from Excavator 101,
Stefan is ready
to feed wash plant
Colonel Nugget.
All right, Kendell,
let's fire it up.
Let's go.
[engine starting]
[Kendell] There she go.
RPMs are good.
[Fred] All right,
guys, it's go time.
Let's do it!
Roll it.
Oh, feed the Colonel.
[Stefan] Hell yeah!
Whoo!
Let's get some gold. Whoo!
Finally mining!
[narrator] Fred and his crew
have taken the first steps
towards their dream
of striking it rich.
Such a good feeling.
Heyo!
Cleaning off
the top of the cleanup.
Oh, [bleep].
We're actually mining.
Holy [bleep].
That's where you
want to be right here.
If we can just keep this
going the rest of the season.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] After two
disastrous seasons,
king of the Klondike, Tony Beets
is looking to make a comeback.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Son,
Mike, leads the way.
Running his trommel
with the gold rich
pay dirt from the Mega Cut.
And after two weeks, has
banked 140 ounces of gold.
[Monica] Got it.
[narrator]
But to hit his goal,
Tony needs to find
more gold rich spots.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Tony heads to
a cut Monica opened up
on Hunker Creek last year,
where he believes the old-timer's
dredge left behind a pile of gold.
[Tony speaking]
[Monica] [bleep].
Uh-oh.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Trees washed down
by winter storms
have dammed Hunker Creek,
diverting it into Monica's cut
and submerging the pay dirt under
two and a half million gallons of water.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Tony's plan,
build a dam to stop the flow of
water into Monica's cut.
Re-divert the creek,
then dig a channel to
drain the flood water
and reveal the gold rich
pay dirt underneath.
[Tony speaking]
Lost track.
[Tony speaking]
But unfortunately, it's probably
one of the worst spots
to lose track.
He's having to use his boom
and arm to lift himself up
and walk the strong track.
The actual [bleep].
Like, he has no [bleep] track.
I mean, it's chilly beats,
he'll probably
do it like
it's just another day.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] After piling
Tony has blocked off
the creek from the cut.
A week later, the cut is drained
and Monica has enough pay
stockpile to fire up the Kiwi wash plant.
[Tony speaking]
How does it feel
sitting on that pile lady?
Oh, you know,
I'm living the dream.
[narrator] Monica and Ruby run
for 20 hours
before pulling the mats to see
if Tony's second spot pays off.
[Tony speaking]
[Monica] Everybody ready?
[narrator] The cut must produce at
least 20 ounces to be worth running.
- Nine.
- [Monica] Hold on, hold on.
[narrator] Worth $17,000,
way less than Tony hoped for.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Tony's fallen at
the first hurdle,
unless he finds new
gold rich ground,
he could be facing
another failed season.
[Tony speaking]
Things here are running good.
The biggest challenge we
face right now is that we are
running out of good ground.
[narrator] A third of the way
through this season,
Parker is running
two wash plants 24/7...
Time to make some money!
[narrator] To build a w*r chest.
[Parker] You need to make some
money up here and a lot of that
needs to go towards finding
more and better ground.
[narrator] Now, having already
banked 2,500 ounces,
over $4 million worth of gold...
[all laughing]
[narrator] Parker is about
to make a big move to expand
his mining empire.
For the first time ever,
he is leaving his mine site
during the season...
Mitch, you'll be in
charge while I'm gone.
We'll try and keep her on track.
[narrator] To hunt new ground
in his home state of Alaska.
[Parker] Right now
I'm on my way to Fairbanks.
We've got a really good
opportunity on a piece of ground
that has had
a lot of historic mining.
It's for sale.
Guy that owns it wants
$3 million for it,
which is a lot of money.
[narrator] Buying this
claim on Smallwood Creek
could be the biggest
risk of Parker's life.
So he's brought
in drill expert...
[Parker] Looks like he
already been washing rocks.
[narrator] Liam Ferguson.
Yeah, we got a few...
few days, had a head start on.
So we've done
a little bit of drilling now.
[narrator] For the past five
days, Liam has been testing
the ground with his
state-of-the-art sonic drill.
[Liam] We're seeing gold
but seems to be pretty spotty.
For the potential that is
here, you want to be sure.
[Parker] Do you want
to show me around?
[Liam] Yeah,
let's go for a walk.
[Parker] Oh,
this looks like fun.
How have you been
going back and forth it?
[Liam] Swimming across.
[Parker] Oh, [bleep].
You might not want to follow me.
Oh, don't go there.
So you should just come
down here and slam a line in
somewhere in here, huh?
[Liam] This is kind of the zone
that I'd be interested in looking.
[narrator] Liam drills two
lines of five test holes
deep into the ground.
[Parker] A lot of this
ground is 100 feet deep.
So, it's not cheap
mining, right?
That's the kind of ground that
if the gold's not good,
it'll break you
trying to do that.
[narrator] For this ground to be
worth the $3 million price tag...
[Liam] Start with
the best one first.
[narrator] Parker needs to
see 200 milligrams per hole.
[Liam] Do you want to go 100
feet for 32 milligrams, Parker?
I don't know where all
the other gold's gone,
it's supposed to be there.
[Parker] Not like we're
hitting dead holes,
like there's gold here.
Yeah, but no major hits.
I think we're gonna
stop drilling for now.
[Liam] Yeah, I agree.
As for like buying
this place right now,
I'm not putting all my eggs
in this basket,
because 30 milligrams
at 100 feet,
that sounds like
a nightmare waiting to happen.
[Liam] Yeah, it's an easy
way to lose a lot of money.
[Parker] Thank you for coming
out here and making it happen.
[narrator] Back on
the Indian River...
