08x10 - The Devil's Finger

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: on this "gold rush"...

Whoo.

Parker: stop. Stop.

That's kind of
a [bleep] disaster.

You haven't lived up
to the letter of the contract.

I'm trying to make it work.

This is the worst thing
that could happen right now.

Poulson: in 20 years in mining,

I've never seen
anything like this.

I just want to punch you
all right in the [bleep] face.

If it was up to me,
I'd fire all four of you.

All four of you are gone.

Come on. Let's go.

Narrator: in the klondike,
parker schnabel

At scribner creek,

And his right-hand man,
rick ness, at indian river

Have mined over 1,600 ounces

Worth almost $2 million

Towards their 5,000-ounce,
$6-million target.

Parker: we're halfway
through the season.

We're nowhere near
halfway to our goal,

And we've lost some people.

And as much as I want
to be getting closer

To leaving tony
in the old rearview mirror,

It hasn't worked out
that way yet this season.

Narrator:
short on dozer operators,

Parker is stripping
overburden in the upper cut

That he leases from tony beets.

Parker: putting gold in the box
is the number-one priority,

And slucifer chews
through yardage like crazy,

And I'm out here.

Everybody's out here
busting their ass

Trying to keep
this plant going.

-Hey, parker.
-Yeah, go ahead.

Ken tatlow is here
looking for you.

All right. Yeah.
Let him know I'm over here.

Send him on over.

[Bleep]

Hey, parker.

Hey, ken.
How are you doing?

Doing good.
How are you?

Good.
Good to see you again.

Narrator: at the start
of the season,

In his attempt to get out
from under tony beets,

Parker leased new ground from
klondike veteran ken tatlow,

A man who spent half a century
successfully mining for gold.

I've been looking for something
like this for several years.

The more your make,
the more we make.

Ken's contract states parker
must begin stripping

The new ground by mid-season.

In the contract, we do have
an amount to be stripped.

Right.
And it doesn't look like

Anything has been
done yet.

Yeah. I've been meaning
to make it down there,

And I know that there's
a lot of work to do

To get to the point where we're
able to sluice down there.

Right, yeah.

And I know I'm supposed
to be down there by now.

Why don't we go down there
and take a look at it?

Yeah, okay.
Okay, sounds good.

I haven't been down here
in quite awhile.

I did go down there and dig
a test hole and look around.

You know, that spot
that I dug that test hole,

It was pretty good.

I had, probably,
30, 35 colors.

It's just right
in the trees here.

There's definitely
gold down there.

And what I'm going
to try to do

Is always be
up-front with you.

I don't want to lose
the contract.

I am serious about
mining this ground.

It's just that you can't
leave what we've got.

We're pretty shorthanded.

We had a lot
of mechanical problems.

It cost us a lot of time.

Tatlow: so you just need
the manpower to make it happen.

This is the middle
of the season now, july,

And time goes
on pretty fast.

Right.

So if I can be of any help
for an extra operator,

I'll come down
and do it for a few.

Really? You sure you want
to be an employee?

I'll help you out.

Perfect.
How's that?

That sounds good.
Okay.

That's better than...
Okay, perfect.

That's better than
being an employee.

Yeah. No, I'll help you out,
whatever I can.

Perfect.

Ken came up here to help us
get going on his own ground,

And I hate to have him help us
strip ground for tony beets,

But we have to get this done
before we can go down

And start stripping
ken's ground.

[ Engine starts ]

*

Tatlow: I've been mining
up here since 1957.

I don't feel 79.

Actually, I feel
more like I'm 60,

So there's some life left
in this old dog after all.

It would be nice if I could
do this for a few years yet,

If my wife will let me.

[ Laughs ]

*

Parker: with ken's help
here on the dozers,

We'll get way further ahead
than we are right now

And make that real step towards
getting away from tony.

[Bleep]

Damn it.

We just blew a track apart
on that [bleep] cat.

Can't one thing go right?

