08x01 - Uncharted Waters

[bunniefuu]

Making a living on the
bering sea is really tough.

The gold's drying up.

All the easy stuff is gone.

But there's
always gonna be dreamers

that are coming to nome thinking

they're gonna get rich
off of mining.

Whoa! Whoa!

Empire, right now,
is falling apart.

We're gonna go out
on more dangerous missions,

to go find something
that hasn't been found.

This is just
a true test of will.

We either make it work,
or we fail.

My god!

Take my hand, zeke.

I want to get the 1,000 ounces.

I want to have
the reputation and talent

that I'm kris kelly,
the big gold getter.

The odds are
against me like crazy.

We're starting to look
like gold miners.

I don't know how that happened.

Coming in.

Yeah! This is what
I'm talking about.

The generator caught on fire.

Aah!

What do you want to do, captain?
I want you to start it!

Get the out of my house!

No gold, no access.

What are you doing?!

It's going to be
an interesting summer.

Nome, alaska...

For over 100 years, this town
of less than 4,000 residents

has been the epicenter
of the gold-mining universe,

attracting hopefuls
to the gold-filled waters

of the bering sea.

Tens of thousands of ounces

in the past 10 or 20 years.

And those are all based on
the discovers of a few guys.

Most of the people
that you see in little dredges

out there right now are just
kind of cleaning up the edges

of those initial discoveries.

But lately in nome, there's been

a drastic sea change
in the gold-mining world.

It's getting harder and harder
to find the ground

to make a good living.

You have to go further
into the ocean to find gold.

For these miners, harvesting
from proven hot spots

is no longer an option.

Instead, it's become
an all-out battle

to find completely untested
and untapped areas

to keep their dreams alive.

It's time to go find
a different place to mine.

At nome's small boat harbor...

Doing the juggling act,
trying to keep everything

moving in the right direction.

Single dad trying
to manage a family

and multiple businesses.

"Mr. Gold," shawn pomrenke, has

his hands full managing
his budding empire.

Inland mine, the christine rose,

the new dredge,
the gold company.

The pillars of the
pomrenke operation spread

all across greater nome.

On the offshore grounds,
the christine rose...

I love the gold!

Has produced
over $5 million in 5 years.

At anvil mountain...


to keep this thing running.

The inland mine
yielded over 1,000 ounces

in its first three weeks
of operation last summer.

And on deep-water claim 38,

john's planned mega-dredge...

This thing is massive.

Will one day dig deeper

than any that have come before.

This is the one tool
that I see that we need

to get that gold
out of that ground.

But for now, it's on hold
as resources pour

into the family's
most ambitious venture yet,

an effort to secure the rights
to nome gold,

mining ground
that's believed to contain

over a quarter billion dollars
in golden riches.

Nome gold's property
is up for sale.

Hopefully, we can make
enough gold to buy it.

It would be nice to have
all that property

and be able to not worry
about where we're gonna mine

next year or the year after
that or the next 30, 40 years.

Not only me, but my kids
would be able to mine, too.

But winning the bid
on nome gold won't be easy.

For starters,
the family must come up

with a whopping
$3 million up-front payment.

Till the papers signed,
and I come up with the money,

then I'm just another dreamer
hoping to have that land.

To try and earn
the bulk of the cash...

I haven't been out here at the
mine for quite some time.

Shawn's relying
on the family's inland mine

to deliver big.

- Shawn.
- Hey, dad.

How's things going out here?

You know,

it ain't as great
as it was last year.

That's for damn sure.

Hopefully, it's gonna pick up
here again pretty soon.

Hopefully.

We were doing 400 ounces
a week last fall,

but, boy,
we moved over 100 feet,

and it's all completely
different... no gold.

Last summer...

This is the biggest pile
of gold I've ever seen.

The mine was booming.

If somebody can beat that,

they can kiss my butt.

But, so far, this season,
it's been a bust.

Finding this 3 million bucks
for a down payment

is gonna be one tough
kitty here to wrangle.

And there is nothing else
in the pomrenke empire

that can generate
big enough funds

to make the nome gold deal
a reality.

We're gonna have to come up with
some more money right away.

The way the inland's
going so far,

that's not gonna happen.

Well, you never know.

I might go down the bluff
and do 1,000 ounces there.

Bluff is a silly damn idea.

I think it's just silly, shawn.

For years, mr. Gold had
his sights set

on an area known as the bluff,

a coastline 100 miles
east of nome that was mined

nearly a century ago.