Come on, big cat, you're
falling behind out there.
Trying my best.
[narrator] Parker's left foreman
Mitch Blaschke in charge
of his entire Yukon operation.
Over the last four weeks...
[Mitch] The bottom
line, Parker's not here
and we're gonna do it my way.
[narrator] He's helped rookie
wash plant boss Tyson...
[Mitch] Whoa!
Hey, hey, hang on!
[narrator] Move Slucifer.
If you're telling me you're
cool with that setup,
you need to [bleep]
rethink your game, man.
[Mitch] Whoa!
[narrator] And struggled
to keep Big Red...
Got all kinds of [bleep]
hitting the fan around here.
[narrator] On the gold.
I want to have this
operation running smooth.
I want to have a lot of
gold down the gold room,
but I'm not the boss so we'll
have to see if he's happy
when he gets back.
[narrator] When
Parker was on site,
they were averaging
For Mitch to match that, he needs
a massive 1,800 ounces of gold.
[Parker] Hey.
You're back.
[Parker] I'm back.
It looks like things have
been going great here.
Like, you guys have been busy.
Been very busy, yeah.
[Parker] About it,
Brennan, let's see this stuff.
[narrator] Mitch
delivers 2,293 ounces...
[Parker] Holy [bleep].
That's a good month.
[narrator] ...smashing his
target with $4.3 million of gold.
That's like the biggest
one we've ever had, isn't it?
- Oh, yeah.
- No, this is definitely a record-breaker.
[Parker] I'm pumped.
I mean,
like to be able to be gone
and have one of the best months
this company's ever had
is awesome,
and like I just can't
thank you guys enough.
[narrator] Despite the late
start, Parker's mined
nearly 5,000 ounces.
[Parker] It's never enough.
[all laughing]
[narrator] But he still
needs to find new ground.
[Rick] Well, we had a late
start to the season,
but we're definitely making
up for lost time right now.
[narrator] At Duncan Creek, Rick
Ness is fighting for his mining future.
[Rick] This year's all about
proving to myself
and to my crew that we can
be successful out here mining.
If I don't get our 1,000 ounce
gold this year,
I don't see continuing on.
[narrator] Halfway
through the season,
he's still 600 ounces short
of his 1,000 ounce gold.
[Rick] I've run the numbers
and there's just no way
we're gonna get to 1,000
ounces at the pace we're going.
[narrator] To up his gold count,
Rick is going for broke
on the new Deep Cut,
a three-acre piece of ground he
believes is rich in gold nuggets.
[Rick] There's 30 feet of pay in
here, like they're supposed to be.
It should get us through
the rest of the season.
You know, we've had to go down
through over 60 feet of overburden,
you know,
it's cost a small fortune,
but sometimes you got to
bite the b*llet, just do it.
The difference
with Rick this year is
complete night and day.
He's down here busting his a*s.
He's working right alongside us,
because he's pumped
up just like the rest of us.
[bleep], why is it doing that?
Uh-oh.
That is definitely bedrock.
[narrator] Rick has hit a wall
of fractured bedrock
where he expected
to find gold-rich pager.
[Rick] It was just overburdened
sitting right on the bedrock.
So this whole section right
here we're clearing for nothing.
[producer speaking]
Gold.
That's just solid clay.
There's little strips of
gravels in it, but that's all...
I don't know. It doesn't look
like where we tested last year.
Getting it into the pan as much as
I can and try to find some gold in it.
I'm pretty, pretty
nervous right now.
[narrator] If the pan
contains no gold,
his dreams of a successful
season could be over.
There ain't nothing in this.
That's a major, major [bleep].
[bleep].
[bleep].
[Rick] Right now
I'm just scrambling
to look for the future here
for the rest of the season
because the Deep Cut
was supposed to be it.
So plan is get out and
find some different ground.
[narrator]
In the mountains above Keno,
Rick Ness' future
as a gold miner
hangs in the balance after
striking out in the Deep Cut.
That's a disaster, right?
We spent a lot of time
and money on that and it's...
it's going to produce zero.
Rick's out there looking for dirt, but
you see we don't got much time left, so.
It's not good, man.
It's not good.
[Rick] I'm just gonna keep
looking until I find us some
ground we could run.
I'm hoping that that good
red gravel we were running
continues across the creek.
I don't see why it shouldn't.
[narrator] All of Rick's gold
this season
has come from the Cheap Cut,
a pay streak of red pay gravel,
just two feet below the surface.
Rick believes
the pay streak continues
on the other side of the creek.
If his hunch is right,
it could save his season.
[Rick] Crossing the creek was
never part of the plan this year.
Thinking my best bet is
to hug the creek a bit
because that should afford
me some thaw off the creek.
Oh, [bleep] yeah.
We've got red gravel right here.
Hey, Kruse, let's get those rock
trucks rounded up, we've got pay gravel.
[Chris] Rick's given me an
opportunity to
make more money than
I've ever made in my life.
It's a chance for me
to make a better life
for me and my fiancee.
I mean, for Rick to
just hand that to me,
it's humbling and I don't
want to let him down.
[Rick] These are nice
boulders, nice looking rock, so
looking a lot better here.
We're back on the good pay.
We have an emergency, we have...
Kruse has rolled his
truck in the Deep Cut.
[bleep].
[bleep].
[bleep].
[indistinct chatter on radio]
It's all right.
You okay? Your neck
doesn't hurt nothing, buddy?
[Chris] No.
Oh.
Oh.
[Rick] Your back's
not hurting, nothing?
You all right, brother?
Oh, yeah, I'm [bleep] great.
[bleep].
You scared the [bleep]
out of me, dude.
