[tony speaking]
[parker] got a late start
but we're gonna hopefully
have a good season,
And it's unreal how much
gold price is at.
[rick] I didn't come up here
to not hit my goal this year,
and we're so close.
[fred] you know, one thing
we learn in the military
Is you always sh**t through
a target.
I feel like
until this tells me
Without a shadow of a doubt
we can't push any further,
We're gonna keep pushing.
[narrator] on this gold rush,
At the end of their
shortest season ever...
Man, we gotta prove
that we can do this.
...Fred lewis and his crew
fight for survival.
If mother nature's
gonna stop us,
It's gonna take
a lot more than this.
-Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa!
-[man] kyle!
[tony speaking]
[narrator] the beets
throw a hail mary
to hit their goal.
[tony speaking]
[rick] that's all she's got.
I don't know
if I can hold it.
[narrator] rick ness...
[rick] whoa.
[narrator] ...Makes a
final stand for redemption.
Well, I was hoping we'd find
some chunky gold,
And, uh, here it is.
Some nice, coarse gold,
that is.
-Whoa! Hang on.
Stop the feeder.
-That one, too?
[narrator] and with gold
prices at an all-time high,
Parker goes for broke...
[parker] we're gonna need
some horsepower.
Holy [bleep]!
[man] what the hell's
going on? [bleep]
Most we ever got in a year
was 7,400.
-[woman] ooh,
so we're pretty close.
-Yeah.
[narrator] ...Chasing a
record-breaking gold total.
[narrator] October...
...Two weeks after
the yukon winter
Has normally shut
the miners down.
Rick ness is in a race
to beat the freeze.
There's no disguising it now,
the snow's been
coming down for a bit.
We're near the end here.
[narrator] after the pandemic
forced him to start
six weeks late,
Rick set a goal
of 1,000 ounces.
But to hit that
and pay his crew
a gold bonus,
He still needs to produce
another 94 ounces.
I ran the numbers,
And if we keep doing
what we're doing,
We're gonna be frozen outta
here before we get our gold.
We've got a limited
amount of time,
And we better be running
the best dirt we can find.
The best gold
that we got all season
Was right next to
this creek bed.
It's where we found
the big one-and-a-half
ounce nugget.
[narrator] inspired by finding
a massive chunk of gold
in the lazy bend...
That's a beauty.
Like, that's worth
some serious money.
...Rick's embarking on
a high-risk nugget hunt
to get him to his goal.
I'm gonna divert the creek
next to this lazy bend,
And we're gonna
run the creek bed.
There's absolutely no way
of cutting corners on this.
As far as the permits
and everything goes,
There's some
pretty strict guidelines
On how you have to do this.
You don't wanna wreck
the environment.
[narrator] the lazy bend
has delivered good gold
For the last two weeks,
And the gold's gotten better
As he's gotten closer
to the river's edge.
Gambling on the pay
getting even richer,
Rick now wants to mine
the creek itself.
To reach it, he'll bring in
the 700 excavator,
Dig a new channel,
And divert the entire river,
Exposing a 500-yard section
of creek bed pay dirt
That could deliver
a massive pay day.
I've got the channel all done,
so all that's left is to
Pull the plug
on this creek diversion.
This last-ditch effort,
for me,
It's all about redemption
from last year.
I don't like one bad season
And I'm not willing
to go for two.
It ain't gonna happen again.
And for my crew, it's about
a bigger gold bonus.
Now it's just
a matter of pride,
And a matter of
how much [bleep] gold
Those guys are
going home with.
All right. Here we go.
The water's coming.
Oh, yeah, I like that.
It's a big moment when
you actually finally
cut that water through.
It really is because,
you know, you can plan
for as much as you want,
But you don't
really know, you know,
what it's gonna look like.
You know, and this might
not be the mississippi river,
Um, but there's still a lot
of water going through here.
I'm really happy
with how it looks.
The old creek bed
should dry right up,
And we can start pulling
the gold out of it,
And get it for the
[bleep] damn wash plant.
[chris] stuff looks good.
There's tons of big boulders
in it.
It looks like
the stuff we want.
Well, hopefully,
it's the heaviest load of dirt
you haul all year, kruse,
'cause it should have
all the gold in it.
It feels really,
really heavy in the truck,
I'll tell you that much.
There must be a ton
of gold in there.
Well, that's when you know
you've spent too much time
in a rock truck, right?
You can tell the difference
through the machine.
[honks]
[rick] there we go, pal.
Get it up to the plant.
[narrator] the creek bed pay
in kruse's truck
Could be the difference
between failure and success.
There's definitely no secret
that last year,
Rick spent a lot of time
and a lot of money,
Uh, chasing big nuggets
on a hunch.
It blew up in his face
last year,
And I don't wanna see that
happen again this year.
[rick] kind of a last-minute
hail mary here.
Hopefully it pays off.
If not, we might have wasted
the little bit of time we have
Left till the end
of the season.
[mobile phone ringing]
[narrator] in oregon's
elkhorn mountains,
Fred lewis' dream
of striking it rich
Is fading fast.
[mobile phone
continues ringing]
-[fred] well...
-[khara] who's that?
[fred] karl.
He left me a voicemail.
Hey, fred. It's karl.
We haven't caught up
in a few weeks.
And I'm definitely
very interested
To find out more
about the shutdown.
I plan on coming out
in a few days.
So, uh, see ya. Karl.
That [bleep] sucks.
So, karl's heading our way.
What do you think
he's gonna say?
[fred] I've no idea.
