"Gold Rush" Searching for Rick Ness

1 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,074 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm 2 00:00:25,111 --> 00:00:27,387 This season is going to be different. 3 00:00:27,422 --> 00:00:29,698 Have to battle on two different fronts right now. 4 00:00:29,732 --> 00:00:31,249 One in Fairbanks, one in the Klondike. 5 00:00:33,767 --> 00:00:38,043 <i> In just nine seasons, 27-year-old Parker Schnabel</i> 6 00:00:38,077 --> 00:00:40,008 <i>has built one of the most successful</i> 7 00:00:40,043 --> 00:00:44,180 <i>gold mining operations in the Klondike.</i> 8 00:00:44,215 --> 00:00:48,387 <i>But faced with tight regulations, skyrocketing fuel prices</i> 9 00:00:48,422 --> 00:00:51,111 <i>and a world on the edge of a recession,</i> 10 00:00:51,146 --> 00:00:55,111 <i>his future in the Yukon is now unclear.</i> 11 00:00:55,146 --> 00:00:57,249 The truth is, the ground that we've been mining 12 00:00:57,284 --> 00:01:00,594 is not going to just last forever. 13 00:01:00,629 --> 00:01:03,974 There's serious concern about the future of the company 14 00:01:04,008 --> 00:01:08,594 and for us to be able to keep mining at the scale we are at. 15 00:01:08,629 --> 00:01:11,905 <i> But the young mine boss isn't throwing in the towel.</i> 16 00:01:11,939 --> 00:01:15,836 <i>To keep his dream alive, Parker's expanding his empire</i> 17 00:01:15,870 --> 00:01:18,767 <i>with a new mine in his home state of Alaska.</i> 18 00:01:18,801 --> 00:01:22,318 So we're going to have a very big, busy season in the Yukon, 19 00:01:22,353 --> 00:01:23,560 you know, and then we're also going 20 00:01:23,594 --> 00:01:25,974 to be setting up this operation in Fairbanks. 21 00:01:26,008 --> 00:01:30,905 <i>To fund Alaska, his Yukon operation is already up and running,</i> 22 00:01:30,939 --> 00:01:33,974 <i>bringing in gold earlier than ever before.</i> 23 00:01:34,008 --> 00:01:35,801 That's kind of exciting, you know, 24 00:01:35,836 --> 00:01:38,008 I'm actually really looking forward to that. 25 00:01:39,663 --> 00:01:44,387 <i>Last season, Parker struck a deal with landowner John Reeves...</i> 26 00:01:44,422 --> 00:01:46,284 That's 100 ounces. 27 00:01:46,318 --> 00:01:49,732 <i>...to mine 100-foot-deep gold rich ground</i> 28 00:01:49,767 --> 00:01:52,663 <i>near Fairbanks, Alaska.</i> 29 00:01:52,698 --> 00:01:54,491 Dude, you hit a nugg. 30 00:01:54,525 --> 00:01:56,318 <i>To tackle the deep ground,</i> 31 00:01:56,353 --> 00:01:59,284 <i>he's investing nearly $1 million.</i> 32 00:01:59,318 --> 00:02:00,353 Look at that. 33 00:02:00,387 --> 00:02:02,732 <i>On a state of the art, custom built</i> 34 00:02:02,767 --> 00:02:07,008 <i>mobile wash plant for the clay-packed Alaskan ground.</i> 35 00:02:07,043 --> 00:02:09,767 You better get on building a real one. 36 00:02:13,836 --> 00:02:15,698 I have a lot riding on this. 37 00:02:15,732 --> 00:02:17,594 This new wash plant is the heart 38 00:02:17,629 --> 00:02:19,905 of the new operation in Fairbanks. 39 00:02:19,939 --> 00:02:22,629 The new plant we're building gives any clay 40 00:02:22,663 --> 00:02:24,525 or anything like that, a chance to break up 41 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:29,318 when it's like lots of water and velocity and lots of material flow. 42 00:02:29,353 --> 00:02:31,870 But, um, you know, there's a lot to do 43 00:02:31,905 --> 00:02:33,456 and not a lot of time to do it. 44 00:02:33,491 --> 00:02:37,663 <i>Parker wants to be mining Alaskan gold in a month's time.</i> 45 00:02:37,698 --> 00:02:39,491 Yep, yep, yep. 46 00:02:39,525 --> 00:02:44,836 <i>So he's checking in on the plant's progress with designer Jeff Turnell.</i> 47 00:02:44,870 --> 00:02:46,629 Here. There's Jeff. 48 00:02:55,008 --> 00:02:56,836 - Jeff! - How goes it, man? 49 00:02:56,870 --> 00:02:58,594 - Good. How are you? - Good. 50 00:02:58,629 --> 00:03:00,249 - How's things been? - Good. 51 00:03:00,284 --> 00:03:02,525 - Long time no see. - Yeah, you too. 52 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:03,836 What country is this one going to? 53 00:03:03,870 --> 00:03:07,008 So it's headed to Peru, so making sure everything's with it. 54 00:03:07,043 --> 00:03:09,215 I've got the sluice runs and all that out in the yard. 55 00:03:09,249 --> 00:03:11,939 Just a smaller version of your plant. 56 00:03:11,974 --> 00:03:14,318 - So is this our screen deck? - No. 57 00:03:16,043 --> 00:03:20,284 That one's a little small. And you could be, uh, pretty mad at the throughput. 58 00:03:20,318 --> 00:03:22,801 - Who's plant is this? - This one's stock. 59 00:03:22,836 --> 00:03:24,801 - Oh, so... - This one's, uh, meant for overseas. 60 00:03:24,836 --> 00:03:27,905 Doesn't have a lot of the options that, uh, you're looking for. 61 00:03:27,939 --> 00:03:32,939 All right. Well, so do we have a full-size wash plant? 62 00:03:32,974 --> 00:03:35,698 No, that won't be here for a bit. 63 00:03:37,422 --> 00:03:38,456 Really? 64 00:03:39,698 --> 00:03:41,801 Everything right now is so hard to get. 65 00:03:42,870 --> 00:03:46,043 That's not good. 66 00:03:46,077 --> 00:03:48,801 Where does that leave us for, like, a delivery date? 67 00:03:53,284 --> 00:03:58,491 If I had to guess right now, it's going to be close to the end of August. 68 00:04:03,111 --> 00:04:06,387 - There's just lead times on everything. - Yeah. 69 00:04:08,387 --> 00:04:13,008 I don't know what to do if we don't have a wash plant until August. 70 00:04:14,180 --> 00:04:17,146 Because John Reeves, our landlord in Fairbanks, 71 00:04:17,180 --> 00:04:20,387 I keep telling him, like, "Don't worry, we just ordered a badass wash plant 72 00:04:20,422 --> 00:04:22,560 it's going to be there for the season and..." 73 00:04:22,594 --> 00:04:25,974 - No. - I've wrapped myself into quite the... 74 00:04:27,905 --> 00:04:30,111 sandwich. 75 00:04:30,146 --> 00:04:32,939 <i> After months spent searching for the perfect plant</i> 76 00:04:32,974 --> 00:04:36,180 <i>to methodically tackle his Alaska claim,</i> 77 00:04:36,215 --> 00:04:39,767 <i>Parker must now rethink everything.</i> 78 00:04:39,801 --> 00:04:42,870 - Keep me in the loop if anything changes. - I will do. I will do, man. 79 00:04:47,974 --> 00:04:50,491 Looks like Fairbanks is [bleep] from day one. 80 00:04:54,008 --> 00:04:56,422 I'm not happy, no... nobody is happy. 81 00:05:11,629 --> 00:05:14,318 <i>We live in a pretty remote place</i> 82 00:05:14,353 --> 00:05:16,353 <i>with pretty remote access to our claim, so...</i> 83 00:05:16,387 --> 00:05:20,560 So it's definitely not an easy minesite to mine. 84 00:05:20,594 --> 00:05:22,836 <i>On the outer edge of the Klondike,</i> 85 00:05:22,870 --> 00:05:27,146 <i>junior year mine boss Green Beret medic Fred Lewis</i> 86 00:05:27,180 --> 00:05:30,043 <i>fights for his own gold mining dream.</i> 87 00:05:31,836 --> 00:05:33,422 It's do or die this season. 88 00:05:33,456 --> 00:05:36,836 My house is on the line. My family's lives are on the line. 89 00:05:36,870 --> 00:05:40,801 We're here to live the dream. We're here to get purpose and we're here to find gold. 90 00:05:42,525 --> 00:05:46,422 <i>Fred's gambling on ground at the remote California Creek</i> 91 00:05:46,456 --> 00:05:49,456 <i>delivering 500 ounces,</i> 92 00:05:49,491 --> 00:05:52,801 <i>nearly five times what he mined last year.</i> 93 00:05:54,180 --> 00:05:55,870 <i>But last week...</i> 94 00:05:55,905 --> 00:05:58,422 What the [bleep] is that? 95 00:05:58,456 --> 00:06:01,732 <i>Fred suffered a near-fatal blow.</i> 96 00:06:01,767 --> 00:06:04,249 Our entire claim is under ice. 97 00:06:04,284 --> 00:06:07,043 <i>An ice sheet 30 feet thick</i> 98 00:06:07,077 --> 00:06:10,629 <i>stands between him and his gold rich paydirt.</i> 99 00:06:10,663 --> 00:06:12,353 What the hell are we going to do, man? 100 00:06:14,698 --> 00:06:19,077 Mother nature really dealt us a [bleep] hand this year. 101 00:06:19,111 --> 00:06:20,905 It's just going to be another battle for us. 102 00:06:20,939 --> 00:06:22,353 We're just going have to work our balls off 103 00:06:22,387 --> 00:06:25,353 until we get to where we need to be. 104 00:06:25,387 --> 00:06:27,939 <i>Fred clears a fresh dump of snow</i> 105 00:06:27,974 --> 00:06:30,629 <i>that's stopping him from getting vital machinery</i> 106 00:06:30,663 --> 00:06:33,353 <i>from up at base camp down to the claim.</i> 107 00:06:36,456 --> 00:06:38,077 I've never seen this much snow in my life. 108 00:06:40,836 --> 00:06:44,318 Right now, it's just me and JB. We're busting our balls here. 109 00:06:44,353 --> 00:06:48,180 We're going to have to clear the snow manually, foot by foot, 110 00:06:48,215 --> 00:06:49,594 until we get to the claim. 111 00:06:53,318 --> 00:06:55,836 <i>But help is on the way.</i> 112 00:06:55,870 --> 00:06:59,077 <i>After a four day drive from Washington state.</i> 113 00:06:59,111 --> 00:07:02,836 <i>Fred's 22-year-old stepson, Christopher Parker,</i> 114 00:07:02,870 --> 00:07:06,180 <i>and old buddy, sniper Stuart McKenzie,</i> 115 00:07:06,215 --> 00:07:08,698 <i>are finally arriving.</i> 116 00:07:08,732 --> 00:07:11,732 I cannot believe we're back here already. 117 00:07:13,249 --> 00:07:16,594 - It really feels like we just left. 118 00:07:16,629 --> 00:07:19,422 The amount of stuff that we had to deal with with the thaw last year 119 00:07:19,456 --> 00:07:21,905 it's going to be times ten. 120 00:07:21,939 --> 00:07:25,249 Are we even going to be able to get down to the claim? 121 00:07:25,284 --> 00:07:27,905 I don't know. Let's see how much Fred's gotten done. 122 00:07:27,939 --> 00:07:29,836 You have to overcome, right? 123 00:07:32,146 --> 00:07:33,801 A lot of adapting to do. 124 00:07:36,180 --> 00:07:38,284 There's Fred. 125 00:07:38,318 --> 00:07:39,422 Yep. 126 00:07:39,456 --> 00:07:42,318 Oh, hot dog. 127 00:07:43,594 --> 00:07:45,456 Stuart and Chris are here. 128 00:07:48,284 --> 00:07:50,387 How much you want to bet he's going to put us to work? 129 00:07:55,077 --> 00:07:56,387 - What's up, guys? - How was your trip? 130 00:07:56,422 --> 00:07:59,043 Oh, good, man. 131 00:07:59,077 --> 00:08:01,732 - Guess what we're doing? - What's going on? 132 00:08:01,767 --> 00:08:05,594 - Work. - Well, we're setting a goal for 500 ounces this year. 133 00:08:05,629 --> 00:08:08,456 - Holy [bleep]. - Awesome. 134 00:08:08,491 --> 00:08:10,491 So it's going to be a battle, guys. 135 00:08:10,525 --> 00:08:13,939 I got some bad news. There's glacier-sized ice covering the entire claim. 136 00:08:13,974 --> 00:08:15,284 . 137 00:08:15,318 --> 00:08:17,663 It's going to be the biggest challenge we've faced as a team. 138 00:08:17,698 --> 00:08:19,422 Yeah. 139 00:08:19,456 --> 00:08:21,387 So we're not, we're not waiting on mother nature. 140 00:08:21,422 --> 00:08:22,905 Okay. 141 00:08:22,939 --> 00:08:25,870 We're taking the two pieces of equipment we have and just going for it. 142 00:08:25,905 --> 00:08:27,663 That's our mission. 143 00:08:27,698 --> 00:08:31,594 <i>To get their share of 500 ounces,</i> 144 00:08:31,629 --> 00:08:35,146 <i>the Lewis crew must first clear snow and ice</i> 145 00:08:35,180 --> 00:08:39,767 <i>from a treacherous four mile downhill mountain dirt track</i> 146 00:08:39,801 --> 00:08:43,732 <i>plagued by dangerous bends just to get to their claim.</i> 147 00:08:48,836 --> 00:08:52,594 We just finished driving 2000 and something miles. 148 00:08:52,629 --> 00:08:57,594 To already being put back to work and building roads kind of sucks. 149 00:08:57,629 --> 00:08:59,870 <i> The team takes shifts</i> 150 00:08:59,905 --> 00:09:02,525 <i>to clear the road in the dozer.</i> 151 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:05,560 <i>Stu punches a trail through the snow.</i> 152 00:09:05,594 --> 00:09:08,422 <i>Chris follows in the 220 excavator</i> 153 00:09:08,456 --> 00:09:11,180 <i>scraping up the ice beneath.</i> 154 00:09:11,215 --> 00:09:12,560 Hey, Christopher. 155 00:09:14,974 --> 00:09:18,180 You're doing great but, um, there's a way a lot faster than this. 156 00:09:18,215 --> 00:09:20,698 - You don't even have to scrape, ever. - Okay. 157 00:09:20,732 --> 00:09:22,180 It's easy. Just hop out real quick. 158 00:09:28,284 --> 00:09:31,732 I don't know what was wrong with the way I was doing it. 159 00:09:31,767 --> 00:09:36,629 I was trying to get the, like, all of like the surface snow, 160 00:09:36,663 --> 00:09:38,353 the surface ice off. 161 00:09:38,387 --> 00:09:40,353 So that later on when it starts to warm up 162 00:09:40,387 --> 00:09:42,043 and everything starts to really melt, 163 00:09:42,077 --> 00:09:43,663 we won't be dealing with a flood. 