Yeah, I know.
I [bleep] up.
No, I suddenly turned around,
I didn't see any of it happen.
I see the [bleep] truck
here laying on the side.
I didn't see anybody
moving around it.
[bleep] bugs.
I'm just happy
you're okay, dude.
- Oh.
- This is...
[Chris] It was, it was...
super [bleep] slow-mo.
I've got it to the point where it
picked up that front wheel before
and it started feeling like that
and then it didn't
stop feeling like that.
Prided myself in doing
a pretty good job of
taking care of these
trucks and now I [bleep] up.
[narrator] Rick brings in
the 480 Excavator
and a loader to right the truck.
Well, I'm just trying to figure
a good spot to rig it here.
[Chris] Yeah.
It's going to be
a pretty hillbilly.
This is not how
you rig stuff, but
we need to get this thing
flopped over in a timely fashion,
so this is what we're gonna do.
Okay.
Go ahead, start pulling.
Costing us time and money,
that's not a good feeling.
Just watch yourself.
You should tilt it
a bit more, tilt it.
Okay.
If you wanted out of
a truck that bad,
you just had to
[bleep] tell me, dude.
[Rick laughing]
Zero physical harm,
quite possibly irreparable
damage to my pride.
[narrator] Later, Karla
checks the sluices
to see if Rick's decision to
cross the creek has paid off.
[Karla] It looks really good.
[man 1] Oh, my [bleep].
[Karla] Holy [bleep], dude.
I can't believe that.
Wow!
Look at that.
[all laughing]
[Rick] Holy [bleep].
[Chris] Christmas came early.
That's like an
ounce right there.
That's a [bleep] beauty, like
that's worth some serious money.
Probably be [bleep]
four grand right there.
As far as I know, that's
bigger than anything
Parker or Tony's
pulled out of the ground.
[narrator] Last season,
Rick left the Klondike to
come to the mountains above Keno
in the hope of finding
monster nuggets.
That's bigger than anything
I expected ever out here.
[Karla] Yeah.
[narrator] His gamble
is finally paying off.
[Rick] This year just feels
different, you know,
and it's got a better vibe, but I still
need to hit my 1,000-ounce target.
As long as we don't
hit any major snags,
I think we're right on track.
[Fred] All of you fought some
pretty hard battles
in your life and now we
just need to do that here.
[narrator] In Oregon,
rookie miner Fred Lewis
and his team of combat
veterans dream of striking it rich.
Fred's right.
Let's get this
[bleep] gold, boys!
Oh, yeah!
[Kyle] Came out here
as a group of injured vets
and yet here we are.
We're doing everything we can
in our power to
try to bring money home,
make life good again.
[narrator] For three months,
Fred's Greenhorn crew
has struggled to
get on the gold,
banking just one ounce.
This is really bad.
[narrator] They've
battled breakdown.
[coughing]
[Stefan] I'm no mechanic.
I don't know what that means.
[narrator] Water problems.
Hey, hey, hey,
cut off that water.
[narrator] And each other.
Are you gonna [bleep]
do anything right?
Shut your fat mouth.
You know, morale is down.
People want to see gold.
They're not seeing gold.
This was a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,
but it's kind of turning
into a nightmare.
[narrator] But despite all
their problems,
the combat veterans
aren't giving up.
[Fred] Hurry up back there.
Let's go.
We keep getting kicked,
but we keep getting back up.
If we can keep the plant
up and running
and not have as many
issues, we'll get more gold.
[Kendell] Thankfully we
got a team that won't quit,
no matter how much you put
problems or obstacles in their way,
they're gonna keep fighting.
I might just kind of try and put
as many buckets as I can through.
[Stefan] We need to
make some money.
We need to find some gold.
[Stuart] Hey, Kyle, the...
the hopper is jamming up, man.
Can you come up there
and knock something loose?
- [bleep].
- [Kyle] Yeah, let's do it.
Leave that thing running I
gotta go up there and fix it.
[Stuart speaking]
Hey, man, be careful up there.
[Kyle] Yeah,
it's jammed up real bad here.
We're running
completely jacked up.
[bleep]. You know, you shouldn't be
up on the wash plant while it's running.
[bleep]
[Kyle] Hey, hey, hey.
Cut the water, Johnny.
Cut the water.
Kyle, you can't be up
there while it's running.
What's going on?
[bleep].
We're here to mine and go
home with gold in our hands.
We need to wake the beast and
we need to get things going.
Oh, boy!
[narrator] In Oregon's
Elkhorn Mountains, Fred Lewis'
operation is at
a standstill again.
[Fred] This...
this is a mess.
[narrator] To get
back on the gold,
Fred's crew needs to stop pay dirt
clogging the wash plant's hopper.
[Kyle] The bottom of our
hopper is just wavy as can be
and I think that's where
part of our issue is.
The water is not able to rush
down right, which means
that's where you're starting
to get piles and build up.
[narrator] Ex-army sergeant
Kyle Pletzke
comes up with a plan,
cover the dented hopper base
with a sloping sheet
of smooth steel.
[Kyle speaking]
[Kyle] Definitely not afraid
of hard work,
after being in the military
for five years,
a lot of it was spent in
the hospital for me,
and that was probably harder work than
actually going out and be an infantryman.
[narrator] While serving
in Afghanistan,
Kyle's light-armored vehicle rolled
and crushed his legs and pelvis.
[Kyle] Had to
relearn how to walk.
Doctors kind of gave me a
bad prognosis at one point.
After leaving the hospital
and leaving the military,
it was tough to know what to do.
This is...
I think this is what I needed,
you know, it's being out here
with a good group of guys,
running around a mine site,
hopping up, still
able to fix things.