[narrator] over the last
seven weeks,
Fred's combat buddy,
karl smith,
Has invested $35,000
To keep fred's
operation afloat.
Compared to
my other investments,
There's a lot of risk
here, fred.
The biggest investment
you can make
Is not in the gold
that we're gonna get
This year,
but in the team.
But at the end of the day,
this is business,
And I expect to get
the full return.
[man] yo, yo, yo!
We got a fire in here!
[fred] get to the plant!
[narrator] but after a series
of equipment failures...
[fred] I have no mechanic.
I don't know what that means.
...The crew called time
on their season.
We just gotta move forward
and take it as a
lesson learned,
And not let it happen again.
[sighs] I don't know, babe.
I'm wondering,
if karl comes here
and he sees this,
Why aren't we mining?
Yeah, I can see that.
If this is what you think
we need to do...
-[fred] I think it's what
we have to do.
-All right.
I brought karl on board
as an investor.
I don't really have
anything to pay him
right now, so...
I'm not really sure
how that's gonna work out.
But karl's a good friend.
As long as I can convince him
that we did come out here
And create a great team,
we're all miners now,
And we can make money
doing this,
I'm sure he's gonna be
by my side.
Guys, rally round me.
Um...
Look, guys,
karl's coming pretty soon,
And I think that, uh,
if we're gonna have
a chance at next season,
I don't want karl to think
we're gonna quit.
We gotta prove to karl
that we can do this,
And I think if we stop now,
we might fall short.
I think we got
one more week in us.
You're joking, right?
[fred] I wish I was.
Hey, man, I thought we made
this team decision
That [bleep],
we're packing up.
And we know this weather's
coming in.
I don't like it, as much
as you guys don't like it,
But we need to look past
this season at this point.
We're gonna have to sell
that we can mine,
And right now, I don't think
we've done that enough.
We need to give him more gold.
Look, man, if you wanna
go for one more week...
I'm already here.
I'll [bleep] give it to you,
but after that...
-...That's it.
-Okay.
If you want seven more days,
that's gonna...
That's gonna be the end.
There is no re-calling family
and telling 'em,
"sorry. We're gonna go
another week."
You're right.
-You're in?
-I'm in.
Let's [bleep] do it.
All right, guys.
I appreciate you guys
having my six.
I know that we've
come together as a team
and it's showing right now,
Because most people
would tell the boss
to [bleep] off
If they wanted to do
something like this,
but you guys ready to go mine?
[man] hell, yeah,
man. Let's do it.
-[fred] all right.
Thank you, guys.
-[khara] let's do it.
A lot, uh, more wintery than
I thought it was gonna be.
[man] to say the least.
[fred] look, guys,
I know this looks bad,
But I think we can
push through this
little bit of a freeze.
There's still a lot
of pay dirt up there,
And hopefully the weather
will turn.
We're pressing on.
We're gonna see if
we can get this [bleep]
Started in this freezing
cold weather.
It might take a miracle
at this point.
You know, one thing
we learn in the military
Is you always sh**t through
a target.
Right now, our target
is to get this plant up
And running,
so we can get more pay dirt.
If mother nature's
gonna stop us,
It's gonna take
a lot more than this.
[kendell] well, we'll give it
our best here.
Never know what
the hell's gonna happen.
[bleep] it!
Let's run it.
[engine sputtering]
[kendell] it's alive!
It's on, baby.
[man] well...
Try that again.
[engine starting]
Holy [bleep]!
I can't believe
that started.
All right. Let's fire it up.
All right, everybody.
Winter ain't got [bleep]
on us.
Let's get that gold.
[parker] it's crazy that
we're at the end
of another season.
Everybody's done
really good, you know.
It's the final stretch
right now,
And everybody seems
to be holding strong,
Which is important.
Just worried about
the weather.
It's gonna become minus 15
and not warm up.
[narrator] all season,
parker schnabel has been
building a w*r chest,
To open a new operation
in alaska.
Now, he's just
400 ounces short
Of his best-ever gold total.
But winter could shut him
down any day.
There's still a bit of pay in
that airstrip extension piece.
And we have to
get it out this year
Because we need to
strip into there.
If we don't get
the pay out, it...
Not only do you have
less than a good season,
But then it screws up
your next season,
So it's a double-edged sword
If we don't get
everything out...
And sluiced.
[narrator] on the east side
of the cut,
Sluicifer has 20,000 yards
of pay dirt still to run.
But on the west,
big red is about to run out.
[parker] I think
the best thing to do
Is gonna be to just
shut down big red
And dedicate all our resources
to sluicifer.
Shutting down big red
just lets us focus totally on
Keeping sluicifer going.
-[tyson] hey, bud.
-[parker] howdy.
We've done
a lot of sluicing...
-Yeah, we have.
-...This summer.
We've washed some rocks.
[tyson] yep. Pretty much ready
for the final clean-up here.
I guess we'll shut it down
And just live or die
by sluicifer's hand.
Right on, man.
-Thanks, tyson.
-Thanks.
Hey, and I really
appreciate you
Keeping these [bleep] plants
running all summer.
-No worries.
-You've done a great job.
[tyson] thanks.
Yeah, you know,
we figured that
we'd shut big red down
After it's done the last bit
of pay under it,
And we've let sluicifer
do its thing.
Just finish off
where it's at.
You know, the weather
could take a turn for
the worst any day now,
But the call has been made,
so that's what we'll do.
Figure out where shane
wants this stuff.
-He's getting everything
ready for the snow.
-[parker] yeah.
[narrator] after running it
24/7 for the last five months,
The crew tear down big red...