164 00:09:43,698 --> 00:09:47,043 <i>But Fred's the boss. I got to do the way he tells me to do.</i> 165 00:09:47,077 --> 00:09:50,146 <i>That is my life for the next four, four months.</i> 166 00:09:50,180 --> 00:09:51,767 <i>That's just the way it is.</i> 167 00:09:54,077 --> 00:09:55,594 Christopher stepping up this year. 168 00:09:55,629 --> 00:09:58,387 He's telling me he wants to be in more of a leadership role. 169 00:09:58,422 --> 00:10:00,422 Right now, he's just a young buck, 170 00:10:00,456 --> 00:10:01,974 doesn't have a lot of experience in life, 171 00:10:02,008 --> 00:10:04,456 doesn't have a lot of experience with leadership. 172 00:10:04,491 --> 00:10:06,077 But I see the potential there. 173 00:10:10,318 --> 00:10:12,422 It's getting more dangerous. It's cold. 174 00:10:14,111 --> 00:10:16,353 Having a hard time controlling it. 175 00:10:16,387 --> 00:10:19,698 I mean, this is just, I can't even go straight. 176 00:10:24,629 --> 00:10:28,767 <i> Two miles from claim, Fred hits a treacherous</i> 177 00:10:28,801 --> 00:10:31,732 <i>20 degree steep downhill slope.</i> 178 00:10:32,836 --> 00:10:34,836 Whoa! 179 00:10:40,008 --> 00:10:41,077 . 180 00:10:45,801 --> 00:10:47,180 Oh, that's not good. 181 00:11:05,008 --> 00:11:06,180 that. 182 00:11:10,422 --> 00:11:11,594 Oh! 183 00:11:13,974 --> 00:11:17,146 All right. Well, that was a pucker effect of ten out of ten. 184 00:11:17,180 --> 00:11:19,215 But I'm through it and I'm seeing there's dirt road here. 185 00:11:19,249 --> 00:11:20,663 This is making me so happy. 186 00:11:20,698 --> 00:11:23,732 I think buzz and I really did push through the hardest part, 187 00:11:23,767 --> 00:11:25,318 and now the road's starting to open up. 188 00:11:33,146 --> 00:11:35,836 Rick is a pretty, pretty closed off guy. 189 00:11:35,870 --> 00:11:39,353 But it just seems like lately he's been a little bit more closed off, 190 00:11:39,387 --> 00:11:41,801 um, kind of keeping more to himself. 191 00:11:41,836 --> 00:11:46,215 <i>In Wisconsin Rick Ness' hometown buddy Zee Zaremba,</i> 192 00:11:46,249 --> 00:11:48,870 <i>hasn't heard from Rick for weeks.</i> 193 00:11:48,905 --> 00:11:50,077 Just feel like something... 194 00:11:50,111 --> 00:11:52,111 something's definitely going on. 195 00:11:52,146 --> 00:11:54,594 I just, I don't know. I love the guy, and I hope he's all right. 196 00:11:54,629 --> 00:11:55,905 That's all I really want. 197 00:11:57,767 --> 00:11:59,215 Well, let's see if he's here. 198 00:12:21,525 --> 00:12:23,594 - Holy [bleep]. - What's up, buddy? 199 00:12:23,629 --> 00:12:24,905 - How you doing? 200 00:12:24,939 --> 00:12:27,111 - Good. Are you here? - Yeah. Yeah. 201 00:12:27,146 --> 00:12:28,939 What's going on? 202 00:12:28,974 --> 00:12:30,663 - Oh, lots. - Yeah. 203 00:12:30,698 --> 00:12:33,043 Yeah. 204 00:12:33,077 --> 00:12:35,043 - You all right? - Yeah, I'm okay. 205 00:12:35,077 --> 00:12:36,939 Um, there's probably lots to tell you, 206 00:12:36,974 --> 00:12:38,629 I... I'm, uh, I'm working on a car. 207 00:12:38,663 --> 00:12:40,560 - Do you want to just meet me in the garage? - [Zee] Yeah. 208 00:12:40,594 --> 00:12:42,353 - I can meet you there. - Okay, let me put my shoes on. 209 00:12:51,111 --> 00:12:52,387 - How you doing? - Good to see you. 210 00:12:54,318 --> 00:12:55,767 Well, yeah. 211 00:12:55,801 --> 00:12:58,318 All right, I guess I'm standing. 212 00:12:58,353 --> 00:13:00,663 Check this out though, I, uh... 213 00:13:00,698 --> 00:13:02,560 I had a dehumidifier and everything running in the garage. 214 00:13:02,594 --> 00:13:05,491 - Yeah. - Dehumidifier actually quit on me and I didn't notice. 215 00:13:05,525 --> 00:13:09,560 - And, uh, there you see it oxidizing. - Oh. 216 00:13:11,870 --> 00:13:14,456 - At least you caught it quick enough. - Yeah. 217 00:13:14,491 --> 00:13:18,560 They said they think they can, you know, get back on top of it, anyways. 218 00:13:25,077 --> 00:13:26,318 Uh... 219 00:13:27,111 --> 00:13:29,629 Why? Why are you here? 220 00:13:30,732 --> 00:13:32,077 Why aren't you mining? 221 00:13:33,077 --> 00:13:34,043 Um... 222 00:13:36,974 --> 00:13:39,249 Just wondering that myself a lot too, I... 223 00:13:41,560 --> 00:13:43,974 I don't know, man, I just haven't been... 224 00:13:44,008 --> 00:13:46,180 I haven't, I haven't been up for it. 225 00:13:48,111 --> 00:13:50,525 - It sounds weird. - It does. 226 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:54,111 - I know it sounds weird. - Physical, mental what? 227 00:13:55,836 --> 00:13:59,008 I, I just, I got back from mine last year 228 00:13:59,043 --> 00:14:01,077 and, you know, I crashed hard, like I always do. 229 00:14:01,111 --> 00:14:03,870 You know, I put in so many hours up there, you know, I spent a couple of weeks. 230 00:14:03,905 --> 00:14:05,870 I just sleep and I catch up, right? 231 00:14:05,905 --> 00:14:09,180 - This year, I just haven't been able to get out of that. - Just a funk? 232 00:14:09,215 --> 00:14:11,732 I guess it's a combination. 233 00:14:11,767 --> 00:14:14,491 I mean, there's, you know, a seasonal affective disorder 234 00:14:14,525 --> 00:14:17,422 that they think I have and then just depression and I... 235 00:14:20,215 --> 00:14:22,732 That's, it's tough for me to accept, because I didn't grow up like that. 236 00:14:22,767 --> 00:14:24,043 No. 237 00:14:24,077 --> 00:14:26,215 I mean, when do you think all the depression stuff started? 238 00:14:26,249 --> 00:14:30,146 I mean, when we went up, what was it, a month after your mom passed? 239 00:14:30,180 --> 00:14:33,456 Did you ever really grieve for that yet? 240 00:14:33,491 --> 00:14:35,629 - You know, I have her house. - Yeah. 241 00:14:35,663 --> 00:14:38,525 - It looks, it's like she never left right now. - Yeah. 242 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:40,560 And... and, uh... 243 00:14:42,077 --> 00:14:44,870 I haven't been to the house for two years. 244 00:14:44,905 --> 00:14:46,077 - You know what I mean? - Yeah. 245 00:14:46,111 --> 00:14:48,180 - I haven't been able to go up there. - Yeah. 246 00:14:48,215 --> 00:14:49,698 The... the... the other tough part 247 00:14:49,732 --> 00:14:51,249 is I know it's not just me, right? 248 00:14:51,284 --> 00:14:53,525 - Like, there's a lot of people counting on me. - Yeah. 249 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:58,008 And everybody's in limbo right now, wondering, and I'm counting on me. 250 00:14:58,043 --> 00:15:01,318 Like, I can't, I can't sit here in my house. 251 00:15:01,353 --> 00:15:03,732 No, but I would just get yourself right. 252 00:15:03,767 --> 00:15:06,905 And once you get yourself right, 253 00:15:06,939 --> 00:15:11,008 go ahead and go back up and just kill it. 254 00:15:11,043 --> 00:15:12,836 - Keep having successful seasons. - Yeah. 255 00:15:12,870 --> 00:15:14,560 That all you know how to do. 256 00:15:14,594 --> 00:15:16,939 - Yeah, I appreciate that, man. - All right. 257 00:15:16,974 --> 00:15:18,491 - I'll talk to you. Okay. - All right. 258 00:15:18,525 --> 00:15:20,284 - Keep you phone on. - I love you. 259 00:15:20,318 --> 00:15:22,422 - Maybe answer it. - Yeah, yeah. 260 00:15:22,456 --> 00:15:23,491 I'm getting better. 261 00:15:25,180 --> 00:15:26,456 I'm just relieved. 262 00:15:26,491 --> 00:15:27,870 He's doing the steps he needs. 263 00:15:27,905 --> 00:15:31,077 It sounds like to get back, um, to old Rick. 264 00:15:31,111 --> 00:15:35,491 So things are good. Hopefully he just keeps doing what he's doing. 265 00:15:41,732 --> 00:15:43,249 <i>I am doing better.</i> 266 00:15:43,284 --> 00:15:46,491 But it's, uh, there's just a lot of things that I don't understand still, 267 00:15:46,525 --> 00:15:49,732 you know, with what I'm... whatever this is I'm going through. 268 00:15:49,767 --> 00:15:51,284 It's, uh, you know, it's tough. 269 00:15:51,318 --> 00:15:53,284 Well, Zee brought up, you know, my mother passing 270 00:15:53,318 --> 00:15:57,077 and... and, you know, I... 271 00:15:57,111 --> 00:15:59,801 I don't like talking about it, because he's not wrong or, you know, 272 00:15:59,836 --> 00:16:02,767 I have her house and I haven't been there in two years. 273 00:16:02,801 --> 00:16:06,387 You know, I probably need to go there and I need to face it. 274 00:16:06,422 --> 00:16:08,663 And maybe that'll help, maybe it won't. 275 00:16:08,698 --> 00:16:10,456 Once again, that's the frustrating thing about it. 276 00:16:10,491 --> 00:16:12,870 I don't know what's causing it. 277 00:16:12,905 --> 00:16:16,111 And I think that's, I don't know if you ever know. 278 00:16:16,146 --> 00:16:18,456 When I'm ready, I will be gold mining again. 279 00:16:18,491 --> 00:16:20,008 I just don't know when that is. 280 00:16:52,525 --> 00:16:56,077 <i>For over 30 years, Tony Beets has reigned</i> 281 00:16:56,111 --> 00:16:59,318 <i>as the undisputed king of the Klondike.</i> 282 00:16:59,353 --> 00:17:03,594 <i>But with red tape blocking him from mining his Indian River claims</i> 283 00:17:03,629 --> 00:17:06,111 <i>he's trapped on Paradise Hill.</i> 284 00:17:25,870 --> 00:17:28,353 <i> To hit his 5000 ounce goal.</i> 285 00:17:28,387 --> 00:17:32,318 <i>Tony's chasing the elusive gold rich white channel pay layer</i> 286 00:17:32,353 --> 00:17:35,525 <i>in two of the deepest cuts he's ever mined.</i> 287 00:17:37,077 --> 00:17:40,249 <i>First, the nine acre 130 foot</i> 288 00:17:40,284 --> 00:17:43,422 <i>deep cold cut where he's down to paydirt.</i> 289 00:18:03,111 --> 00:18:05,284 <i> The crew stockpiled paydirt,</i> 290 00:18:05,318 --> 00:18:09,594 <i>ready for youngest son Mike to start sluicing by the end of the day.</i> 291 00:18:10,663 --> 00:18:12,525 I want to get sluicing. 292 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:16,594 Because you gotta remember if we're not sluicing all we're doing is spending. 293 00:18:16,629 --> 00:18:19,870 It gets very expensive not to sluice. 294 00:18:19,905 --> 00:18:22,870 <i>Eldest son, 34-year-old Kevin,</i> 295 00:18:22,905 --> 00:18:25,180 <i>whose fixed equipment since childhood</i> 296 00:18:25,215 --> 00:18:27,525 <i>prepares the 30-year-old trommel</i> 297 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,249 <i>for its first fire up of the season.</i> 298 00:18:30,284 --> 00:18:32,939 <i>Glenn is on his way to finish up his checks</i> 299 00:18:32,974 --> 00:18:36,698 and then at that point, fire up the pump at full speed. 300 00:18:36,732 --> 00:18:39,870 But [bleep] we're pretty much ready to [bleep] go. 301 00:18:41,215 --> 00:18:43,939 <i>To wash precious gold out of the dirt</i> 302 00:18:43,974 --> 00:18:48,422 <i>they need to feed the plant with 1500 gallons of water a minute.</i> 303 00:18:49,974 --> 00:18:54,732 <i>A 900 horsepower pump propels water from the intake pond</i> 304 00:18:54,767 --> 00:18:57,525 <i>half a mile uphill to the wash plant.</i> 305 00:19:01,422 --> 00:19:02,456 Yeah. 306 00:19:23,870 --> 00:19:28,043 <i>The pipe that links the intake pond to the pump is iced up.</i> 307 00:19:35,629 --> 00:19:36,663 <i>Yes, I do.</i> 308 00:19:42,594 --> 00:19:44,353 <i>Oh, yes, I will.</i> 309 00:19:46,077 --> 00:19:48,491 <i> Over nearly 40 years of mining,</i> 310 00:19:48,525 --> 00:19:53,456 <i>Tony has collected a machine for every problem.</i> 311 00:19:53,491 --> 00:19:58,939 <i>The custom built steam truck heats up water to over 100 degrees,</i> 312 00:19:58,974 --> 00:20:04,043 <i>then fires it out as a 2000 PSI jet of hot steam.</i> 313 00:20:16,663 --> 00:20:19,525 So this year, Tony talked a lot about stepping back, 314 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:21,801 giving me and Mike more responsibility. 315 00:20:23,663 --> 00:20:26,456 But it's hard for him. He's just so used to being in charge. 316 00:20:27,698 --> 00:20:29,387 He just can't keep his fingers out of the pie. 317 00:20:34,525 --> 00:20:36,767 - Any more, I'd be worried. 318 00:20:53,801 --> 00:20:55,215 We hit something. 319 00:21:02,284 --> 00:21:06,905 <i>Just three feet in the steamer rod is blocked.</i> 320 00:21:17,111 --> 00:21:18,215 All right. 321 00:21:22,008 --> 00:21:23,077 Pulling it. 322 00:21:29,525 --> 00:21:30,974 Ice coming out. 323 00:21:40,939 --> 00:21:43,422 - Oh, yeah. 324 00:21:43,456 --> 00:21:44,836 No, that one's solid. 