I think this might be
a real calling for me.
I've got to give it
everything I can.
There's nothing that's
going to stop me from
making this be a success.
All right, let's fire up.
We're clear.
We'll know in about ten minutes if
that hopper is gonna feed it correctly.
Right now it is
looking pretty good.
It looks like we might
have solved the problem.
It's looking a lot better.
Keep feeding it, Stu.
Let's get some gold, baby!
[narrator] Kyle's fix allows
Fred's crew to run uninterrupted
for the first time this season.
- You guys want to see?
- [man] Yeah, let's get it.
[Fred] 0.24.
[narrator] Despite stepping
up to fix the plant
on their own,
the crew banks just $456.
[Fred] I don't like it.
[narrator] Fred's season gold
hall is still only 1.2 ounces.
[Fred] If we kept going the
way we're going, I don't...
I don't have another week,
maybe two weeks in me
running like this without
something coming back in.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Twelve weeks into
the short season,
Tony Beets has mined only $1,000
ounces of his 3,000-ounce gold.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] All season, Tony
has been desperately searching
for new gold rich pay streaks...
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] But so
far has drawn a blank.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Now, Tony has
come up with a new plan.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Just down the hill
from Mike's trommel
lies a huge pile of
waste rocks and gravel
left by miners more
than 80 years ago.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Tony believes the
old-timers' wooden sluice boxes
were so primitive,
they could have washed out
hundreds of ounces in their tailings.
[Tony speaking]
[Monica] He's not the one
that has to lift them.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] If Tony finds gold
in the tailings,
it could be the monster payday
he's been looking for all season.
[Tony speaking]
One, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine ten.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] To run
the old-timer tails,
Tony brings his 30-year-old
shaker deck out of retirement...
Let's get going.
[narrator] And trucks it down the hill
to a narrow pad beside the tailgate.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Tony hauls in two
old dredge pontoons
to help build the pad.
[Tony speaking]
[Ruby] No way.
[Tony speaking]
Where do you like to have it?
[Tony speaking]
I'm waiting for it to hit
that thing. Oh, [bleep].
[Tony speaking]
[Ruby] Tony!
[Tony] Oh, no!
Tony!
[Tony speaking]
Yes.
[Tony speaking]
Thank [bleep].
[Tony speaking]
Should I get going?
[Tony speaking]
That's [bleep] beautiful.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Tony runs
the plant for three days
before pulling the mats...
[narrator] Worth
almost $130,000.
[bleep] awesome.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Tony's plan to find gold
in the old-timer tailings has paid off.
If it continues to deliver, his
[Tony speaking]
[Parker] This season's been
a hell of a season
with the whole COVID thing, but,
you know, we've had two wash plants,
pounding away all season.
It's been really good.
[narrator] Over halfway
through the shortest season ever,
Parker's crew is
tearing through ground,
banking a w*r chest
of over 5,000 ounces.
[Brennan] Yeah, buddy!
[Parker] It's about time.
[narrator] But their success
is creating a problem.
They're almost out of the pay.
Everything's been motoring
along really nice here, but
we're certainly getting down
to the last of our pay dirt.
[Parker] The amount of ground
we're going through is crazy.
Just keeping ground out ahead
of Big Red and Slucifer
is gonna be our big challenge.
[narrator] For his season to
be a success,
Parker urgently needs
new gold rich ground.
I've got my eye on a piece of
ground here on the Indian River,
that looks like it should have
some really good potential.
[narrator] The Airstrip Cut,
a million square foot claim
just two miles downstream
from Parker's camp.
He owns the water license,
but to mine it,
he needs to persuade
the landowner.
Hello.
[Tony speaking]
Can I come in?
[Parker] I'm good.
How are you doing?
[Tony speaking]
[Parker] Part of the
reason why I'm here is
we're just about done,
like, around our camp
and so I'm here... I know
you've done some work in there.
[Tony] Mmm-hmm.
[Parker] But I'd love to mine
around the Airstrip
if you're game.
[Tony speaking]
Okay.
[Tony speaking]
This is a new Tony.
I'm not used to this.
[Tony speaking]
Well, yeah, I appreciate
that 'cause we're...
we're always hungry for ground.
And with that, we'll be...
I guess we'll be paying you
a lot more royalties
than I thought we
would, but that's...
that's okay, I guess.
[Tony speaking]
[Parker] Thanks, Tony.
[Tony speaking]
[Parker] Wow.
That was definitely one of
the more strange meetings
I've had with Tony Beets.
I don't know. I mean, we
got another block of ground,
so that's the best part.
[narrator] With only eight
weeks left in his season,
Parker goes all in
on the Airstrip Cut.
His crew races to open up
ground before hauling Slucifer
five miles to its new pad.
That's [bleep] badass.
[narrator] A week later,
he doubles down
and brings in Big Red from
the last cut.
Come on, old girl.
[Mitch] Nice and easy.
Hold there.
Phew.
[Mitch] Here we go.
[narrator] With both plants
running side-by-side,
Parker's dreams of
expanding his empire
now rest on
the Airstrip paying out.
[Rick] You know, I'm always
worried we're gonna get
froze out of here
before we hit our goal.
This year that's just
really not an option.
[narrator] It's late summer
in the mountains above Keno.
In a few short weeks,
temperatures will plummet
and snow will blanket
the area for six months.
That plant's got to 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
just could be my last year.
[narrator] Rick has
pushed hard all year
but is still nearly 400 ounces
short of his 1,000-ounce gold.
If we don't find a sizeable
amount of gold, I mean,
that could be the same boat
as last year.
I want to go home with
a bunch of gold in my pocket.
