11x02 - Unleash the Beast

[bunniefuu]

Narrator:
now on "bering sea gold"...

Shawn: nobody is going to beat
the real mr. Gold,

And anybody that wants
to take my crown, good luck.

[ Laughs ]

We're in the gold.

Ken: with me, it's god,
family then gold mining.

Of course I want to be
the top dog,

King of the hill,
and get the most gold.

Oh, yeah.
We're moving her.

Can't stop
until we get it in the water.

Vernon: all right.
Wild ranger is back!

I've put everything I've got
into this operation.

It's going to be my gold ship.

It'll be at least three times
the dredge of anything

I've had before.

Emily: I feel good about today.
I'm going to k*ll it.

We're going to find gold
in this spot.

Shawn: I want to go see
some really nice pan.

It might be pretty damn good.

Come on back over here.

That was in 2 feet of water.

Stop, stop, stop! Hey!
Plug it back up.

-We're in the money!
-Money, money.

Whoo!

Tastes like money.

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

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪♪

Narrator: the summer mining
season has only just begun,

But the pressure to rise
to the top of the crowded field

Is already at full throttle.

For some captains, every piece
of their lean-and-mean operation

Must fire on all cylinders.

For others, it's time
to super-size.

Go big and even bigger.

A golden chunk
of the american dream

Awaits those with the grit
and determination to claim it.

[ Birds chirping ]

In nome...

You guys like them fluffy or...

-Fluffy!
-Fluffy!

Pancakes!

Cooking breakfast
before heading out to work.

Always nice to spend
time with the kids.

Narrator: ...mr. Gold,
shawn pomrenke, is tending to

His kids luke, andy,
and genevieve

Before heading the bering sea

To keep the family dynasty
thriving.

Shawn: you try to juggle
family and work

In such a short
mining season,

It's always --
you're always pressed for time.

I try to pile up some gold,
continue building.

More pancakes?

The summer is not just
about mining.

It's about spending some
quality time with my kids.

Being a dad is just like
being a good miner.

You got to take
every opportunity

You can to be the best.

How much gold do you guys
think I'll get?

Probably 100 pounds.

I'd take 100 pounds
all day long.

I mean, providing
for my family is...

That's number one.

Building the mega-dredge
is the way to

Set my kids up for life.

It's their future.

Well, dad has got
to go make some gold.

You guys get this mess
cleaned up.

-Okay.
-Good luck.

Good luck!

Every year, we just make it
better and better.

Narrator: at the start
of the season, shawn gave

The christine rose
a face-lift...

Shawn: added 6 feet to it.

This thing is awesome.

Narrator: ...allowing him to
clean up in deeper water

Than ever before.



That's good.

Nice job.

That's 26 ounces more
than ken's got right now.

Now he is returning
to the 1,000 acre tomcod claim

To sniff out which direction
the trail of gold is headed.

Finally, new arm, get out
to the deeper ground.

Narrator: shawn's strategy
has been paying off,

But with a 1,000-ounce goal
to cover operating costs

And fund completion
of his mega-dredge,

He'll need to make sure
the christine rose

Is following a pay streak that
can last through the summer.

I want to go see
some really nice pans.

I'm putting it all on the line.

I'm betting on me.

I'm able to mine deeper
than ever before,

And if it works the way
I think it's going to work,

I'll be a multimillionaire
here in a few years.

Right now, I've just got
my fingers crossed.

Trying to get a sample
off the bottom.

We're going to find out here
as soon as we put it in the pan.

Well, it better be amazing.

I'm already seeing color.

Narrator: if the ground is
promising, the pan will show

Signs of heavy metals,
like manganese,

Iron, and most importantly,
gold.

If there's just a little bit
of gold in a pan

But it's all the right material,
I'll keep hunting in that area

Because gold runs
with the heavy material.

You got heavy material,
you got gold.

Gold?

-Holy!
-[ Laughs ]

Narrator: the deep "x" marks
the spot, and shawn's team

Will keep working to feed
the box all day long.

Tastes like money.

Narrator: back in town...

Ken: great day today.

Finally, after about a year,
we're going in the water.

Narrator: ...shawn's rival,
ken kerr, is fighting to get

Nome's biggest dredge,
the myrtle irene,

Off the ground.