325 00:21:58,456 --> 00:22:01,525 <i>The ice in the pipe stretches 30 feet</i> 326 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:04,387 <i>all the way from the intake pond to the pump.</i> 327 00:22:06,905 --> 00:22:09,318 <i>It will take days to thaw.</i> 328 00:22:09,353 --> 00:22:15,146 <i>Every hour the trommel is down costs Tony, $3,000.</i> 329 00:22:37,525 --> 00:22:41,870 <i>I just worry every year when you guys go up there on the roads,</i> 330 00:22:41,905 --> 00:22:44,456 top of the world highway makes my stomach churn. 331 00:22:44,491 --> 00:22:46,870 - So I just want everybody to be careful and... - Right. 332 00:22:46,905 --> 00:22:48,525 - Mm-hmm. - ...watch out for each other. 333 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,422 We know we're going a long ways away from home. 334 00:22:51,456 --> 00:22:54,249 <i>23-year-old Brandon Clayton</i> 335 00:22:54,284 --> 00:22:57,008 <i>and his 20-year-old brother Brady</i> 336 00:22:57,043 --> 00:22:59,974 <i>are part of a new generation of young miners</i> 337 00:23:00,008 --> 00:23:03,491 <i>preparing for a make or break season in the Yukon.</i> 338 00:23:05,318 --> 00:23:08,353 You guys are leaving tomorrow? What's your plan? 339 00:23:08,387 --> 00:23:11,836 Well, we're going for 500 ounces of gold this season, 340 00:23:11,870 --> 00:23:13,456 but fuel is through the roof, so... 341 00:23:13,491 --> 00:23:14,836 Mm-hmm. 342 00:23:14,870 --> 00:23:17,905 I think we just got to figure out what's economically viable 343 00:23:17,939 --> 00:23:22,594 and if all goes well and get some pay to the plant 344 00:23:22,629 --> 00:23:24,732 and hopefully start washing within a week. 345 00:23:24,767 --> 00:23:29,215 You've got to get ground stripped quick, screening for sure. 346 00:23:29,249 --> 00:23:33,249 And then you just give her give her hell. 347 00:23:33,284 --> 00:23:36,249 <i>For father Glenn and the rest of the family,</i> 348 00:23:36,284 --> 00:23:39,525 <i>the financial stakes couldn't be higher.</i> 349 00:23:41,077 --> 00:23:45,215 At the end of the day, our goal is to clear up our debts, 350 00:23:45,249 --> 00:23:47,560 <i>and that means all of us work.</i> 351 00:23:47,594 --> 00:23:52,594 <i>In 2014 when oil tanked, bills were big and stacking up</i> 352 00:23:52,629 --> 00:23:55,801 <i>and everybody's battling their own battles.</i> 353 00:23:55,836 --> 00:23:57,491 <i>I guess we lost ours.</i> 354 00:23:57,525 --> 00:23:59,801 We ended up going broke 355 00:23:59,836 --> 00:24:04,284 and, and had to restart. 356 00:24:04,318 --> 00:24:06,111 - His pudgy, little face. 357 00:24:07,353 --> 00:24:09,629 <i>The family's construction business</i> 358 00:24:09,663 --> 00:24:12,905 <i>relies heavily on the Albertan oil industry.</i> 359 00:24:12,939 --> 00:24:16,767 <i>So when oil prices plummeted in 2014,</i> 360 00:24:16,801 --> 00:24:20,008 <i>they were pushed into crippling debt.</i> 361 00:24:20,043 --> 00:24:23,215 Very much into machinery, he's sitting there wanting to drive the tractor. 362 00:24:25,422 --> 00:24:29,043 <i>Now using decommissioned equipment from their business,</i> 363 00:24:29,077 --> 00:24:32,974 <i>Brandon and Brady are gambling the little money they have</i> 364 00:24:33,008 --> 00:24:38,043 <i>to claw back the millions they owe by mining for gold.</i> 365 00:24:38,077 --> 00:24:42,249 <i>This is my passion. I love gold mining. I absolutely love it.</i> 366 00:24:42,284 --> 00:24:45,456 <i>I think mine and my brother's work ethic came from my dad</i> 367 00:24:45,491 --> 00:24:47,422 and we're just happy to carry it on 368 00:24:47,456 --> 00:24:50,560 and help out our family business. 369 00:24:50,594 --> 00:24:52,111 Brady and I have a pretty good relationship. 370 00:24:52,146 --> 00:24:54,318 He does complain a little bit when he... gets it, 371 00:24:54,353 --> 00:24:55,905 when I give him the [bleep] jobs, 372 00:24:55,939 --> 00:24:58,456 but they've got to be done and he knows that, so he goes and gets them done. 373 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,353 <i>Taking orders from my brother</i> 374 00:25:02,387 --> 00:25:04,249 obviously brothers, we butt heads sometimes. 375 00:25:04,284 --> 00:25:08,836 I mean, he's showing me everything that I know up there. 376 00:25:08,870 --> 00:25:12,249 He is the boss, so got to respect that. 377 00:25:12,284 --> 00:25:16,905 <i>The brothers have been fixing heavy machinery since they were kids.</i> 378 00:25:16,939 --> 00:25:21,146 <i>Experience they will need in the remote Yukon.</i> 379 00:25:21,180 --> 00:25:23,249 <i>And we're hoping to hit her good this season.</i> 380 00:25:23,284 --> 00:25:25,111 <i>We're going to work her ass off.</i> 381 00:25:25,146 --> 00:25:27,698 We're coming up to this season with bigger equipment, 382 00:25:27,732 --> 00:25:30,836 more equipment and more manpower. 383 00:25:30,870 --> 00:25:34,111 <i>Last season, Brandon and Brady</i> 384 00:25:34,146 --> 00:25:37,215 <i>joined forces with second year miner Fred Lewis.</i> 385 00:25:37,249 --> 00:25:42,284 We'll pull from my area, your area, just [bleep] get dirt all around this season. 386 00:25:42,318 --> 00:25:44,870 - And we can just split the gold, 50-50. - We got a deal. 387 00:25:44,905 --> 00:25:46,491 I'm down with it. 388 00:25:46,525 --> 00:25:49,905 <i>Agreeing to share their home-built wash plant, the dirt devil</i> 389 00:25:49,939 --> 00:25:53,905 <i>in exchange for pay, led to the Clayton's best season ever.</i> 390 00:25:53,939 --> 00:25:56,077 - 38.66. - 38. 391 00:25:57,732 --> 00:26:00,353 - That's pretty good for you as well, right? - Yeah, I'm happy with that. 392 00:26:00,387 --> 00:26:01,525 Yeah. 393 00:26:02,836 --> 00:26:06,008 <i>This year, they plan to mine solo</i> 394 00:26:06,043 --> 00:26:10,594 <i>to increase profit and pay off their family debt faster.</i> 395 00:26:12,525 --> 00:26:15,215 Yeah, the last thing we want to do is let you down. 396 00:26:15,249 --> 00:26:19,008 So we're going to do everything we can to keep that going strong. 397 00:26:19,043 --> 00:26:21,456 You don't have to worry about ever let me down. 398 00:26:21,491 --> 00:26:26,629 You guys are... I'm pretty proud of you guys, so I know it's tough... 399 00:26:26,663 --> 00:26:28,870 It's tough slogging up here. 400 00:26:28,905 --> 00:26:34,215 And I know you guys work hard, so you don't have to worry about ever letting me down. 401 00:26:34,249 --> 00:26:36,767 You do your best, and that's all we can ask for. 402 00:26:40,491 --> 00:26:43,663 <i>Delayed two weeks fixing faulty equipment,</i> 403 00:26:43,698 --> 00:26:47,560 <i>the brothers are finally ready to make the three day drive</i> 404 00:26:47,594 --> 00:26:49,215 <i>to the Yukon.</i> 405 00:26:49,249 --> 00:26:50,594 <i>You know, the pressure is already on.</i> 406 00:26:50,629 --> 00:26:53,732 <i>We should be in the Yukon at California Creek</i> 407 00:26:53,767 --> 00:26:55,422 <i>running gold by now and we're not.</i> 408 00:26:55,456 --> 00:26:58,491 <i>So we've got to hustle it up.</i> 409 00:26:58,525 --> 00:27:03,870 It's very humbling to hear that your kids are invested as much as they are. 410 00:27:03,905 --> 00:27:05,146 - Love you. - Love you. 411 00:27:05,180 --> 00:27:07,525 - Yeah. - Bye, mom. 412 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:08,801 - Love you. - Love you. 413 00:27:08,836 --> 00:27:11,594 <i>They could go on and do whatever they want</i> 414 00:27:11,629 --> 00:27:14,767 because they're very talented in many areas. 415 00:27:14,801 --> 00:27:17,422 Take care of mom and dad. 416 00:27:17,456 --> 00:27:22,629 They just want to contribute and do it all together. 417 00:27:22,663 --> 00:27:23,836 Mm-hmm. 418 00:27:32,767 --> 00:27:36,008 Yukon here we come. Let's go get some gold. 419 00:27:47,905 --> 00:27:49,801 I just landed here in Fairbanks. 420 00:27:49,836 --> 00:27:52,422 But we've got a mountain to do in the Yukon still, 421 00:27:52,456 --> 00:27:56,422 so there's just a lot to juggle, you know? 422 00:27:56,456 --> 00:27:58,974 <i>Nearly three weeks into the season,</i> 423 00:27:59,008 --> 00:28:02,698 <i>Parker has left his crew running his Yukon mine</i> 424 00:28:02,732 --> 00:28:05,525 <i>to jump start his new operation in Alaska.</i> 425 00:28:07,180 --> 00:28:11,525 Any time you start getting very spread out, it's pretty high risk. 426 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,939 If I can't figure out how to get something to work in two different areas 427 00:28:14,974 --> 00:28:17,870 then I shouldn't be doing this. 428 00:28:17,905 --> 00:28:19,387 <i> To make matters worse,</i> 429 00:28:19,422 --> 00:28:22,422 <i>a four month delay on his new wash plant</i> 430 00:28:22,456 --> 00:28:26,146 <i>designed to tackle Alaska's deep clay-riddled ground,</i> 431 00:28:26,180 --> 00:28:29,698 <i>has left Parker's plans shot to pieces.</i> 432 00:28:29,732 --> 00:28:35,146 <i>Now he must face up to legendary Alaskan landowner John Reeves.</i> 433 00:28:36,249 --> 00:28:38,318 Basically, I don't know how big of a season 434 00:28:38,353 --> 00:28:39,629 we're going to be able to have here, 435 00:28:39,663 --> 00:28:42,732 because by the time the new plant for Fairbanks is built, 436 00:28:42,767 --> 00:28:44,353 most of the season is going to be gone. 437 00:28:44,387 --> 00:28:48,560 And John really wants us to be doing at least 1000 ounces a year. 438 00:28:48,594 --> 00:28:51,594 That might prove problematic. 439 00:28:54,318 --> 00:28:57,974 <i>Worst case scenario, things could get a little bit nasty.</i> 440 00:28:59,767 --> 00:29:00,870 - Hi. 441 00:29:00,905 --> 00:29:02,663 - Good. How are you? 442 00:29:02,698 --> 00:29:04,318 - Welcome to Fairbanks. - Hey, John. 443 00:29:04,353 --> 00:29:06,456 Welcome back, dude. 444 00:29:06,491 --> 00:29:08,525 - Hi, Drew, good to see you. - Yeah. Good to see you, too. 445 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:09,698 - Have a seat. - Oh, thanks. 446 00:29:09,732 --> 00:29:11,215 Yeah. 447 00:29:11,249 --> 00:29:14,008 <i> John's daughter, Ilaura, works for the family business</i> 448 00:29:14,043 --> 00:29:16,318 with husband Drew. 449 00:29:16,353 --> 00:29:17,491 So what's new? 450 00:29:17,525 --> 00:29:20,008 Well, down the barrel, our main permit 451 00:29:20,043 --> 00:29:23,491 in the Yukon is expiring at the end of this mining season. 452 00:29:23,525 --> 00:29:28,077 So we have to have that whole block of ground mined 453 00:29:28,111 --> 00:29:31,318 and reclaimed by the end of this season. 454 00:29:31,353 --> 00:29:33,180 So we're just slammed over there. 455 00:29:33,215 --> 00:29:35,560 I understand you're a busy guy 456 00:29:35,594 --> 00:29:37,215 and you got some big operations going 457 00:29:37,249 --> 00:29:39,663 and this is going to be another big operation. 458 00:29:39,698 --> 00:29:41,043 So what's your plan, dude? 459 00:29:42,663 --> 00:29:45,387 I wish I had some good news about 460 00:29:45,422 --> 00:29:48,318 this whole operation right now, but I don't. 461 00:29:52,318 --> 00:29:56,525 We spent a good chunk of the winter designing a plant. 462 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:57,905 We were trying to find one to buy. 463 00:29:57,939 --> 00:30:00,111 By the time we pulled the trigger on it, 464 00:30:00,146 --> 00:30:04,836 the lead time puts us into the like back third of the season. 465 00:30:06,732 --> 00:30:08,732 So you're not thinking you're going to get your plant 466 00:30:08,767 --> 00:30:12,594 up here until, what, late summer or... 467 00:30:12,629 --> 00:30:16,353 Yeah. Right now it's looking like we're going to miss 468 00:30:16,387 --> 00:30:19,249 at least two thirds of the season. 469 00:30:19,284 --> 00:30:24,284 Yeah, so I don't know what that means for our deal, you know? 470 00:30:26,732 --> 00:30:28,111 Our deal's a deal. 471 00:30:30,111 --> 00:30:34,111 You gave me an advanced minimum royalty, which covers this season. 472 00:30:36,629 --> 00:30:41,249 - If you say I'm not going out there, you lost it. - All right. 473 00:30:43,387 --> 00:30:45,284 There is a little bit of a gold rush going on. 474 00:30:45,318 --> 00:30:47,594 And with things happening in this economy, 475 00:30:47,629 --> 00:30:50,146 a lot of people go to gold as a hedge. 476 00:30:50,180 --> 00:30:54,629 So we got a lot of miners and there is a lot of outside interest. 