I know Rick does, too.
Coming your way.
Coming your way.
Holy [bleep].
What the [bleep]
is going on here?
Holy [bleep].
Yeah.
That roller's piled right up.
[bleep] damn it.
[bleep] thing sitting
there sideways.
[narrator] One of the 700s' carry
rollers has bent out of alignment.
[bleep] me.
[narrator] And the
track is unable to move.
Something might have got in
there like a big rock
and got jammed in
there, who knows.
We're gonna have to
dig those bolts out and
bolt that roller back in there
if it's not too far gone, Rick.
Yeah.
- Watch out.
- Oh, yeah.
Dude, it's coming out.
- Dude, that's pretty sweet.
- [Rick] Wow!
That thing is [bleep].
This is toast.
[narrator] The 700
needs a new roller
and the only man on site with the
skills to replace it is mechanic Carl Rosk.
[Carl] Let's pop it up.
So, yeah, man, this
is our money-maker.
This is our main hole.
Without this thing,
we're [bleep], right?
Yeah, fire it up,
give me a spin.
Yep, better.
Back the other way.
Looking good, mate.
We're in business.
Put it down there, buddy.
[Carl] Coming down.
[Rick] I like that.
I like that.
Oh, yeah.
That's it?
You made it look easy, buddy.
[narrator] Carl's got the 700
back up and running
in just three hours.
Carl saves the day again.
I'm not convinced you don't
pull that [bleep] on purpose.
[bleep] gonna be down
for a week, Rick,
and then you pull it out of
your a*s in a couple of hours.
[Rick]
We're back to full speed.
I just got a message here from my
doctor that he wants me to call him ASAP,
so it could be
something to do with my back.
[narrator] Two years ago,
Carl revealed
he had a benign tumor
growing on his spine.
I have a tumor
inside me on my lung.
I got one on my spine
and I got to get it looked at.
- [bleep], man.
- [Carl] Yeah.
Tumor, do you have cancer?
No, well, that's we got
to check it out, right?
What's up, man?
Yeah, I got a little
bad news here, dude.
So, um, talked to my
doctor and he wants
me to go under
the knife like right now.
Holy [bleep].
Yeah, it's like non-negotiable,
right, like, it's a special surgeon.
So you gotta go right away.
I'm obviously gonna leave all my stuff
here for everyone, my tools and stuff, but
I don't know if I'll be able to come
back to get everything or what.
Yeah.
Well, I...
None of that should matter,
I mean, it's gonna hurt us,
like you're my [bleep]
guy here, right?
Like, this place doesn't
go without you, but...
- I feel like I'm letting everybody down.
- No, no.
You shouldn't, I mean, I was
shocked at first, Carl,
but honestly I'm happy for you.
- I hate seeing you like that, so.
- Yeah.
[Rick] You think about it, Carl,
you won't have to do that all the time.
I know I can't wait.
Yeah.
My man.
You're gonna be a new man, Carl.
You're gonna be a new man.
You know, losing my
mom a couple years ago,
it helped me realize, you know,
that health is really important and,
you know, it's gonna hurt us
really bad not having him here, but
honestly it's what's best for
him and I'm happy for him.
[Carl] Leaving the crew, the
worst possible time, but, yeah,
you know, I will
be back soon, so.
I'm leaving my stuff all
here, I'm leaving my dog, so.
Yeah, I gotta come back, so.
I'm sorry, buddy.
You can't come with me, no.
I know, I know, I know.
[dog whimpering]
[narrator] With Carl gone, Rick's
goal of hitting a 1,000 ounces
and securing his mining
future is on a knife edge.
Carl, you know, my buddy,
my mechanic, I mean, he's...
he's gonna be sorely missed.
Man, it's just...
I'm not gonna let my guard down.
I'm very, very aware of what
time of year it is
and how every second counts.
We're all in on this right now.
[narrator] In Oregon, ex-Special
Forces medic Fred Lewis
is fighting to save his first
season as a mine boss.
[Fred] Any obstacles that
come at this point,
we're just gonna punch 'em
in the face and keep moving.
Pay dirt, plant, gold.
That's pretty easy.
[narrator] Fred sunk his life
savings into the Elkhorn claim
with the dream of paying his
crew of combat veterans in gold.
You know, this gold means
a lot to all of us,
just another disabled vet who kind
of, you know, come on rough times.
So this has to be a success or
I'm gonna end up living
out of my truck for real.
[narrator] But with just weeks
left of the season,
they've only mined 2.7 ounces,
worth just over $5,000.
[Khara] Babe,
we have a huge problem.
We're almost broke.
We need more gold
or we need more money.
If we had the money,
we can get more gold.
Actually, I think the only way
we're gonna be able to do this
is with an outside investor.
[narrator] Fred asks old
marine buddy
and successful businessman
Karl Smith to invest $40,000
for a share of the gold.
All right.
You got a deal.
Let's do it.
[Fred] It's great that
we have an investor,
but that puts us under
a lot more pressure.
It's not just my money now, it's
one of my best friends' money,
but it gives us the financial
freedom to keep mining
and to keep that dream alive.
Hey, everybody.
Karl is officially on board.
We have an investor.
Let's get that gold!
Back in business!
Getting Karl on board, getting
the investor, that's [bleep] awesome,
that's exactly what we needed.
[Fred] We're gonna keep
pushing and we're gonna give it
everything we got.
[Kyle] Whoa.
What the [bleep]!
[bleep], this thing
is overheating.
Fred!
Fred, yo, we got an issue here.
[Fred] Holy crap.
Listen to it.
[Kyle] This could be
a bad head gasket.
That's the cheap part.