*

[ Whistles ]

Narrator: after weeks of
setbacks taking his second

Dredge apart,
tony beets is finally ready

To barge the first major piece

Down the yukon river,
the bucket line.

The barge takes three days
to complete each round trip.

With time short,
tony must have a load

Ready to leave every time
his barge arrives.

Without a tractor-trailer,

Tony can only haul
one section of buckets

Per 30-mile round trip.

It took an hour.

No, we got to
keep at it, man.

Yeah.
No time for slacking.

Nope.

Each section of buckets
weighs up to 12,000 pounds,

Roughly the weight of two
heavy-duty pickup trucks.

Are all 15
in that chain?

10,000?

Huh.

Only one way to find out.

*

Tony pushes the limits
of his loader

To haul as many
buckets as possible.

Ideal.

-[ Laughs ]
-go!

Christie:
a lot of weight there,

And that's about the max
for that loader.

The back wheels
are barely on the ground.

*

*

*

It's too heavy?

Okay.

*

There we go.

*

*

*

*

Narrator: before
the buckets go on,

Tony unloads vital equipment

Needed to continue
the dredge teardown.

Tony: go.

*

*

Yee-haw.

Dredge two is on its way.

*

*

[ Engine starts ]

You got any water yet?

Narrator: in colorado,
halfway through what started

As a 5,000-ounce season,

Todd hoffman has mined
just 702 ounces of gold,

Worth less than $850,000,

Barely enough to keep his
mining operation afloat.

Does somebody want
to grab the bypass?

Todd: I got it.

Narrator: with the fairplay
and sacramento mines down,

Todd's last hope
is running pay dirt

From a new claim,
the jewelry box.

Todd: the jewelry box is
starting to pay out really good.

Hunter is running the plant
with all the young g*ns.

They're doing great,
so we're going to run

That jewelry box
from the top down.

It's going to be awesome.

Spinks: well,
the tests came back good.

Hopefully, this all pans out.

You know, right now, all I want
to do is get back on the gold

And start making some money.

Hunter: I'm excited to run
this new dirt today.

I'm hoping the jewelry box
dirt is good.

Hopefully, it's going to
help us turn a corner

And help us get on
to some good cleanups.

Narrator: todd's son,
18-year-old hunter,

With a crew of young g*ns,

Runs the hoffmans' only
operating wash plant,

Monster red.

You know, most of my crew
is a bunch of young guys.

So, yeah, it's kind of cool.

This is my first time
working at a gold mine.

I haven't gotten yelled at, so
I feel like I'm doing all right.

Hey, I need the whole
plant crew up here

To meet me at my office
for a safety meeting.

Okay, copy that.
We'll shut down the plant

And head over right now.

Hey, guys,
we got a safety meeting.

Can somebody come
and pick me up?

Narrator:
it's a 10-minute drive...

-Let's go.
-...from the plant

To safety officer
trey poulson's office.

-Whoo-hoo.
-What up, gus?

Yeah, the plant crew is a bunch
of younger guys, inexperienced,

So I like to have
a meeting with them

Once a week just to
keep them on their toes.

Hold up a minute.

Who's this?

Oh, stop filming.

Stop filming.
Stop filming.

It's msha,
mining safety inspectors.

I gave these guys
my word last season

I wouldn't film them,
so shut it down here.

Narrator: to protect miners,
msha requires safety measures

Such as warning signs,
flotation devices

And protective passageways
under conveyors.

If they spot violations,
they can impose heavy fines

Or even shut down the mine.

So msha is here today,
and we're not worried about it.

Msha is like the mining police.

If you're doing something wrong.
You're going to pay for it.

So just do it by the book,
and everything will be fine,

And trey knows that book from
cover to cover, so we're good.

*

Immediately after the
msha inspectors leave,

Todd summons the crew.

Sterling, lucas, dave, and
hunter, we need to talk to you.

Actually, trey needs
to talk to you.

I just spent 2 1/2,
about 2 1/2 of the worst [bleep]

Hours of my life with msha
thanks to you four.