477 00:30:54,663 --> 00:30:56,663 I'm still committed to the project 478 00:30:56,698 --> 00:30:58,180 and still committed to the ground, 479 00:30:58,215 --> 00:31:01,560 and we'll make it work, one way or another. We'll make it work. 480 00:31:01,594 --> 00:31:03,870 I just right now, I don't know what that looks like. 481 00:31:03,905 --> 00:31:05,870 It's a tricky business that you're in. 482 00:31:08,525 --> 00:31:11,905 If would help, Ilaura and Jordan have been out there 483 00:31:11,939 --> 00:31:15,008 prospecting for quite a few years, maybe ten years. 484 00:31:15,043 --> 00:31:18,801 We're at a stage now where I could definitely use all the help we can get. 485 00:31:18,836 --> 00:31:20,387 You might need to get creative. 486 00:31:20,422 --> 00:31:22,663 We kind of know some spots that are pretty good, 487 00:31:22,698 --> 00:31:26,594 so there might be something that can keep you afloat, you know, 488 00:31:26,629 --> 00:31:29,629 while you're waiting for your, your pretty machine. 489 00:31:29,663 --> 00:31:32,836 - On Cleary Creek. - On Cleary Creek, some old drift mines. 490 00:31:32,870 --> 00:31:34,801 Hmm. Maybe I'll have to twist your arm 491 00:31:34,836 --> 00:31:37,801 and try to get, try to get your secret spots. 492 00:31:37,836 --> 00:31:39,491 Figure it out. 493 00:31:39,525 --> 00:31:42,146 Can I show them where there's some gold out there on top? 494 00:31:42,180 --> 00:31:43,560 - Yeah. - Thanks, guys. 495 00:31:43,594 --> 00:31:44,732 - I'll be... - Thank you. 496 00:31:44,767 --> 00:31:46,318 - I'll be back soon, hopefully. - Yeah. 497 00:31:46,353 --> 00:31:48,870 And, um, and we'll put a plan together, 498 00:31:48,905 --> 00:31:51,422 and we'll start whaling some dirt out there and find some gold. 499 00:31:51,456 --> 00:31:52,974 - All right, dude. 500 00:31:53,008 --> 00:31:54,077 Thank you. 501 00:31:54,111 --> 00:31:55,422 - Thank you. - You're welcome. 502 00:31:55,456 --> 00:31:57,215 - Excited to show you around. - Appreciate it. 503 00:31:57,249 --> 00:31:59,008 - Looking forward to it. 504 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,663 <i> If Parker is to have a successful season,</i> 505 00:32:03,698 --> 00:32:06,698 <i>he now needs to come up with a new mining plan.</i> 506 00:32:08,249 --> 00:32:09,732 Overall, that seemed to go pretty well. 507 00:32:09,767 --> 00:32:13,284 You know, it seems like John and Drew and Ilaura 508 00:32:13,318 --> 00:32:16,698 all understand that we're really under the gun. 509 00:32:16,732 --> 00:32:19,008 We're fighting a battle on all fronts. 510 00:32:19,043 --> 00:32:22,801 We're fighting, you know, just supply chain issues. 511 00:32:22,836 --> 00:32:28,767 The big thing is just I do want to get this project going and make it happen. 512 00:32:47,939 --> 00:32:50,560 - Yeah? 513 00:32:50,594 --> 00:32:53,491 - Okay. 514 00:32:53,525 --> 00:32:57,629 - Yeah, that works. 515 00:32:57,663 --> 00:33:01,180 <i> Tony Beets is desperate to start sluicing,</i> 516 00:33:01,215 --> 00:33:05,491 <i>but he needs water and the pipe to the pump is blocked with ice.</i> 517 00:33:11,180 --> 00:33:13,767 <i>Veteran miner Len Hoekstra</i> 518 00:33:13,801 --> 00:33:16,387 <i>has spent a day clearing ice from the top half</i> 519 00:33:16,422 --> 00:33:18,663 <i>of the pipe closest to the pump.</i> 520 00:33:32,525 --> 00:33:34,767 Looks like it. 521 00:33:34,801 --> 00:33:38,491 <i>When testing the lower end of the pipe through an access vent.</i> 522 00:33:38,525 --> 00:33:41,594 <i>Tony comes up against more ice.</i> 523 00:33:41,629 --> 00:33:46,732 <i>It could take Len another 12 hours to steam the bottom of the pipe out.</i> 524 00:33:46,767 --> 00:33:50,698 <i>This downtime will cost Tony $36,000</i> 525 00:33:50,732 --> 00:33:55,077 <i>in wages, fuel and gold he can't get mined.</i> 526 00:34:12,249 --> 00:34:14,491 <i>All right. I'll be up there soon.</i> 527 00:34:16,284 --> 00:34:22,215 <i>Tony's plan, open a channel to the river and fill the pond.</i> 528 00:34:24,043 --> 00:34:28,939 <i>15 feet, more water will increase the pressure on the ice in the pipe</i> 529 00:34:28,974 --> 00:34:31,318 <i>by seven pounds per square inch,</i> 530 00:34:32,870 --> 00:34:36,456 <i>which should be enough to force out the frozen blockage.</i> 531 00:35:05,525 --> 00:35:07,215 Get a bunch of pay ready. 532 00:35:08,387 --> 00:35:10,560 The last [bleep] thing before we can get sluicing is 533 00:35:10,594 --> 00:35:11,974 is to make our pump get goin'. 534 00:35:14,387 --> 00:35:18,043 <i>The Beets family races to get on the gold.</i> 535 00:35:20,491 --> 00:35:25,801 <i>To send water to the wash plant they need their frozen pipes clear of ice.</i> 536 00:35:39,422 --> 00:35:41,801 yeah. Have water. 537 00:35:43,215 --> 00:35:45,456 As you can see, we've got a full pipe of water, 538 00:35:45,491 --> 00:35:47,732 meaning all the ice has been blown the [bleep] out. 539 00:35:52,249 --> 00:35:54,629 - How's that look? - Beautiful. 540 00:35:56,801 --> 00:35:58,456 Yeah. Everything up top should be good to go. 541 00:36:07,629 --> 00:36:09,870 Okay. Three, two, one. Boom! 542 00:36:24,767 --> 00:36:26,491 <i> A day behind schedule</i> 543 00:36:26,525 --> 00:36:29,387 <i>the water pump is up and running,</i> 544 00:36:29,422 --> 00:36:33,870 <i>so Tony is finally ready to get his 30 year old trommel turning.</i> 545 00:36:51,318 --> 00:36:53,215 <i>Good for Tony.</i> 546 00:37:19,180 --> 00:37:20,939 <i> After two weeks mining</i> 547 00:37:20,974 --> 00:37:26,008 <i>Tony's finally running the cold cut's gold rich White Channel pay,</i> 548 00:37:26,043 --> 00:37:30,491 <i>the first step on the long road to his 5000 ounce gold.</i> 549 00:37:58,043 --> 00:38:02,801 We're stoked to be here, but we need to hit the ground running. 550 00:38:02,836 --> 00:38:07,111 <i>After a three day, 1700 mile drive,</i> 551 00:38:07,146 --> 00:38:11,629 <i>23 year old mine boss Brandon Clayton and his brother Brady</i> 552 00:38:11,663 --> 00:38:13,974 <i>finally arrive in Dawson City.</i> 553 00:38:16,077 --> 00:38:17,698 We're already late. 554 00:38:17,732 --> 00:38:22,663 We're going to have a tough time trying to make a 500 ounce season gold already. 555 00:38:22,698 --> 00:38:25,491 For my brother and I want to help out with the family debt 556 00:38:25,525 --> 00:38:27,525 and we want to get that paid off. 557 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,939 We're on our way to check out our equipment right now. That's out all winter long. 558 00:38:30,974 --> 00:38:33,732 We've got to get things on the go and as quick as we can 559 00:38:33,767 --> 00:38:36,629 to get out to California Creek and start washing dirt. 560 00:38:39,836 --> 00:38:43,456 <i>The Clayton brothers left their vital D8 Dozer</i> 561 00:38:43,491 --> 00:38:45,732 <i>locked up in town in the off season.</i> 562 00:38:47,077 --> 00:38:48,318 Let's see how she starts. 563 00:38:54,801 --> 00:38:56,939 Oh, look at that. Not bad at all. 564 00:38:56,974 --> 00:39:00,629 Satt all winter, she's fired right up. 565 00:39:03,456 --> 00:39:05,215 Not bad. 566 00:39:10,491 --> 00:39:12,387 What the heck is going on here? 567 00:39:14,594 --> 00:39:16,043 That didn't seem right. 568 00:39:17,698 --> 00:39:19,939 Doesn't want to move in first. 569 00:39:19,974 --> 00:39:22,215 There's something wrong, eh? 570 00:39:22,249 --> 00:39:24,111 It's holding itself. 571 00:39:24,146 --> 00:39:25,939 - I'll go find Shane. - Okay. 572 00:39:25,974 --> 00:39:26,974 Shane! 573 00:39:28,284 --> 00:39:29,594 What's happening, Brandon? 574 00:39:29,629 --> 00:39:32,491 <i>Crew member, mechanic, Shane Colliou</i> 575 00:39:32,525 --> 00:39:35,008 <i>works for the family construction business.</i> 576 00:39:35,043 --> 00:39:37,974 So when I put it in gear, it's like slipping almost. 577 00:39:38,008 --> 00:39:41,663 It's not moving, but second gear works just fine. 578 00:39:41,698 --> 00:39:45,111 Nothing's wrong, but first gear, it just doesn't... 579 00:39:45,146 --> 00:39:46,698 something's not clicking right. 580 00:39:46,732 --> 00:39:49,629 We'll pull the filters and take them out, tear them apart 581 00:39:49,663 --> 00:39:51,456 and see if we can find anything inside. 582 00:39:51,491 --> 00:39:52,629 Okay. 583 00:39:54,318 --> 00:39:56,008 <i> Shane has a quick test</i> 584 00:39:56,043 --> 00:39:59,249 to find out if the cogs in the transmission are damaged. 585 00:40:01,525 --> 00:40:05,456 Any filings that we find in here would be, 586 00:40:05,491 --> 00:40:08,111 we got something coming apart inside the transmission. 587 00:40:08,146 --> 00:40:10,767 And that's why we don't have first gear possibly. 588 00:40:12,318 --> 00:40:14,387 <i>Metal filings in the gearbox</i> 589 00:40:14,422 --> 00:40:18,077 <i>come from the gear cogs grinding abnormally.</i> 590 00:40:18,111 --> 00:40:19,698 Can you grab this Brandon? 591 00:40:19,732 --> 00:40:24,836 <i>A sure fire sign. The transmission is damaged beyond repair.</i> 592 00:40:29,318 --> 00:40:32,801 Look at the crap in here. That's bad. 593 00:40:32,836 --> 00:40:34,422 Holly [bleep]. 594 00:40:34,456 --> 00:40:38,387 Yeah. I think you got a lot of metal filings. 595 00:40:38,422 --> 00:40:41,836 We need that Cat to be stripping. I can't even run dirt. 596 00:40:41,870 --> 00:40:44,353 And putting new filters in ain't going to help it. 597 00:40:44,387 --> 00:40:47,870 - You got to get a transmission up here. - A transmission? 598 00:40:47,905 --> 00:40:49,043 Oh, yeah. 599 00:40:49,077 --> 00:40:51,663 Holy, we're down before we even started. 600 00:40:53,663 --> 00:40:55,732 <i>We were hoping to be washing dirt in a week,</i> 601 00:40:55,767 --> 00:41:00,180 but realistically, that is not happening anymore. 602 00:41:01,594 --> 00:41:03,318 I don't know what to do. 603 00:41:03,353 --> 00:41:07,284 We'll have to see how quick we can get a transmission and see what it's worth, too. 604 00:41:08,318 --> 00:41:09,767 We don't have a whole lot of money. 605 00:41:16,111 --> 00:41:18,974 - <i>Hello?</i> - Yeah. Where's Dad? 606 00:41:19,008 --> 00:41:20,629 <i>Oh I don't know where he disappeared to.</i> 607 00:41:20,663 --> 00:41:23,525 <i>- He might be downstairs because we're out of water.</i> - Oh, okay. 608 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:25,801 <i>Wait just a sec, I'll grab him.</i> 609 00:41:25,836 --> 00:41:27,215 - Okay. - Yeah, Dad. 610 00:41:29,146 --> 00:41:31,146 We just got up here, 611 00:41:31,180 --> 00:41:35,594 and, uh, we're actually going through the... the equipment, 612 00:41:35,629 --> 00:41:37,594 and we started the dozer up. 613 00:41:37,629 --> 00:41:39,077 Shane, wanted to look at the filters, 614 00:41:39,111 --> 00:41:40,594 so we pulled them apart, 615 00:41:40,629 --> 00:41:43,318 and, uh, they're full of filings, filings and dirt. 616 00:41:43,353 --> 00:41:45,008 So, so, it's gone. 617 00:41:45,043 --> 00:41:48,077 We... we... we kind of need a transmission, unfortunately. 618 00:41:52,043 --> 00:41:53,732 <i>Oh.</i> 619 00:41:53,767 --> 00:41:55,491 I don't know how much it's going to cost, 620 00:41:55,525 --> 00:41:59,974 but, uh, I don't really have a choice, unfortunately. 621 00:42:00,008 --> 00:42:02,077 We can't do anything without that dozer. 622 00:42:03,698 --> 00:42:05,146 <i>Let me see what I can do.</i> 623 00:42:05,180 --> 00:42:07,008 <i>Let me pull a few strings, make some calls.</i> 624 00:42:07,043 --> 00:42:08,318 Okay. Awesome. Thank you. 625 00:42:08,353 --> 00:42:10,732 I love you. So, let me know what you can find. 626 00:42:22,180 --> 00:42:23,491 It feels like we're coming here 627 00:42:23,525 --> 00:42:25,318 with our hands tied behind our backs 628 00:42:25,353 --> 00:42:26,939 and just getting punched in the face. 629 00:42:26,974 --> 00:42:29,249 <i>It's not the way to start a season.</i> 630 00:42:29,284 --> 00:42:32,353 <i>Already over two weeks behind schedule.</i> 631 00:42:32,387 --> 00:42:36,318 <i>Fred's entire claim, including last year's cuts,</i> 632 00:42:36,353 --> 00:42:39,594 <i>is buried under a thick block of ice,</i> 633 00:42:39,629 --> 00:42:42,836 <i>until it's melted, Fred can't mine for gold.</i> 634 00:42:44,353 --> 00:42:47,629 As a leader, I brought these guys here for success, 635 00:42:47,663 --> 00:42:50,422 to find gold and to bring that home to their families. 636 00:42:50,456 --> 00:42:53,629 And now, we're going to have to fight to even get started. 637 00:42:53,663 --> 00:42:55,180 Wow. Look at that. 638 00:42:55,215 --> 00:42:57,491 There's no break. It's just all the way. 639 00:42:57,525 --> 00:42:59,870 Getting 500 ounces was already a tall order, 640 00:42:59,905 --> 00:43:02,939 but now it's going to be a monumental task. 641 00:43:02,974 --> 00:43:06,560 Our entire infrastructure is gone. 642 00:43:06,594 --> 00:43:07,698 All right, guys. 643 00:43:09,284 --> 00:43:10,456 If we don't break this ice up, 644 00:43:10,491 --> 00:43:12,043 we're going to be sitting here losing money. 