02x05 - Greedy People

[bunniefuu]

[ Wind whistling ]

Narrator:
bad weather...

...bad weather...

...and more bad weather.

It's way too [bleep] rough
to be out here right now.

Graham: that is [bleep] scary
[bleep] huh?

Steve r.:
All of us lose control.

I got my investors
wanting some money.

Whoa!
Stop it!

Get angry.

If you would've
listened to me the first time

Instead of
running your [bleep] mouth.

I don't want to quit.

I ain't [bleep] dealing
with this [bleep] no more.

Steve r.: When we get
a good weather window.

Steve p.: Now we need to take
advantage of the nice weather

And get a decent run in.

Steve r.: If we don't go
out there and hit it hard...

Shawn: this is what
it's all about right here.

Scott r.:
...there's no hope for us.

Graham:
shut it down. Shut it down.

[Bleep]

[ "Gold in these hills" plays ]

♪ Listen up close, now ♪

♪ What I say ♪

♪ I'm a-gonna head out west
one day ♪

♪ I heard about a fortune
to be made ♪

♪ And I'm a-gonna get it,
now, just you wait ♪

♪ 'Cause I heard
that there's gold ♪

♪ In these hills ♪

--Captions by vitac --
www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪ Gold ♪

We're in
some really good gold here.

You know, hopefully we have a
really good day, nothing breaks,

And the weather holds.

Narrator:
off the coast of nome,

Steve and shawn pomrenke
are digging for all their worth

At a fleeting weather window.

I don't know
about this lovely day.

I don't think
it's gonna last too long.

Man: and now for
your regional weather forecast

From the
national weather service.

nome -- tonight we'll see rain
with fog

and lows in the upper 40s
to lower 50s.

southeast winds 15 to 20,
gusting to 30.

Narrator: with a storm forecast
ahead in just eight hours,

The race to bank gold is on.

Steve p.: Weather coming again
to shut us down.

Now we need to take advantage
of the nice weather

And get a decent run in.

Need all the gold
to pay the damn bills.

There's 70,000 bucks worth
of bills.

They just keep adding up.

They don't ever quit coming.

Narrator: at dock,
the wild ranger refuels...

Fueling diesel
for the main pump engine.

Okay, steve.

Come on.

Narrator: ...and rushes
back to the grounds.

On the anchor management...

There's work to be done on this,

And I just want
to get it all done

Before we go out

Because I don't want
something to break out there.

Narrator:
with a dead engine,

Scott meisterheim is in danger
of missing out on the gold.

Man: all right,
just bump it.

Whoa!

I said
it was that one!

I told you!

It got right in my eyes
and [bleep] man.

Give me something
to wipe my face off.

Right there.

The weather's supposed to
turn to crap in a few hours,

So I guess you can say
we've missed another dive day.

I got to talk to scott, man.

I don't know how much more
I can put into this.

Narrator:
on belmont beach...

[ All grunting ]

Tenhoff: I miss
my steering wheel.

I miss
your steering wheel, too.

It sucks.

...with the edge
sidelined by permit issues...

It blows.

[ Laughs ]
that's ghetto fabulous.

...zeke tenhoff is forced
to rely on his old dredge,

The clark.

Tenhoff:
it's really, really frustrating

To have to
take 10 steps backwards,

And going out on the clark

Is taking 20 steps backwards
for me.

It's like going from a yacht
to a dinky rowboat.

It's really depressing.

Narrator:
just off the coast...

Vernon: I'm hoping we can get
four or five hours, maybe six,

Before it all turns bad.

Narrator:
...on the wild ranger...

I need help
finding that buoy.

Really, I got to find
that damn buoy, buddy.

No, I understand that.

Vernon: right now,
I got 10 ounces of gold.

We got
a pretty good pay streak going,

But, I mean, hell, so far,
it's barely paying for fuel.

Hopefully we can scrounge up
another two or three ounces

Before it starts kicking up.

Narrator:
two days ago...

And does that little nugget
have any brothers or sisters?