Once we start lifting
this thing up

And we start heading
for the water,

We can't stop
until it's in the water.

Narrator: his plan is to mine


To prove that bigger is better.

Get ready for another year
of a*s-whooping.

I'll bet you 100 ounces
you don't do that.

There's also a gentleman's wager
on the line.




I'll bet that.

Ken: do you see all
the new repairs in here?

Oh, yeah.

Narrator: and last week,
after months of work

And half a million dollars
in upgrades...

Ken: money, money, money!

We're getting ready
to roll her in, though.

Narrator: ...ken finally
got the go ahead

To launch the gold-gobbling
monster into the bering sea.

Ken: it's do-or-die time.

Looks like it's ready
to go digging gold, doesn't it?

Get this thing in the water
and get some gold in it.

I think the myrtle irene
has the best chance

To get the most gold out
in the ocean of anything

I've seen out there,
so we're ready to go.

We're ready.
We want to mine.

We're ready to get
this thing going.

Okay.
Hey, when I say something,

Make sure you say "roger"
so i...

"Affirmative" and always respond
back after commands.

We've been spending
a ton of money.

We've got, oh, millions tied up,
up here.

All of my partners
definitely want to see

A return on their money,
including me.

I'd be real happy if we
get it in, like, before dark.

Narrator: moving a 600-ton,


Off the harbor
and into the water...

Ken: air it up!

...takes more than
strong calf muscles.

Oh, yeah.

Ken and his team will use
a 400-horsepower loader

Along with the excavator's


To roll the myrtleover
a rotating conveyor belt

Of giant air bags.

Ken: the tricky part is we're
riding on thin air,

You might say,
because of our air bags.

This thing weighs 650 tons.

We'll make it.

Narrator: now that the safety
blocks have been removed,

The air bags alone will bear
the myrtle's massive tonnage.

Kind of a little worried
about our air bags.

That's about the worst part.

We don't want it
to hit the ground.

That'd be a bad deal.

You lose two or three air bags

And the back end of it
falls down,

It could sit there in the way
of the harbor for a month.

Okay.
Pull her forward some.

Nice and slow.

I'm just praying.

We're going to have a lot of
weight, but we're going.

We're making headway.

Can't stop.

Can't stop until we get it
in the water.

♪♪

Keep her going.

It's a long process.

You just air it up, get them all
under there, and roll it in,

Roll it 6 feet, cure them
back up, roll it another 6 feet.

Oh, yeah.
We're moving her.

Once we get the new
and improved myrtlegoing...

It's getting closer
to the water.

...i want to beat
every dredger.

I want to get more gold
than any of them.

Nice.

Nice roll.

Keep going.

Stop! Stop! Stop!

Hey! Okay, hold up.
Hold up.

We need that bag!
Hey! We need that bag!

Plug it back up!
Put it in.

If we let too much,
it won't roll.

Something's wrong with that.

It's gonna be until 3:00 in
the morning before we're done.

It's a lot more fun out there
digging for gold

Than sitting on land.

Narrator: coming up...

Vernon:
we're going for the gold.

It'll be three times the dredge

Of anything that's in nome.

Shawn: the gold is flowing
like a fine wine.

Money, money.



Narrator: in nome,
the summer mining season

Is warming up, and the fleet
is feeling the heat...

Ken: here we go.

Narrator: ...doing whatever it
takes to stay ahead of the pack.

And 1,000 miles east...

[ Train whistle blows ]

Vernon: hey, joey,
everything good up there?

Put a long piece of that
bow line out

So we can leave it on the dock.

When they get in the water,
we can pull it over

And tie it off.

It's been a long, hard trail.

We had it in the works
for two years now.

Great to be back.

Narrator: ...veteran skipper
vernon adkison

Is angling to get back
into some serious gold.

I've had some ups
and downs here in nome,

But I'm all about moving on.

The biggest thing that interests
me about this gold mining

Business is the challenge
of developing

The equipment to make
the maximum recovery of gold.

Yeah, we're going to
do good with this one.

I'm hoping and praying that
it's going to be successful.

Narrator: for years...

It's got to be a big payday,
a humongous payday.

Narrator: ...vernon threw
every penny he had...

