Narrator: In this season
of "Gold Rush"...
Whoa!
...three crews faced off
in a frantic race
to get 100 ounces of gold
out of the ground.
Holy smokes!
Look at that thing!
Some of this season's secrets
were too sensitive to reveal...
Get out of here.
I am totally addicted
to morphine.
Narrator:...until now.
For the first time,
the miners tell the story...
This is gonna be tough.
Narrator:...behind the story.
It never hurts to get mad
at a cameraman.
Narrator:
In never-before-seen footage,
the miners air
their dirty laundry...
I'm tired of excuses.
It's in the [bleep] way!
...and unearth the ugly truth
about their second
mining season.
The crews not only reflect
on this season...
Sorry.
...but clue us in
on their big plans for next.
We're gonna get 500
to 1,000 ounces.
Determined to turn this year's
failure at the Big Nugget
into success...
...Parker goes to extremes
to prep the mine...
Moving some dirt.
Narrator:
...Jack goes under the knife...
This is gonna be
the worst of it.
...to rid himself...
[groans]
...of chronic back pain.
I don't like seeing
my dad feel like that.
Narrator: And in
a shocking development...
...one miner is kicked out
of the Hoffman crew.
Todd: This is probably
where we part company.
Narrator:
This year, with the gold-mining
season already under way,
Todd Hoffman's crew moved
from Alaska up to the Klondike.
Todd: That whole season
is only 150 days.
We had to get 100 ounces
in less than 150 days.
I'm heading into the Klondike.
I would say that that dream was
starting to become a reality.
Now we're gonna get gold.
Now we're gonna show them
what time it is.
Now I'm gonna be able
to live up to my word
and start putting gold
in these guys' pockets.
I made it to the championship
game, I felt like.
Let's go on into
the promised land.
Narrator: But the Hoffmans
were completely unprepared
for the sheer scale of mining
in the Klondike.
The Klondike is full
of extreme people,
extreme weather.
Whoa. What is that?
Everything is extreme,
and everything's big.
There is a humongous
monster machine
coming our direction.
Holy...
I have no idea what that is,
but it's huge.
Narrator:
One of Todd's first encounters
with his new Klondike neighbors
was meeting Big Blue,
a 90-foot wash plant
capable of chewing through
Todd:
I was overwhelmed.
And now, looking back,
I'm thinking to myself,
"Oh, my gosh."
It definitely points out
how little we are
in the big scheme of things
on this creek.
Narrator: But big machines
meant even bigger challenges.
Todd: They're stuck.
What do you want to do --
back up?
There's no way
he's gonna pull out of that.
Okay, back up.
Narrator: Klondike legends
Guy Favron and his father, Paul,
battled to get Big Blue
through Quartz Creek.
Todd:
You can just hear it.
Like, you know,
the forces in there
are just freakin' incredible.
He ain't moving.
He's stuck right in the middle
of the creek.
Walk over there to say
"Hey, you know,
it was pretty cool
watching you do that."
[ both laugh ]
Did you guys build that
yourselves?
Yep, that's my own
design there.
I think I'm the little guy
on the creek.
You're here because
the gold is here.
Is that right?
That's what I'm hoping.
I told him right to his face
I wanted to set up a mine,
bring in the equipment,
strip the ground,
and run dirt in one season.
Oh, yeah, no.
You can't do it all in one year,
especially your first year.
You're lucky
to get any gold.
If you were gonna give
a bunch of greenhorns
a piece of advice,
what would you give us?
I'd go for a holiday.
Just leave?
Yeah.
Well, thank you.
You're coming in
to somewhere big,
and here we are
the little pissants,
so I'm thinking, "Oh, man.
This isn't good."
Basically,
we're just the little guys.
He's wasting his time.
You know,
that's what I would say.
Narrator:
The Hoffman crew's season
depended on getting up
and running -- and fast.
Doumitt:
We've already got a start.
The plant's set up,
our water's ready to go.
Let's get going.
Fire it up.
We're gonna find out
whether it actually runs.
A lot of them are plugged.
Narrator: But muddy water
clogged their wash plant.
Shut it down.
Well, we basically need
a filter
on the front end,
James.
I mean, you're gonna
have to freakin' either
make this from scratch --
I don't even know.
Narrator: It was up
to crew member James Harness
to build a water filter.
Well, I'll try
to figure something out.
Jack:
That didn't happen.