However, it could be weeks to
get that thing torn apart
and get everything
here that we need.
[Fred] It's if they have
the part anywhere near here.
[narrator] Fred relies
on the 988 Loader to haul pay
from the cut to the plant,
while a much smaller L60
clears the tail ends.
Now, with the 988 out of action,
the L60 has to do
the work of both loaders.
[Kyle] Just look at our
buckets standing here, man.
I mean I've got less than half
the amount of yardage
that I can move at one time.
[Fred] We're gonna have
to do night shifts, I think.
Stockpiling the day and at night,
keep the plant up and running.
That's the only way to do it.
Yeah.
[narrator] Fred's plan, split the
crew into day and night shifts.
The day crew will use
the L60 to stockpile pay dirt.
Then the night shift will use
the same loader
to feed the plant
and clear tails.
[Kyle] Pretty sunset on the mine, but
not enough time to look up and enjoy it.
I got to keep my nose down in the
ground and keep on working hard.
Longer we can run,
the better chances we'd have
finding as much
gold as possible.
Double shift is gonna get us
about 20% more productivity here.
Well, trying to keep
everything flowing is
a lot more difficult when you can
only see a few feet in front of your face.
Bucket number 100 in the hopper.
Whoo!
Yee-ha!
Sometimes, we even
impress ourselves.
[Kendell] Looks like close encounters
of the third kind or something.
Whoa, whoa!
Stop, stop, stop.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Oh!
Stop, stop stop, stop.
Dude.
Rock slipped out
under there or what?
This shift is getting
a little tired or something.
I think you might have to help
me back out of this, dude,
this is a little sketchy.
All right, yeah.
[indistinct radio chatter]
Scared the living
[bleep] out of me.
Yeah, that makes two of us.
Let's keep all the wheels
down on the ground, please.
- Yeah, sounds good, bro.
- You got it, man.
[narrator] The late shift keep
the plant running through the night,
but it takes
its toll on the crew.
Doing the night shift is
difficult and, you know,
it's been really wearing
on me personally.
Got to come up
with something else.
[narrator] To save his crew
from burnout,
Fred uses the investment
to lease a new loader.
[Fred] When I say
all in, I mean all in.
This doesn't work,
I'm gonna go down fighting.
Look at what we got.
Whoa!
[laughing]
Oh!
[indistinct chatter]
Looks like we got a new loader.
Awesome.
We got her till
the end of the season.
- Really?
- So we can go get it dirty.
- Yeah.
- [Fred] All right, let's freaking fire it up.
[narrator] With the new loader
on the site,
Fred has a shot of finding the gold
he needs to pay his investor and crew.
Should be pretty easy to finish
out the season in this big thing.
Just what we need
to find a lot more gold.
[Fred] We got this new piece of
equipment and I can tell morale is high.
We're gonna work as
hard as we possibly can
and hopefully we can
salvage the season.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] The end of
the season is in sight,
but Klondike legend Tony Beets
is still 400 ounces short of his gold.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] And he's
running out of pay dirt
in the 18-acre Mega Cut.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Tony has taken one
scoop too many,
punching a hole in the wall
between the cut
and a two million
gallon tailings pond.
[Tony speaking]
[Mike] Holy [bleep].
That ain't gonna
stop for a while.
[Tony speaking]
Okay, so if we're
done in the Mega Cut,
where are we gonna get paid
for the rest of the season?
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Unless Tony can find new ground,
his season will be dead in the water.
[Tony speaking]
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] With just weeks
left in the season,
Tony's flooded the last
corner of the Mega Cut,
his only source of gold.
If he can't find new ground
fast, his season is over.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Tony is banking
on an area of virgin ground
between the Mega Cut and an
old cut he knows had good gold.
[Tony speaking]
Okay.
[Tony speaking]
Yeah.
[Tony speaking]
And the... the idea is to clear
off the whole section down to pay.
It's a pain in the a*s to
deal with, when it rains,
it's almost impossible
to deal with.
And unfortunately, it rained just
before we're gonna be dealing with it.
[Richard] Here at
the soupy mess.
It's like a skate rink, it's
hard to turn the tire,
it just slides.
Holy [bleep].
That [bleep] sucks.
Kevin, you got a copy?
Found a sinkhole here.
[Kevin] I'll come
by, I'll pull you out.
[Richard] Copy that.
We'll get the cable.
Hook it up, pull it out.
Not a [bleep] problem.
[Richard] We're good to go.
[engine revving]
Come on.
You stubborn [bleep].
[bleep]!
Oh, whoa, whoa, Kevin.
[bleep] That's not good.
Well, [bleep].
Yeah, that's in two pieces.
I've never seen a rock truck
pull apart yet.
I've seen other breaks,
I've seen frame breaks,
but I've not seen one pulling
two, that's a new one for me.
[Tony speaking]
[Kevin] We got it.
[Richard] Very nice.
[narrator] After
three days stripping,
Tony's down to
pay dirt in the Upper Cut.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] But with winter
just around the corner,
he's in a race against
time to hit his season goal.
[Kevin] Hopefully, we can get
our 3,000 ounces,
just shoving through as much
as we can, fingers crossed.
[Brennan] We got two plants
side by side, you know,
we got to fill Parker's old w*r
chest up with all this gold here,
so we can put it towards
this new ground that we need.
[narrator] Just five weeks
to the end of the season,
Parker's crew still has more
than half of the Airstrip left to mine.
Hey!
Crank it up.
[narrator] When his trusted
right-hand man Mitch Blaschke
receives a call from home.
Can you see the fire
from the house?
[woman on phone]
It's really smoky.
Which way is the wind going?
[woman on phone]
Towards our house.