Narrator:
...diver daryl galipeau

Brought vernon adkison
his first taste of pay dirt

In nearly two seasons.

The gold that was on the bottom
of the sea is now in my bucket.

Narrator: now,
with his lead diver

Recuperating
from a marathon dredge,

Vernon is taking out
the "b" team...

Don't see a white buoy.

Narrator: ...gordon greeb
and steve riedel.

Vernon:
what are you seeing?

Steve r.: I'm seeing a buoy
of some kind.

Wrong buoy.

That's not our buoy?
No.

That's not that buoy.

I-i'm going
by the gps here, steve.

Come here
and take a look.

Steve, this doesn't give
the distance to the buoy.

It's all by eyeball.

I wish
it did give a --

Yeah, it does.
It does.

Stop it!
Damn it!

Vernon: some days, I can
take steve better than others.

Some days,
you just want to backhand him

And slam him against a wall.

He's just -- he irritates you.

You know,
when you get on the gold,

You want to find your old spot.

Because, you know,
we're on the gold.

It's worth finding again
and again.

Look,
I'm breaking this interview up.

Right now,
we're anchoring the boat.

Um...

Hey,
look, damn it!

This is a distraction
for me. Stop it!

[Bleep]

Man, he's behind the eight ball,

And I worry
that he's gonna, like, go crazy.

Hey, guys.

I need to spot that buoy
right now.

I've got six rigs,
and it's a lot.

It's more than I can do.

I mean, it's a full-time job
just doing the damn paperwork.

Right there.

Uh, port.

Let go
of the spare anchor.

Yep, let go!

Don't let that line
go under the boat.

Well,
it's under the boat.

[Bleep]

Narrator: with their hot spot
within reach,

It's up to diver steve riedel to
get the ranger back on the gold.

I hope to get a good dive in
and the gold that goes with it.

Vernon:
I hope he gets the gold.

I hope he gets a lot of it.

Because he pisses me off fairly
well on a fairly frequent basis.

Narrator: while the wild ranger
gets after the gold...

It's warming up!

Meisterheim: do your job!
It's warming up!

Narrator: ...no one
is feeling the pressure

To get out and dredge
more than vernon's rival,

Scott meisterheim.

Meisterheim: today, I've got
a lot of stress going on.

I've got dan larsen threatening
to go into town and get a job.

I got my investors
right on the hill right now

Staring at me, up my a*s,
wanting some money.

If I don't get my a*s out there
and find some gold,

I could lose it all.

Narrator:
two days ago...

[Bleep]

Well,
they can cry all they want

As long as you
make your payment then, right?

Oh [bleep]

Narrator: ...under pressure
from his investors...

Ride 'em, cowboy!

[ Vomits ]

Narrator: ...scott took
the anchor management

Out in rough seas.

Meisterheim:
we're not rich yet, guys.

Ain't nothing running right.

Nothing's going as planned.

Everything we do
[bleep] goes all haywire.

It turns into an episode.

Narrator:
now he has a soaked engine,

A fed-up crew, and no gold
to show his investors.

Meisterheim:
big investors are in town here

With their panties all in a wad,
getting pissed off.

They didn't know what they
were getting themselves into.

They thought it was easy,

Just like
all these other yahoos out here.

Hey, larsen.

Larsen:
what's up, man?

Hey, what do you know
about these investor guys?

As far as I know, they fronted
all the money for scott.

I know he's paying back
a lot of money.

So,
they're basically saying,

"Give us our money
or we're gonna take your boat"?

I guess.
I don't know.

My investors -- they're, like,
up my a*s, like, really bad.

And they actually
want their money now.

Well,
there's only one way I know

To come up
with that kind of money,

And that's to get my a*s
in the water.

Allen: dude!

Then why did you
[bleep] put the screw in it?

If you would've
listened to me the first time

Instead of
running your [bleep] mouth,

This would be done
and it would be straight.

But, no,
do it your own [bleep] way.

Is it --

And then take it off
and redo it again.

Is it straight?

Next time, you listen to me
when I tell you to do something.