[man 1] working with
the finest in the yukon.
[man 2] oh, yeah.
...And haul it two miles
to the yard
To start vital repairs
And make sure it can
run again next year.
[man] big red
worked a lot of hours.
Now it needs lots of tlc.
Lots of welding and fabbing.
It takes time.
There's lots of stuff
that needs doing.
We gotta get these pits
cleaned out.
It's not long now.
Hopefully we can get
through it all.
Yeah.
[loud thud]
[parker] whoa!
What was that?
[man] it's a rock.
[narrator] if the trapped rock
tears the belt,
Parker will have no way
to feed the plant.
Gets a funny bounce,
hits the side rails
and goes in.
[parker] we're gonna need
some horsepower.
I need a bar, or a hammer
or something.
Oh, I might get it.
With big red shut down,
we gotta make sure
This thing stays running.
[tony speaking]
[narrator] after five months
of sluicing,
Tony beets has mined
2,600 ounces of gold.
[narrator] to hit
his 3,000-ounce goal,
In the last few days
of the season,
Tony will have to double down.
[tony speaking]
[narrator]
tony can't afford to miss
his goal a second time.
He's already banked 250 ounces
From the old-timer tailings,
And is now hoping
to pull another 50
To get him closer
to his season goal.
Between the shaker deck
and mike's trommel...
Hopefully we can get
to our goal.
It doesn't need to go long.
It's just gotta do
the final [bleep] stretch.
[tony speaking]
-Go for kevin.
-[tony speaking]
[engine stops]
[narrator]
the 20-year-old pipe
That supplies the trommel
has failed.
[cody] go ahead.
[cody] okay,
I'm already there.
[cody] yeah, I know.
It's a bit of a big deal.
It's down there on the road,
And it's just been washed
completely out.
It's a big [bleep] problem.
[narrator] in just 15 minutes,
expert welder cody
Has the patch in place.
[cody] I think that's it.
-[man] job well done.
-[cody] yeah. Sweet.
[narrator] time to
fire up the pump
And get back to
mining for gold.
[cody] [bleep]
That's quite a leak.
Got another [bleep] leak
down here at the pump.
With this piston like this,
It is impossible to run
the [bleep] trommel.
And this hole in the pipe...
However many thousand
feet of it, is full of water.
We don't have time
to let it drain.
[narrator] cody can't weld
the pipe
With water pouring
out of the hole,
But to drain
the half-mile pipeline
And then refill it
Would shut them down
for the rest of the day.
Kevin, kevin, kevin.
-[kevin] what's up?
-How long would it take
to drain that line?
[kevin speaking]
[man] there's kevin.
[cody] it'll take
a long [bleep] time
to drain that, wouldn't it?
No, no.
There's that big check valve
right before the pump.
Oh. So it won't drain
past check, though. Okay.
[narrator] kevin's valve,
uphill from the pump,
Can isolate the bottom section
of the pipe in just minutes.
[cody] now lock her up,
and let's see what she does.
Well, that was [bleep] quick.
As soon as that' s drained,
cody can get the trommel
going again.
-Give you a call.
-Sounds like a plan.
That's done.
Flash this pump up.
Kevin, kevin, kevin.
[man] should be good
to start her up
whenever you want.
Hoping nothing else [bleep] up
'cause if we're gonna reach
our 3,000 ounces,
We gotta run some
[bleep] yardage.
[shane] we're near
the end of the season,
It's almost done.
Loader down here,
Just getting through
the sluicing, and, uh,
We can call it a wrap
for the end of the season.
It's been a long one.
[narrator] on indian river,
parker's crew
Rush to run the final
20,000 yards of pay
From the airstrip extension
through sluicifer,
Before freezing temperatures
end their season.
Holy [bleep]!
Holy [bleep]!
What the hell
is going on?
[bleep]
I'll go and hit the water.
[bleep]
[shane] that's all
we need now.
I've pretty much
had enough of this [bleep].
What the [bleep]
is going on here?
[brennan] looks like
we've cooked the motor.
Oh, man,
she's [bleep] hot.
This drive motor's
smoked right out.
Oh, [bleep]
here comes parker, boys.
Oh, man.
-His boss timing
is down pat, man.
-[man 1] yeah. Yeah.
[man 2] all right,
you're telling him
what happened, not me.
[man 1] oh, [bleep].
Here comes parker, boys.
[man 2] oh, man.
-His boss timing is
down pat, man.
-[man 2] yeah. Yeah.
[man 3] all right,
you're telling him
what happened, not me.
[narrator] to make up time
from the late start,
Sluicifer has been run
to its limits all season.
Now its main
electric drive motor
Has burned out.
[man] we got a bit
of a [bleep] show here.
Was something
on fire?
[man] yeah, that motor
lit up on us.
Yeah, don't touch it,
it's pretty warm.
[groans]
It won't start?
[man] she's a brick, man.
That's, like,
twice the horsepower
of big red's, isn't it?
Big red's motor
is smaller than this one,
It won't
run this plant.
What about
just getting bid red
goin' again, though?
Well, it's already to the
yard, I got it
ripped half apart.
By the time
I get it back together,
Well, it's gonna be
frozen, so...
We don't have
anything in the yard
that will work for this.
[shane] we're done.
That's it.
We're not doing this.
What do we have
left for pay?
[man] oh, a good
couple of days, man.
Yeah.
[parker] I don't see us
getting this thing
running again.
So I'm gonna start
working on options, then.
Let's do a clean-up.
Get the gold
out of the plant.
If you guys can think
of any other options,
let me know.