You know, it was a mistake
on James' part.
Narrator:
Right when they needed him most,
Harness' girlfriend
arrived on the claim.
Hey, Todd.
How you doing?
Hey, I'm Todd.
- Hey. How are you?
- How you doing?
- This is Catherine.
- Nice to meet you.
- This is Catherine?
- This is Catherine.
Remsburg: You know, I don't know
what James was doing,
but he wasn't working.
What the heck?
Look at James.
He's, like...
He's teaching his girlfriend
how to pan right now.
James was starting to put his
personal life ahead of his work.
You don't realize.
It was total frustration.
[laughs]
Turin: We were needing
to get to the gold.
It's very hard for me to see
a guy smiling and laughing
and being excited
when I'm totally distraught.
Todd: I think, at that point,
he chose her as his gold.
Now what do you do?
The team dynamic is off.
Harness: I went through
so many things the first year
that were horrible.
This year, you know, it was
gonna be my turn this season
to do stuff and have fun
and enjoy it more.
Narrator: With the crew still
unable to run their wash plant,
Harness checked into a motel
with Catherine.
Okay, great. You're gone.
Now, what do we do?
I just didn't get it.
He's not there.
He's with her, is where he's at.
I was pissed off.
Somebody wasn't doing what
they should have been doing.
James wasn't there.
He makes his choices and does
what he thinks is best for him,
and that's okay,
but, you know, it kind of put us
at a disadvantage.
Narrator: Meanwhile, at
the Big Nugget Mine in Alaska,
Parker Schnabel
was taking over the mine
from his grandpa John,
a veteran miner.
At the age of 91,
I have gotten tired
to where I no longer like
that much responsibility.
I'm pleased
that you're gonna carry on.
[laughs]
Parker:
The mine is important to me.
I've spent every summer since
I can remember up there.
You know, I've practically
grown up up there.
Narrator: Now Parker would have
to fight to save the mine
in front of the cameras.
Parker:
Little things become a huge deal
when there's camera-crew people
staring at you.
Narrator:
Parker kicked off the season
running from dig site
to dig site
in search of new gold...
It's in the [bleep] way!
...but midway through the season
had banked only 18 1/2 ounces,
worth just $30,000.
[bleep]
Narrator: Then he was hit
with the biggest test
in the history
of the Big Nugget Mine --
a federal mining safety
inspector arrived,
with the power
to close him down...
an event that almost destroyed
Parker's relationship
with the production team.
Man: Keep filming.
Keep filming.
Parker: 25 years, no inspection,
this MSHA guy shows up.
At first, I was like,
"Oh, God, we're done for."
Then he started walking around
and wrote us some citations.
Most of it
was pretty minor stuff.
Thank you.
Narrator:
With cameras rolling,
the inspection took
a dramatic turn for the worse.
Inspector: Parker right now
is in violation
because he doesn't have
a certified plant,
and so I have to withdraw
the miners from the mine site.
Brown: The MSHA inspector
spoke to Parker.
I was in the room,
so I come outside to sort of
brief the crew who've been --
we've been filming through
the windows the whole time.
Parker's been shut down.
Yeah. Big news.
Just after me,
Parker comes out --
obviously, in a very bad mood.
He's just lost his mind.
Parker: There's 10 camera crew
staring at you,
and you can just tell
that they're loving it.
It never hurts to get mad
at a cameraman.
[bleep]
He nearly ran
a couple of us over.
And Parker roared off
to go tell his workers.
Man:
Let's go. Let's go.
We have to jump in the car
and get after him in hot pursuit
'cause this is a big moment.
So we try to talk to him,
but the last thing he wants
to do is answer questions.
- Pull the whole thing?
- Yeah.
Parker's just told his employees
that they've been shut down.
They're obviously very upset.
My crew thinks the film crew
called up MSHA
for an inspection.
[bleep]
So that sucks.
Brown:
What's happening, Parker?
Parker: Get the [bleep]
out of here.
[bleep]
Parker: I might not have handled
it the way I should have.
Being a jerk to the guy
didn't help anything.
Brown:
He is quite hotheaded,
and he thinks the film crew
were partly responsible
for what was happening.
So eventually,
Parker cools down,
and he agrees
to give us an interview.
He doesn't mince his words.
Is it a coincidence
that our first MSHA inspection
in 25 years
was the year after...