You don't do anything
on your own.

You listen to me.

He can find somebody else
to [bleep] push around.

I ain't [bleep] dealing
with this [bleep] no more.

[Bleep] him
and the horse he rode in on.

I don't know if I'm here
to feed his ego or what it is,

But he flips the hell out on me
all the time.

Busting my a*s for the guy, and
he's treating me like [bleep]

There comes a stage in the game
where you got to ask yourself,

"When is enough enough?"

Scott,
if we're not going out today,

I got to go work for roger,

'Cause I'm, like,
I'm hurting on cash.

I can't assume
that we're gonna make gold

In the next day or two.

Sorry, dan.

Larsen:
it's all right.

Just got to
make some money, man.

I know.

Engine's not working, so...

I'm gonna go level houses
for a few days here in nome

And make some money.

[ Engine turns over ]

Meisterheim: my crew
is a bunch of ignorant asses.

I didn't --
I didn't promise them nothing.

I told them to come up here and
they could work on my dredge.

I gave them no promises at all.

I fed them once a day and they
couldn't hack it, so they left.

When I expect people not to
be [bleep] that's what I expect.

And I don't need them.

Narrator:
on the coast of nome...

...the winds begin to build,

Signaling the approach
of a summer storm.

On the clark...

Emily:
ah-ah-ah-ah-ah.

[ Thud ]

Tenhoff:
I hit the sand bar.

We're just completely
and solidly aground right now.

How the [bleep] are you
supposed to get through here?

I'm backed up into a corner.

I'm 25 years old,

And I'm already
in $250,000 worth of debt.

I got to pay it off somehow.

I have to go back to the clark.

It's not that good
of a dredge right now.

Got to get wet. [ Growls ]

Narrator: with their big rig,
the edge, sidelined,

Zeke and emily are stuck on the
skipper's old beat-up dredge.

Tenhoff:
we're good.

Time to get out of here.

It's not the best way
to start your morning,

But now I know
where the channel is.

Just had to feel it out
with my feet.

Narrator:
zeke and emily set a course

For the claim they're working --

A long seven miles
up the coast of nome.

Hey, emily.

I hate
gold dredging.

I don't want to
do it anymore.

I don't hate gold dredging,
but I hate this dredge.

Oh [bleep]
why is it so windy?

Dude,
it doesn't look good out here.

Well,
we can't give up yet.

We got to keep going.
Okay.

Well, let's just waste gas
getting out there and...

Okay.

I'm a lot more levelheaded than
zeke and balanced than zeke,

And, you know, I can step in
when zeke goes too crazy.

Zeke wants to keep going.

We shouldn't be out here.

It's way too [bleep] rough
to be out here right now.

I don't think it's necessarily
gonna get worse than this

Because this isn't
a day breeze.

So, if anything,
this'll calm down.

All right, man,
if you want to head out there...

I mean, I --

[Bleep] it's gonna be [bleep]
miserable dredging this.

I don't want
to just go home.

I'm starting to get an idea

Of zeke's relentless,
illogical ambition.

Everything else in his life
is eclipsed --

His health, his finances,
his personal life.

Everything is overtaken
by dredging.

[Bleep] this
[bleep] dredge.

I think we should call it,
honestly.

You know,
we're not too far out,

And that way we're not gonna be,
like, seven miles down

And then
have to call it.

We got to go out.

Once we're anchored up,
it won't be that bad.

Even though the clark probably
isn't gonna take me very close

To a 300- or 400-ounce benchmark
for the season,

I got to do something.

I can't quit.

No, I'm sorry.

I [bleep] --
I know you're motivated

To get the [bleep] out there
and so am i,

But this is --
this is, like,

I have to
[bleep] call this, dude.

[ Engine sputtering ]

Narrator:
in the small boat harbor...

[ Sputtering continues ]

[ Engine turns over ]

Captain scott meisterheim's
got his dredge engine

Back in working order
but not his crew.

Meisterheim: I got no
ill feelings towards todd.