What the [bleep]
were you guys thinking?

Let's start with you.

What were you doing?
What happened?

We were goofing off,
dicking around,

Didn't have my seat belt on,
jumped into a moving prowler.

On what planet did you guys
think that would be right?

Do you not know that you have to
wear a seat belt in a prowler?

No, I do know that.

I can't say anything else
but I [bleep] up.

We [bleep] up.

Do you know the ramifications
of [bleep] with msha?

We had a great
reputation with them.

Now thanks to four guys on our
crew, our reputation is mud.

We got a [bleep]
imminent-danger citation.

In 20 years in mining, I've
never seen anything like this.

The guy was in the office
watching you guys do this.

They know you guys are family.

They know you're hunter hoffman.

First thing he said, he says,
"well, of all people,

The owner's son
should know better."

You're the leader
of these guys regardless.

I know it's not cool
telling these guys to wear

Their seat belts and whatnot,
but I guarantee it's a lot less

[Bleep] cool than
telling these guys

That they don't
have a job anymore.

I just want to punch you all
right in the [bleep] face.

That hurt.

If it was up to me,
I'd fire all four of you.

I don't know how todd
wants to handle it.

I don't know what
you want to do,

But my suggestion is
all four of you are gone.

That's my recommendation.

Un-[bleep]-believable.

-Hmm.
-You know what?

Trey's fricking right.

I should fire all you guys
right now.

You know what's going on.

We're in trouble.

This is the worst thing
that could happen right now.

Now, hunter, come with me.

*

You want to be a leader,
and you want to run a plant.

That's not leadership.

Horrible.

Dude, you're off the plant,
and you're back in a rock truck,

And I want you to frickin'
drive that truck

And think about
what you just did.

Okay?

Go. Get out of here.

*

No, I don't.

Todd: as of right now,
hunter is not running

Monster red, and when he wants
to show leadership,

Then we'll talk about it.

As of right now,
he's been demoted.

*

Mitch, let's go!

Narrator: parker schnabel
has broken the track

On his d10 dozer.

To keep stripping
and feeding slucifer...

Nice!
...parker has come up

With a whole new way
to rip permafrost.

There you go.

That thing
has got some jam.

We got it!

Tyson is going through
pay like crazy,

So we've got to get
our cut down

And get it thawing so that
we don't run out of pay.

So we've just got to go rip
the last of the mud out,

And it's really hard
on the dozer,

So we're trying
something new here.

Narrator:
parker's dozer is down.

He needs his new ripper to work,

Or his wash plant
will run out of pay.

*

*

Parker: smoky.

Originally, we were going to do
all of this with the dozer.

It's up there
on the ramp, broken.

First impressions are very good.

I was really concerned about it

Just dragging
the machine around,

But it's not doing
that at all.

And so if that's an indication

Of what this thing
is capable of,

Then [bleep] yeah.

We're still figuring out
a name for it --

The red rocket, the grim ripper,
god's middle finger,

Finger of god,
the devil's finger.

"Hey, rick! Go get
the devil's finger!"

Oh, yeah.

Go!

Save the children!

*

*

Kevin, keep the plant
turned up 100%, buddy.

We need all the gold
we can get now.

Sounds good to me.
Keep that pay coming.

Narrator: in colorado,
kevin hiatt is running

Gold-rich pay dirt
from the jewelry box.

I got kevin running monster red
in place of hunter.

He's got to kick ass,

Got to keep it running
as much as he can.

Hiatt: today, I'm in
the captain's chair.

This is a lot of
responsibility doing this.

The gold right now that
we're getting out here

At the jewelry box,
this could be a turnaround.

We won't know until we start
seeing some cleanups.

Narrator: after
breaking msha rules,

Hunter hoffman has been
demoted to a rock truck.

You know, I like having
responsibility.

I like running the plant.

It just sucks. I work all summer
and make one mistake,

And they want to take
everything away from me,

But I just messed up.