"Gold Rush: Alaska" aired?
Hell no.
Without Todd Hoffman,
MSHA probably would not have
inspected us.
That's all I'm gonna say.
Narrator: When Parker
went up to the Klondike,
he made his one and only visit
to the Hoffman's claim.
The Hoffmans are a fun bunch
of guys to be around,
and, you know,
I was really excited
to see what was up there.
I'm just gonna go say hi
to Todd and the boys,
and I might flash my gold around
a little.
Narrator: Parker had with him a
$55,000 bar, his season's gold.
Little did Parker know
that flashing his gold
would rub the Hoffman crew
the wrong way.
Todd: Parker came up,
and he's a good kid with a
bright future, so I like Parker.
Whoa!
Hey, Todd.
- How you doing, buddy?
- Good.
- Doing good?
- Yeah.
Todd:
He had a little bar of gold.
What do you got?
Whoa!
Wow!
Parker:
He asked me how big it is.
That's great.
And I answered him like
any other gold miner ever would.
- How many ounce?
- It's 34.
- 34?
- Yeah.
That's nice.
Jack:
He was pretty proud of it.
You know, he thought he had
actually stomped us, you know?
Way to go.
How are you guys doing?
We're doing okay.
Parker: Todd didn't tell me
how much gold he had.
It was all pretty weird.
Narrator: The Hoffman crew
had just 28 ounces,
worth $10,000 less
than Parker's gold bar.
All of a sudden, you know,
I'm in a gold contest, you know?
Why won't you tell me
what you've got?
We haven't cleaned
that one out,
and that one's got more
than all of ours.
Maybe it's a lot less.
He kept asking us
how much gold we had.
You know, how good are we doing?
"Well, well, well," you know?
And we didn't tell him.
He got a little bit mad.
It can't be worse
than last season.
Out of curiosity, why won't you
tell me what you've got?
So, why don't you
just tell me?
I don't know
whether he's playing
the big man or something.
It just pissed me off.
Wait till the end of the season,
and then we'll talk.
I don't need to play games,
Todd.
[laughs]
What happened
to nice Parker?
He was a little upset
when I didn't tell him
how much gold we had.
It felt pretty...disappointing
that that's the way
they decided to handle it.
He's being an [bleep]
Or is it just me?
Todd Hoffman.
I knew that was gonna go
[bleep] ugly.
Todd: He wants me to tell him
how much gold I have.
Well, at this point,
I'm not ready to do that.
Parker: [bleep]
I'd like to think that
we're good friends, all right?
But Todd's treating me
like a kid.
I just think that he's just not
being straightforward with me.
Parker shows up.
He wasn't invited up here, so...
I mean, it's open,
but, you know,
people need to be courteous
when they come to my mine.
Narrator: While Parker traveled
back to Haines
after his Klondike clash
with Todd Hoffman...
[siren wailing ]
...his grandpa John suffered
a life-threatening heart attack
and was medevaced
to the ER in Anchorage.
I heard about
John's heart attack,
grabbed the camera, and drove
I came in expecting to see John
with tubes and drips
coming out of him.
I find him sitting
bolt upright in a chair.
I just came and sat and hung out
with him for about four hours.
Hmm?
Brown: I know Parker
wanted to come up, too.
I know,
and I told him not to.
The reason was that,
rather than say, "Come on up"
and finding myself
having a relapse,
he then would feel guilty
that he was the cause of it.
We talked about everything
under the sun,
and I left thinking,
"I wish he was my granddad,
and I hope he gets better."
Narrator: But John's doctor
issued a warning
about the 91-year-old's health.
Dr. Sonneborn:
This was his acute event.
He had a heart attack.
And his heart attack
was probably caused
by this being blocked here.
Anytime you have a heart attack,
it's serious,
and we worry about people
with heart attacks
as a warning of having
a more massive heart attack.
I can't imagine
what Parker felt.
Parker idolizes his granddad.
It was tough.
It was tough to have him
in Anchorage in a hospital,
me have to sit in Haines.
Narrator: But everything changed
when Parker's mother, Nancy,
took a call from the hospital.
[telephone rings]
Hello? Hi.
Okay.
I'll call him.
Okay. Okay. Okay.
You call me.
I won't call you.
Grandpa's
at the emergency room.
He had
another heart attack.
Parker:
He was fine all day Monday,
and he had a heart attack
Tuesday morning.