Grab what you can
and get out of there.
- Hey, Parker, you got a minute.
- Yeah.
There's some really bad wildfires
down there and they're getting close to us.
[Parker] Holy cow.
So my wife's down there trying
to pack up everything she can
in the back of her car.
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.
[narrator] With Mitch making
an emergency departure.
Let me give you a hug, brother.
Take care and drive safe.
[narrator] Co-foreman Brennan
Ruautt must step up and run
the day-to-day operations.
It's a lot extra pressure
on my shoulders.
At the end of the day, I have
one job to do is
just to find as much
gold as we possibly can.
[narrator] Parker's tasked
Brennan with
finishing the remaining
before the Yukon
winter freezes them out.
[Brennan] There's still a lot
of work to do here,
so we got to just put the
hammer down to get it done.
[narrator] But while investigating
a mined out corner of the cut...
What the [bleep]!
[narrator] Parker
discovers a rookie error.
Someone has left behind
gold bearing river rock.
I shouldn't have
to walk your floor.
What's up, buddy?
I thought everybody
knew how to dig pay,
but there are round
rock everywhere.
Like, I shouldn't have to walk the
floor and find like yards of the wrong.
I have hardly dug any of this.
I don't care.
You're in charge or
you're not in charge?
[Brennan] Well,
Mitch was in charge.
[Parker] Mitch ain't here.
Yeah, well.
[Brennan] There's quite a bit missed,
whoever took the last strip in the back.
I don't give a [bleep] who it is,
but it needs to get cleaned up.
I don't know if guys are in a
rush to go home or whatever,
but if anybody wants to go
home, they can [bleep] go home.
That's not a reason to rush
through any cuts or do anything
sloppy or whatever is going on.
We've done this racket
for eight years now.
I shouldn't have
to walk our floors.
[Brennan] There's no need to
come here and be [bleep] about it.
[Brennan groans] I'll pack and
[bleep] leave right now.
[bleep] I don't give a [bleep]
about any of this [bleep].
[Chris] Hey, junior.
Come here, boy.
[Brennan] Sick of
being treated like that,
like it's just a nightmare.
I mean, when is enough
enough around here.
Yeah.
In the ten years I've
been here, I've noticed that
he pushes a little
bit more at this point.
And sometimes, it creates
more damage than good.
He forgets that a lot of us are
That's the tough part.
What can you say, you
know, it happens every year.
[narrator] After some
cooling off time...
Brennan returns to the cut.
Just [bleep] angry still.
This isn't the first time he's
been [bleep] miserable like that.
There's no need for it.
That's what I'm
getting tired of.
[Brennan] Howdy!
Um...
I wanted to explain a little
more my little blowup in the cut.
I apologize because
I shouldn't do it that way.
[bleep], Brennan, since you've
shown up here,
like you've come so far and
you've been doing a great job,
honestly you have.
- Great.
- [Parker] And that's...
I know you've got
a lot on your plate,
but we still have to make sure
that we are following the basics
and that's where
I'm coming from.
[Brennan] Okay.
Yeah.
- [Parker] Does that make sense?
- [Brennan] Yep, fair.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
-[Parker] No sweat. Thanks, Brennan.
-Yeah, no worries.
Appreciate it.
Thanks a lot.
I definitely was taken aback
a little bit with Parker.
I do really respect him coming to
apologize in a sincere way, you know.
[narrator] Parker now needs
Brennan to mine out the Airstrip
before winter shuts them down.
[Brennan] I want to try and
conquer this season for Parker
and hopefully put some
money in the bank
for some new ground for it.
[narrator] In Oregon, wildfires have
ripped through Mitch's hometown.
[Mitch] This definitely
isn't looking good here.
I mean, stuff still smoking.
Crossing my fingers here
and hoping for the best but...
There she is
and it's still standing.
[Mitch laughs] Oh, man.
I mean, everything's
looking good.
[Parker] Hi, Mitch.
It looks like you're
in your house?
Yeah, in the house.
We got really lucky.
Unfortunately, some
people did lose their houses.
It was a bad deal, but I mean I was
planning on trying to head back up.
[Parker] Whether you come
back this fall or next spring,
you've always got a spot here.
All right, thanks.
Let me know how things go.
It's just really nice to talk
to Parker and 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.
[Rick] No disguising it now.
Snow's been
coming down for a bit.
We're near the end here.
[narrator] At Duncan
Creek, the big freeze has hit
and Rick is still 90 ounces
short of his 1,000-ounce gold.
[Rick] I don't like one bad season
and I'm not willing to go for two.
[narrator] But Rick has
one last roll of the dice.
[Rick] This last ditch
effort, for me it's all about
redemption from last year.
[narrator] To hit his goal
and pay his crew a gold bonus,
Rick's embarking on
a high-risk nugget hunt.
[Rick] I'm going to divert the
creek next to this lazy bend
and run the creek bed.
The best gold that we got all season
was right next to this creek bed.
It's where we found the big
one and a half ounce nugget.
All right, here we go.
Water's coming.
Oh, yeah, I like that.
Really happy with how it looks.
The old creek bed
should dry right up
and we can start to
pull the gold out of it
and get it to the
[bleep] damn wash line.
[narrator] Rick runs every
yard of creek bed pay...
[Rick] That looks like that's
the last bucket right there.
[narrator] Before shutting
down for the season.
[Rick] Fingers crossed.
[narrator]
The crew gathers...
Oh, back in time
for the gold bonus.
- Yeah, man.
- I don't blame you.
[narrator] To see
if Rick's diversion
has delivered
the nuggets he needs.
Part of the reason we
diverted the creek was
we found that monster
gold nugget there.