Okay, we'll start
tearing it apart.
-All right. All right.
Thanks, guys.
-[man] good.
[narrator] without
a wash plant,
They can't
finish the cut,
Or get the gold
they need
For a record-breaking
season total.
[parker] yeah, with
this wash plant going down,
It's a pretty big problem.
Um, we either need
to find a new motor, which,
That's not a very common thing
around here,
Or, I don't know,
figure something out.
But we can't
leave that pay in the pit.
So I better
get on the...
Better get
on the old blower.
Come on.
[whining]
There you go.
Got your ball, good.
Got our priorities straight.
Well, we definitely only
got a limited time left here.
By sluicing
this creek bed,
We're gonna
get the best of the best.
If we can run it all,
We're gonna hit our goal.
[narrator] rick ness is in
a last-ditch gamble.
He's running pay dirt
from the creek bed
He hopes contains
enough nuggety gold
To get him to his
thousand-ounce season goal,
Before winter hits.
We're all just hoping
that this creek diversion
Has got enough
gold in it.
Go home with some money
in our pocket.
Diverting this creek,
The sole purpose
is get us over our goal.
Fingers crossed.
Let there be gold.
[creaking]
[bleep] [bleep].
Are you serious?
Hey, rick,
rick, you gotta copy, rick.
You gotta come down
with the hopper feeder here,
we got a problem.
[bleep]
The hinge has actually
fallen off the back
And the grizzlies
are being held on
Just by
the hydraulics.
It's like
a game-over issue.
Holy [bleep].
What happened now?
Holy [bleep].
[bleep]
Well, that's [bleep] now.
We don't have
time to fix this.
We'll have to go back
to feeding it
with the excavator,
And that means we're
gonna have to turn it down.
Let's [bleep] dig
this thing out,
Get it out of here.
[narrator] rick's chance
of hitting a thousand ounces
Depends on removing
his broken hopper feeder
And getting the last of
the creek bed pay
through the plant.
I don't think it's gonna want
to go down.
And that ramp's not gonna
want to go straight
back in anymore.
So, rather than add
another 15 grand to the bill,
I think we just pull the pins
on the [bleep] ramps.
-[man] yeah.
-And just get 'em
right out of there.
It's gonna slow us
right down.
We're gonna lose a ton
of yardage per hour.
A thousand ounces
is kind of looking
a little bit grim now.
[narrator] the telehandler's
telescopic boom
Gives rick
the reach...
[rick] there you go.
...But the grizzly bars
weigh nearly three tons.
[rick] it's all
she's got.
I don't know
if I can hold it.
Is it too heavy?
It's [bleep]
heavy, man.
[rick] according
to my chart,
I'm still good
for about 6,000 pounds.
Hopefully, that's enough.
But it's probably gonna
be just, just there.
Careful, buddy...
I don't know
what's gonna happen
Once all the weight's
on the forks here.
Hopefully the a*s end
stays on the ground.
Otherwise I'm
going for a ride.
[bleep] tight, man.
I don't know what it is.
It could be the weight
of the grizzly bars right now
That's causing pressure
on the pin.
I'm guessin'
I might have to
Move it around a bit.
I think maybe
come down a little bit.
Okay.
[ben] this is a very
scary moment right now.
Because the back hinges
are already broken off.
If this side decides to fail,
That telehandler
will flip right over.
And rick
will go with it.
[rick] let's go.
[creaking]
[rick] whoa.
[creaking]
[rick] whoa.
There you go.
Beauty.
[bleep] yeah!
Team work!
Yeah!
[narrator]
with the pin out,
Rick can finally
lower the grizzly bars.
[rick] this thing's gonna
need a lot of work
To be productive
for us again.
And it ain't gonna be
this year, so...
Now we gotta
Yank the [bleep] thing
out of here.
Today sucks.
We're gonna have to slow
the plant down...
We're gonna
have to go back
To loading that excavator,
But we still have
creek bed pay.
[rick] try to run it
as fast as we can,
Before winter comes here
And sends us all home.
We've gotta get
the rest of this pay
sluice that we have.
[narrator] parker schnabel
is in trouble.
He needs to run another
10,000 yards of pay.
He has two plants,
But big red is in pieces
For a winter refit.
And relentless running
Has burned out
the motor on sluicifer.
So one of our neighbors
has this old wash plant
Sat over here, that one.
[narrator] so he's rented
an old 120-yard-an-hour plant,
For the week.
[parker] it's definitely
not anything like
our wash plant.
Oh, yeah.
So this is what
it's come to?
[parker] this is where
we're at.
Hmm.
[tyson] just one
screen deck, eh?
[parker] huh.
It doesn't look bad.
Probably not, like,
[tyson] oh, yeah.
[parker] it will
work, tyson.
It's gonna
wash them rocks.
[tyson] oh, yeah.
[parker] come on, dozer.
I don't think
it's been ran
in a little while.
You know,
the biggest problem's
Gonna be that that thing
is a lot less yardage.
And so we just need
to get it set up
And going
before it's too late.
[narrator] the big freeze
is just days away,
And this rented plant
runs half as much dirt
As sluicifer.
Every second counts.
[tyson] this is pretty
desperate measures, man.
[chuckles]
Yeah, just keep an eye
on that conveyor, alec.
[alec] ten-four,
I'll follow you.
And we're good.
Oh, [bleep]! Yeah bud!
Whoo!
[narrator] after three hours,
the borrowed plant
Is finally
in position.
It's time
to fire up and run the last
Of the season's
pay dirt.
Hey, brennan!
Good job.