- Right.
- What do you think,
I should just get on a plane
and go up there?
I don't know
what to say, honey.
I don't know.
I-I-I don't know
what to say.
There's not
a whole lot of time left.
And, you know,
not make it through this.
Narrator: After John's
second heart attack,
grandson Parker
rushed to be by his side.
Parker: I don't know
too much about it,
but it seems pretty rare
that you come back from that.
But when I went up to Anchorage,
I didn't know what to expect.
Everything was so overwhelming.
There was a lot
of adrenaline going on.
I didn't know what kind of shape
he'd be in,
you know, if he was in
a hospital bed,
hooked up
to a bunch of machines.
I was just scared.
The mine, long term, you know,
I started thinking about that.
My grandpa
had always been there,
you know, when I needed him.
Without my grandpa,
I ask myself,
"How could I keep mining
if he's dead?"
I walked in the door...
John: Parker!
Give me a hug.
Nice to see you.
Well, I hope so.
It was a huge relief.
My grandpa's still alive.
You know,
he'd be there when I needed him,
and I wasn't gonna quit.
Because I think that that's
the most important thing
out of Porcupine in the future
is my grandpa.
Brown:
There have been some really
big moments in "Gold Rush,"
but my time with John and Parker
in Anchorage, I'll never forget.
So, it was very special.
Narrator: Halfway through
the season, at Quartz Creek,
the Hoffmans were running dirt
and finding gold.
Todd:
When the sun comes up
and you're making gold
and stuff,
man, there's something magical
about it.
And you know what?
It's awesome.
Narrator: But Harness
was missing out on the dream.
Sidelined by intense back pain,
he decided
to leave for treatment.
I've always been a team player,
and I want to help you guys
no matter what,
but I can't do it
in the condition I'm in.
Right now Catherine's
looking at people she knows
as neurosurgeons
and trying to hook something up
in a hurry.
See you later.
Narrator: Then, when the final
drive broke on the 400...
Whoa!
...mechanic James Harness
wasn't there to fix it.
Jack:
I can see gears broke,
but I didn't have a mechanic
there helping me.
Yeah, I absolutely cannot mine
without the 400.
It just seemed like
we had lost part of the team.
Harness wasn't there,
and it's like, how's this
gonna get repaired?
Narrator: James returned to
an impatient and agitated crew.
There's no huggy, kissy -- sign
on, do your damn job -- period.
Doumitt: Did you make it
to the doctor's?
Did you?
Any help?
Harness: I thought with just
a few weeks left,
I better not
go that route.
I'll just get medication for now
and tough it out,
try to make
the best of it.
Narrator:
Even with Harness back...
Hey, lover boy.
...Jack and Thurber
were doing the heavy lifting
to repair the 400 excavator.
[ both grunt]
Jack:
To tell you the honest truth,
I don't even know
where James was that day.
Doumitt: When it came to Harness
not doing his job,
there's just a time when you
got to step up to the plate
and get serious.
Remsburg: There was resentment
building up.
You can't get days back
in the Yukon.
We were all kind of waiting
for Todd to get
that fire lit under James.
Todd:
I don't like having guys around
me that I have to confront.
It sucks the life out of you.
But as a leader,
you got to open up a forum,
and people need to express
how they feel.
Narrator: In this
never-before-seen footage,
Todd and the crew confront James
for the first time.
Let's just clear the air.
Remsburg: We're all standing
around together,
and I basically
just stated the obvious.
James, I've been
kind of concerned
that maybe
we were losing you,
basically, since we got
to the mine,
'cause I haven't seen you
much out here.
Well, that's the thing is,
I'm not going anywhere.
I never was.
The only thing I try to do
is have some downtime.
Harness: People that normally
are pretty cool,
calm, and relaxed
kind of blew up.
Doumitt:
The way I was raised --
you do your work,
and you go play later.
And you're our main man.
You're our go-to guy.
And you weren't there
to go to,
and I think that was
the frustrating part.
I'm tired of excuses.
And that's it
in a nutshell.
It's like, "Yeah."
Okay, someone had some ba*ls
and finally said it.
I'm kind of feeling like
I'm the target here,
I'm the bad guy,
and I don't think that's fair.
Harness:
There were some things said
that I didn't really appreciate,
and I lost sight of the dream
a little bit.
Dad, will you say
a little prayer for us,
just that we'll get
some freakin' gold
and not k*ll each other?