645 00:43:12,077 --> 00:43:13,422 This ice has to go. 646 00:43:13,456 --> 00:43:14,801 Stealing our gold, guys. 647 00:43:15,939 --> 00:43:18,249 My overall plan is to find a section of water 648 00:43:18,284 --> 00:43:19,629 that's deep enough to put the pump in. 649 00:43:19,663 --> 00:43:22,422 - Pump the water back up over the ice. 650 00:43:22,456 --> 00:43:25,180 That should facilitate this [bleep] to melt faster. 651 00:43:28,525 --> 00:43:30,422 <i>Overall objective is to get to our gear,</i> 652 00:43:30,456 --> 00:43:31,905 <i>get that water pump running</i> 653 00:43:31,939 --> 00:43:34,732 <i>and just rush water over the top of the ice as much as possible.</i> 654 00:43:34,767 --> 00:43:36,870 Without access there, we can't do any of it. 655 00:43:36,905 --> 00:43:39,077 So this is exactly how we're going to do it. 656 00:43:39,111 --> 00:43:40,767 I'm going to bring the excavator down here 657 00:43:40,801 --> 00:43:42,870 and I'll walk up on the ice slowly, 658 00:43:42,905 --> 00:43:44,732 try and break the ice with the bucket. 659 00:43:44,767 --> 00:43:46,767 If that works, great, we can just start peeling it up 660 00:43:46,801 --> 00:43:48,560 and... and move through pretty quickly. 661 00:43:51,767 --> 00:43:55,801 <i>Fred's plan uses 24 tonne excavator</i> 662 00:43:55,836 --> 00:43:58,146 <i>to cut a path through the side of the glacier,</i> 663 00:43:59,456 --> 00:44:02,491 <i>all the way to an access road on the other side.</i> 664 00:44:03,698 --> 00:44:06,767 <i>Next haul a six inch pump into position</i> 665 00:44:06,801 --> 00:44:08,974 <i>at the top of his claim</i> 666 00:44:09,008 --> 00:44:11,801 <i>and pump creek water on top of the ice</i> 667 00:44:11,836 --> 00:44:13,629 <i>to help it melt and wash away.</i> 668 00:44:15,284 --> 00:44:19,043 <i>One false move and Fred could fall through the ice.</i> 669 00:44:22,594 --> 00:44:24,180 Constantly, we have to be testing this ice, 670 00:44:24,215 --> 00:44:25,663 and you guys have to have your eyes on it 671 00:44:25,698 --> 00:44:28,008 because if it starts shifting, I need to know immediately. 672 00:44:31,870 --> 00:44:34,870 You know, I, uh, I really trust Fred. I trust his ability. 673 00:44:34,905 --> 00:44:37,560 I trust what he's capable of doing on the excavator. 674 00:44:37,594 --> 00:44:40,043 But, you know, there's no amount of gold 675 00:44:40,077 --> 00:44:43,284 that is going to be worth Fred getting injured. 676 00:44:43,318 --> 00:44:44,353 Somebody's got to do it 677 00:44:44,387 --> 00:44:45,939 and I don't want anybody else doing it, so... 678 00:44:50,077 --> 00:44:51,939 I am a little nervous about this, don't know why. 679 00:44:53,008 --> 00:44:55,525 <i> Ex recon sniper Stuart</i> 680 00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:58,801 <i>and stepson Christopher act as spotters...</i> 681 00:44:58,836 --> 00:45:00,180 Okay. 682 00:45:00,215 --> 00:45:03,077 <i> ...looking for signs of any weak points in the ice.</i> 683 00:45:06,043 --> 00:45:07,422 Oh, that broke. 684 00:45:13,215 --> 00:45:14,560 What's the ice doing now? 685 00:45:15,594 --> 00:45:16,974 Is it holding me? 686 00:45:17,008 --> 00:45:18,077 It feels fine. 687 00:45:18,111 --> 00:45:20,180 You're good, man. Ice is... ice is good. 688 00:45:20,215 --> 00:45:21,767 It ain't moving, it ain't cracking, nothing. 689 00:45:21,801 --> 00:45:23,318 I'm going to try and go a little bit forward. 690 00:45:25,836 --> 00:45:26,905 Walk it forward. 691 00:45:26,939 --> 00:45:28,215 Mind the tracks up right there, 692 00:45:28,249 --> 00:45:29,698 and you should be good. 693 00:45:31,008 --> 00:45:32,284 . 694 00:45:35,215 --> 00:45:37,594 - Oh! - Oh, nice. 695 00:45:37,629 --> 00:45:38,939 . 696 00:45:38,974 --> 00:45:40,801 I felt the wind just, like, come up and just hit me. 697 00:45:42,180 --> 00:45:44,008 crazy. 698 00:45:44,043 --> 00:45:45,146 I'm gonna turn around. 699 00:45:52,698 --> 00:45:54,353 We're having to kind of scrape, 700 00:45:54,387 --> 00:45:56,077 let the sun weaken it, 701 00:45:56,111 --> 00:45:58,077 and now coming back at it a second time 702 00:45:58,111 --> 00:46:00,284 and it is coming up a little easier. 703 00:46:00,318 --> 00:46:01,456 Yeah, it's melting. 704 00:46:02,870 --> 00:46:05,318 Ugh, [bleep]. 705 00:46:05,353 --> 00:46:07,043 There's water underneath this ice. 706 00:46:08,905 --> 00:46:11,215 And now that we've melted it, it's starting to break through. 707 00:46:15,008 --> 00:46:17,008 I figure, we could just scrape across the top and drive. 708 00:46:17,043 --> 00:46:19,905 But now I've got to go through this water hole 709 00:46:19,939 --> 00:46:21,353 to get over here to drain this [bleep]. 710 00:46:21,387 --> 00:46:24,077 It's just way more complicated than I thought. 711 00:46:26,732 --> 00:46:28,008 . 712 00:46:31,111 --> 00:46:34,767 <i>If Fred loses his only operational excavator,</i> 713 00:46:34,801 --> 00:46:38,180 <i>his season will be over before it's even started.</i> 714 00:46:40,043 --> 00:46:41,491 Get up, get up, get up, get up. 715 00:46:41,525 --> 00:46:43,939 , come on. 716 00:47:03,491 --> 00:47:05,870 All right, Ice, you may be winning this battle, 717 00:47:05,905 --> 00:47:08,077 but we're going to win this war. 718 00:47:13,422 --> 00:47:14,698 Good job, man. 719 00:47:17,939 --> 00:47:21,284 <i>Fred is in touching distance of dry land.</i> 720 00:47:21,318 --> 00:47:24,663 want to be doing right now. 721 00:47:24,698 --> 00:47:26,077 There's a big crack in front of me. 722 00:47:26,111 --> 00:47:27,456 Don't even know if this is safe. 723 00:47:30,146 --> 00:47:31,180 Okay. Well, I'm past it. 724 00:47:31,215 --> 00:47:33,594 Geez, Louise. 725 00:47:33,629 --> 00:47:35,043 I'm just going to go to land. 726 00:47:35,077 --> 00:47:36,525 Whoa, I'm sliding. I'm sliding. 727 00:47:42,422 --> 00:47:43,353 Whew! 728 00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:46,215 Golly, that was not fun. 729 00:47:48,491 --> 00:47:49,939 That's about as good as I'm going to get it. 730 00:47:57,353 --> 00:47:59,077 dude. 731 00:48:00,353 --> 00:48:02,353 - Well, you're alive. - Yeah. 732 00:48:02,387 --> 00:48:05,008 - That was nerve-wracking, dude. 733 00:48:05,043 --> 00:48:06,249 Good job. 734 00:48:06,284 --> 00:48:07,629 <i>Path complete,</i> 735 00:48:07,663 --> 00:48:10,663 <i>Fred is one step closer to clearing the ice</i> 736 00:48:10,698 --> 00:48:13,353 <i>and getting on the gold.</i> 737 00:48:13,387 --> 00:48:15,215 We know now that we can drive over it. 738 00:48:15,249 --> 00:48:16,732 - I see it draining. 739 00:48:16,767 --> 00:48:19,387 <i>I also see it not getting any lower.</i> 740 00:48:19,422 --> 00:48:21,111 We're going to have to come back tomorrow. 741 00:48:53,043 --> 00:48:55,215 <i>Having spent $2 million</i> 742 00:48:55,249 --> 00:48:58,870 <i>stripping the 130 foot deep cold cut,</i> 743 00:48:58,905 --> 00:49:02,284 <i>Tony Beets is finally running the paydirt,</i> 744 00:49:02,318 --> 00:49:06,387 <i>he hopes will deliver half his 5000 ounce season goal.</i> 745 00:49:08,180 --> 00:49:10,180 <i>Well, it's kind of pretty frozen this spring.</i> 746 00:49:10,215 --> 00:49:11,663 <i>I'm... I'm doing my best here,</i> 747 00:49:11,698 --> 00:49:14,215 but you're probably going to have to bust 'em up even more over there. 748 00:49:15,905 --> 00:49:17,180 Yeah, send me what you got 749 00:49:17,215 --> 00:49:19,284 and I'll slam her through. 750 00:49:19,318 --> 00:49:20,594 <i>On the pay pile,</i> 751 00:49:20,629 --> 00:49:23,284 <i>high school friends Ruby and Meghan</i> 752 00:49:23,318 --> 00:49:27,870 <i>work in tandem to feed the trommel 200 yards an hour.</i> 753 00:49:27,905 --> 00:49:30,629 Kind of put the nightmare squad back together for a little bit. 754 00:49:30,663 --> 00:49:33,801 We should do, like, a bucket wave at each other. 755 00:49:33,836 --> 00:49:36,318 We could do that. 756 00:49:36,353 --> 00:49:38,008 Hi, Megan! 757 00:50:24,284 --> 00:50:28,594 <i>This season, Tony is looking to 31-year-old son Mike</i> 758 00:50:28,629 --> 00:50:30,594 <i>to step up and run the crew.</i> 759 00:50:45,698 --> 00:50:48,353 I'm watching the feeder and the conveyor 760 00:50:48,387 --> 00:50:49,732 to see if any big, big, big chunks 761 00:50:49,767 --> 00:50:51,939 I have to worry about are going to pop out. 762 00:50:51,974 --> 00:50:53,870 The hauler-upper is supposed to watch them, 763 00:50:53,905 --> 00:50:55,905 but I understand why she misses some sometimes, 764 00:50:55,939 --> 00:50:58,663 'cause they are literally just frozen chunks of pay. 765 00:50:59,905 --> 00:51:01,801 Damn near impossible to tell the difference. 766 00:51:11,043 --> 00:51:12,491 Oh [bleep]. Oh [bleep]. Oh [bleep]. 767 00:51:12,525 --> 00:51:14,008 Watch out! 768 00:51:15,836 --> 00:51:17,043 . 769 00:51:27,146 --> 00:51:29,318 - Oh [bleep]. Oh [bleep]. Oh [bleep]. - Watch out. 770 00:51:40,422 --> 00:51:42,180 <i>At Paradise Hill,</i> 771 00:51:42,215 --> 00:51:45,905 <i>Tony's left his sons in charge of running the trommel,</i> 772 00:51:45,939 --> 00:51:48,146 <i>but a chunk of frozen paydirt</i> 773 00:51:48,180 --> 00:51:50,939 <i>has jammed the top of the feed conveyor,</i> 774 00:51:50,974 --> 00:51:53,043 <i>forcing Mike to shut down.</i> 775 00:51:54,525 --> 00:51:56,698 <i>She's got to watch a little bit more cover for them.</i> 776 00:51:56,732 --> 00:51:58,836 All you [bleep] want is for things to go smooth. 777 00:52:03,353 --> 00:52:05,146 <i>At the other end of the conveyor,</i> 778 00:52:05,180 --> 00:52:08,043 <i>the frozen pay has clogged the hopper feeder.</i> 779 00:52:09,594 --> 00:52:10,801 I shame, I don't smoke anymore. 780 00:52:10,836 --> 00:52:12,249 I really [bleep] want to do it right now. 781 00:52:12,284 --> 00:52:14,387 . Ugh! 782 00:52:18,732 --> 00:52:20,077 We're going to try to break it up 783 00:52:20,111 --> 00:52:22,456 and try to get it out and hopefully the belt moves. 784 00:52:25,939 --> 00:52:27,215 It is moving. 785 00:52:29,318 --> 00:52:31,077 Yeah. Let's try bumping it. 786 00:52:31,111 --> 00:52:32,836 See if you can get everything to move. 787 00:52:32,870 --> 00:52:34,629 So everybody off the conveyor, <i> s'il vous plait.</i> 788 00:52:36,077 --> 00:52:37,974 <i>To dislodge the blockage,</i> 789 00:52:38,008 --> 00:52:41,111 <i>Kevin plans to bump it by surging the belt.</i> 790 00:52:42,767 --> 00:52:44,180 When it's really bound up 791 00:52:44,215 --> 00:52:45,698 and you just press play, 792 00:52:45,732 --> 00:52:47,422 the belt's going to either spin 793 00:52:47,456 --> 00:52:49,801 and get stuck and it's just not going to go. 794 00:52:49,836 --> 00:52:51,732 You bump it short, little bump, 795 00:52:51,767 --> 00:52:54,870 so strong pull stop, strong pull stop, 796 00:52:54,905 --> 00:52:58,249 get a little bit of roll back and then boom and boom! 797 00:52:58,284 --> 00:52:59,525 It's definitely frustrating 798 00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:00,698 whenever we're down, 799 00:53:00,732 --> 00:53:03,422 we give or take, lose about $25 a minute 800 00:53:03,456 --> 00:53:05,180 whenever this thing is down. 801 00:53:05,215 --> 00:53:06,939 - 50$. - Pardon me. 802 00:53:06,974 --> 00:53:08,077 I think it's $50 these days. 803 00:53:08,111 --> 00:53:09,284 It's $50 these days. Okay. 804 00:53:09,318 --> 00:53:11,767 So, yeah, we're losing $50 a minute 805 00:53:11,801 --> 00:53:13,732 with the plant being down right now. 806 00:53:13,767 --> 00:53:16,111 It doesn't seem like we're having a whole lot of luck. 807 00:53:26,525 --> 00:53:29,043 There you go. Come on. 808 00:53:32,249 --> 00:53:33,525 Whoo! 809 00:53:34,870 --> 00:53:37,043 - . - Whoo-hoo! 810 00:53:41,043 --> 00:53:42,491 - Throw it off. 811 00:53:42,525 --> 00:53:44,284 Woo-hoo! 812 00:53:44,318 --> 00:53:45,870 Good. All right. 813 00:53:51,215 --> 00:53:53,077 Reset. Forward. 814 00:53:59,422 --> 00:54:03,456 <i>Mike and Kevin have got the wash plant back up and running.</i> 815 00:54:03,491 --> 00:54:05,836 <i>Tony's taking a bit more of a step back.</i> 816 00:54:05,870 --> 00:54:08,077 So there's a lot more pressure on me and Mike this year. 817 00:54:08,111 --> 00:54:09,629 We spent a lot of money 818 00:54:09,663 --> 00:54:12,146 getting new equipment so we can strip that cold cut. 819 00:54:12,180 --> 00:54:15,594 <i>So me and Mike are gonna have to hit it hard to keep this trommel going.