Well, you think of any names
for this thing or what?
[parker] what do you think
of little hope?
-Yeah, little hope.
-[man laughs]
See if she
wants to wash...
-...Any rock for us.
-Yeah.
Let's go fire
this old girl up.
[engine sputtering]
[engine starts]
We got water.
What a thing
of beauty.
We got water going,
so that's the first part,
But looks like a pretty
slow-going wash plant.
First scoop.
[narrator] most screen decks
are designed
To vibrate up and down,
But little hope
uses an oscillating deck
That shakes
from side to side.
The last bit of the
airstrip extension.
It might not be
The ideal wash plant
or the ideal scenario,
But it's what we have and
it's what we're making work.
It's all just pilin' up
at the top.
Are you sure we can't
slow this feeder
down any more?
This is our feed control.
It's literally
set all the way down.
This set at slowest is almost
Pushing this wash plant
over the edge.
[man] whoa! Hang on!
Stop the feeder.
k*ll the feeder?
Both feeders.
That one, too?
Like, just [bleep], like,
nothing in it, man.
[narrator] parker's crew
have overfed and blocked
little hope.
The only way
to clear it,
Shovel it out
by hand.
Hand sluicing
counts, right?
[laughs]
I don't think there's
anybody left
In the area
right now mining.
We are.
[narrator] in oregon,
after four days running
Above freezing,
The temperature
has again plummeted.
Fred lewis' investor
is on the way
To find out why
they shut down.
So fred's crew
has decided to fire back up
And bank
as much as they can
Before he arrives.
I feel like
until this tells me,
Without a shadow
of a doubt,
We can't
push any further,
We're gonna keep pushing.
I think the ice
has met its match.
All right,
here we go.
Whoa!
Oh!
Ice, ice, baby.
Yeah!
Just a little bit of ice,
nothing we can't destroy.
[alex] there she goes!
[chuckles]
Fire it up,
ready to go.
All right! Send the water!
We're ready.
[stuart] that's not good.
Ugh, [bleep] me.
Hey, fred, one of the hoses
didn't drain.
I think it's solid,
it's frozen solid.
I'm en route.
[bleep] damn it.
That's [bleep]... Yeah.
All right dude,
this is probably too big
to move by hand.
Let's get kyle
over here in the loader
-And just drag it out.
-Yeah, there we go.
Hey, kyle, I need you to come
on down next to the pump
And drag this frozen hose
out of the way.
Frozen.
We're just trying
to fight the weather
right now.
Dangerous as hell.
I've gotta back up
a really steep grade.
Narrow road, I'm right next to
this pond the whole time.
'cause it's
definitely sketchy.
Wrap that sucker
around it.
Get the [bleep]
out of here,
Let's put
the new lay flat down,
And keep going.
Fred, watch your feet
right there.
Whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa.
Yeah, that's slidin'
a lot right there.
-Is he sliding?
-Yeah.
It's kind of
at a funny angle.
Oh, [bleep].
Yeah.
-Come forward a little bit.
-Yeah, come forward straight.
Hold on.
Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Kyle!
Hold on, buddy.
Oh, man,
he's got no traction.
No, man,
it's icy as [bleep].
Dude, your bucket
actually saved you.
I might have to
just kind of crawl up
With the bucket
one little bit at a time,
you know,
And dig in a little
and pull, dig in, and pull.
[bleep]
[man] go forward.
Push forward.
There you go,
there you go.
Whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa,
whoa!
Hey, kyle.
-Hey! Hey!
-No.
You don't wanna get off
this hill, man.
Slide up, slide down,
I don't know what's going on.
You're sitting on a sheet
of ice right now.
This is gonna get
worse and worse here.
Fred, you gotta think.
Every minute that we're here,
It's getting colder.
Hell, the forecast is almost
a foot of snow tomorrow.
-Yeah.
-What do you think
is gonna happen?
Everything's gonna
keep freezing.
Everything's gonna
keep breaking.
Kyle just about
slid down the hill.
Come on, man.
That's kind of scared
the [bleep] out of me.
[fred] I agree.
I don't think
it's safe to push
any further at this point.
I don't wanna see
something like that again.
Pop smoke, get out, bud.
It's time.
It's time.
Um, don't think of this
as a failure, guys,
We are gonna
bring home something
that we didn't have before
And that's this team.
And if we can
convince karl
To invest in us, I think this
is just the beginning.
Oh. It's not the feeding
that's the problem.
[bleep] making it out
on the feeder,
it's in the screen deck.
It's just not moving.
There's a lot more
pressure on that
screen deck now.
[narrator] in an attempt
to run the last
of the pay dirt
Before winter hits,
parker's crew
Push his new borrowed
wash plant to its limit.
But it keeps
getting blocked.
How's it going, parker?
Good, how's our new
wash plant?
-[alec] fabulous.
-How much are we running?
We put four
loader buckets in it
In about
an hour and a half.
Well, like,
what's the problem?
Man, it just
keeps plugging up
With the big boulders that
make it to the grizzly bars,
They're just sitting
in the top deck.
And then they're just
not moving anywhere.
But they just
sit on the deck?
Yeah, they sit on the deck,
And then they plug up,
And rock just jams in
behind it,
And it doesn't
move down the deck.
Like, we've had
some good runs with her,
Like, we've had
a good 30, 45 seconds
Before it starts
pluggin' up.
Okay, let's try just pickin'
the flat end up
And give the deck
some slope.
[tyson] right on.
[narrator] parker's plan,
use an excavator
And wooden blocks to tilt
the shaker deck downwards,
To roll any large rocks
off the deck
And on to
the tailings conveyor.