Harness:
I had to just walk away.
Instead of getting in a conflict
with each other
and causing irreparable damage.
It was kind of
a brutal awakening
that took the wind
out of my sails, you know?
And at that point,
what do you do?
You just work day to day
until the job's over.
Narrator:
After 150 brutal days,
the Hoffmans were still short
of 100 ounces,
the $160,000 in gold they needed
for every crew member
to get a worthwhile cut.
They needed a massive
to leave the Klondike
with their heads held high.
I was looking at the gold --
the most we had ever seen.
You think this is gonna be
our best cleanup ever?
I think it could push us over
the 100-ounce mark.
Narrator: Thurber and Jack
normally handle
the last stage of gold recovery,
but now the whole crew
wanted in,
even though many
had never done it before.
Thurber:
I didn't need any help.
Now all these different people
want to get involved
with the process.
They didn't have any idea.
Proper way
to wash a bucket.
There's a proper way.
Did you not know how to
wash out a bucket before?
Never learned.
Because everyone was so sloppy,
there was a real risk
of losing gold.
Uh-oh.
Just getting
more and more frustrated.
For crying out loud,
this is the last run.
It's gonna make
a big difference.
And Greg says
he doesn't want any help.
He wants to do it all.
And I'm pissed.
Thurber:
You're being such [bleep]
You're such
a [bleep] head.
Remsburg:
[laughing ] What?
You're nothing but
an f'ing f-head.
Screw you. I've had it.
I'm going into town.
Then Harness comes over.
This is a blast.
I've never played with gold
like this before.
It's everywhere.
I enjoyed to pitch in and help.
What in the hell was Harness
doing in the gold room?
I never thought
I'd be doing this.
It was an absolute disaster.
I don't know how else to put it.
When I get back to the claim,
and there is literally gold
all over the gold room.
It's all over the floor.
And I go,
"What the hell happened here?"
"Oh, well, Harness spilt
a coffee can full of dirt."
Harness spilt it?
Oh, who's surprised?
I'm not.
That's a lot of gold that should
have gone through the machine.
Harness: I do feel that there
was an unfair blame.
I don't think that I should be
singled out for that.
I really feel that if so much
gold hadn't spilt on the floor,
our count would have been
a lot higher.
Narrator:
The Hoffmans and the camera crew
were desperate to find out
if they'd hit 100 ounces.
Brown: So Jack, at that point,
bolts over to his trailer.
Todd was there,
and I suddenly thought,
"Maybe they're short."
Narrator: After the last run
of the season at Quartz Creek,
expectations were high.
Everyone on the Hoffman crew
was dead set on getting
That was probably
the most anticipated cleanup
of the whole season.
Did we hit our mark?
'Cause it's our last chance.
Either we did or we did not.
Remsburg:
That was a chilling moment,
to realize that all of this dirt
we'd moved,
all of this work and effort
we put into for months...
We didn't want to leave Quartz
until we had 100 ounces
to leave with.
It wasn't like we thought.
About 12 ounces.
That was it.
Doumitt: 12 ounces?
Yeah.
Brings us up to 93.5,
you know, so...
We pulled up short.
We didn't make the 100.
It's nothing
to be ashamed of.
We aren't going home
with our heads hanging
or anything like that.
Inside, I'm hurting so bad.
You feel like
you're a big failure.
Thurber: I just thought Jack was
gonna pull out this vial and go,
"Oh, but I forgot to add
this other 10 ounces."
But it didn't happen.
Remsburg: It sucks
not to reach your goals.
Everybody felt that way.
You know, that was our
initial reaction, was...
[sighs] We missed.
Turin: Crap.
We failed.
We didn't meet our goal.
We set a goal,
and we didn't meet it.
But then...God.
Holy smokes. Um...
Yeah, there was an elephant
in the room.
Narrator: The finger of blame
pointed at one crew member.
I would think we lost somewhere
between 20%, 25% of our run time
because of breakdowns.
Remsburg:
When we have a mechanic,
we need him to take care of the
mechanical issues that we have,
and that didn't happen.
Turin:
James likes to work on his own
time schedule and do it his way.
We've got a very short window.
We had, what, four months,
maybe four and a half months
to find gold?
One week is valuable time.
In that short of a season,
we could have easily made up
a week,
and it would have got us
to our goal.