*

Whoa. Look at this
ugly [bleep] dirt.

*

Right here.

This top [bleep]
is what they're sending.

This is mixed in our pay.

Narrator:
to get back on the gold,

Todd has the jewelry box crew

Sending every yard of dirt
to the wash plant,

Including the top layer
that contains chunks

Of organic vegetation.

Yeah.
We can shut it down.

Kevin shuts down
to check the sluices.

Hiatt: you've got
to be kidding me.

This stuff
is a nightmare.

Yeah?

*

Frick.

There's grass here.

It's plugging up our shaker.

But, joe, it goes right out
the end of the shaker.

It doesn't go into your sluice.
It can't get through.

Oh, man.

This is going to be rough.

Narrator: to stop losing gold,
kevin has no choice

But to clear the deck by hand.

Hiatt: really, to run
this stuff, you've got to

Shut down every hour.

We can't do that.

Let's not run pay roots
and pay grass and pay weed.

Let's run pay dirt.

Hey, would you want to go
throw all that down or whatever?

Narrator: after two hours,
the spray deck is finally clean.

[ Groans ]

So as you can see now,
we got all that grass.

It is ready to run.

Monster red is coming hot.

[ Beeping ]

Okay, tony, you can go ahead
and come up on the water.

Tony:
water coming through.

[ Rumbling ]

Whoa.

Cut it off!

*

*

Damn it!

That means these roots
have gotten all the way

Into our water!

Narrator: kevin has been
feeding monster red

Pay dirt laced
with organic vegetation.

The vegetation has
blocked the spray deck,

But it has also passed
through the plant,

Out the sluices,
and into the ponds.

There, it has been
sucked up by the pump

And sent back into the plant,

Where the organic vegetation
has blocked a water pipe,

And the pressure buildup
has blown a hose.

*

What the hell was that?

That crap that andy sent in,
it's got [bleep] roots,

All kinds of crap.

That's in our water.

You're telling me that
came up through the pump?

We can run that pay.

It's all in through
all of our spray bars.

Okay. You're in charge
of this plant, okay?

You put that dirt
through there.

There is gold in this.

There may be gold in it,
but we can't run that [bleep]

You're in control.

You do what you need to do.

We need to get the gold.

*

*

Narrator: in the upper cut,

Slucifer is running
280 yards an hour.

Parker and 79-year-old
klondike veteran

Ken tatlow are
stripping permafrost

To keep ahead of the wash plant.

Parker:
ken tatlow just showed up.

You know, he's a lot
like my grandpa,

And he's got more experience
mining in the yukon

Than everybody else
at this mine site combined,

So that's worth a lot.

Narrator: but parker's broken
dozer is stranded in the cut,

Blocking the trucks from
clearing the thawed overburden.

Parker: mitch!

We need to get that [bleep]
cat out of there.

Yeah.

Well, we can to take
a look, but yeah,

We've got that one
spare tractor.

If we can roll it
back on that and then...

You know, it'll take
three hours

To get that track
back together

Or 20 minutes to push it down
the [bleep] hill.

Narrator: instead of fixing
the track in place,

Parker decides to push
the dozer out of the way.

You want to push
that thing down?

Yeah.

But, dude, he's just
trying to cut corners.

It's like, "oh, I want to
get it done in 20 minutes."

Well, I could put a track
on that thing in an hour

And have it
where I want it.

It's not very smart.

It needs to move.

[ Metal clanging ]

Stop! Stop!

What the [bleep] was that?

Damn it.

Tatlow: oh, my god.

Oh, that's not good.

That's not good.
Yeah.

Narrator: without a track
to hold it in place,

Parker has now broken the
tensioning cannon on the dozer.

Now we're [bleep]

*

Yeah. That puppy
has got to be --

It's got to be
pulled back right away.

Narrator: parker has ignored

Mechanic
mitch blaschke's advice.

All right. I'll get
some reinforcements.

His attempt to push a broken
dozer out of the way

Has ended in disaster.