So I was hoping we'd find some
chunky gold and here it is.
You know, we got some
nice coarse gold out of there.
[man 1] Holy [bleep].
[Rick] Oh, yeah.
[narrator] Rick's
hunch has paid out big.
Well, I want to
see that fine gold.
I know that's the stuff
that adds up.
[narrator] To beat his
goal, Rick needs 90 ounces.
It just kind of keeps going,
it kind of keeps going.
And then the scale goes to E.
- Holy crap.
- [bleep] yeah, buddy.
[Rick] It's actually too much
for our scale,
but I already weighed it.
At the end of the day, I tell
you guys that we did
[Karla] Yes.
And so we're at just
over 1,080 ounces.
[narrator] A year ago, Rick
was on the brink of bankruptcy.
This season, he's led his crew to
a gold haul worth over $2 million.
[all laughing]
[Rick] I can't thank you
enough for coming back.
If we hadn't done
this this year,
I don't know that there would have been
another year, and you guys made it happen.
Appreciate it!
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
- Cheers!
- Cheers!
[narrator] In Oregon, freezing
temperatures have forced
Fred Lewis to call
time on his first season.
[Fred] The season hasn't
panned out like we wanted it to
and the ground has just not
been as good as we needed it to be
to pay the bills, but my major
focus here was to
give these guys a new
purpose, you know, a lot of them
coming out of the military
are in that awkward transition,
trying to figure things out, and I think
that was a freaking success this season.
[narrator] After sinking
$40,000 into Fred's operation
eight weeks ago,
investor Karl Smith
is back for the final reckoning.
[Fred] It's kind of time to
face the music here with Karl.
I've got to convince him,
after losing all his money,
that we're good enough to invest
in another season, if not we're done.
All right, guys, this is the
last gold weigh of the season.
sh**t, man.
Let's see what we got.
Some big chunks.
our best cleanup yet.
That puts our total at 6.39
which is honestly embarrassing.
[narrator] In their
rookie season,
Fred's crew has mined
just $12,000 worth of gold.
[Fred] But we've come up with
every single obstacle thrown
at us and we've kicked
it right in the face.
We pulled what we
could out of this ground.
I don't think anybody
could have done any better.
What do you guys think?
Is that a true statement?
- Yeah. 100%.
- Yeah.
[Kyle] No way to get any
more gold out of that ground.
If we can't get more gold
out of this ground,
that means this is the end.
[Fred] If you're willing to go
for another year,
I know with as much as we've
learned, we can get you that money back.
The way I see it, I've got two
options, walk away
or we can double down and you
guys can go find some good ground
and we can make back my money.
[clears throat]
Why don't we do this?
You guys go find
the ground and we'll talk.
Are you saying that you're
still interested in... in investing?
This team is one hell of a team.
I want you guys to prove to
me that the ground is good
and I'll invest more money.
We'll do that right now.
[indistinct chatter]
[Fred] Thank you.
[Karl] If I walk away
now, I lose everything.
The only way for me to make
more money is to put my faith in
Fred, tell him to go find a
better claim, find that pay dirt.
[Fred] You know, we came
out here, we learned a lot.
The next season, we're
gonna hit the ground running.
We're gonna pay back all this
debt and we're gonna get
to the point where we're actually
gonna be putting gold in our pockets.
[all] Let's get that gold!
Hey, hey.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] After five months
racing to cash in
on record high gold prices,
the Beets gather for their
final gold weigh of the season.
Ready to weigh up
the trommel now?
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] To hit their
they still need 321 ounces.
[Monica] 290, 350, 351.36.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Worth over $660,000.
So, Mom, what's
our season total?
[Monica] Whoa!
[Tony speaking]
[all laughing]
[narrator] In their
shortest season ever,
the Beets have mined
$5.6 million worth of gold.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] Fired up
by hitting his target,
Tony's already thinking
big for next season.
[Tony speaking]
Want to have a little
side bet here, buddy?
[Tony speaking]
If I win, I get a new truck,
red one.
If you win,
you'll get three SUVs.
[Tony speaking]
[Monica] Started.
No, no, no, we're closing up.
[man] Get into that thing.
Went right at it.
[narrator] This season,
Parker has run his wash plants
and his crew hard to build a w*r
chest and find new ground in Alaska.
This is what you're
looking for right there.
Wait, Chris, where are we at
right before these numbers?
Right now, we're
at 6,988 ounces.
[bleep]. So we've had
a hell of a good season.
The most we ever got
in a year was 7,400.
[narrator] To top his
best season ever,
he needs just over 400 ounces.
We're gonna weigh
up Slucifer first.
- [Parker] Tyson, here we go.
- [Tyson] Yes, sir.
[narrator] Slucifer's rookie
wash plant boss Tyson
delivers 290 ounces.
Good job, you guys.
[Parker] Brennan, this is Red.
[narrator] While Brennan and
Big Red bring in a further 226.
Yeah!
[Chris] You guys, you
just broke another record.
[all cheering]
[Chris] Our record is 7,400,
and for the season,
we have 7,504.9 ounces.
[all cheering]
Cheers, guys.
[all cheering]
[narrator]
In a season like no other,
Parker and his crew have mined
more gold than ever before.
And at 2020's record
high gold prices,
it's worth almost $14 million.
To many more.
Cheers, guys.
[man] Let's go home!
[all laughing]
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12x25 - Against All Odds: Gold Rush Special
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Reality based series follows the placer gold mining efforts of various family-run mining companies, mostly in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, as well as in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Reality based series follows the placer gold mining efforts of various family-run mining companies, mostly in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, as well as in the U.S. state of Alaska.