He's just a crybaby,
and he had to go home.

Narrator:
deckhand todd allen is awol,

And dan larsen
picked up a temp job in nome.

Meisterheim: I had hopes
of bringing my friends up here

And having them work for me,

But it turned out that they just
weren't competent enough to --

To deal with anything.

Fogel: hey, scott.
So, what's the plan?

The plan is we're gonna go out
and try to make some money.

Okay.

See if my luck
can get any worse for the day.

They had no clue
of what was gonna go on here.

They thought it was gonna be

Like a tropical island
or something.

They weren't competent enough
to do this [bleep]

I want you to go
and be on the boat.

Okay.
I can do that.

Narrator:
down at just a single crewman,

Scott brings on mark fazio.

Meisterheim:
there's plenty of people

That'll come up here
and work for me,

Despite my attitude.

It's really easy.

You just do what I tell you,

And if you do what I tell you,
I won't yell.

I was hoping that dredging
in nome was gonna be the answer.

Take care of all my issues
and all my problems,

But so far,
it's been a pain in the neck.

It's mentally painful,
emotionally painful.

With the investor money now,

That puts me at $250,000
in debt.

And they'll get their money.

If I don't have, nobody gets it.

Drop it, dan.

Now I just have to get out there
and make the money.

I got to find the gold.

If I don't, it could be bad.

did you see them pickers?

just so you know, wheelhouse,

i'm sending up
my first two pickers.

Yeah, baby!
That's what I'm talking about.

Keep it coming.

Is he on the gold?
Fogel: yeah.

Really?
Yeah, that's what he said.

Awesome. Awesome.

Yeah, baby.

[ Laughter ]

That right there is a $500 nug.

The proof's in the pudding
right there.

That's what we came here for --
gold.

That's amazing.

Five ounces in that short
amount of time,

And it's running at,
what, $1,500 an ounce?

So, just do the math.

Oh, my god! Look at
those pickers!

Whoa!

All pickers!

This is
cornflake gold.

Holy moly!

Look at that! That's got
weight to it, dude.

Oh, yeah,
that's [bleep]

Oh, man.

It's like somebody
was telling me

I don't know
what the [bleep] I'm doing.

That's money
in the bank right there.

I'm telling you.

I'll bet you larsen and todd
wish they were here right now!

Narrator: the captain has
his first real payday in hand.

But just up the coast...

...with time on the water
growing short,

The gold is eluding
scott's rival, vernon adkison.

Vernon: to count the season
as a success,

I'm looking to get 100 ounces.

So I don't want
any wimpy dredges on my boat.

I want to get out there and
get after it and stay after it.

Steve, do you read?

Uh-huh.

I don't know if steve realizes

Exactly what in the hell's
going on.

I really don't.

you really can't see the --

the gold's
really, really hard to see.

i can't see it.

Vernon:
daryl went down there.

He saw the gold.

Steve's down there diving
in that exact same spot.

that's where I'm working,
but I can't see the gold.

Vernon:
"nope. Don't see the gold.

Nope. Don't see the gold."

Where's the gold?

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

hold it, now.

[ grunting ]

Steve, you're okay, right?

[ coughing ]

Vernon: hang on,
there, steve.

Let me
get the weights for you.

Stand up.

Your harness is --
it's way the hell down.

Yeah.
Come over here.

Steve r.:
I got upside-down.

My weight belt was unsnapped,

And my weight belt
falls up into my armpits,

So it kind of
trapped me upside down,

And I thought, you know,
"I don't like this."

Steve r.:
I don't know.

It's just -- this isn't
happening, I don't think.

I'm not
seeing any gold.

He is pretty much helpless
and is not likely to change.

[ Grunting ]

Narrator: with nothing to show
but wasted fuel

And the pressure mounting...

My back hurts.
I'm [bleep] bent over here.

Narrator:
...the skipper blows a gasket.

Vernon:
[bleep] damn!

I could piss faster than this!

[Bleep] piece of [bleep]

It won't [bleep] come out.