Shawn's theory...
There must be untapped gold

in the deeper waters
off the bluff.

And while the offshore grounds
are so remote

they're nearly inaccessible...

That hasn't stopped him
from daring

to make prospecting trips
there in the past.

But he's come up short
each time.

Dad, I mean,
I know it's down there.

We already got a couple hundred
thousand bucks in the bluff.

We ain't got
no gold out of it yet.

My gut says it there.

You can smell gold down there?

I got a feeling there ain't
much gold down there.

Like, my god, back to
the stupid bluff again.

There's no port down there.

Why put all this effort
to go down there

when there ain't no way
to mine it?

I got the right tools now.

I'm gonna go down
and sniff it out.

That's what I'm good at.

Get your butt down there
and find something this time.

- Well, all right.
- Okay.

I'm gonna go keep
the inland going here.

- All right, later.
- See you later.

Sometimes,
it's hard to convince him,

but...

I know there's a pile
of gold down there,

puddles and puddles of gold.

I can't wait.

While shawn hopes to find
a fortune at the bluff,

in nome...

All this stuff I've been
doing the past few years,

I've been going 10 miles
that way down the coast,

five miles down that way
down the coast.

Zeke tenhoff is also on
the hunt for new ground,

and he's aiming big.

When I first started
gold dredging, I was, like,

"I want to find a way
to work for myself,

be my own boss, and make
enough money to live,"

and I've done that.

A self-taught prospector...

Dude, I got
all the money that I have sunk

into making this work.

Zeke's been able
to make a living off mining

for several seasons.

Yeah! Look at all that gold.

And he's garnered
a reputation for being

one of the best in the biz
at finding hot spots.

Yeah.

You know,
it's an air of mystery.

There could be
a huge discovery to be made.

But with gold drying up

on traditional mining grounds,

the adventure seeker
must find new turf

to have any hope of
maintaining his way of life.

It's very obvious that the
gold that's easy to get

that's close
to the port of nome,

that's getting played out.

So, if there's any great gold,
any great discoveries,

it's gonna be probably, like,


coast in a direction

that I haven't gone before.

And now,

like explorers
who have come before him...

If there is a big gold deposit
at sledge island,

it would be a new discovery,

and that's the kind of thing
that really gets me excited.

Zeke is looking
to a deserted island

to deliver treasure.


sledge island was

once a tiny whaling post
centuries ago.

Today, it's off-limits by order of the u.S.
Coast guard.

There's a lot of kind
of creepy woo-woo stories

about sledge island, it, like,
being haunted and stuff,

and there's some plane crashes
out there.

It has a kind of
a air of mysteriousness

around it because it's a big,

dramatic-looking island,
you know?

It's just out of reach.

There was a drill survey
that happened in the 1960s,

I believe it was, and they found
gold out at sledge island.

They found what was described
by them

as a surprising amount of gold.

The reason
why people haven't answered

the questions
about sledge island

is 'cause it's expensive and
dangerous to get out there.

Somebody's got to do it
eventually, though,

and I'm excited
about doing it right now.

Less than a mile away...

I'm heading to the port
and meeting zeke.

Zeke's on-again,
off-again partner in crime,

emily riedel, is all in on
a recon trip to sledge island.

Sledge island is
this enigma to everybody.

If we go over there,

zeke and I are
pretty much committed.

Let's mob out there
and see what we can find.

All right, I'm excited.

The easy money is gone,
and this is the opportunity

to make another great find.

To even make
another gold rush in nome.

The long and winding route

to sledge island is choppy,

not unlike zeke and emily's
storied relationship.



Four years ago...

Whoo!

This is frigging awesome.

Zeke brought
his love interest to nome

to be his summer tender.

She's fired.

There's just no question
about it.

But it didn't exactly
have a storybook ending.

Hey, zeke.

After two seasons apart...

So, partners?

- Okay, sounds legit.
- Okay.

Two miners forged
an uneasy alliance.

Whoa!

And this past winter...

That is just delicious looking.

Whoo!

They partnered up to generate


I think if zeke and I lay
aside our differences

and just focus
on the ultimate goal,

which is, "is there
good gold at sledge?"

Can we make money off of it?"
that's the goal.

The chance to make
a game-changing discovery

has the reluctant partners
working together again.

One of my greatest weaknesses is

that I don't pay
enough attention to details,

and I let them pile up
behind me.

Emily is in the business
of making deals and stuff.

'Cause I need all the help
I can get in that department.