[creaking]
[parker] keep going.
I'm done, brennan.
Here, I'll shovel that.
[chuckles]
[parker] now maybe
it'll do 30 yards an hour.
[bleep], man.
You're pumping through it.
[laughs]
Holy [bleep].
He's jumpin' in,
[bleep] get ready.
Get water goin'.
Parker's in the loader.
Are you having [bleep] fun?
Yeah.
I turned
the feeder rate up.
Holy [bleep], man!
[laughs]
Sounds like
somebody wants to shovel.
Is it... Is it
doing better?
Yeah, I'd say.
Should we crank her up?
No, this is good.
I mean, it's not
the fastest thing
in the world,
But it's getting
rocks washed.
-[man] yeah.
-Yeah, it's hard to believe
We made it to this point,
After everything went down,
belts tearing, feeders...
-Yeah.
-Todd stopped fortune
for two weeks.
If only we had, like,
way more ground
to sluice, right?
[man] oh, this thing
can handle it, man.
[narrator] overnight,
paradise hill
Has had
six inches of snow,
And it's still falling.
Tony's run 50,000 yards
Through the trommel
this week,
And 15,000 yards
of tailings
Through the shaker deck.
But he has
no way of knowing
If he's run enough pay
to hit his 3,000-ounce goal.
[minnie] good. How are you?
-[minnie] you gonna
pull the plug?
-[tony speaking]
You think you're gonna have
[kevin] go for kevin.
[tony speaking]
-[kevin] here I go.
-[engine powering down]
[tony speaking]
That's it.
Tony is shutting us down.
And I'm so happy
to be done. [chuckling]
Mother nature
shut us down.
There's no fighting that.
Not even tony beets
can fight that.
Well, there's definitely
yellow in there.
Hopefully there's
enough of it.
-[ruby] hey, hey.
-[minnie] hi, guys.
[narrator] since mid-may,
The beets family
has run three quarters
of a million yards of pay dirt
Through their wash plants
In a bid to hit
their 3,000-ounce target.
That last clean-up,
when we pulled all...
It was quite nice-looking.
Yeah, actually. It was
pretty yellow throughout.
To get to that
We need about 404 ounces.
[narrator] the uppercut
needs to deliver.
Ready to weigh up
the trommel now?
[tony speaking]
[narrator]
worth $660,000.
[kevin] okay.
[narrator] to hit
their season goal,
Tony's old-timer tailings
need to produce
at least 53 ounces.
So, mom,
what's our season total?
[all cheering]
-[monica] wait.
-[tony speaks]
[all laughing]
[narrator]
the beets have mined
$5.6 million
Worth of gold
this season.
Oh.
[narrator] fired up
by hitting his target,
Tony is thinking
way bigger for next season.
[tony speaking]
Wanna have a little
side bet here, buddy?
If I win, I get a new truck,
red one.
If you win,
you'll get three suvs.
Sure.
not an ounce less.
[monica] started?
No, no, no. We're closing up.
[rick] [bleep]
That doesn't look like
that wants to run at all.
[narrator] 110 miles east,
Winter has also hit hard,
But rick ness
still has a pile of pay
from the creek bed,
And he hasn't yet hit
his 1,000-ounce goal.
So, what do you say,
one last time?
[karla] you don't think
it's gonna hinder us,
if things are frozen?
Nothing really likes
the cold, right?
I mean, everything is taking
longer and longer to start.
The wash plant's
kind of hurting.
Usually, when you're running
at these temperatures,
on equipment,
It [bleep] starts breaking,
And it gets costly.
I don't know
if you noticed,
But there's a pile
of pay back there.
We didn't divert the creek,
scrape all that up
Just to leave it
in a pile here
for the winter.
As far as I'm concerned,
we're still here,
we can still run material.
And you're right.
Like, if we don't thaw
this thing out right,
There's no use running it,
so we're gonna have
to spend the time.
I've been here
for five months.
What's one more day?
We're so close to our goal.
This one more day could
push us over the edge.
[rick]
if that becomes a trend,
of us not hitting our goal,
Then I... I don't want
to do this.
Like, I probably
won't be able to do this.
So, you guys
have been with me
since the start.
One more day, let's see
what we can get out of it.
If it's there, it's there.
We'll hit our goal,
we'll go home happy.
We're all in.
We're here till the end.
-[man 1] let's run it.
-[man 2] yeah.
[rick] well, I think
we're gonna need some fire.
-Should we light 'em up?
-Light 'em up.
[man] this is just
a part of the process
and the first step.
Rick is right.
We came up here
to meet our goal.
This diversion
better pay off.
[rick] the water line's
got ice in 'em.
We get one shot at this.
We're gonna do
whatever the [bleep] it takes
to get there.
It'll all be worth it
if we can get
this thing running,
And run that pay
through the plant here,
And go home
with some money
in our pocket.
Little more?
It's fine. Any more,
and we're gonna burn it.
I think it's ready to go.
We're gonna
[bleep] find out.
Oh, boy.
[machine starting]
[machine whirring]
Yeah, baby.
Here comes the water.
[narrator] rick is counting
on the last 100 yards
of creek bed pay dirt
To get him to his goal.
It's all or nothing
this morning here.
We've got snow,
everything's frozen.
We're so close
to the end here.
[rick]
not willing to leave here
until we run it all.
I want to know how much gold
is in there this year.
We're just gonna
keep on going till we're done.
[ben] it's not easy
with this cold weather
right now.
We're just hoping
this thing pays off.