You cannot put fuel in a tank

With one of these
phony [bleep] cans!

[Bleep] damn it!

Because of
the [bleep] damn spout

That the federal government
makes us put on them!

[Bleep] ridiculous!

[Bleep] the federal government!

You know, I'd like to meet
the piece of [bleep] politician

That came up with the idea
for these fuel tanks.

I'd like to give him
a [bleep] damn diesel enema

And then torch it off!

Steve r.: Vernon has an enormous
temper, and you'd think,

"Oh, my god. Oh, my god.
It's his time.

He's gonna fall over.
He's gonna die."

Thanks a lot,
federal [bleep] government!

Man: high surf advisory
is in effect.

Narrator:
off the coast of nome,

The wild ranger
is caught as a storm rolls in.

Man: strong winds
will generate four-foot surf

along the north coast.

Well, whoa.

This [bleep]
is getting a little crazy now.

I'm gonna have to call it.

We're starting
to get standing waves

And they're breaking over
the bow of the boat.

Narrator: captain vernon adkison
throws in the towel.

On the christine rose's skiff...

Man: caution is advised
for small watercraft.

Tonight it's gonna be
a rough son of a [bleep]

...deckhands cody moen
and doug graham

Motor out for a shift change.

There's some big waves
out here!

Shawn: put the gold
in the box tonight!

Quit [bleep] off!

Get this thing running!

Gold in the box!

I'll put some gold
in the box.

Don't worry about it!

Meisterheim:
not bad for our first day.

Narrator:
on the anchor management...

[ Gold clattering ]

After scoring his first
real gold of the season,

Captain scott meisterheim
heads in from the coming storm.

This dredge
that I created myself

From being a rookie last year
works.

There's about five times more
in that sluice box

Than vernon pulled in on the
wild ranger all year last year.

I put that dredge together
just for one purpose,

And that was to prove a point.

I wanted to prove to vern

That his wild ranger
was a piece of [bleep]

And I could build one better,
and I did.

Vernon will never
get the better of me.

What's your thoughts on cleanup
and securing the gold?

Well,
I'm gonna clean it up,

And then I'm gonna stick it
right next to my b*ll s*ck

And I'm going to sleep.

Anybody wants to try to get it,
good luck.

Narrator:
as the anchor management

Pulls back into dock...

Deckhand todd allen
has cooled off

And is back
to give it another shot.

Allen: me and scott's
been in business

Several different times.

In about 90% of them,

I've told him
to go [bleep] himself and left.

What's up?
What's up with you?

I don't know.

I come down here
to see what's up with you.

I just want to show you
what you missed out on.

No way! Really?

Look at the size
of that one.

That's awesome.

I guess that's
what it's all about, huh?

Yeah.

Yep.
You want some of that?

[Bleep] yeah, I do.

None of this
is yours.

Hell,
I know that.

And none of it's yours.

I understand that.

So,
that's [bleep] amazing.

You want to be a partner
in my box with me?

Hell, yes, I do!

How much is that?

Next time you decide
that you don't want to be here,

I'm grabbing mark, and mark's
gonna be on the boat, not you.

So just always be right here,
ready to go out.

All right.

And then you'll be doing
the same thing I'm doing.

Okay?
All right, yeah.

Just remember,
this is a business.

I yell at you a lot,
but it's still a business.

In the back of my brain,
I'm telling myself,

"Don't do it, todd. Don't do it.

This is gonna [bleep] turn out
the same way it always has."

But the other side's
crunching numbers, going,

"Well, geez, I could potentially
walk away smelling like a king."

[ Gold jingling ]

I love that sound.

Narrator: seven miles
up the coast on the clark,

At the end
of a three-hour slough,

Zeke and emily finally arrive
at their grounds,

When most of the other dredges
have already quit.

Tenhoff: it's not advisable
to take a craft

This far out into the bering sea
that's not seaworthy.

And I know that this dredge
isn't very seaworthy,

But I'm doing it anyway.

We got to keep getting gold.

Let's get ready to dredge.

Did it start?