Once you get out this far,

it becomes abundantly obvious

why people are
not bringing dredges

out to sledge island.

After a 25-mile trip
over the bering sea,

zeke and emily get
their first close-up look

at mighty sledge island.

Whoa.

My god.



at sledge island...

My god.

With mining grounds drying up,

zeke tenhoff and emily riedel
are setting out

on the most challenging
mission of their careers.

I want to circle the island

and kind of see
where it looks like

our safe-harbor points are.

It doesn't have
to start blowing very much

before it's too choppy
to even think

about going back to nome.

First step...
Get a read on the dangers

at the uninhabited location.

There'll be times when it'll
go from being five-knot winds

and very pleasant
to 25-knot winds in an hour.

And this happens
frequently enough

to know to never trust
the weather.

It's hard enough to trying
to make an operation work

five miles from town.

I mean, at 20 miles from town,

it's going to be
next to impossible.

I mean, like, the fact
that there's, like,

at least two really big
recorded shipwrecks here,

that's kind of saying something

about what we're
up against here.

We're like, "da-da-da,
it's all gonna be all right."

well, sometimes
it's not all right at all.

The team must also evaluate

the safety of the grounds
underwater.

The geology is totally
different onshore here,

on the shore of this island
than what we're used to

back in nome, so it might be

a totally different scenario
underwater.

I don't know, I'm kind of
terrified of it actually

'cause it looks
real dark down there,

and there may be
bigger rocks and

and sea mammals and stuff,

I don't know.

A lot of rumors and mysteries

kind of this mysterious place.

It's spooky. It's shipwrecked.

Maybe there's gold.
Maybe there's not.

I don't know.

- Whoops.
- Can I see?

Man, I mean, it's just, like,
a bunch of debris...

That white stuff
right over there.

Wow.

There might be
a little bit of, like,

the bermuda triangle aspect
out there.

Maybe there's
some woo-woo stuff out there

that they don't want us
to know about.

Dude, this is a really nice spot

because it's all nice
and calm like a lake here.

Zeke and emily finally
find an area tucked away

that may be
just what they're looking for.

I really like this area
because you got...

Like, these erosion channels
are dumping

right onto this little beach
right here,

which is getting washed
down into here,

but this little area
of the island isn't exposed

to those crazy,
like, tidal currents

that happen every day
coming back and forth.

It's not washing
the sediment away.

What I'm looking for
out at sledge island is

glacier gravel, something
that's not big, huge boulders

that have tumbled
off the mountain.

I'm looking for gravel.

And I can see that
with my camera

if I drop a camera down.

Still going down.

Probably about 35 feet here.

That's still doable.

That actually looks really good.

This definitely looks promising.

- This could be where it is.
- Yeah.

You got all the sediment
coming through here.

There's, like, this cove here.

I think, to me,
it's they're all, like, signs

kind of pointing to this being

a really interesting place
to dredge.

Zeke and emily make the call...

They'll roll the dice
at sledge island.

I'm being
entirely honest when I say

that there might
just be absolutely

fantastic gold in sledge island,

and that's why I'm taking
the risk to get out there.

We more or less found
what we came here looking for.

Now...

They'll have to get permission

to prospect
on the offshore spot.

Years ago, the department
of the interior allowed claims

off sledge island to be staked,

and, in some cases,

those plots have remained
untouched for generations.

If you can try to get
that authorization,

that would be awesome.

It'll be up to the financial
brains of the operation

to pull off a deal and put
their plan into action.

There are people that
have held on to these claims

for years and years
that we have to find somebody

willing to take on the risk
of letting us out there.

All right,
well, let's get going.

All right.

Whoo!



Back in nome.

This season, we're gonna
do things my way.

No, honest to god,
and I guarantee...

I guarantee
we're gonna make more gold

than we ever have
the last five seasons.

The fighting kellys are back

and looking
to shake things up...

We're gonna follow
your lead, kris.

By making a familiar face
their new captain.

This year, I'm gonna try
to do the impossible.

I'm gonna try to bring
the kelly family together

stronger than we've ever been,

and I'm gonna get a ton of gold.

This is my season to step up.

Three years ago,

the kelly family,

kris...

Father brad...

Payback's a b*tch.

And brother andy...

Moved from the tranquil
tropics of hawaii...

To a polar-opposite way
of life in nome, alaska.

Searching for treasure...

We're gonna get some gold,
crack divers that we are.

Without any
gold-mining experience at all.

What's your problem?

But with brad as captain...

come on, you fat.