</i> 820 00:54:29,422 --> 00:54:32,629 All the times going up to the Yukon never made her into Alaska. 821 00:54:32,663 --> 00:54:34,008 - This is your first time? - Yeah. 822 00:54:35,387 --> 00:54:37,491 You're gonna give me the grand tour? 823 00:54:37,525 --> 00:54:39,594 Yeah. I have a pile of dirt. 824 00:54:39,629 --> 00:54:42,008 <i>20 miles north of Fairbanks.</i> 825 00:54:42,043 --> 00:54:47,422 <i>Parker Schnabel must rethink his entire Alaskan mining plan.</i> 826 00:54:47,456 --> 00:54:51,146 <i>To help he's brought in his trusted right-hand man,</i> 827 00:54:51,180 --> 00:54:52,249 <i>Mitch Blaschke.</i> 828 00:54:54,077 --> 00:54:55,525 So what led you to this place 829 00:54:55,560 --> 00:54:58,318 in all the places you've looked for ground? 830 00:54:58,353 --> 00:55:00,146 It's deeper, but much richer. 831 00:55:01,698 --> 00:55:03,767 Which is not, you know, 832 00:55:03,801 --> 00:55:06,905 not always a good trade off, as we well know. 833 00:55:06,939 --> 00:55:09,491 <i>Last year, Parker drilled test holes</i> 834 00:55:09,525 --> 00:55:11,836 <i>through deep clay packed ground</i> 835 00:55:11,870 --> 00:55:16,111 <i>and hit a pay streak four times richer than his Yukon claims.</i> 836 00:55:18,111 --> 00:55:20,146 <i>But a four month delay to the wash plant</i> 837 00:55:20,180 --> 00:55:22,732 <i>he designed for this ground</i> 838 00:55:22,767 --> 00:55:25,146 <i>means digging deep is not an option.</i> 839 00:55:26,560 --> 00:55:28,353 - Hi. 840 00:55:28,387 --> 00:55:29,525 How are you guys doing? 841 00:55:29,560 --> 00:55:30,939 Good. How are you? 842 00:55:30,974 --> 00:55:32,698 - Nice to meet you. 843 00:55:32,732 --> 00:55:34,422 Nice to meet ya. 844 00:55:34,456 --> 00:55:38,905 I'm really just trying to get Mitch's head wrapped around all of this right now. 845 00:55:38,939 --> 00:55:41,698 He's a tough sell, so I might need your guys's help. 846 00:55:41,732 --> 00:55:44,870 <i>Claim owner John Reeves daughter Ilaura</i> 847 00:55:44,905 --> 00:55:46,629 <i>and husband Drew</i> 848 00:55:46,663 --> 00:55:51,146 <i>think there might be a way to salvage his season on this historic ground.</i> 849 00:55:52,732 --> 00:55:54,215 There's a lot of gold to be found out here, 850 00:55:54,249 --> 00:55:55,698 so I'll show you. 851 00:55:55,732 --> 00:55:57,939 You know where I've had success. 852 00:55:57,974 --> 00:55:59,180 Sweet. 853 00:56:04,008 --> 00:56:05,594 We can go right up here to this one. 854 00:56:07,422 --> 00:56:08,663 So is that the conveyor 855 00:56:08,698 --> 00:56:10,698 you want me to use here, or what? 856 00:56:10,732 --> 00:56:12,180 Uh, no way, it's on tracks. 857 00:56:14,629 --> 00:56:15,767 Dude, that is sick. 858 00:56:15,801 --> 00:56:17,180 cool. 859 00:56:17,215 --> 00:56:18,905 It looks like it's built on an old tank. 860 00:56:18,939 --> 00:56:20,663 Yeah, they didn't screw around. 861 00:56:20,698 --> 00:56:23,698 You know, seeing this size of equipment out here, 862 00:56:23,732 --> 00:56:27,974 how complex it is, um, how well this is all put together. 863 00:56:28,008 --> 00:56:30,180 Um, it's definitely concerns me on, 864 00:56:30,215 --> 00:56:31,939 well, if they did this good of a job here, 865 00:56:31,974 --> 00:56:33,353 how good of a job did they do in the cut? 866 00:56:33,387 --> 00:56:34,767 What did they actually leave behind? 867 00:56:34,801 --> 00:56:37,043 We're here to try and find anything they left. 868 00:56:37,077 --> 00:56:40,836 Um, but looking at this, looks like they really had their [bleep] together. 869 00:56:47,043 --> 00:56:49,077 What do you got over here, old dredge buckets? 870 00:56:51,043 --> 00:56:52,180 Yeah. 871 00:56:52,215 --> 00:56:54,180 A piece of punch plate out of the trommel here, or... 872 00:56:55,905 --> 00:56:58,422 And this almost looks like an old... 873 00:56:58,456 --> 00:57:00,698 - ...section of trommel screen. 874 00:57:00,732 --> 00:57:03,043 - I wonder. - That seems really small, though. 875 00:57:03,077 --> 00:57:04,974 Leading edge, that's what I'm thinking, right? 876 00:57:05,008 --> 00:57:07,560 Yeah. I mean, we're running half inch bottom deck on Big Red. 877 00:57:07,594 --> 00:57:10,249 This is a lot tighter than that, obviously. 878 00:57:10,284 --> 00:57:12,146 The more we know about what they did and how they did it, 879 00:57:12,180 --> 00:57:13,629 I think the more it's going to help us out. 880 00:57:13,663 --> 00:57:14,974 Yeah, for sure. 881 00:57:15,008 --> 00:57:16,870 And it means any gold bigger than that, 882 00:57:16,905 --> 00:57:18,180 they left behind for y'all. 883 00:57:18,215 --> 00:57:19,249 - Yeah. 884 00:57:22,663 --> 00:57:25,698 <i> Ilaura leads them further into the claim</i> 885 00:57:25,732 --> 00:57:30,077 <i>to prospect an area first mined in the early 1900s.</i> 886 00:57:31,215 --> 00:57:33,043 Nothing in that one. 887 00:57:33,077 --> 00:57:35,939 This would be all drift tailings, right? 888 00:57:35,974 --> 00:57:37,043 Yep. 889 00:57:37,077 --> 00:57:38,732 All this area is drift tailings 890 00:57:38,767 --> 00:57:41,387 and we've punched several holes. 891 00:57:41,422 --> 00:57:43,215 And just because you don't find gold in one pan 892 00:57:43,249 --> 00:57:44,836 doesn't mean you won't in the next. 893 00:57:44,870 --> 00:57:47,560 We're used, we're used to not finding gold panning. 894 00:57:47,594 --> 00:57:48,836 It's easy to do. 895 00:57:50,180 --> 00:57:53,180 So all of this was brought up through shafts? 896 00:57:53,215 --> 00:57:55,594 Yeah. Before the dredges came through. 897 00:57:55,629 --> 00:57:57,456 They drift mined this whole area. 898 00:57:57,491 --> 00:57:59,180 So there's a layer 899 00:57:59,215 --> 00:58:00,836 where there's, there's going to be gold. 900 00:58:00,870 --> 00:58:02,836 So they would channel down. 901 00:58:02,870 --> 00:58:03,939 - Yep. - Get underneath. 902 00:58:03,974 --> 00:58:05,215 Get down to the pay layer. 903 00:58:05,249 --> 00:58:07,008 They'd have a shaft... Exactly. 904 00:58:07,043 --> 00:58:08,387 Yeah. 905 00:58:08,422 --> 00:58:11,456 <i>The old timers excavated shafts</i> 906 00:58:11,491 --> 00:58:14,008 <i>through concrete like permafrost</i> 907 00:58:14,043 --> 00:58:15,870 <i>up to a hundred feet deep</i> 908 00:58:15,905 --> 00:58:19,043 <i>until hitting paydirt above bedrock.</i> 909 00:58:19,077 --> 00:58:22,146 <i>Then they drift mined horizontally</i> 910 00:58:22,180 --> 00:58:25,767 <i>and hauled out the seam of gold back to the surface</i> 911 00:58:25,801 --> 00:58:27,594 <i>where they washed the paydirt</i> 912 00:58:27,629 --> 00:58:29,422 <i>through primitive sluice boxes,</i> 913 00:58:31,801 --> 00:58:34,146 <i>leaving some of the gold in their tailings.</i> 914 00:58:34,180 --> 00:58:35,353 They left some in this. 915 00:58:35,387 --> 00:58:36,767 This would be pretty easy pickings. 916 00:58:36,801 --> 00:58:38,456 It's sitting up here on the top, but... 917 00:58:38,491 --> 00:58:40,560 Yeah, so this would have been put here a 100 years ago 918 00:58:40,594 --> 00:58:43,180 and just ran through some super crude sluice box. 919 00:58:43,215 --> 00:58:44,318 Yeah. 920 00:58:46,663 --> 00:58:48,974 All right, Ilaura, it's your turn to show us where the gold is. 921 00:58:49,008 --> 00:58:51,146 - I'm not getting the job done. - All right. 922 00:58:51,180 --> 00:58:52,836 You can see that pile over there, 923 00:58:52,870 --> 00:58:54,146 a lot of times with tailings. 924 00:58:54,180 --> 00:58:56,836 If you see birch trees growing out of it, they've got roots. 925 00:58:56,870 --> 00:58:58,560 There's gravel. There could be gold. 926 00:58:59,974 --> 00:59:02,318 Go find it, Nugget. 927 00:59:02,353 --> 00:59:04,525 This is our spot. 928 00:59:04,560 --> 00:59:05,939 Mitch, you want to give it a go? 929 00:59:07,939 --> 00:59:09,939 Here we go. 930 00:59:09,974 --> 00:59:11,939 - Let's see what's in it. - All right. 931 00:59:11,974 --> 00:59:15,698 <i>If the old timers have left gold behind in the tailings,</i> 932 00:59:15,732 --> 00:59:17,939 <i>it could be a game changer.</i> 933 00:59:17,974 --> 00:59:20,732 <i>Quick and easy ground for Parker to mine</i> 934 00:59:20,767 --> 00:59:22,836 <i>when his wash plant finally arrives.</i> 935 00:59:22,870 --> 00:59:23,974 It's good. 936 00:59:24,008 --> 00:59:25,767 I think you're going to want to see this. 937 00:59:25,801 --> 00:59:28,353 See, this is why I get so frustrated with panning, 938 00:59:28,387 --> 00:59:31,008 is I just like pan duds all over the place. 939 00:59:31,043 --> 00:59:33,318 Well, you're going to want to definitely take a look at this. 940 00:59:34,629 --> 00:59:36,456 It's already peaking on the side. 941 00:59:40,318 --> 00:59:43,111 It's just like the best pan I've ever had. 942 00:59:47,698 --> 00:59:49,870 - . 943 00:59:51,111 --> 00:59:52,939 That's insane. 944 00:59:52,974 --> 00:59:55,043 Yeah, there's some gold there. 945 00:59:55,077 --> 00:59:58,215 - That's very good. - Like, like, I'm shook. 946 00:59:59,836 --> 01:00:03,111 <i> Not only have the old timers left them fine gold,</i> 947 01:00:03,146 --> 01:00:05,180 <i>there sluices missed sizable chunks</i> 948 01:00:05,215 --> 01:00:07,525 <i>that Parker can mine right away</i> 949 01:00:07,560 --> 01:00:09,249 <i>with any wash plant.</i> 950 01:00:09,284 --> 01:00:11,215 That's wild. 951 01:00:11,249 --> 01:00:13,180 There's a start. We're on the board, Mitch. 952 01:00:15,043 --> 01:00:16,249 Well, that's an awesome pan. 953 01:00:17,525 --> 01:00:18,767 And if we're going to be mining here, 954 01:00:18,801 --> 01:00:20,560 we're going to have to move all this stuff anyway. 955 01:00:20,594 --> 01:00:24,146 So it only makes sense to slam it through a plant. 956 01:00:24,180 --> 01:00:25,387 Yeah, I like it. 957 01:00:25,422 --> 01:00:27,594 I mean, if you can sluice it, you don't have to strip it. 958 01:00:27,629 --> 01:00:30,422 I feel really confident that we can have a successful season out here. 959 01:00:30,456 --> 01:00:31,560 Yeah. 960 01:00:46,974 --> 01:00:51,111 We have a lot of work ahead of us and we're already behind the eight ball. 961 01:00:51,146 --> 01:00:53,525 <i>23-year-old Brandon Clayton</i> 962 01:00:53,560 --> 01:00:55,249 <i>is stuck in Dawson</i> 963 01:00:55,284 --> 01:00:57,594 <i>till he can fix his D8 dozer</i> 964 01:00:57,629 --> 01:01:01,249 <i>and haul it up to California Creek to start mining.</i> 965 01:01:01,284 --> 01:01:02,732 Ta-da! 966 01:01:02,767 --> 01:01:05,249 <i>His dad sourced him a second hand</i> 967 01:01:05,284 --> 01:01:07,629 <i>refurbished transmission,</i> 968 01:01:07,663 --> 01:01:09,974 <i>unable to pay for a workshop</i> 969 01:01:10,008 --> 01:01:12,525 <i>and a team of specialist mechanics,</i> 970 01:01:12,560 --> 01:01:15,836 <i>they'll attempt to replace it in the yard with mechanic Shane.</i> 971 01:01:17,180 --> 01:01:19,767 <i>We can't really afford that new tranny either</i> 972 01:01:19,801 --> 01:01:22,249 and it definitely wasn't easy on the pocket, 973 01:01:22,284 --> 01:01:25,422 so we just got to make sure this one works and we don't wreck it. 974 01:01:25,456 --> 01:01:27,422 We'll slide the ripper off 975 01:01:27,456 --> 01:01:30,387 so we can get out that transmission to get it taken out. 976 01:01:30,422 --> 01:01:32,456 How are we making out, Shane? 977 01:01:32,491 --> 01:01:34,146 - Oh, what's up? 978 01:01:34,180 --> 01:01:37,318 The pins aren't being as agreeable 979 01:01:37,353 --> 01:01:39,077 as we'd like them to be. 980 01:01:39,111 --> 01:01:40,905 The bottom ones are very sticky. 981 01:01:40,939 --> 01:01:43,836 Okay, well, we definitely didn't need this, did we? 982 01:01:43,870 --> 01:01:45,111 No. 983 01:01:47,629 --> 01:01:50,801 <i>Brandon must first take out the D8's bolts</i> 984 01:01:50,836 --> 01:01:53,111 <i>on the one ton ripper and remove it.</i> 985 01:01:57,077 --> 01:02:01,215 <i>Then carefully remove the old transmission box using a forklift...</i> 986 01:02:05,043 --> 01:02:07,905 <i>before installing the new transmission.</i> 987 01:02:11,732 --> 01:02:14,008 <i>At $50,000,</i> 988 01:02:14,043 --> 01:02:16,767 <i>any mistake could cost them their season.</i> 989 01:02:20,594 --> 01:02:23,456 - Oh [bleep]. - I want a-- 990 01:02:23,491 --> 01:02:24,836 You just need a pin driver now. 991 01:02:24,870 --> 01:02:26,353 Yeah, I was just going to say pin driver. 992 01:02:27,629 --> 01:02:30,077 <i>It's basically an extension for the hammer</i> 993 01:02:30,111 --> 01:02:31,870 <i>to help us hit that pin up.