What a mess.

He's trying to save time here

By just pushing this down
the hill with a cat.

Well, now he's pulled
the cannon out,

Probably damaged
a thousand-dollar seal.

Just foolish.

Parker: I don't think
mitch is too stoked.

What should have been
a pretty simple fix

To just get it down the hill
turned into quite a disaster.

We'll pick it up a little bit
and see if we can grab it

Right here and tap her back in.

Sounds good.

Narrator: mitch will try
and bush-fix the cannon

Back in place using
the new ripper claw.

Parker: up.

*

Is it in?

It's in the seals.

Narrator: the cannon
is back in place,

But the dozer is still
stranded in the cut.

Well, that's just
one more milestone.

We've still got to get it
down the hill.

How do you want to do that?

Ken and I [bleep]
that one up in round one,

So you guys get round two.

Let's just...

Yeah, let's roll it
to the end of the track

And then have him...

Well, he won't be able
to put the blade down

Because he'll be on it.

Can you hook a tooth
in those good?

Yeah.
You might be able

To drag it
while he's moving.

I can try.

Well, just go backwards
on the rails,

And he'll hook them,
and try to grab them.

Tatlow: he'll keep
pulling them. Okay.

See if he can
drag them with you.

Yep. Good.

You call the sh*ts,
mike.

Roll her back
a little bit, ken.

Narrator: parker's plan --
have ken back the dozer

Down the hill while
mitch drags the broken track

Beneath it using
the ripper claw.

*

Well, that's working a hell
of a lot better

Than the first time we tried it.

You're fine!

Easy, now.

Okay.

Yeah, buddy!

Sorry for my screw up.

It's all right.
At least it's down off the hill.

-Good job, guys.
-Thanks.

We should have done that
the first time.

[ Laughs ]
thanks, guys.

So shut her off now
and go stripping?

Yeah.
Let's go stripping.

It's off the hill.

Mitch and mike had to spend
a little more time here

Than I would have liked,
but that's okay.

We'll get the thing
back going here shortly

And be back to work.

*

Narrator: in colorado,
kevin hiatt has been promoted

To run monster red,

But organic vegetation
in his water supply

Has forced him to
shut down the plant,

Costing todd around
$2,000 an hour in lost gold.

So what we have here
is 200 feet of silt curtain,

And what it is,
is a floating pontoon

That makes a barrier so material
like this fine [bleep]

That floats on the top,
it can't get by.

Narrator: kevin will use
a floating filtration system

Around the pump to filter out
the organic vegetation.

The silt curtain should block
the organic material,

Allowing the pump to send
3,000 gallons of clean water

To the wash plant every minute.

-Get the hell out of here.
-Oh.

All right.

Sooner I get this thing set up,

The sooner we quit
sucking those organics in.

Did you grab the life jacket?

No. I forgot.

*

So are you the captain,
or am I the captain?

Uh, just right
this second, I am.

That's all right.
I'll be first mate.

Okay.

I need that end.

Get it to me before this
[bleep] comes to us.

Wrong end!
What?

Can you see that I can get
this end myself?

You said that end!

Go get me that end!

But I'm getting good
at this, though, bud.

You're like a tugboat.

[ Sighs ]

The little tug
that could.

And that's it, buddy.
We're done, man.

Nothing else is getting
in here from now on.

[ Beeping ]

Narrator: the only way to test
kevin's silt curtain

Is to run water
through the plant.

It looks good!
We've got good water flow now.

Nothing in the spray bars.

Everything looks good!

You get it?
Did you fix it?

That curtain is in, and it's
keeping all of that stuff out.

Awesome. Good job.
The water is clean.

All right.
Keep it going.

I'm going to go start
running some dirt.

*

Kevin did a great job getting
the plant back up and running.

That curtain is going to keep
the organics out of the plant,

And we're going to be able to
run a hell of a lot more dirt.

Running more dirt
is more gold for us,

And we're going
to need that gold,

Especially right now
with all those fines.