Todd: There's some issues that
need to be resolved on our team.
If we're going to do
the crazy stuff that I have
planned for next year,
we have got to be
on the same page.
Narrator:
The whole mining season,
Jack kept a dark secret
hidden from the rest
of the Hoffman crew...
Ow.
...and the cameras.
[speaking indistinctly]
My dad didn't want to let people
know how much pain he was in.
Oh, a spasm right now.
Todd: My dad got kicked
in the face by his horse.
He's had his jaw removed.
But this season,
he had some serious problems.
I have a degenerative
back problem.
Ow. God.
My back really hurt this year
so much more
than it did last year.
Ready.
When I get jostled really hard,
the pain level starts coming up.
Yah!
The problem is,
as far as the 400 goes,
beats the crap out of you.
[grunts]
The pain would come up,
and that would
take its toll on me.
Finally, I crawl into the
trailer and take my medicine.
I'm hurting so bad that I need
to take it just to get relief.
Narrator: To cope,
Jack started taking powerful
prescription painkillers.
So, to tell you
the honest truth,
basically, if you've taken
morphine for a little while,
you're basically hooked on it,
and I am totally addicted
to morphine,
you know, more so than I ever,
ever thought.
You know, your body goes, "Oh,
my God, I got to have that."
Been getting worse,
and so I think it's time
to take care of it.
That's all I want to do.
I just want to get off it.
If my dad has the same pain
as he had last year,
I don't think he's gonna be able
to come back.
And I'm not coming back
unless he comes back.
So I got to go.
Narrator:
Back in Sandy, Oregon,
two months after the end
of the mining season...
Jack:
We probably should go.
...Jack is going under the knife
to keep his dream alive.
Jack:
I'm a little bit apprehensive.
Todd's counting on me
being consistently on the 400,
and the way it was,
I couldn't do that.
Narrator: Jack arrives for
the innovative back operation
he desperately needs.
You ready?
Yeah.
Todd:
It's a big day for my dad.
So hopefully we can get him --
get the old guy fixed up.
He's got a lot of miles
on him, so...
Narrator:
As with any spinal operation,
Jack faces the risk
of paralysis.
It's possible
that it doesn't work.
Then we have to keep looking
for the right answer.
Paralysis --
there's a 1 in 32,000 chance
of that happening.
Anesthesiologist Grace Chien
assesses Jack's damaged back.
This is wearing out
so you don't see, really,
a space between that
and that anymore.
And that's an indication
that he has a lot
of degenerative changes.
- All right.
Woman: Ready?
Yep. I'm ready.
Dr. Chien: I'm going to do
the invasive procedures,
burning the nerve endings
to the joints
in an already tender area,
and they tend to react.
Gonna be a stick
and a burn.
Here's the lidocaine,
okay? Sorry about this.
Sorry, sorry,
sorry, sorry, sorry.
Sorry.
Picture.
Narrator: Probes inserted
into eight hollow needles
on either side of Jacks's spine
send out radio waves
that neutralize the nerves.
You might feel some tightness,
maybe some pressure,
maybe a little tingling.
That produces the pain
that Jack is feeling.
And what we're doing is that
we're turning up the voltage.
Narrator:
Five hours later,
Jack is finally ready
to receive visitors.
Hi, honey.
So, you're standing.
Oh, how you doing?
You good?
Yeah.
Don't touch his back.
Narrator: Jack has made it
safely through surgery,
but it could be a week
until the Hoffmans know for sure
whether the procedure's
been a success.
Meanwhile, 1,000 miles north,
two months since
the mining season ended,
Alaska is suffering one of
the worst winters on record.
Subzero temperatures
and 4 feet of snow
mean the area's mines
are shut down, all except one.
I don't know how much it snowed
up the road.
It might be more.
Determined to make
his second season a success,
Parker Schnabel is going against
conventional wisdom
and is mining
in the dead of winter.
Parker: We've never worked
in the winter,
but hopefully we'll go up there
and get things started,
get things going,
and move some dirt today.
Narrator: Parker refuses to let
get between him and the gold.
Parker: We'll do it, you know.
We'll fight the weather.
Narrator: Two months ago, Parker
finally found a pay streak
on Smith Creek Hill at
the bottom of a 55-foot pit.
That's pretty nice.
But to get to it
and save the mine,
he needs to move 50,000 tons
of worthless dirt.
Parker:
God, that's steep.