</i> 994 01:02:33,043 --> 01:02:34,905 <i>We're using more time than we want.</i> 995 01:02:34,939 --> 01:02:36,629 <i>Nothing ever goes easy up here.</i> 996 01:02:36,663 --> 01:02:38,939 You always got to have a backup plan for your backup plan. 997 01:02:41,008 --> 01:02:42,629 The walls are probably going to break. 998 01:02:42,663 --> 01:02:44,077 Probably. 999 01:02:54,732 --> 01:02:56,525 You're going to have to make a longer one. 1000 01:02:57,801 --> 01:03:00,008 Okay, just go make a longer one. 1001 01:03:00,043 --> 01:03:02,111 - What? It's fine. - No, you don't have any... 1002 01:03:02,146 --> 01:03:04,560 You're hitting the rail more than you're hitting the [bleep] bar. 1003 01:03:04,594 --> 01:03:05,767 waving it. 1004 01:03:05,801 --> 01:03:07,629 Well, you can't hold it. You're hitting this. 1005 01:03:07,663 --> 01:03:09,353 - Look at it. - We're hitting the seal. 1006 01:03:09,387 --> 01:03:11,284 We're going to that seal. 1007 01:03:13,077 --> 01:03:16,387 Think I got [bleep] heat exhaustion and I'm [bleep] getting angry. 1008 01:03:17,732 --> 01:03:20,491 great. 1009 01:03:24,249 --> 01:03:26,043 Let's hope this doesn't break now. 1010 01:03:42,146 --> 01:03:44,318 <i>Brandon now improvises,</i> 1011 01:03:44,353 --> 01:03:48,353 <i>using a forklift to haul out the busted one ton transmission.</i> 1012 01:03:56,180 --> 01:03:58,387 Like to see what it does here? 1013 01:04:01,318 --> 01:04:02,939 Well, there we go. 1014 01:04:02,974 --> 01:04:04,353 So just go back slow. 1015 01:04:10,456 --> 01:04:11,422 Just going straight up. 1016 01:04:12,525 --> 01:04:14,698 Okay, backwards a bit. 1017 01:04:19,387 --> 01:04:20,939 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're almost out. 1018 01:04:30,111 --> 01:04:31,318 Ta-da! 1019 01:04:34,180 --> 01:04:36,111 Kind of a risky situation 1020 01:04:36,146 --> 01:04:37,629 doing this job outdoors. 1021 01:04:38,939 --> 01:04:40,836 Typically it would be done in a shop. 1022 01:04:48,387 --> 01:04:52,870 We currently have a $50,000 transmission suspended in the air here. 1023 01:04:53,905 --> 01:04:55,422 So we've got to be very delicate 1024 01:04:55,456 --> 01:04:58,560 that, uh, we don't hit any bumps. 1025 01:04:58,594 --> 01:05:02,663 We definitely don't want to get it dirty or... or break the housing. 1026 01:05:17,836 --> 01:05:19,180 She's there. 1027 01:05:20,939 --> 01:05:22,077 It's home. 1028 01:05:23,974 --> 01:05:25,870 <i> Transplant complete.</i> 1029 01:05:25,905 --> 01:05:27,111 <i>Now they need to check</i> 1030 01:05:27,146 --> 01:05:29,663 <i>if the new transmission will allow Brandon</i> 1031 01:05:29,698 --> 01:05:32,146 <i>to change from first to second gear.</i> 1032 01:05:33,594 --> 01:05:35,008 All right, here we go. 1033 01:05:41,387 --> 01:05:42,767 Here goes first gear. 1034 01:05:48,629 --> 01:05:50,180 We'll try second now. 1035 01:05:52,077 --> 01:05:53,387 Oh, boy. 1036 01:05:59,146 --> 01:06:01,801 - Everything's good, it's instant. 1037 01:06:01,836 --> 01:06:04,008 First gear is instant, second's instant. 1038 01:06:04,043 --> 01:06:05,387 Awesome. 1039 01:06:05,422 --> 01:06:07,043 That's excellent. Good job, kid. 1040 01:06:08,215 --> 01:06:09,422 - Uh, good job, guys. - Yes. 1041 01:06:09,456 --> 01:06:11,698 We're back to minin', boys. 1042 01:06:11,732 --> 01:06:13,146 <i>Our season is back on track.</i> 1043 01:06:26,077 --> 01:06:28,353 - Uh! 1044 01:06:28,387 --> 01:06:30,146 <i> At California Creek,</i> 1045 01:06:30,180 --> 01:06:31,870 <i>a quarter-mile-long,</i> 1046 01:06:31,905 --> 01:06:34,180 <i>30-foot-thick ice sheet</i> 1047 01:06:34,215 --> 01:06:36,456 <i>blocks Fred Lewis from mining his claim.</i> 1048 01:06:38,560 --> 01:06:42,353 <i>He's cut a path across the ice to reach vital equipment</i> 1049 01:06:42,387 --> 01:06:43,974 <i>on the other side of the creek.</i> 1050 01:06:47,456 --> 01:06:51,146 You know, there's just never a time in my life I see something as impossible. 1051 01:06:51,180 --> 01:06:54,767 <i>Improbable definitely, impossible never.</i> 1052 01:06:54,801 --> 01:06:58,249 <i>This is just the latest challenge for Fred and Stuart,</i> 1053 01:06:58,284 --> 01:07:02,215 <i>who served on tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.</i> 1054 01:07:02,249 --> 01:07:04,387 <i>Well, there's multiple times where, like, I'll be like,</i> 1055 01:07:04,422 --> 01:07:06,318 <i>"But I've broken both my legs, Fred." you're like, "So?"</i> 1056 01:07:08,594 --> 01:07:10,905 <i>Well, you know, I took a round on the helmet in Afghanistan,</i> 1057 01:07:10,939 --> 01:07:13,629 <i>ended up finding out I had a bruise on my brain.</i> 1058 01:07:13,663 --> 01:07:15,008 <i>The biggest compliment I ever get</i> 1059 01:07:15,043 --> 01:07:16,974 <i>is when people tell me I don't look disabled.</i> 1060 01:07:17,008 --> 01:07:20,422 It's also an insult because there is no such thing as a disabled look. 1061 01:07:22,387 --> 01:07:25,249 That whole stigma of there being no visible disabilities 1062 01:07:25,284 --> 01:07:26,836 needs to go away. 1063 01:07:26,870 --> 01:07:29,008 Like, I'm sorry, you can't see the bruises on my brain. 1064 01:07:29,043 --> 01:07:30,111 I'm sorry. 1065 01:07:30,146 --> 01:07:31,801 I wish there was a sign on my head that said, 1066 01:07:31,836 --> 01:07:33,077 "Hey, his brain's bruised." 1067 01:07:33,111 --> 01:07:35,939 But when I introduced myself before gold mining, 1068 01:07:35,974 --> 01:07:37,629 I had a really hard time. 1069 01:07:37,663 --> 01:07:39,043 People would say, "What do you do?" 1070 01:07:39,077 --> 01:07:41,215 And I would say, "I'm a disabled veteran." 1071 01:07:41,249 --> 01:07:44,077 And that got to the point where that was how I identified myself. 1072 01:07:44,111 --> 01:07:45,767 Now, when people ask me what I do, 1073 01:07:45,801 --> 01:07:47,387 I say, I'm a gold miner. 1074 01:07:50,353 --> 01:07:52,698 <i>After cutting a path through the ice,</i> 1075 01:07:52,732 --> 01:07:55,870 <i>Fred leads his crew to the six inch pump,</i> 1076 01:07:55,905 --> 01:07:58,560 <i>which he plans to use to melt the ice,</i> 1077 01:07:58,594 --> 01:08:01,525 <i>holding their claim and paydirt hostage.</i> 1078 01:08:01,560 --> 01:08:02,560 Think we got her. 1079 01:08:03,767 --> 01:08:07,387 Oh! 1080 01:08:07,422 --> 01:08:09,836 - Man, these things are heavy. - I know. I got you a hand. 1081 01:08:09,870 --> 01:08:10,974 All right, hang on. 1082 01:08:11,008 --> 01:08:12,284 - Yep. 1083 01:08:12,318 --> 01:08:14,215 <i>The next stage of the plan,</i> 1084 01:08:14,249 --> 01:08:17,905 <i>get the pump set and ready to shoot water.</i> 1085 01:08:17,939 --> 01:08:19,732 All right. I don't trust this chain very well. 1086 01:08:20,870 --> 01:08:22,043 Okay. Lifting. 1087 01:08:28,180 --> 01:08:29,870 I'm going to swing it around. Everybody clear? 1088 01:08:33,905 --> 01:08:36,008 If we drop this pump, guys, we are done. 1089 01:08:41,491 --> 01:08:42,732 I'm going forward. 1090 01:08:52,767 --> 01:08:53,870 Yeah. Good. 1091 01:08:53,905 --> 01:08:55,111 Careful. Careful. 1092 01:08:57,456 --> 01:08:58,663 All right, Christopher. 1093 01:08:58,698 --> 01:09:00,249 Chock the wheel behind it. 1094 01:09:00,284 --> 01:09:01,491 Fred, you're good. 1095 01:09:04,043 --> 01:09:06,077 Let's get those hoses down there and get them hooked up. 1096 01:09:07,732 --> 01:09:09,663 Oh. [bleep]. 1097 01:09:09,698 --> 01:09:11,732 If one of us falls in, we're not coming out. 1098 01:09:11,767 --> 01:09:13,111 Pick up on it a little bit, Fred. 1099 01:09:13,146 --> 01:09:15,077 Let's do the intake while we're waiting for the rope. 1100 01:09:15,111 --> 01:09:16,249 Look out, Christopher. 1101 01:09:21,491 --> 01:09:22,491 That's deep. 1102 01:09:23,594 --> 01:09:25,284 We're taking our main pump 1103 01:09:25,318 --> 01:09:27,318 and we're going to turn it into a fire hose 1104 01:09:27,353 --> 01:09:29,387 to run water on top of this ice. 1105 01:09:29,422 --> 01:09:30,905 I'm going to tie a rope to myself 1106 01:09:30,939 --> 01:09:32,870 and try and get up over here 1107 01:09:32,905 --> 01:09:34,732 because our hoses need to be going that way. 1108 01:09:34,767 --> 01:09:36,801 So, once I have a rope on me, 1109 01:09:36,836 --> 01:09:38,560 if I fall, they can at least pull me back. 1110 01:09:39,870 --> 01:09:41,284 <i> To melt the ice,</i> 1111 01:09:41,318 --> 01:09:43,318 <i>Fred must walk the pump hose</i> 1112 01:09:43,353 --> 01:09:45,422 <i>50 feet upstream,</i> 1113 01:09:45,456 --> 01:09:49,836 <i>but the glacier could break beneath him at any time.</i> 1114 01:09:49,870 --> 01:09:53,905 What I'm thinking is, we tie one to you as you go, a tether, 1115 01:09:53,939 --> 01:09:55,525 and then somebody kind of go down a little bit. 1116 01:09:55,560 --> 01:09:56,801 So, in case you do go through, 1117 01:09:56,836 --> 01:09:59,111 somebody has to let go if you're basically being drowned, 1118 01:09:59,146 --> 01:10:02,491 you have one more opportunity to grab a rope before you go in the snow tunnel. 1119 01:10:02,525 --> 01:10:04,077 - Good luck. - We got this. 1120 01:10:04,111 --> 01:10:06,663 See you on the other side. 1121 01:10:06,698 --> 01:10:09,594 Kind of feels like right before a halo jump in the military. 1122 01:10:09,629 --> 01:10:11,456 You're all amped up to do it. 1123 01:10:11,491 --> 01:10:14,077 You can't wait and then the door opens and you're like, "Oh, [bleep]! 1124 01:10:14,111 --> 01:10:15,077 What am I going to do now?" 1125 01:10:16,284 --> 01:10:18,215 Obviously, if you feel a lot of pressure, 1126 01:10:18,249 --> 01:10:20,905 if it starts pulling you, you need to let go of me, right? 1127 01:10:20,939 --> 01:10:22,629 What's the worst that could happen? 1128 01:10:22,663 --> 01:10:24,387 Drowning. Hypothermia. 1129 01:10:24,422 --> 01:10:26,249 Oh, yeah. This is like your biggest fear. 1130 01:10:26,284 --> 01:10:27,525 - Yeah. Yes. - Drowning? 1131 01:10:28,629 --> 01:10:29,698 Love you, son. 1132 01:10:32,111 --> 01:10:33,767 <i> Fred's first challenge,</i> 1133 01:10:33,801 --> 01:10:35,180 <i>clear a crevasse that</i> 1134 01:10:35,215 --> 01:10:38,422 <i>could plunge him straight in the freezing water.</i> 1135 01:10:38,456 --> 01:10:39,594 Slack. 1136 01:10:41,560 --> 01:10:42,767 I'm jumping. 1137 01:10:42,801 --> 01:10:44,008 Chris, you got me? 1138 01:10:53,629 --> 01:10:55,974 <i>Green Beret medic Fred Lewis</i> 1139 01:10:56,008 --> 01:11:01,008 <i>is crossing a glacier that has buried his gold rich claim.</i> 1140 01:11:01,043 --> 01:11:03,146 <i>His plan to get mining,</i> 1141 01:11:03,180 --> 01:11:04,560 <i>pump water from the creek</i> 1142 01:11:04,594 --> 01:11:07,974 <i>on top of the ice to speed up the melt.</i> 1143 01:11:08,008 --> 01:11:10,180 I'm jumping. Chris, you got me? 1144 01:11:13,180 --> 01:11:15,215 - There's a big hole up here. - Is there? 1145 01:11:15,249 --> 01:11:16,974 I think it might be like top mount, 1146 01:11:17,008 --> 01:11:18,732 but there's a big hole with a bunch of water in it. 1147 01:11:39,801 --> 01:11:42,146 I can't pull it, guys, you're going to have to help. 1148 01:11:42,180 --> 01:11:43,560 Go, pull. 1149 01:11:46,146 --> 01:11:47,249 Here we go. 1150 01:11:53,215 --> 01:11:54,698 I'm just going to jump on to the bank. 1151 01:11:55,974 --> 01:11:57,456 It's only like a four foot gap. 1152 01:12:02,215 --> 01:12:03,560 <i>Hose in place,</i> 1153 01:12:03,594 --> 01:12:07,008 <i>it's time to see if Fred's desperate plan will work.</i> 1154 01:12:07,043 --> 01:12:08,284 Fire it up. 1155 01:12:12,974 --> 01:12:14,939 Oh, here it comes. Here it comes. 1156 01:12:16,905 --> 01:12:18,077 We got water. 1157 01:12:21,836 --> 01:12:25,043 We got water going all the way down this channel 1158 01:12:25,077 --> 01:12:26,594 right where we want it, actually. 1159 01:12:26,629 --> 01:12:28,422 It's definitely eating through the snow already. 1160 01:12:39,491 --> 01:12:40,560 I'm happy he made it. 1161 01:12:40,594 --> 01:12:42,008 - He is safe. - Huh! 1162 01:12:42,043 --> 01:12:43,525 Fred, it's cutting through. Right through it. 1163 01:12:43,560 --> 01:12:45,318 - Oh, it's cutting it through. - Yeah. 1164 01:12:46,663 --> 01:12:48,008 It's cutting right through it. 1165 01:12:48,043 --> 01:12:49,111 It's cutting right through it. 1166 01:12:49,146 --> 01:12:50,801 - It is, right. - Already about a foot. 1167 01:12:56,525 --> 01:12:58,974 . 1168 01:12:59,008 --> 01:13:01,836 , that ice kicked our asses. 