This new rick
that I'm a big fan of,
All about getting
[bleep] done.
He's sticking it out,
and I'll stick it out
with him.
I mean, this is
pretty much it, karla.
We're just about ready
to clean up for the season.
I hope this works out.
I kind of put my ba*ls
out there on this one.
I mean,
after last year, like,
This has to work out.
Well, it looks like
that's the last bucket
right there, so...
-[karla] sweet.
-[rick] ...Fingers crossed.
[kendell] well, I'm glad
we're wrapping it up now.
A lot of these guys
have never even been around
equipment before,
So to make them
into a team,
Where everyone
can work together,
Well, that's mission
accomplished here,
for sure.
So, as much as
everyone would hope
That we would have
more gold,
Uh, when it comes
down to it,
We got a group of guys
Who are willing
to go to battle
for one another,
And that's
pretty invaluable.
[narrator] in oregon,
freezing temperatures
Have forced fred lewis
to call time on his season
After just
four days running.
My major focus here
was to give these guys
a new purpose.
You know, a lot of them
are coming out
of the military,
They're in that
awkward transition,
Trying to figure things out,
And I think that was
a freaking success
this season.
[narrator]
after sinking $40,000
into fred's operation
Eight weeks ago,
Investor karl smith is back
for the final reckoning.
[khara] hey, man.
-[karl] hey, khara.
How are you?
-[khara] good.
Long time no see.
[fred] it's kind of time
to face the music here
with karl,
'cause I've got
to convince him,
after losing all his money,
That we're good enough
to invest in another season.
If not, we're done.
All right, guys,
this is the last gold weigh
of the season.
Well, sh**t, man.
Let's see what we've got.
Some big chunks.
That's our best
clean-up yet this season.
We got lucky.
That puts our total
at 6.39,
Which is, honestly,
embarrassing.
[narrator]
in their rookie season,
Fred's crew have mined
just $12,000 worth of gold,
Not even enough
to cover their fuel.
[fred] but we've coped with
every single obstacle
thrown at us,
And we've kicked it
right in the face,
And we pulled what we could
out of this ground.
I don't think anybody
could have done any better.
What do you guys think?
Is that your statement?
Yeah.
Yeah, that is beyond true.
-Yeah.
-[man] nobody would get
Any more gold
out of that ground.
[fred]
we didn't lose any of it.
If there was eight ounces
in that ground,
It'd be in that pan
right there.
Just never were able
to hit that spot
That had
the right gold in it.
You didn't find
that pay dirt?
This is called
spending dirt.
If we can't get more gold
out of this ground...
That means this is the end.
Fred, what would you say to me
if you were in my shoes?
I don't know what I would
tell you if I was you.
It's a tough decision.
I mean, we're brothers,
so I don't know.
I don't know.
[stammers]
from a business standpoint,
this is kind of risky,
And this is kind of
a [bleep] show season.
But, um, if you're willing
to go for another year,
I know, with as much
as we've learned,
We can get you
that money back.
The way I see it,
I've got, uh, two options,
Walk away,
or we can double down,
And you guys can go find
some good ground...
And we can make back
my money.
[clears throat]
why don't we do this?
You guys go find the ground,
then we'll talk.
Are you saying that
you're still interested
in investing?
'cause this team
is one hell of a team.
I mean, I look around,
and I see
One damn good
group of guys.
So I want you guys
to prove to me that
the ground is good,
And I'll invest more money.
We'll start on that
right now. [grunts]
This team
has really impressed me
Despite the low amount
of gold.
-[man 1] whoo!
-[man 2] let's do it.
[karl] if I walk away now,
I'll lose everything.
The only way for me
to make more money
Is to put my faith in fred,
And tell him
to go find a better claim
and find that pay dirt.
[fred] you know,
we came out here,
we learned a lot.
The next season,
we're gonna hit
The ground running.
We're gonna
pay back all this debt,
And we're gonna
get to the point
Where we're actually
gonna be putting gold
In our pockets.
[all] let's get that gold!
[indistinct chatter]
[man] oh. He lives.
[narrator] mechanic carl
has returned to the yukon
After four weeks away
for back surgery,
Just in time to see
if rick has hit
his 1,000-ounce goal.
Oh, back in time
for the gold bonus.
-[carl] how you doing, man?
-I don't blame ya.
-[carl] good to see you.
-I'm all right.
I'm glad I'm here.
I'm glad to get to
see this, rick, so...
[rick] yeah. We're glad
you came back, buddy.
-You deserve to be here.
-[carl] yeah.
That's for sure.
You know, after last year,
we had to try to be more
conscientious about money
And being smart, right?
We made it happen this year
in a big way.
-[carl] yeah.
-With the time we had,
holy [bleep].
Yeah. It's been awesome
having you down there
every day.
Leading by example
is the way to do it,
And you figured it out
this year, bud.
Well, that was kind of
the decision I made
this year, right?
Like, I... A desk is not
where I belong.
I sure drove a long way
to see what we've got
for gold here, buddy.
So what you got?
[narrator]
rick risked everything
On opening a new cut
in the creek bed
In the hope that it would
deliver enough nuggets
To hit his goal and give
his crew a gold bonus.
Part of the reason
we diverted the creek was, uh,
You know, we found that
monster gold nugget there.
So I was hoping we would find
some chunky gold,
And, uh, here it is.
You know, we got some nice,
coarse gold out of there.
[bleep] oh, yeah.
[bleep]
-Holy [bleep].
-[man] that's cool.
That's unreal.
I want to see
that fine gold.