Oh!

...at the newest
mining innovations...

Going down.

...in hopes of striking it rich
on the bering sea.

-61.7.
-Yeah!

Sure, there were highs
from time to time...

No!

...but mostly...

Oh [bleep]

Damn it!

...there were lows...

[Bleep]

...and ultimately...

Every time I open the mailbox,
it's the bills, bills, bills.

...he was forced to leave nome
after sinking his savings

Into one losing venture
after another.

So now I'm stone-cold broke,

And I might have to
cash in my chips.

Narrator: now after
rebuilding his w*r chest

With a quarter million dollars,

He's turned a blind eye
to the past...

My, that's
a beautiful sight.

...and gambled it all

On a 60-foot customized
dream dredge.

Vernon:
gold chip wild ranger,

It's going to be
the game-changer in nome.

Narrator: powered by two


The fiberglass
catamaran houseboat

Has both the speed
to cover large areas

And the seaworthiness to combat
the bering sea's brutal weather.

It also boasts a portable,


River prospecting and a 6-incher
to mine the ocean bottom.

It'll be at least three times

The dredge of anything
I've had before.

I put everything I've got
into this operation.

The sooner I can get the gold
flowing in, the better.

I mean, it's no fun
just hemorrhaging money.

There's got to be some income,
not just out go

Because, I mean, sooner or
later, you go belly-up.

First time I saw this boat,

My mind started doing,
like, the light came on.

"I can make a dredge
out of that one."

This is the tanana river
right here,

And it runs into the yukon
about 150 miles down the way.

I got some hot spots
picked out down the yukon.

If we get lucky,
we can get enough gold

Going down the yukon
to pay for this trip.

I had to bring in this crane.

This is the only way we can
get it in the water.

Narrator: vernon's dream
of gold domination starts

With getting the 30,000-pound
catamaran into the water.

Then he'll navigate 150 miles

Through the tanana river's
hairpin turns,

Shallow waters, and hidden
sandbars to the yukon river,

Where he'll prospect
at targeted spots

As he travels another 800 miles
before finally reaching nome.

There's elaine,
who used to be

The captain
of the wild ranger,

And she's striking to be
captain of the gold ship.

I don't know
about that.

I'll see if she can make
the transit first,

And then there's
my other daughter yvonne

And my granddaughter
penelope over there.

She's going to go
with us, also.

This trip down to the yukon
is going to be the most time

That we've spent
together in years.

We're just waiting for
something to snap or something.

Are you some kind
of a pessimist?

No, I just...
That's usually how it goes.

Thanks.

They are my daughters,
and I love them even though

They, you know, they know
how to get under my skin.

[ Wood creaking ]

Make sure the fiberglass
doesn't cave in.

Fingers crossed we don't
break anything,

Don't drop anything.

♪♪

♪♪

Okay.

It's floating.

We're going for the gold.

Oh, yeah.

I'm liking this.

We're pushing off right now.

Whoo!

There's an opportunity here
for getting rich beyond belief,

So I intend to go
for the big gold.

I'm talking about mega gold.

-Say, "bye!"
-Bye!

-See if we see anybody driving.
-We're going to nome!

We're going to nome!

♪♪

Narrator: 1,000 miles west...

We could try to check
that area out.

There's a couple coordinates

That we were prospecting
last year.

Narrator:
...captain emily riedel is still

In search of a solid hot spot
to ignite her season.

The season definitely got off
to a rough start,

But I am my own boss.

It's all up to me to make
the operations succeed,

And that means I have to build
on the momentum from last year

And find ways to up my game.

That's the goal this year.

Narrator: she hasn't made a dent
in the 400-ounce goal

She set for the summer.

My guys need to be making money.
I need to be making money.

We just need to have
smooth sailing today.

Narrator: and last week on her
first trip out...

Emily: today, we're just going
to a known coordinate

Where we found gold before.

Narrator: ...emily tried to
pick up where she left off

Last season on a pay streak
known as the chicken wing...

We're not getting away
from this.

It's dragging our bow
right into it.

...but a rival dredge
was already nesting there.

Emily: hold on!

No!

Rough seas sent her
on a collision course...

-I just lost an anchor.
-Yeah.