There's no spark
coming at all.

clark's kind of broken down.

I rode it hard last summer
and put it away wet.

It's really, really frustrating.

Getting the carburetor
on this thing.

If you're spending all your time
tinkering with mining equipment,

If you don't get underwater

And you don't
spend those hours underwater,

And you don't move
that material,

You're gonna fail.

[Bleep] a little stern fluid.

[ Engine turns over ]

got to be gold
around here somewhere.

[bleep] yeah.

hell, yeah!

hey, emily.

What up?

mark this place
with the gps.

there's a whole bunch
of gold here.

there's a ton
of gold.

hell, yeah!

Nice.

Hot spot!

Narrator: 120 ounces below
his four-week benchmark,

Zeke is finally on the gold.

[ Beep ]

I can't say for sure,

But it looks like we might be
lease-jumping right now.

Hey, zeke,
we're in the blue.

what?

you're nine feet south
of judy's claim right now,

so really close.

you're too close.

are you sure?

Yeah, we're nine feet away
from the border of her claim.

Narrator: the clark is too close
to a lease

They were accused of
claim-jumping three weeks ago.

The blue
is judy martinson's claim.

And we have to make sure we stay
well within our claim

Or else we'll have
a lot of trouble.

do you
want to go north?

Narrator: with his
dredging window closing fast,

Zeke tries to save time by
hauling the rig by its anchor.

Well, the direction
that you're going right now,

From what I can see
of your bubbles,

You're pulling
the dredge east.

[bleep]

[ sighs ]

aah!

[bleep]

[bleep] this!

[bleep]

Narrator:
on the clark...

[bleep] this!

[bleep]

aah!

[bleep]

Narrator: ...after drifting
dangerously close

To claim jumping,

Zeke drags the dredge
back into his mining grounds.

[bleep]

emily.

Emily: yep.

You're good.

We went
from being nine feet away

From martinson's lease to


i'm just gonna see
what I can find around here.

all right.

I'm worried about the weather.

I think it's -- I think it's
kind of picking up a little bit.

There are storm clouds.

whoa!

holy [bleep]
there's a bunch of gold!

i'm looking at tons of gold
right now!

yes!

Emily:
wind's really picking up.

This is impossible
to work in this kind of chop.

oh [bleep]

Oh, my god.
This thing is a disaster.

yeah!

Narrator:
as the swells rise,

Zeke gets pulled around
on the bottom.

come out.

come on.

i don't [bleep] know.

we shouldn't
be out here.

it's way too [bleep] rough
to be out here right now.

I just -- I can barely --
I can't -- I'm down there, like,

The dredge
is just pulling me around.

And then my umbilical
starts tugging on me

And moving me
all over the place.

And it's probably
only gonna get a lot worse

In the next 25 minutes.

It looks like
it's gonna get rough.

We need
to head in because,

You know, we're really
vulnerable out here.

Sucks.

Yeah, it's time
to [bleep] out here.

Narrator:
the summer storm hits nome.

Supposedly, this blow is
supposed to last for a few days.

Narrator:
rough seas ground the fleet...

...except for its big rig,
the christine rose,

Which is still shoveling gold
seven miles down the coast.

That's a good bucket.

Digging is real good.

The material's good.

Just looking at the water.
It's rough.

there's some big breakers
out there about five miles.

Graham: the weather
can change pretty fast,

And this could get solid fours,
fives,

And we got to go sideways
on these for seven miles.

Getting rough.

Yeah, it's getting pretty
freaking downright rough

Out here, man.

Yeah, might as well just
shut her down, bring her in.

Let's play it safe.

We'll live to mine
another day.

We're going
in the harbor.

Now we're gonna
start hauling a*s.

Narrator: now the christine rose
must row seven miles

Through the five-foot swells
to make it to port.

Graham:
go sideways in these waves.

It's too hard on everything.

It can get really bad
in a real hurry.

Whoa.

It's getting [bleep] rough
out here.

Trying to get
a low center of gravity,

But that gantry's so tall,
we are so high,

So much weight up there that
we could roll over really easy.