I know that's the stuff
that adds up.
[narrator]
rick's just 90 ounces
short of his goal.
[rick] it just kind of
keeps going.
-[man] what?
-It just kind of
keeps going.
[rick] and then,
the scale goes to "e".
Holy crap.
[bleep] yeah, buddy.
[rick] it's actually
too much for our scale,
but I already weighed it.
And I tell you guys
that last week we did
Yes!
-[narrator] rick's
biggest-ever gold weigh...
-Whoo!
...Is twice
what he needed.
His hunch
that the creek bed
contained gold nuggets
Has paid out big time.
So we're at
just over 1,080 ounces.
[narrator] a year ago, rick
was on the brink of failure.
But this season,
he's led his crew
To bank gold
worth just over $2 million.
Completely different season
this year, man.
It's good to see some gold
on the table.
It feels good to share this
with my friends.
You guys are the ones
that stuck through it
last year,
And you came back, right?
And now, you're gonna
benefit from it.
We need some more
out here.
[karla] it's never-ending.
[rick] this represents
you guys' bonuses.
-[carl] unreal.
-[all laughing]
That speaks
to all of your characters.
And I can't thank you enough
for coming back.
If we hadn't
done this this year...
I don't know
that there would have
been another year.
And you guys
made it happen,
and I appreciate it.
Started this season
with my friends and ended it
with my friends.
Appreciate it.
-Cheers.
-Cheers.
-Cheers.
-Cheers.
[narrator] when rick
diverted the creek,
He wasn't just thinking
about the nuggets,
He also had to consider
the environment.
[rick] it's clear already.
Look at that.
I think it looks...
I think it looks
really good.
I know that I can take
good pictures of this
And send it
to the government,
And I know that they're
gonna love how it looks.
You know,
these things are touchy
Because you gotta
do 'em right.
I put all this stuff in here.
Like, you see
those groups of rock
right there in the middle?
I've put in a fish habitat.
I've got a deep hole on
the other side of it, right?
So that's where fish can
kind of just hang out,
And, you know,
not in the current.
I like to think about, like,
fish hanging out right there
And just being like,
"oh, this is a pretty
sweet spot,"
And I'm like,
"you're welcome, fish."
[laughing]
[man] get into that thing.
Point right at it.
[coughing]
Oh, yeah. Big money.
[man 1] hit the brakes
really hard.
[parker] I told him
I was gonna launch him
into the lake.
Parker, parker,
are you ready to get
this show on the road?
Have you got
some gold, chris?
I've got a lot of gold.
No, for the last week
of the season,
It worked out
really good, you guys.
It was pretty impressive.
You know, we had...
You pulled up
that third plant.
Oh, yeah. Did it make
all the difference?
It... It made a difference.
[laughter]
So, anyway,
I got the scale
up on the porch
If you wanna see
how we did this year.
[narrator] after five months
of grueling work,
It's time for parker's
final gold weigh
of the season.
[chris] this is what
you're looking for
right there.
-[woman] holy...
-[man] oh, wow.
Wait, chris,
where were we at
right before these numbers?
[chris]
okay, so right now,
We're at 6,988 ounces.
So, we've had
a hell of a good season.
-[chris] a hell of a season.
-Yeah.
[narrator]
but parker's crew is hoping
to set a new record.
[chris] the most
we ever got in a year
-Was 7,400.
-[woman] ooh.
-So we're pretty close.
-Yeah.
[narrator] to top
his best season ever,
Parker needs
his three plants this week
To deliver
just over 400 ounces.
[chris] we're gonna
weigh up sluicifer first.
Tyson. Here we go.
-[tyson] 20, 40.
-[parker] the pan's about
to fall off the scale.
[tyson] 60, 80.
-Yeah.
-[laughing]
[chris] good job,
you guys.
Brennan. This is red.
[chris] so, it was
a good run, you guys.
-You both did well.
-[brennan] yeah.
I wish rick was here
to enjoy this.
-[chris] yeah, no kidding.
-[brennan] he was
a big part of that.
-But we also have
one more plant to go, right?
-Right.
The real k*ller.
He's about to pull a [bleep]
five-gallon pail out of there
right now.
All right. So here we go.
This is little hope.
[narrator]
to hit that record,
Little hope needs to deliver
just 73 ounces.
[shane] 20, 30,
Oh, yeah!
[chris] you guys,
you just broke
another record.
Whoo!
[chris]
the record is 7,400,
And for this season,
we have 7,504.9 ounces.
-[man] nailed it.
-Cheers, guys.
[woman]
best year ever.
Free beer on parker.
[narrator] in a year
where the pandemic
Could have stopped
his season,
Parker and his crew
have mined 7,500 ounces,
More gold than ever before.
Worth almost $14 million.
Topping their previous record
by $4 million.
[chris]
now, parker's got a job.
He actually
has to do something.
-He...
-[laughter]
He's gotta
find us new ground.
I'm really thankful
that we didn't
Drag that virus
in the camp,
'cause [bleep],
I had nightmares about that.
And one of the nice things
about having a good season
When the gold prices are good
is it gives us options.
There's a block of ground
for sale in alaska right now
that I'm really interested in.
But I, you know, love
what we've got going on here,
And don't wanna
sideline that at all.
So...
In terms of, you know,
what's next,
To everybody here
that's here now,
Your spot's open next year.
And I hope
that you're all here.
And, um...
And here's to many more.
Cheers, guys.
[all cheering]
-[man] let's go home.
-[all laughing]
And a big one for parker.
[all cheering]
Thanks.
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11x21 - Endgame
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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.