...that ended her day
early and gold-free.

Whoo, it's rocky.

All right. All right.
All right. Whoo! Got it!

Now with her hot spot from last
season clear of competition...

I feel good about today.
Gonna k*ll it.

...emily can finally pick up
where she left off,

Sending down lead diver
bob hafner.

Bob: all right. Let's see what
we can find down here.

And this summer, she has another
reason to fill the coffers.

My siblings, they all have kids
way up north, man.

What happens?

My brother and his family
are moving back up to alaska,

So I'm using a portion
of my profits from this season

To help them get settled.

All right.

♪♪

You know, today,
I just want everything

To kind of be calm and chill

And for us to make
a little bit of money, you know?

There's some good
black cobbling.

Don't really see
the gold we want.

If somebody's
been here before,

The rocks will be upside down
and you'll see

The black side up instead of
the black side down.

Somebody has already been there,

And they've picked over
the best of it.

It's very frustrating.

I don't want to give up on it.

Chicken wing has a lot of
river channels

Kind of going through the lease,

And rivers can have high
concentrations of gold deposits.

Okay, I'm going to
pick up here

And move a little bit,
see what we can find.

Narrator: the eastern edge of
the river channel

Is picked over, so emily is
repositioning the eroica

To the west, hoping to reconnect
with the pay streak.

Emily: we have two find a new
spot, like,

A seam of concentrated minerals

That pretty consistently
produce gold.

All right, I'm going to take
a walk around down here, em.

We'll give it a shot here.

Let's get this


Narrator: coming up...

This is no good.
I'm in 2 feet of water.

If we get stuck on a sandbar,

I mean, next thing you know,
you're bear bait.

Narrator: 900 miles
east of nome...

I'm catching bugs,
bugs.

-You're catching bugs?
-Yeah.

Those bugs are really good
for you, all protein.

What do you do?
Do you eat them?

No!

Narrator:
...vernon adkison captains

His custom catamaran gold ship

Wild ranger
toward the yukon river.

There have been hundreds of
recorded gold strikes

Along the yukon.

I mean, there's been tons of it
taken out of the yukon.

There's no way
they could've gotten it all.

Gold is where you find it,
and you won't find it

Unless you start doing
some prospecting.

The first part of the tanana
has got me worried a bit.

There's 16 feet of depth.
Let's start slowing down some.

Narrator: 120 miles
of hidden channels

And dangerous shallows
are between the veteran skipper

And the gold-rich banks
of the yukon.

You got to pick
which channel is the best.

That's a pretty steep bank
over there...

Where?...and on that side, too,

All the way over to the right.we can't go that way.

This is pretty much
the only way we can go,

And we got about 8 feet now.

The part that's got me worried
more than anything else --

Just picking the wrong channel
and getting bogged down,

Getting stuck on a sandbar.

Narrator: the fiberglass
catamaran needs water at least

A foot and a half deep
to stay afloat.

Anything less, and vernon's
grand adventure

Will be over
just a few miles in.

Damn.

I'm running out
of [bleep] water.

This is no good.
I'm in 2 feet of water.

Dad, do you want to get john
out on the boat, or what?

We might have to send
the scout boat out on this one.

Narrator:
deckhands gary panos, jr.

And jonathan tingly man
the 23-foot jet boat.

All right, stay close aboard
in radio contact.

Let me see if I can
get through this cut.

And call out the depths
periodically.

Tell me how deep it
is every couple of minutes.

Man: we will.

Say again.

This boat is
working real well.

Can you read me
on the radio?

What's your depth?

Call out the depths
as you go along.

What the hell?

[Bleep] the ground, man.

♪♪

[Bleep]

♪♪

Get inside of 2 feet,
that's skinny water.

I got to have 1.5 feet.

[ Indistinct talking on radio]

Come back.

Come on back over here.

Damn it.

Jonathan, I'm not able
to hear you.

You're not doing me
any good at all

Unless you give me information.

I was calling them out
the whole time as soon as

I'd get a distance.

I didn't hear a word.

-He said it's...
-I know what he said.

I was not getting
any information,

So don't go
that far away from me.

They're not transmitting
that far.

-I got 10 feet.
-Yeah, we got 10 feet on us.

If you follow
my trail...