In the Alaskan winter,
the only way to get to the dig
site on top of Smith Creek Hill
is by foot.
Parker has recruited
his dad's road-building crew
and equipment
to help move the dirt.
Parker:
Get these things started here.
[engine sputtering ]
Huh.
[engine sputtering ]
Oh, come on.
Start for me.
It won't run.
Come on.
[bleep]
Can't move much dirt
without dump trucks.
[bleep]
They've been sitting too long,
though.
Frost penetrates
right into that crank case
and makes that oil so thick
it's hard
to turn the engine over.
Narrator:
With temperatures this cold,
the starter can hardly move
the viscous oil.
Parker may have a solution.
Found some heat.
Oh, yeah.
So, we'll let that burn
for a while.
See what happens.
'Cause the oil pan's
right above that.
So it'll warm things up.
See, it's already starting
to steam a little.
Narrator:
After some Alaskan ingenuity...
[engine turns over]
There we go!
Got her going.
Moving some dirt.
Narrator: Months before the
start of the mining season...
Parker: Oh, yeah. Awesome.
Narrator:
...Parker defies the odds
and is already moving dirt.
Narrator: With this setup,
we're moving in one day
what in September our crew
was doing in a week.
Let's find some gold.
Narrator:
over 49,000 tons to go.
Narrator: At the Hoffmans'
airport in Sandy, Oregon,
two months after the end
of the mining season,
Jack is recovered
from his back operation.
[whistling ]
You know,
the back pain is gone.
You know, it's no more.
It's a neat feeling.
Narrator: Now Todd Hoffman
has one big decision to make.
He's set a 1,000-ounce goal
for next season
and needs to have just the right
crew in place to succeed.
Todd: There's problems.
So you got to get it
out on the table.
And as a leader, you know,
I have to bring them up.
[sighs]
Narrator: It's the Hoffman
crew's first meeting
since their return
from the Klondike.
How you doing?
Good.
[sighs]
I kind of wanted
to get everybody together
and just talk about, you know,
how the season went
and, you know,
who wants to come back,
who doesn't.
One way or another, next year,
I'm gonna get 1,000 ounces.
But between here
and 1,000 ounces,
we got issues.
There's no question
people feel like, James,
you did not have the commitment
this year, okay?
It's the elephant in the room.
Thurber, I want to kind of
hear what you're thinking.
I committed the whole time
to be away from my family.
And I'm doing this
to better my life,
to make it better
for my family, you know,
so, Harness -- he was on
a different page this year.
We all try to put
our best face on,
but...dude, it just shot me
right in the heart.
And it festered.
That's what happened.
Okay,
but that's not my fault.
You know, nothing --
I'm not disregarding
your feelings on the deal,
but I think
they're misplaced.
That's -- he's not the only one
that feels that way, James.
How many times could we have
saved five days?
If we'd have had five more days,
we'd have made it.
I really felt
you let us down.
That was -- I really felt
you left the team.
If we're gonna hit 1,000 ounces,
we have to be committed.
I know I got home
just in time
to visit my wife's sister
before she died.
Was tough to take.
And I abandoned her
and her sister
to be committed
to you guys.
And I think if we're gonna hit
and if you're not gonna
throw in 100%,
I would ask you
to step aside.
James, what we have
is a major confidence issue
with you, okay?
Harness: Maybe I had confidence
issues between you and me.
We've gone two years
on a handshake deal.
The whole dream of getting
gold out of the ground
and being substantially paid
for it,
you just --
you lose hope.
So, we got you and I
have some issues.
So...we have to make
a decision.
So...
This is probably where
we part company.
Harness:
It's really unfair.
Just tried to do
the best I could.
I don't want to just roll over
and say, "I'm done."
I'm hoping
that I get successful, too,
and I can work with
a different team.
We need a full-time mechanic,
so I wish him well.
Todd:
I'm gonna get to 1,000 ounces.
My family's counting on me.
Everybody's got to have
their heart in it, period.
We're not going up there
half-a*s.
I'm not doing that anymore.
So, you know, you better get
your big-boy panties on
for next season if you're gonna
want to hang with us.
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02x17 - Revelations
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Reality based series follows the placer gold mining efforts of various family-run mining companies, mostly in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, as well as in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Reality based series follows the placer gold mining efforts of various family-run mining companies, mostly in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, as well as in the U.S. state of Alaska.