1169 01:13:01,870 --> 01:13:03,180 I think that's a huge victory, guys. 1170 01:13:03,215 --> 01:13:05,215 We probably saved ourself a week of sluicing here. 1171 01:13:05,249 --> 01:13:07,043 Yeah. I'm excited, man. Keep fighting. 1172 01:13:07,077 --> 01:13:08,974 Keep pushing, not waiting on our asses. 1173 01:13:09,008 --> 01:13:10,560 And, uh, we'll be mining before we know it. 1174 01:13:33,801 --> 01:13:35,146 We're off to the mine. 1175 01:13:35,180 --> 01:13:37,801 We're going to go see what we got going on over there. 1176 01:13:37,836 --> 01:13:40,043 Apparently, there's a lot of ice still. 1177 01:13:41,008 --> 01:13:43,249 <i>Three weeks into his season,</i> 1178 01:13:43,284 --> 01:13:46,629 <i>Brandon Clayton finally makes it to his remote claim</i> 1179 01:13:46,663 --> 01:13:50,284 <i>on the outer edge of the Klondike.</i> 1180 01:13:50,318 --> 01:13:52,146 We're already late with the transmission, 1181 01:13:52,180 --> 01:13:54,767 so we need mother nature on our side right now. 1182 01:13:58,767 --> 01:14:01,974 Okay... let's have a little peeksy. 1183 01:14:05,974 --> 01:14:07,422 We might be, uh... 1184 01:14:08,939 --> 01:14:11,801 might be looking for some conveyor rollers. 1185 01:14:13,111 --> 01:14:17,180 It looks like they're all gone. That's a big cost. 1186 01:14:17,215 --> 01:14:20,111 Obviously, there's a lot of ice over there and it's built the creek up 1187 01:14:20,146 --> 01:14:23,215 and that took out a conveyor pad, tipped it over. 1188 01:14:23,249 --> 01:14:27,043 We lost a bunch of rollers. So we're going to have to fix all that now. 1189 01:14:27,077 --> 01:14:29,353 And that'll set us back a bit, 1190 01:14:29,387 --> 01:14:32,215 but, uh, the valley itself looks pretty good. 1191 01:14:34,939 --> 01:14:39,629 Dirt Devil is standing as strong as she could on her post. 1192 01:14:39,663 --> 01:14:41,836 I'm sure we'll be washing within a week. 1193 01:14:44,387 --> 01:14:47,870 We'll go look over Fred's side there. 1194 01:14:47,905 --> 01:14:50,525 See what it's... what his looks like. 1195 01:14:55,905 --> 01:15:00,008 Oh, yeah. Fred's [bleep]. Yeah, he's got a while. 1196 01:15:00,043 --> 01:15:01,801 He ain't washing for a month. 1197 01:15:01,836 --> 01:15:05,974 He's in a lot worse shape than I am, that's for damn sure. 1198 01:15:07,905 --> 01:15:12,663 Hey, Fred, what's up? How's it goin'? 1199 01:15:12,698 --> 01:15:15,008 - How you doin', neighbor? - Not too bad. You? 1200 01:15:15,043 --> 01:15:16,905 - Good to see you again. - You too. 1201 01:15:16,939 --> 01:15:19,077 - You ready to rumble? - You betcha. 1202 01:15:19,111 --> 01:15:21,905 So how long until you think you're gonna be sluicing? 1203 01:15:21,939 --> 01:15:23,767 I'm hoping within a week. 1204 01:15:23,801 --> 01:15:26,215 Crap. I thought you had a big piece of ice last season, 1205 01:15:26,249 --> 01:15:28,318 but we've got, like, 30-feet-thick ice now. 1206 01:15:28,353 --> 01:15:30,974 - Yeah, we traded. - It's [bleep] me. 1207 01:15:31,008 --> 01:15:33,456 - Crazy. - We're in a bad spot right now. 1208 01:15:33,491 --> 01:15:35,732 So what's your season goal this year, buddy? 1209 01:15:35,767 --> 01:15:39,560 - I think me and the team are shooting for 500. - That's what we're aiming for. 1210 01:15:39,594 --> 01:15:41,560 - Are you? - Yeah, exactly what we're aiming for. 1211 01:15:41,594 --> 01:15:43,422 I think we can do it, too. 1212 01:15:43,456 --> 01:15:46,180 What about a good old US vs Canada wager here? 1213 01:15:46,215 --> 01:15:48,215 - Yeah. - How about a case of whiskey? 1214 01:15:48,249 --> 01:15:50,353 - A case of whiskey? - Whoever makes the most. 1215 01:15:50,387 --> 01:15:51,767 - Yeah, case of whiskey. - Down. I'm in. 1216 01:15:51,801 --> 01:15:53,870 - Deal. I like this. We'll talk soon. - Good luck. 1217 01:15:56,111 --> 01:15:58,732 I'll be mining before Fred. 100%. 1218 01:15:58,767 --> 01:15:59,870 He might have been here earlier, 1219 01:15:59,905 --> 01:16:03,801 but he definitely has the [bleep] end of the stick. 1220 01:16:03,836 --> 01:16:05,594 Yeah. 1221 01:16:05,629 --> 01:16:08,560 So, joke's on him. I'm really taking home the win. 1222 01:16:15,387 --> 01:16:17,560 I have got a challenge for you. 1223 01:16:17,594 --> 01:16:21,594 I'll give you 50 bucks to sit in that ice pool for a minute. 1224 01:16:21,629 --> 01:16:24,180 - Make it 100. - 100 bucks. Deal. 1225 01:16:28,663 --> 01:16:31,491 - All right. Ready? - Whoa! Start. 1226 01:16:31,525 --> 01:16:35,008 - Start! - . Whoa! 1227 01:16:35,043 --> 01:16:36,905 I can't believe you're doing this. 1228 01:16:40,111 --> 01:16:43,732 Why are you breathing so heavy? 1229 01:16:43,767 --> 01:16:45,284 20, 20 seconds. 1230 01:16:45,318 --> 01:16:47,353 - You got 40 left? - Forty left, yeah. 1231 01:16:50,767 --> 01:16:52,491 There you go. Zen moment, there you go. 1232 01:16:52,525 --> 01:16:54,939 - There you go. Find your moment. - There you go. 1233 01:16:54,974 --> 01:16:59,043 - All right. - Four, three, two, one. 1234 01:16:59,077 --> 01:17:02,180 You can get out. Go, go, go to the side by side. 1235 01:17:04,353 --> 01:17:06,974 I would never do that. That is nuts. 1236 01:17:07,008 --> 01:17:09,215 Go check for hypothermia. Then he's back to work. 1237 01:17:25,318 --> 01:17:27,974 Jasmine. Hi, my easy girl. 1238 01:17:30,663 --> 01:17:31,732 Num-num. 1239 01:17:32,905 --> 01:17:36,215 - Here we come. - Hi, guys. Long time no see. 1240 01:17:36,249 --> 01:17:38,180 I'll start the first one of the season. 1241 01:17:40,043 --> 01:17:41,836 At least you have something to weigh. 1242 01:17:41,870 --> 01:17:44,905 <i>The Beets claim, it's time for the family's</i> 1243 01:17:44,939 --> 01:17:46,939 <i>first gold weigh of the season.</i> 1244 01:17:50,146 --> 01:17:53,318 - So how are things? 1245 01:17:53,353 --> 01:17:55,284 And we only sluice at day time, right? 1246 01:17:55,318 --> 01:17:57,422 - Yeah. No night here. Not in dark. - No nights. 1247 01:18:03,629 --> 01:18:06,663 - No, couple million. 1248 01:18:06,698 --> 01:18:08,801 As you spend, spend, spend and nothing comes in 1249 01:18:08,836 --> 01:18:11,043 and you piggy bank gets smaller and smaller. 1250 01:18:11,077 --> 01:18:14,801 - I like to replenish it. - Well, yeah. It can all just be going out. 1251 01:18:24,111 --> 01:18:27,560 <i> Having spent $2 million getting down to pay,</i> 1252 01:18:27,594 --> 01:18:30,905 <i>Tony hopes the cold cut will deliver more gold</i> 1253 01:18:30,939 --> 01:18:35,525 <i>than last season's first week of running, 80 ounces.</i> 1254 01:18:35,560 --> 01:18:37,215 Everybody ready? You're ready? 1255 01:18:37,249 --> 01:18:39,111 Let's do this thing. 1256 01:18:43,249 --> 01:18:45,594 Five, ten, 1257 01:18:45,629 --> 01:18:48,974 fifteen, 20, 25, 30, 35, 1258 01:18:49,008 --> 01:18:52,767 forty, 50, 55, 1259 01:18:52,801 --> 01:18:55,525 sixty, 65, 70, 1260 01:18:55,560 --> 01:18:57,215 seventy-five, 80. 1261 01:18:57,249 --> 01:19:02,629 eighty-five, 90, 95.3. 1262 01:19:02,663 --> 01:19:04,353 For three days, eh? 1263 01:19:04,387 --> 01:19:06,043 That's not too bad for three [bleep] day's eh? 1264 01:19:06,077 --> 01:19:07,629 We can work for that. 1265 01:19:07,663 --> 01:19:11,043 <i> Worth over $170,000.</i> 1266 01:19:12,698 --> 01:19:16,698 <i>If the cold cuts, white channel pay streak continues to deliver,</i> 1267 01:19:16,732 --> 01:19:21,525 <i>it could easily make up half of his 5000 ounce season goal.</i> 1268 01:19:24,974 --> 01:19:28,387 If it stays that nice over for weekdays and nights, that'd be good. 1269 01:19:28,422 --> 01:19:31,043 - The gold price is still fairly decent. - Oh, yeah, yeah. 1270 01:19:31,077 --> 01:19:33,663 So I'm not complaining there either. 1271 01:19:42,663 --> 01:19:45,974 We only have, like, 4900 to go. 1272 01:19:46,008 --> 01:19:47,767 - Guys, let's get on. 1273 01:20:06,456 --> 01:20:08,594 While Mitch and Parker are gone, I'm in charge 1274 01:20:08,629 --> 01:20:13,387 of basically the Yukon operation, keeping Big Red going, 1275 01:20:13,422 --> 01:20:16,836 making sure we're still moving, lots of overburden gravel. 1276 01:20:16,870 --> 01:20:20,387 I want to show them that they can spend as much time as they want in Alaska, 1277 01:20:20,422 --> 01:20:24,422 they need to and not be concerned about things over here. 1278 01:20:24,456 --> 01:20:27,801 <i>At the airstrip, Veteran operator Tyson Lee</i> 1279 01:20:27,836 --> 01:20:30,905 <i>has been in charge of running Big Red all week</i> 1280 01:20:30,939 --> 01:20:35,008 <i>while Parker and Mitch prepared for their new Alaskan operation.</i> 1281 01:20:35,043 --> 01:20:37,870 - Hey, how is it going, Mitchell? - Good to see you. 1282 01:20:37,905 --> 01:20:40,318 - Welcome home. - Hey, young man. 1283 01:20:40,353 --> 01:20:42,939 - How was Alaska? - Interesting. 1284 01:20:42,974 --> 01:20:45,008 Yeah. Welcome back. 1285 01:20:45,043 --> 01:20:47,974 There's some really like, drift tailings 1286 01:20:48,008 --> 01:20:49,974 from, like, the early 1900s. 1287 01:20:50,008 --> 01:20:52,456 - Is there quite a bit of tailing there? - [Parker] Yeah. 1288 01:20:52,491 --> 01:20:53,939 - That kind. - Yeah, I bet. 1289 01:20:53,974 --> 01:20:57,974 I bet all of 50,000 yards anyway. 1290 01:20:58,008 --> 01:20:59,318 Really? 1291 01:20:59,353 --> 01:21:02,870 But the tailings, I mean, they're, they're already piled, right? 1292 01:21:02,905 --> 01:21:05,456 I mean, you're not removing overburden. 1293 01:21:05,491 --> 01:21:07,836 Yeah. There's no... there's no stripping. 1294 01:21:07,870 --> 01:21:10,180 We have to show John that we're serious about mining over there. 1295 01:21:10,215 --> 01:21:12,422 We have to go get some dirt moves and pay him some royalties 1296 01:21:12,456 --> 01:21:16,008 or else he's going to just piss out of there. 1297 01:21:16,043 --> 01:21:18,318 - We did move some dirt while you guys were gone. - Yeah. 1298 01:21:18,353 --> 01:21:21,387 Things went pretty good. We got some gold to weigh. 1299 01:21:21,422 --> 01:21:22,732 - Good. - Yeah. 1300 01:21:22,767 --> 01:21:26,249 Okay, Tyson, here's your week, buddy. 1301 01:21:26,284 --> 01:21:30,008 - Big Red right there, man. That's yours, you ready? - [Tyson] Oh, yeah. 1302 01:21:30,043 --> 01:21:32,594 <i>Parker expects Big Red at the airstrip</i> 1303 01:21:32,629 --> 01:21:36,629 <i>to produce around 1.8 ounces per hour.</i> 1304 01:21:36,663 --> 01:21:39,491 <i>This week it ran for 90 hours,</i> 1305 01:21:39,525 --> 01:21:43,318 <i>so should deliver around 160 ounces.</i> 1306 01:21:43,353 --> 01:21:47,077 Sixty, 70, 1307 01:21:47,111 --> 01:21:49,870 ninety, 100. 1308 01:21:49,905 --> 01:21:52,249 - One-thirty. - Keep going. 1309 01:21:52,284 --> 01:21:57,974 One-ninety, 200, 224.35. 1310 01:21:58,008 --> 01:21:59,629 - That's not bad. - Not bad. 1311 01:21:59,663 --> 01:22:01,629 Nicely done. 1312 01:22:01,663 --> 01:22:05,043 <i>Worth $400,000.</i> 1313 01:22:06,663 --> 01:22:10,732 And I mean, you got to think about it too. Big Red's just slogging along. 1314 01:22:10,767 --> 01:22:12,870 That must be like two and a half ounces an hour, huh? 1315 01:22:12,905 --> 01:22:15,560 - Yeah. Yeah. - It's not bad. 1316 01:22:15,594 --> 01:22:18,284 I'm glad you guys had a successful trip and a safe trip. 1317 01:22:18,318 --> 01:22:20,456 More importantly, I'm glad this place is running good. 1318 01:22:20,491 --> 01:22:21,663 Yeah. 1319 01:22:22,767 --> 01:22:25,284 Nicely done. 1320 01:22:25,318 --> 01:22:27,077 Need a hand doing it? 1321 01:22:27,111 --> 01:22:28,215 I got her. Thank you. 1322 01:22:28,249 --> 01:22:29,836 No worries. 1323 01:22:29,870 --> 01:22:33,180 - Looking nice, as always. - Oh, thank you, young man. 1324 01:22:33,215 --> 01:22:35,215 It's really nice knowing Mitch and Parker can leave 1325 01:22:35,249 --> 01:22:37,594 and everything's still moving the way it should. 1326 01:22:37,629 --> 01:22:39,146 You know, that's what we do out here. 1327 01:22:39,180 --> 01:22:42,491 We find gold and we move dirt, and hopefully there's a lot more to come. 1328 01:22:42,525 --> 01:22:44,422 The trip to Alaska was good. It was productive. 1329 01:22:46,836 --> 01:22:48,456 There's just so much to do. 1330 01:22:48,491 --> 01:22:53,284 So I'm glad this place is running fine without us. That's important. 1331 01:22:53,318 --> 01:22:55,491 It makes me feel better about being able to be gone 1332 01:22:55,525 --> 01:22:59,249 and then see how far we can spread ourselves out without things falling apart. 1333 01:23:01,560 --> 01:23:03,043 Should be interesting. 1333 01:23:04,305 --> 01:24:04,452 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm