08x09 - Murky Waters

[bunniefuu]

George: winter in alaska,
and it comes quick.

Mother nature
makes a calling

When the season's over.

And I got to get out there
before the harbor freezes in.

Every day could
be my last day.

You know, this is it,

My last chance to get gold.

Tear it up, man.
Get the last of it.

I can't really see.

It's not looking good.

It's gonna change everything.

Steve: now, he thinks that
he's gonna find $2 million

Worth of gold, dream on.

Something's wrong.

Unless you got some $3 million
up your butt.

Natalie, wake up.
Wake up.

Get the [bleep]
out of my house.

You want to yell at me?

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

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

Narrator:
the first arctic flurries
have passed through nome.

And the dropping
temperature heralds

The beginning of the end
of the summer mining season.

Only the strong will
survive the final days.

The remaining miners
will dare to take

On mother nature's wrath...

...tackling the frigid waters
of the bering sea...

...or be forced south in defeat.

In nome harbor...

George: crazy, crazy.

Seems like I'm
already ice mining.

Rookie miner george young
is learning firsthand

Just how quickly the end
of the season arrives.

Today it was good enough
that the ice is all broke up.

And we're gonna be able to get
in and get as much diving in

As we can before we got to
call it a season.

When the weather comes,

And the harbor starts freezing,

There's just no way
to get out into the ocean.

You know, the harbor freezes up,
you can't get out there.

There might be some guys
with some big dredges

That might be able
to pound through it.

But i...
Mine will just...

I'll be poking holes
in my pontoon.

So as soon as that --
that harbor freezes up,

I know I got to pull my boat.

Narrator:
george's 20-foot pontoon dredge

Is one of the smallest
in the fleet.

And pushing his luck could sink
his $70,000 investment.

George: right now, the weather
man's calling for,

You know, below-freezing
temperatures.

Probably the last dive
of the season today.

Narrator:
and what a season he's had.

George:
I got a big debt to pay off.
I owe my brother $70,000.

And I got to get some gold
to start paying that off.

Narrator: george started out
with an ambitious goal...

That's right.

...to pay off a massive loan
from his brother, dave.

Whoa, [bleep].

But the nome newcomer quickly

Learned nothing comes easy...

Ah [bleep].
...on the bering sea.

A buck and a half.
I want to cry a little bit.

Now, on what may be
the final day of his season,

George is still far
from hitting his goal.

My goal this season
is to get 100 ounces.


Will guarantee

That I pay off my dredge,
pay my guys.

And I'll be able to go
home with some money.

You know, if I don't
find any more gold,

I'll go home broke.

Right now, I just got to get
as much gold as I possibly can.

We're coming
into our spot.

Go ahead
and chuck that anchor.

Narrator: desperate for anything

That will help him
pay back his brother,

His last stand will be


Nome at claim nine.

My brother, dave, you know,
paying him off is --

It's a goal that I've set.

There you go.

And I'm not stopping
till I pay him off.

All right.
Tear it up, man.

Get the last of it.

So what's
the visibility

Like down there, george?

There's no vis,
is there?

Yeah.

Still kind of
looking for you.

There we go.
And I got you.

Are you grabbing
ahold of the hose?

I'm on the nozzle.

But I can't even see
the bottom.

But I know I'm on cobble

Because I can feel it
with my hand.

So, uh,
but it's pretty loose.

It's not stuck in any sand.

Just, uh...

Well, I mean,

The bigger chunks
are stuck a little.

It could be
in a good spot.

There's a pretty
good stuck piece.

Kind of just poking
around with my hands.

Interesting spot,
I think.

So you're gonna go ahead
and try to suck some rocks,

Or what?

Yeah. It's the end
of our season here.

And I found a spot
where, uh, you know,

We could be on gold here

Because when you're
in cobble, you know,

Underneath it there
could be some good gold,

Especially since I can feel

Some of the bigger pieces
of cobble.

Actually, it's not a bad spot.
Go ahead and power up.

I'm gonna mine right here,

Give her a try.

Sounds good to me.

Getting it done today,
zero visibility.

Narrator: in these murky waters,

Even mining veterans
would normally call it quits.

Trying to just
get a hole here.

But with a $70,000 debt,

George's only option
is a marathon dive...

I feel good cobble.

...in the dark.

This ain't bad.

I mean, you can
definitely mine it.

Maybe if I poke
around down here,

I'll find a nugget.

You never know.
[ Laughs ]

Narrator: six miles west...

...back in town.

That was -- that was probably
the worst week

I've ever had in my life.

Shawn pomrenke
makes his return

For the final
gold push of the season.

Scott: so do you have
a recovery plan?

Or what was...
What's the...

You know, I plan to make it
through to the end of the season

And then [bleep]
get surgery.

And then 4 months
of recovery.

But his crippling
back injury continues

To keep him on the sidelines.

So far this season...

Paul, it should help
with the down payment.

I know it's just the start.

The pomrenkes have been
on a mission to raise $3 million

To buy nearly 10,000 acres

Of gold-rich mining grounds.

Even though shawn hit
it big at the bluff...

That's [bleep]
solid gold.

We're gonna do
one more, shawn.

...he's been taken
out of action

With a debilitating
back injury

That threatens his season.

I'm supposed to be
leading the team.

And my guys need me.

I need to get back to nome.

Okay.

Okay. Sounds good.
Thank you.

Bye.

Now, still short
nearly $2 million...

Steve: what's your idea?
Where you gonna come up

With this money?

This nome gold decision's
supposed to happen today.

...the deck is stacked
against the pomrenkes.

Well, that's...
There's a million of it.

Yeah. I know.
I need to build it.

Where's the other $2 million
gonna come from?

Yeah, well, we got a little bit
coming in from the bluff.

Until that gold's
in your hand,

I don't figure
that's gonna pay nothing.

I -- I mean, I --
I'm just trying to brainstorm

What way
we can make this work.

I mean, there's got to be, uh,
some way we can make it work.

Then what's the timeline
for coming up with the money?

It's getting real late
in the season.

Right now, my operation's
not producing any gold.

I'm worried this injury's gonna
cost me a shot at nome gold.

Now, he thinks that
they're gonna go down there

And find $2 million
worth of gold in --

In a week or 10 days or whatever
and, you know, dream.

Dream on.

That's what I say.

All right, well, i...

But you don't listen to me.

Unless you got some $3 million
up your butt somewhere.

All right.
You know what?

You're not even worth talking
to because you don't...

You're not even worth talking
to either, for christ sakes.

Get the [bleep]
out of my house.

Get the [bleep]
out of my house.

You want to yell at me?

You want to yell in my [bleep]
face in my house?

Get the [bleep]
out of here.

Narrator: 11 miles
east of nome...

All right. So this is
hastings creek right here.

And then downstream
a little ways,

That's hastings beach.

Hope we find some gold.

Zeke tenhoff and emily riedel

Have one last hail mary
in the playbook.

Back in the day when, like,
I was just a little 2-year-old,

My parents did live
on the beach at hastings creek.

So we're kind of at the mouth
of hastings creek over here.

So what do you
want to try to do today?

Well, I just want to
go check out

Right in front of the beach,

Maybe do
a little prospecting.

Zeke: as you go down the coast
eastward, you pass nome river.

Nome river had awesome gold.

The next creek that you get
to is hastings creek.

It's been one of the richest
spots to beach mine.

As soon as you hit the water,

You go a little ways
under the water.

And then you just get
these big brown sand bars

With no gold in them.

And nobody's ever really
gone out very far

Because they've always

Just kind of thought it
was just sand out there.

And nobody was gonna
ever find gold there.

But desperate times call
for desperate measures.

Narrator: so far...

I haven't seen gold
all [bleep] summer.

...zeke and emily's
season-long

Search for new mining
grounds has been a bust.

The gold
should be fanning out

From the mouth
of the penny river.

It looks like gold's been

Pouring out of
this penny river.

And even after finding some gold
at the penny river...

Zeke: 21.
Emily: 21.

Right on.
...the success was short lived.

I've got to figure out
where to go next.

That penny river gold's
pretty much played out.

Now...

A lot of red sands out here.

...they're back to
the drawing board,

Hoping a last-ditch effort
at hastings creek

Can salvage their season.

I reckon that somewhere
out there

In front of that creek,

There's a source of
exploitable good gold.

There is consistently
good gold in a replenishing

Red sand on the beach.

That gold must be coming

From an offshore
source somewhere.

So where is that
gold coming from?

That's what I need to find.

Narrator:
the beach at hastings creek
was once rich with gold.

But offshore,
there's been no sign of it.

Zeke: I want to go down
by the mouth over here

So we can actually
do some panning,

See what's going on
over at the mouth.

Narrator:
it may be a shot in the dark,

But if zeke can
find gold on the beach,

He's thinking it could lead

To a large untapped
deposit offshore.

Holy mother of [bleep].
Look at that.

Holy [bleep].

Yeah. That's rich sand.
That's rich.

[Bleep]
that's all gold

Right there just off of,

Like, one [bleep] shovel
on the beach.

You're into some
really good ground.

That is insane, dude.

See, it pans like that with


Just right off the beach?

I mean, that's enough reason
to think that, like,

There's a major amount of gold

To be taken out
of the ocean right here.

Yeah. Hopefully
has some coarse grounds too.

And this is --
this is a place where

Nobody's ever ocean mined,
hands down.

No one has ever ocean mined

In front of
hastings creek, never.

There's a discovery you made
right out in front of this creek

That's gonna...
It's gonna change everything.

Narrator: nine miles west...

...back in nome...

Shawn: come on.
Let's go.

...shawn pomrenke is a man
out of options.

Time to get the hell
out of here.

We're actually gonna
do a little mining.

With the end
of the season looming

And still short of
his $3 million goal,

Mr. Gold and his busted
back have no choice

But to get off the sidelines,

Find some gold.

Shawn: my back breaking has
slowed me down quite a bit.

But sure as hell
ain't gonna stop me.

I still got my mind.

Quitting, that's
not an option.

Can't quit.

Even with my back hurt,

You got to work
through it sometimes

And just get the job done.

Back to the dredge.

Time to load things up,
get the hell out of here.

Winter's right
around the corner.

After next week,
you're on borrowed time.

Gonna go get some gold.

If we're gonna have
a shot at nome gold,

I can't come back empty
handed on this run.

We're here, made it.

Made it to the bluffs.

Water looks like crap.

It looks like
chocolate milk.

I don't know if you're gonna
be able to see anything, joe.

Yeah. Yeah.
Not looking real good.

Yeah. We might as well.

How we doing, joe?

Shawn: with my back
being [bleep] up,

I got to step back
and, uh, let these guys

Do the grunt of the work,

Just try and help them
out as much

As I can without
hurting myself.

Today, shawn is forced to rely
on diver joe fullwood.

I'm hoping to get right
onto some gold and pile

Some into the box.

Shawn: I do not like to watch
from the sideline.

And it's pissing me off

Because that's what got me

To really love
gold mining was diving.

Joe, jump in,
check the vis.

Hopefully we got good vis.

If you don't have
good visibility,

And you can't see the gold,

You're just sh**ting
in the dark.

If you can't see the gold,
you're just moving dirt.

Narrator:
and with hopes of putting a dent

In his planned
$3 million bid,

Shawn can't just move dirt.

He needs to move pay dirt.

Joe: can you, uh,
lower me down, scott?

Lower him down.

Yep.
It's coming down to you.

All right.
I'm just getting to the nozzle.

How's it going?

It's pretty dark down here.

You got any vis at all?

Uh, not -- not very much.

Only a couple feet of vis?

Yeah. I can see about


Yeah.
Visibility isn't very hot.

Uh, yeah.

If we're already on gold,
it wouldn't be too bad.

I just can't quite see my
surroundings very well, though.

Has he said anything?

Two foot of vis.

Can barely see
his hand out here.

Uh, it's not looking
too good so far.

Um, I can't really see.

I mean, it is not
looking good right now.

What's your timing,
though, really?

What are you thinking?



All right.

Right here is something
that looks kind of promising.

All right.
We're on, uh,

We're on a bit of cobble here.

I'm punching a little hole.

Nothing really yet.

We'll see if I see anything.

Yeah. We're out here
risking a lot of money.

We spent a lot of money,
a hell of a lot of money.

But if we would've never
come out here to look,

We would've never found
what we found.

Oh, my god.

Yes, yes.

Narrator: 100 miles
east of nome...

...at the bluff.

Joe: oh, my god.

Yes, yes.

Narrator:
...shawn pomrenke is counting
on his crew to strike gold.

Joe: nice chunk of gold
on the ground right here.

There's nice big...

Seems like this are, uh,
kind of what tells you that --

What tells you that something
else is gonna be around.

But for a big piece like
that to be on the ground,

There's --

There's bound to be
some more right nearby.

Could you turn up
the rpms on the pump?

Yes, sir.

All the way.

How's the suction?

Oh, it's fantastic suction.

I'm able to see
what's right in front of me.

But I can't quite tell how it
relates to what's around me.

So it makes it
a lot more difficult.

Yeah.
You're coming into it now.

Where's the nuggets?

Visibility just went again.

No vis?
Yeah.

Visibility's
getting pretty bad down here.

I think the current's
starting to go slack.

It's impossible
to see.

You want to come up
or what?

Yeah, probably so.

I'll just come on up.

That's it.
He's done.

The water's not good
enough to dive.

So we're screwed.

We finally get close
to finding the mother lode,

Like, the most gold I've ever
seen in my life in one spot.

And then to get broken
right then, that sucks.

Yeah, it's a real --
real kick in the a*s

Not being able to work today.

The visibility just
won't let us do it.

Narrator: shut down by
the bluff's murky waters,

And with the temperature
dropping by the hour,

Mr. Gold isn't
feeling so golden.

Shawn: we're at
the bitter [bleep] end.

Bitter end.

Narrator: 70 miles west

...at the mouth
of hastings creek...

Zeke: I think this might be
the last weather window

That there is for the season.

So I'm, like, pretty desperate
to find something.

Narrator:
it's make-or-break-it time

For captain zeke tenhoff

And tender emily riedel.

And they're staking their season
on unproven ground.

If I don't find
good ground, I'm --

You know, it's gonna be
one thing after the next.

I'm gonna have to sell my truck.

I'm gonna have
to sell my property.

I'm gonna have to find
a new job.

Um, my lifestyle
can't sustain itself

If I don't find good,

Productive new ground to work.

I don't know if that gold
made it all the way out here.

But I'm hoping
to be pleasantly

Surprised
at the new-found discovery.

A lot of optimism.
I just got to be

Confident and optimistic.

At the same time,

Don't invest too
much excitement in one spot

Because there's,
like, [bleep]



That have cobble on them.

Gold's not a
self-replenishing resource.

It's there.
And then you dredge it.

And it's gone.
End of story.

But I know there's still
a lot of gold on this coast.

There's a lot of gold
on this coast.

I mean, all up
and down this coast,

There are all kinds
of unexplored places offshore.

And I do believe there is, like,

A canyon full of gold
out there somewhere,

So to speak.

And as long as I think
it's possible,

I'm gonna keep looking
for treasure out here.

It looks like there's a little,
um, area at, like, 40.

Big bunch of boulders
at 37 feet.

That's not too shabby.

In the course
of about 200 feet,

There's a, like, a 15-foot
elevation gradient.

It just drops.
And that's super unusual.

And also, that --

That, in my experience,

Tends to mean positive
things for gold.

Narrator: the unusual
ocean bottom could lead zeke

To a treasure trove of gold.

Uh, and the visibility
is just [bleep].

It looks bad.
I'm gonna see what I can do.

But lately, his expertise
hasn't exactly been spot on.

Not really looking forward
to going down into the,

Um, dark, dark,
cold mud puddle.

The bering sea
turns into a dark,

Cold mud puddle in october.

And, uh, it's what
I got to work with.

But I'm not looking
forward to it.

I know you know -- I know
you know what you're doing.

But just let's just
keep a pretty,

Like, steady
dialogue going on

Because you're gonna
be lost down there.

Sounds good.

Hey.
Hey, give me a fist.

All right.

Okay.
Can you hear me?

Can you hear me?
Yeah.

I can hear you.

How's the visibility
down there?

Really, really bad.

How much -- have you got
like a foot or less?

Yeah.
Still working my way down.

I can't even see
the bottom.

That's pretty
depressing news.

This is the last chance
zeke and I have to --

To make a future
for ourselves.

The season's ending.

And that reality is just grimly
staring us in the face.

Can't see anything.

Narrator: in nome, alaska...

George: I'm ready to rock.

...george young's rookie
mining season

Has come to an end.

Doing our final cleanup
for the season.

I'm hoping I can, uh, get 5
or 6 ounces out of this,

Uh, get my brother
a nice pay check.

I came up here thinking
I could get 100 ounces of gold.

I knew it was a lofty goal
when I started.

But it turned out to be

That it was way loftier
than I thought.

My gold counts
haven't been very good.

And, uh, I just hope I get
some more gold to my brother.

Narrator:
over 80 ounces short of his goal

And $70,000 in the hole
to his brother,

George is still holding out hope

That he'll have enough gold

To make one final payment
this season.

All right.
Let's see some gold.

Oh, damn.

Look at that.
Holy cow.

There's some chunkies.
Mm-hmm.

Looking like we got
pretty good gold in there.

Oh, heck, yeah.
That looks good.

Good three ounces in there.

Heck yeah, man.

Good.

Here we go.

There's one.

Two,

Three.

Four.

Five.

Gonna be more than 5½½.

Ooh.

Come on.

Right on.

Looks good.





Right on.

Narrator: 8½½ ounces
is worth over $11 grand.

Way to go, man.

Good job.

That put me over
the 20 ounces for the year.

So...

Bringing george's season
total to 22 ounces.

You definitely get to pay
your brother a little bit.

After paying his crew

And the cost of running
his operation,

It still leaves george
well short of paying off

His $70,000 debt.

George:
at the start of the season,

My brother, dave,
you know, he --

He had his thoughts
that, you know,

I might not be able
to make it the whole season,

That I was underest--

I was very naive
on how hard mining was.

And, uh, I proved to him
that I could do it.

I know I'm not gonna get
all the gold to my brother.

I damn well am coming
back next year.

And I'm gonna pay him off.

Way to finish out
the year.

Narrator: 11 miles
east of nome...

Emily: how's the visibility
down there?

Really, really bad.

How much -- have you got
like a foot or less?

Can't see anything.

Narrator:
zeke tenhoff is 2 hours

Into a murky dive
at hastings creek.

If you could do 9.85 ounce
an hour ground.

It's really not as bad
as I thought it would be.

I have visibility.

Narrator:
at 37 feet, zeke has found
a pocket of visibility.

Now we just need
to find some gold.

After a season of misfortune,

It may be just the stroke
of luck they need.

How's it going
down there?

I found kind of,
right, like,

There's a big exposed
clay hillside.

But I don't see nothing.

So is that, uh, any gold?

Uh, wait.

Oh, my goodness.

That's beautiful.

That's what I'm talking about.
Look at all that gold.

All right.
That's awesome, dude.

Narrator: zeke has landed
on a pay streak.

Stay on that nice
streak of gold.

I know.

The gold is pretty much
all fine

And sandwiched up
into these rocks.

And even though the fine
gold is hard to see,

The vein could lead them

To the score
they've been looking for.

Oh, look at all that pieces,
whole bunch of gold.

The gold's
super good.

It's gonna really keep me going
for the rest of the day.

Are you seeing a lot
of gold down there?

I'm getting this greasy,
delicious [bleep] gold.

Just amazing and awesome
and better

Than I thought
that it was gonna be.