Well, I followed this,
and I got right over there,

And I was in


Okay.

Stay within
radio contact.

Just stay right out
in front of me.

Going aground here
is serious business.

We'd be sitting there right now
and probably for days to come.

You want to spoil your day?
Put your boat aground.

So far, so good.
It's coming up.

Now we got 11 feet.

How many feet?

I think we're in the clear here.

That was a close call.

I was in 1.2 feet of water.

Ha! That's nothing.

You get stuck on a sandbar,

The next thing you know,
you're damn bear bait.

[ Laughter ]

It's a tricky river,
but I can't be wasting time.

We got to kick this thing
into high gear

And get on up
to the yukon river.

♪♪

Narrator: 900 miles west...

Trying to get a bucket.
The bottom is hard.

It might be pretty damn good.

Narrator: ...after a promising
sample bucket this morning...

I really like what
this looks like.

Narrator: ...shawn pomrenke is
following the trail of

A pay streak he hopes will keep
paying all summer long.

Shawn: here, let's go a little
bit deeper with this.

Narrator: on the christine rose,
raw material is deposited

Into the hopper, which feeds it
into the wash plant

And sluice box, where the ground
is broken down and sorted,

And ultimately,
precious gold is revealed.

Shawn: to catch the gold, you
got to get rid of the big rocks,

So the screen decks take off
all the big rocks,

Shake them off,
and all the gold falls

Down through
into the sluice boxes.

Bam, rich.

Thinking it's time
to make some money.

Everything about the mega-dredge
is mega,

Especially the expense.

Narrator: shawn still needs
to raise $500,000

For his bespoke behemoth,

And to do it, the christine rose
will have to mine

Around the clock
all summer long.

Shawn: we're on the gold, going
to keep these guys digging.

Time to get the hell
out of here.

I'm going to go get to work
on the big dredge.

Hopefully weather cooperates,
make some money.

Narrator: with precious metal
stacking up in the box...

It's going to be part of the
feeder for the new wash plant.

Narrator: ...the mastermind
begins construction

On his mega-dredge's
secret gold-getting weapon --

A supercharged wash plant.

Shawn: everything
is coming together.

Narrator: running full speed,
the mega-dredge's

Extra-large wash plant
and four sluices can process


Of material a day,

Filling the equivalent
of 30 cement trucks every hour.

That's seven times
the gold-getting power

Of the christine rose.

We got to cut all
the stuff off it we don't need.

It's a lot of good steel.
We're going to repurpose it.

Narrator: for this project,
shawn truly thought

Outside the box, repurposing
the bed of an abandoned

Dump truck to create the hopper.

Sometimes, like right now,
we don't have a lot of money,

So you got to improvise.

Well, one person's junk
is another man's treasure.

Well, I found some treasures
laying around nome.

We just saved ourselves
a week and a half of work

By utilizing what we have.

To finish the wash plant,
I need screens.

I need carpets.

I need to finish the hopper.

But every piece that goes
on that wash plant

Is another piece done,
a little bit of relief.

That piece is going on there.

Whole cut, pew, pew.

I hope someday the kids
look back and look at

The mega-dredge and go,
"look at what my dad built.

Look at what he built for us.

Look at, it's still out
there making money.

He's a genius."

Before you know it,
we'll be on the water.

Narrator: coming up...

We're going to find gold
in this spot.

Bob:
see what we can find.

Narrator:
off the coast of nome...

Emily: we freakin' need
a smooth day.

We're going to find gold
in this spot.

Narrator: ...after finding
the eastern edge of

The chicken wing had been
cleaned out...

Emily:
you doing okay, bob?

...emily riedel steered
the eroicawest...

I'm not seeing any gold
on it really yet.

...but after three hours
under the surface,

The river channel has yet
to yield any signs of gold.

But I'm going to work some
of this for a little while.

I think this is
worth working.

Awesome sauce, man.
Keep at it.

If we're not on exciting ground,
if I don't hear the diver

Saying, "oh, this is awesome.
This is ounce-an-hour plus,"

If I don't hear that,
I start to worry.

Yeah, it doesn't
look too bad.

There's a little bit
of extra ground here.

[ Groans ]

It's not just my operation.

My divers have to
make money, too.

I have to make sure that
the boat is on producing ground.

How you doing
down there, bobs?

I'm going to take
a look here for a second,

See if I can get
through this cobble.

It's tight,
so it seems old.

It just --
they make, like, a patio,

And the gold
sits in between them.

Okay. Here, we're
picking up some gold.

[ Laughs ]

That's awesome!
God knows we need it.

I know.
There's a piece.

The gold really concentrates
where it first drops

And the foot before.

Narrator:
with the eroicafinally

Uncovering
promising ground...

See you at the top.

Narrator:
...it's time to grind.

So into the water
goes seasoned diver

Jeff orzechowski for another
six-hour dive shift

To keep the gold flowing.

You okay, jeff?

Jeff: I'm good.

It looks like
it's beautiful outside.

It's calm, and I think

We're going to grill up
some lunch here.

It's good day to have
a burger on the boat.

Hopefully this will start out
our season good.

Yeah. Yeah, dude.
We needed a day like today, man.

This is going to be
a good spot for us.

Hopefully it'll pay
for a while.

I want to do better
than I did last year.

It's necessary for me,
for my family, for my crew.

I have great divers, and chase
has been a rock for this team.

He'd like to try
diving this year.

Hopefully this spot
is going to produce,

And hopefully we'll, you know,

We'll stay there
the rest of the season.

That's what I love to hear!
That's awesome, jeff!

Whoo, that's great.

We're in the money!

We're in the money!

Narrator: back in town...

Keep her coming.

We're doing all right.

Narrator: ...after a long day of
stops and starts and moving

And filling a rotating armada
of high-pressure air bags...

We're getting closer, man.
Look at that!

I can see the water!

Narrator: ...captain ken kerr
is on the verge

Of launching
his mining monster.

Ken: looks like we're only about


Getting close,
but it always gets

Down to the wire down there.

We got leaking air bags,
and that puts a strain on us.

So we're almost there, though.

Narrator: and now on
to the final step --

Moving the massive dredge
down the ramp.

I'd be real happy if we get it
in, like, before dark.

Narrator: to make sure
the 600-ton myrtle irene

Doesn't become a runaway,

Ken has brought
in a little backup...

Ken: slack!
We need slack, slack, slack!

Narrator: ...two


That'll try to prevent
the old gal from sliding

Into the harbor and destroying
everything in her path.

That's a lot of weight moving,
and if it starts to move

And you don't have
a handle on it,

It's not going to stop,

So it's better to have
a little overkill

On the machinery
than not enough.

Let's make her move
a little bit, nice and slow.

Come on back.

Give it some slack.
Come on back.

This is the trickiest part
right here.

All right, boys.

Let's back her up nice and easy.

The higher up we got this,
the better.

Okay, hold it.

Mining is...
It's a tough business.

It's challenging, and it has
its ups and downs,

But our team needs to have
a winning year this year.

We need that one out
in the water.

Straighten up your bucket.

Come on back.

Getting closer.
It ain't it yet.

[ Creaking ]

Whoo!
No, we're going good.

If we get these aired up right
here, she'll roll right in.

[ Laughs ]

Come on, baby, float.

It's floating on those bags.
It looks like it is.

Narrator: finally...

Ken: floating.

It's in.

It's done.

Narrator: ...the myrtle irene
is afloat.

Ken: a long, hard day,
but we got it in the water.

Mission accomplished so far.
Pretty good.

My drive is to be successful
and, you know, be number one,

So if I get the most gold,

That's going to put me
in the number-one slot.

Chasing that gold
is chasing a dream.

We're ready to go dig some gold
so we can win that bet.

Narrator: with $8,000 a day
in operating costs

And a 1,000-ounce summer goal,

It's ken's turn to churn
the ocean floor

And put some major gold
in the box.

[ Ken laughs ]

Narrator: coming up...

Emily: first clean out
of the year.

Whoo!

There it is!

♪♪

♪♪

Ideal nome date night --
drive out to the hot springs,

Barbecue, candles, some wine.

[ Laughs ]

I don't really date in nome.

I could not tell you.
Um...

Date night?

I don't think they
have that, bro.

I think you just go to the bar

And buy a girl a drink,
and that's it.

You got it.
You're set for the night.

I don't know if that's
called a date.

It's called "for sure" where I'm
from, you know what I mean?

You know?

A date night would be, I guess,
you know,

A six-pack would probably
get you

A long ways
on that date night.

[ Chuckles ]

Go out for an overpriced dinner,

Go to the bar and have
some overpriced drinks,

And maybe get into a fight
in the middle of the street,

The cherry on top.

Narrator: the summer
mining season is underway...

How you doing,
jeffrey?

You're a trooper.

...and while some captains
are pulling ahead

In the race
for gold and glory...

I got a bunch of guys going,
a bunch of guys on the clock,

So we're underway.

Narrator: ...others are just out
of the starting gate...

Ken: the good lord
helped us today.

We're ready to go
digging, fellers.

...but it's still
anybody's race.

-We're there.
-Penny, look! It's the yukon.

-That's great!
-That is the yukon.

I would do a little prospecting.

We could get on some gold
going down the river here.

Narrator: and on
the outskirts of nome...

Emily:
hard-fought gold right here.

First clean out of the year.

Hopefully we're not going to
set the bar too high.

[ Laughter ]

Narrator: ...after finding
fresh gold on claim 14,

Captain emily riedel is cleaning

Her first pay dirt
of the season.

This cleanup,
I'm feeling good about it.

I think there's a chance
that we got at least



The smelting process is cool.

I mean, every part
of it is great.

Narrator: she's smelting
her gold to squeeze out

Every last bit of profit.

Emily: smelting it,

It's a way to get a lot
of the impurities out.

You can get a higher cash payout
if you smelt your gold

Because the purity is higher.

It's time to do the pour
into the mold,

And then, hopefully,
the impurities

Should've settled to the top.

This is a lot more pure than if
they were to get just raw gold.

Whoo!

There it is!

Narrator: once the gold is
melted and rendered

Into two solid bars,
it's the moment of truth.

-Ooh.
-What is it?



Put them together.
What do you got?

Bar two.



Emily:
nice, really nice.

Narrator: 24.25 ounces

Is worth nearly $29,000...

Every time we do it,
we get more gold.

It's weird.

...a strong payoff to a rough
start and proof the captain

Knows how to find hot spots.

The gold is there, and we're
back on track for this season.

It's a good start, but there's
definitely room for improvement.

If we stay on that spot,

Mother nature cooperates,
we'll be good to go.

Narrator: a mile away...

Shall we?

Shawn: look at this.

There's $500, $500,
$500 just going up.

Ka-ching, ka-ching,
money, money.

Narrator: ...shawn is banking
on a big payday

To prove that even
with a full plate,

He can still rake in the gold.

I mean, it makes it
really hard to build

A multi-million-dollar
mega-dredge and be a dad,

But failure is not an option.

Yeah.

Dry this off.
Get it on the scale.

We got about 45 hours
in the box,

And I guarantee you that's over
an ounce an hour right here.













Nice, 69,000.



Narrator: 69.3 ounces
is worth over $83,000...

Nice clean out.

Narrator: ...a hefty haul
and a sign that maybe,

Just maybe, mr. Gold
really can do it all.

Shawn: it's a pretty decent
chunk of gold.

Everybody is up to speed.

Everything is hitting
on all cylinders.

Nobody is going to beat
the real mr. Gold,

And anybody that wants
to take my crown, good luck.

I need to do this
about another 10 times.

Narrator: captain emily joins
the board, while ken and vernon

Are ready to enter the fray.

Shawn: here we go.

We're definitely in some
really good gold here.

This is going to be
a badass wash plant.

Kris: if I die in the ocean,
I'll be happy.

We're not leaving
without some gold.

Go!

-We're finally going out.
-Oh, yeah.

Maiden voyage.

Vernon: right now, we're just
dredging knee deep

As far as the arm can reach.

Shawn: today is the day
we put it all together.

Man: look out!

Oh [bleep]

Yeah!
Called that!

Put some
material in that box!

Yee-haw!

Now I got to work at it.

I see a lot
of gold in the box.

Shawn: lots of fine gold.

Vernon: there is gold
in the yukon river.

Everybody will get a taste.

Trust me.

♪♪

♪♪