And kris as lead diver,

things haven't
exactly panned out.

And season after season...

They've barely scraped by
with enough gold to break even.

So, you've moved up in position

from cabin boy to captain.

First of all,
I was never cabin boy.

I was lead diver.

So, this summer,
kris is commandeering

the captain's chair,

determined not only
to keep the family together,

but to finally uncover
the riches

that have always eluded him.

Everybody tells me,

"why don't you leave
your family?

Go and do your own thing."

if I leave my family,
what do I really have?

All I really have in my life
really is my dad,

my brother, and my mom.

You know,
it's all I really have.

My dad just needs to let
me do what I want to do,

and I promise I'm gonna
make money for this family.

We're gonna take the chance
and go down eight miles.

We can do it.

For now, at least,
dad is willing to step aside

and let his son take the reins.

You know if he'll go out,
and he'll break his back

and go get more gold
and dive more,

I'll call him
the captain any day.

If I find a guy on the shore

that will work


he might even be the captain.

It's a captain's responsibility

to determine locations to dredge

and secure the rights to mine.

But for chris, due
to his dad's previous tenure,

that won't be easy.

The problem is my dad's an

and nobody trusts him.

They don't want
to let me on the claim

because of my dad's
bad reputation.

So, I'm running around,
and I'm trying to hustle

and trying to get people
to let me on their claims.

So the scraps
that I have this year

is a bad-a*s little claim
on the east side.

So, hopefully,
it really pays off.

Kris has negotiated
access to a new claim.

But just like the other miners,

the kellys have been forced
to abandon their comfort zone

and venture far from home,

almost 10 miles from town

and east of the nome river.

Throwing anchor.

Okay, this is the spot.

I got a really good feeling
about this.

We get down there
and put in some work.

I've heard
a lot of really good things

about the claim we're going to.

I'm really excited.

It's right next to a claim
that I know

they made $5 million,
$6 million off of.

I mean, it's not like
right next,

but it's like kitty-corner,
you know?

After making
his first call as captain,

it's time for kris
to make his mark.

We're ready, captain.

My god, please, let the...

Push it. Jiggle it.
Jiggle it. Jiggle it.

What do you want to do, captain?
I want you to start it!

What the do you think
I want you to do?!

We're ready, captain.

Eight miles east of nome...

What do you want to do, captain?
I want you to start it!

What the do you think
I want you to do?!

I'm trying to start it, captain.

Freshly minted
captain kris kelly is ready

to get mining on a distant
and unfamiliar new claim.

I don't want to start
our season off bad.

Right here, it's this wire.
It's garbage.

But the dredge's motor
might not be up to the task.

This is the dumbest problem
we've ever had dredging.

The culprit?

A corroded ground wire,

an issue that should
have been checked

before they even set sail.

We're letting
a little, simple ground

keep us
from making money right now.

Do you know how easy
it is to fix a ground?

Then let's fix it.

Well... yeah, we are fixing it.

We are fixing it.

To be a successful miner,

you have to be able to do
at least,

like, four or five
different traits.

Okay, okay, just to make sure

that we go
from start to bottom...

Welder, mechanic,
miner, fabricator...

If you don't have three
of those four traits,

keep doing what you're doing.

All right, it should
technically start.

With the captain
assuming all duties...

Okay, go.

Yeah, baby!

The kellys are back in business.

Crisis diverted.

It's my first day
of being the captain,

and it might come an end
my very first day.

All systems are go,

and it's finally time
to get on the gold.

Good luck.

Bam, just like that.

Some days, it looks like
I know what I'm doing.

Okay, now it's time
to find some gold.

Okay, I'm just gonna
start punching holes

and see what we got.

Dig the hole big enough
where you don't get stuck

down the damn thing, okay?

I'm not gonna get stuck.

No, but your weight belt
goes upside down.

Your weight might fall out.

Okay, lookit...
Don't worry about me.

You just watch the gas.

I'm watching it. Don't worry.

That's the easy part.

There you go, that's the part
that I want you to do.

About 2 1/2 feet,

and all no sand, no cobble.

Dredges search
for patches of cobble rock,

which could signify the
presence of an old creek bed,

a prime spot
for gold to pile up.

Sweet.

Yeah,
but it's like four feet deep

underneath the sand.

And I've already burned
through a lot of cobble.

Yeah, baby, that's what I like.

Just as kris is getting started,

another problem rears
its ugly head.

Me, man.

The leak in the line
impacts delivery of hot water

to kris's wetsuit,
needed to keep him

from suffering hypothermia

in water that averages
just 40 degrees.