You know, hopefully
I can get a bunch more in.

I'll probably be okay.

But I really don't
want to leave --

Leave this right now because
this gold is really awesome.

Narrator: exhaust contains
carbon monoxide.

If it gets in zeke's air supply,

It can cause him to pass out

At the bottom of the bering sea.

I'm really excited now
that I'm on this awesome gold.

Look at all that gold.

That's beautiful.

It's, like, grouted into
all these cracks

In these little rocks.

[ Coughing, retching ]

Look at all those pieces.

Golly, goodness.

Look at all that gold
in this crack.

You, uh, turn up
the pump motor, please?

You want to jack up
that, uh, pump motor?

Emily, are you there?

Well, I don't know.

Emily, are you there?

Narrator: 11 miles
east of nome...

Zeke:
what's going on up there?

I'm coming up.

Emily.

Emily.

Wake up.

Wake up!

Emily, wake up.

Emily.

You need to get
some fresh air.

Emily: I have, like, the worst
headache known to man right now.

Oh.
I think [bleep] must have

Had carbon monoxide

Building up in the cabin
while you were sitting there

Because you didn't have
any ventilation.

So I think we need
to get you home.

Zeke: carbon monoxide is
a silent k*ller.

It's odorless.
And it's clear, invisible.

And it'll k*ll you, fast.
And you pass out

And you die,
straight up.

You know, there's
pretty much nothing

More stressful for me than that.

That's, like,
the worst thing ever.

I'm just glad she's okay.

And I'm glad I got her
back into consciousness.

I don't need anyone
dying out here.

I -- I certainly hope

You feel good enough
to come out tomorrow.

Yeah.
Me, too.

We might only have
a few more trips out.

I mean, this is -- this --
this is, like, the end.

Uh, and I still haven't proven
that there's good gold out here.

So, I mean, finding the gold,
that's just --

That's not even half the battle.

It's a hell of a lot better once
I clean up some of that gold.

And I put some of it
in my bank account.

And I start getting ahead.

I really do think that we're
probably onto something good.

We haven't totally
figured it out.

But I think we're onto
something real good.

I'm excited about it.

Narrator:
the season is almost at an end.

And the fate of the miners
will soon be decided.

Dave:
you got some gold for me?

Well, there's
my last payment of 2016.

I ain't done, brother.
Okay.

There will be more gold.

Okay. I hope so.
I know this year was light.

There will be more next year.

You did a good job.

George: you got to give it
more than one year.

Debt's to my brother,
and he knows he'll get it back.

Good job.
I'm not done.

I wouldn't give most people
half a chance.

I'm not done.
This ain't my last year.

[ Laughs ]

Another crappy trip
to the bluff.

Shawn: end of the season's
coming fast.

My back's against
the wall right now.

The bluff kicked our a*s again,

But it's not over.

I'll, uh, keep on chasing
the gold out here at bluff.

Hopefully can help contribute
to the nome gold purchase.

I need to keep
this empire together.

All right.
Well, go get some rest.

I hope you feel better
tomorrow, seriously.

Now, if --

If you don't,
we'll talk about it tomorrow.

But, uh,
go sleep it off.

You need --
you need your health.

You're not -- you're not useful
when you're sick.

Yeah.

I'll get a carbon
monoxide detector, as well.

Zeke: that was a real scary
situation for me.

You only have a handful
of close friends in your life.

I believe that.
And emily, for whatever reason,

Has been thrown into my life
over and over again.

But emily is not a diver.

She's not a mechanic.

I like working with emily.

But there's a limit
to what it can produce.

Is it wasted time?
I don't know.

Narrator:
rookie miner george young climbs

To second place as time runs
out for the fleet.

One last final push here.

The moment of truth.

You're not in command.
I want [bleep] a little.

We owe it to ourselves
to give it a shot.

Come on, big nuggets.

This cleanup's gonna
determine

How much we can bid
on the nome gold deal.

[Bleep]

Mother of god.
Hey.

Watch out.
That thing could blow out.

Could need a bigger tray.