Narrator: up ahead...

It's been a tough week
because hunter's fine is huge.

Dad, what do you think,
good or bad?

Narrator: in the klondike...

...tony has barged
his bucket line to dawson.

He's now on the 60-mile
home stretch to eureka creek.

*

Yeah.

Not going to lie, I can't wait
to see that thing turning.

I personally would like to see
it full of dredge stuff,

Not [bleep], but okay.

Yeah, okay.

*

Let's keep this thing going.

Narrator: with the help of
klondike veteran ken tatlow,

Parker has managed to keep

Slucifer running gold-rich
pay dirt all week.

Parker: both plants running
good, nice and smooth.

Narrator: at indian river,
rick has finally had

A trouble-free week
with big red.

Oh, it feels
great right now.

[Bleep] yeah.

Parker: with old ken showing up,
I had completely forgot

About some commitments

That we had for
their ground down there.

I think one of the greatest
treats of having him here

Is he calls me youngster.

[ Laughter ]

-Well, there you go, parker.
-All right.

Well, let's see what this is.

Narrator: to stay on track...

-Upper cut.
-...parker needs 130 ounces

From each wash plant.

-30, 40, 50, 60...
-Try to keep up.

70. I can't
count that fast.

-80.
-80.

90.
There's triple digit.

-A lot in the pan yet.
-120.

It's still got more.
40, 50, 60, 70.

185.

Parker: point three.

Point [bleep]

Narrator: worth over $220,000.

Okay, rick.
You ready for yours?

Absolutely.

Better than
last week, rick.

Narrator: last week, rick's gold
was a disappointing 32.1 ounces.

Give her.

Someone else want to count
that out, then?

There's 20, 40...

60...

63.6.

-You doubled last week!
-Doubled it.

Yeah.

That's definitely
an improvement.

Yeah.

For an overall total
right now,

We're at 1,850.

Narrator: worth
over $2.2 million,

But almost midway
through the season,

Parker should have
close to 2,500 ounces.

No, I know it's been
a real fight,

And 5,000 ounces
is a big goal.

I mean, both plants have
a long ways to go,

But we always rely on
the back half of our season.

Like, it's always
a fall-time push.

Yeah.

So let's just
make that happen.

[Bleep] yeah.

*

*

Narrator: in the mountains
of colorado,

The hoffman crew have managed

To run monster red
for just two days.

I'm not going to b*at
around the bush.

That has been a tough week.

That was a rough week.

And you know what?

We've got nobody to blame
but ourselves.

Dad, what do you think,
good or bad?

Narrator: todd started
the season determined

To get 200 ounces a week.

-Well, I'm going to tell you...
-That's not good.

So how much is it?

22.3.

Narrator:
worth less than $27,000,

Not even enough
to pay hunter's fine.

Well, we might as well
just send it over to msha

Because hunter's
fine is $30,000.

That fine is huge.

You know, I just want
to apologize to, you know,

Everybody because,
you know,

I should take a lot of the
responsibility of those fines

Because I was just
being irresponsible,

And it's going to cost,
you know,

All of us money
and gold.

So I feel really bad
about it.

Poulson:
thanks for stepping up.

I can't tell you how much
it means to me

For you taking ownership for it.

I mean, I think that's
huge, in my book.

That goes a long ways.

You know what, we're in
the back half of the season,

And, you know,
every day counts now.

We need a good week
next week, okay, guys?

Let's go.

Everybody makes mistakes, but
not everybody owns up to them,

And my son owned up
to the mistake.

I'm still kind of mad at him,

But I'm kind of
a proud mad at him.

Narrator:
on the next "gold rush"...

[Bleep]

We've got a problem down here.

This is
a ginormous rock.

Oh, [bleep]

-Go!
-It's crazy.

I've never seen
anything like it.

Look at that.
That's some hard core gold.

...moly...

Whoa, [bleep]!
The feed line!

Shut it down.

You can't be [bleep]
serious here.