Big waves.

Holy [bleep]

Hang on. Hang on.

Waves are getting bigger, man.

I think he's, like,
panicking a little bit.

Narrator:
to get back into harbor,

The massive dredge
will have to turn port

And steam
directly into 20-knot winds.

Trying to
turn this thing around,

Get turned into the port.

Got to get sideways to the waves
and not run into the rocks

And the sandbars over there,

And if we turn sideways,
I have a 90% shot we would tip.

It's their bermuda triangle.

The waves will pick up.

Moen:
the rocks are sticking out,

And it's a really small gap
you got to hit, so...

We don't got a steering wheel
on this thing.

If he doesn't
balance this right,

Times it wrong, that's it.

We'll flip this thing
right over.

Graham:
it's scary [bleep] huh?

Whoa!

Narrator:
on the christine rose...

Graham:
that is scary [bleep] huh?

Narrator: ...doug graham tries
to steer the top-heavy dredge

Into port with only a backhoe.

Graham: these waves make it
sketchy for the christine rose

To even try to turn in it,

But we don't have
much of a choice here.

We've got to spin around here.

Yeah, g.d.

Yeah, we're gonna
swing inward now.

Whoa!

Oh [bleep]

Wow! Awesome, man.

We made it back to port
in one piece.

Hey!

You made it finally.
Oh, man.

How's that thing look?

I like what I see.

It's been real consistent,
good gold the whole time,

So it should be
all the way through the carpet,

But we'll find out
soon enough.

There it is.
It's all gold there.

When I see enough
to pay all the bills,

That's when I'll get excited.

I don't see enough
to pay all the bills yet.

Graham: look pretty good
to you?

The entire sluice box,
we got nine buckets.

Last bucket heading off
to the cleanup shack.

Narrator:
at the pomrenke compound...

What I'm thinking right now is
how much is really in this tub

Right here?

'Cause that's anybody's guess.

Just a bunch of dirt.

This is what it's all about
right here.

This is what pays all the bills.

Cook the gold, dry it out.

Got another sale for you.

Hopefully a little bit more
than what you had the last time.

Three times more.

Shawn: I hope your scale
reads the same as ours.

I think his reads more.
[ Laughs ]

More!

Not less.

Hughes: 63.205.

Next time,
it's gonna be 180 ounces.

That's why
I love you, man.

There we go.

$81,364.

That'll keep the bill collectors
off our a*s for a couple days.

Narrator:
with almost four pounds of gold,

The pomrenkes edge closer to
their season goal of 50 pounds.

Here you go.
Thank you, kenny.

Yep. You bet.

With the storm
keeping the fleet grounded...

The miners make the most
of downtime in nome.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

[ Guitar and accordion play ]

♪ We had a few days
out on the water ♪

♪ Weather was holding out,
engines were running strong ♪

Man:
check it out.

♪ We were on the gold ♪

♪ Things were going well ♪

♪ Until the division
of natural resources ♪

♪ Messed up some paperwork
somewhere and shut us down ♪

♪ And we call ourselves
gold miners ♪

♪ Salt of the earth
and all that b.s. ♪

That's my bed.

It's terrible.

It's been cold.

♪ At the end of the day ♪

Vernon:
can steve be a gold miner?

I don't know.

I will find out
before it's over with.

♪ We're just greedy people ♪

Moen:
record right there.

♪ And I don't know ♪

♪ Deserve to be forgiven ♪

Narrator: the anchor management
finally had a real payday,

But the christine rose
blew everybody out of the water.

Tenhoff: he answered the door
with a loaded .44 magnum,

Spun the cartridge
and put it to his head

And pulled the trigger.

i'm sorry. Sorry, guys.

Like, being a woman
isn't a good enough excuse.

That's it. I mean,
this is me out here.

Meisterheim: I got so much
on my [bleep] brain right now.

Allen: scott,
he's traveling down a path

I don't think that he
wants to go down,

But there's no going back.

Man:
don't --

Don't touch me.