How'd the dive go?

Kris kelly's
first dive as captain...

Five minutes in the water,

two major mechanical problems,

and zero gold.

We need to prospect
for at least a week

before we can say no
and that we got to move on.

You really got to go
to work every single day

hoping you do well.

You can't be negative.

You can't think
you're gonna fail.

You just got to go there
every single day,

put in the hard work,
and know you're gonna make it.

We are gonna do good this year.

We are gonna establish
ourselves as a mining family.

No way. It's gonna work out.



I've been putting
out fires all week,

but now I'm going to bluff.

Shawn pomrenke is in need
of a cash infusion

to keep his empire running

and help finance
a deal for nome gold.

The richest offshore
reserve in the world.

So, he's pinning
his hopes on a remote

and difficult area to access
known as the bluff.

Last winter,
we were diving right in here.

And out here, I did start
seeing some nice color.

I'm thinking out here
is gonna be really good.

Previous trips have
produced little,

but mr. Gold's got a new plan
to capitalize on his intuition.

Did a little research
and figured out

we can claim this right here.

I don't know what
or how everybody's looked over

this chunk of ground right here,

but this is legally claimable.

Though most of the coastline

shawn's discovered
an offshore area

that's never been claimed,

so now, per alaskan mining law,

he'll need
to stake a post on land

to establish the boundaries
of the claim.

The spot will be all his.

But first...

Flat calm out there.

We need to gas up
and get the hell out of here.

He's got to make a half-day trip

just to get there.

Wind died down,

but it's supposed
to pick up later today,

so right now is our time to go.

We need to go get
this claim staked right now.

Let's get the hell out of here.

- Yep, yep.
- Yeah.

Right now, at the beginning
of the season,

money's always flowing out way
faster than it's coming in.

With the nome gold
deal hanging in the balance,

shawn's bet the pomrenke future

on a spot 100 miles away

that has previously yielded
nothing but disappointment.

Heading to the bluff
is a gamble,

but either
it's gonna pay off big,

or it's gonna be a bust.

Just east of nome, alaska...

Whoa!

Zeke tenhoff is
readying to set sail...

Damn it.

Away from
the traditional mining grounds

around nome.

This is gonna be the basic frame

for the new cabin that I'm
gonna put on the bottom'z up.

But venturing
into the rugged waters

of distant sledge island
demands a stronger dredge

than he's ever used before.

I'm going
into treacherous waters

in the bering strait
with strong currents,

unpredictable winds,

and the potential
for there to be big swells

and big waves that come up
in a moment's notice.

I need the boat
that I can mob home in

in, you know, eight-foot seas.

So I got this boat
called the bottom'z up

for a really good price.

It's not, like, super special,
and it's not super seaworthy.

It's just a 30-foot,
aluminum pontoon boat.

It's capable enough to do it.

As of today, I don't really
have the authorization

that I need to actually go
dredging out at sledge island.

While expenses mount

and zeke tends
to the manual labor...

Honestly, it would be nice
if emily did come through

with some claim authorizations

and help make it possible
for me to get out there.

He's relying on his partner

to come through
on the business end

by gaining access to the claim

so they can
start finding gold...

Get that deal done.

And fast.



I see the bluff
off in the distance right now.

Shawn pomrenke is
racing for the bluff,

intent on staking
a claim on remote turf

he hopes will deliver
desperately needed funds.

This is definitely
an unforgiving environment.

- Look at it out there.
- Yeah.

You up out here, you're dead.

But bad weather is looming
on the horizon,

so shawn will need to hustle
or risk getting marooned



We're here.

What's nice about this...
It'll be ours and all ours.

Nobody else can come mine it
once that stake's in the ground.

To reach the marker
atop the bluff,

shawn must somehow get
his equipment onto shore

without the benefit of a road.

This is what I love to do...

That nobody else will do.

But mr. Gold has a plan...

We're jumping a rzr
up the ocean onto the beach.

Edge closer towards shore

and launch the vehicle
while staying far enough away

that he doesn't beach the boat.

Don't go
until I give you the signal.

- Do this.
- We're gonna

but if he fails, they'll be
unable to access the claim...

Here we go.

And, in the process,

he could trash
$15,000 worth of equipment.

Couple big sets coming.

I'll try to get us
in there in between sets.

Here he goes. Here he goes.

That's how you do it! Yeah!

Scott nailed it perfect.

Nice.

Here we go.

First claim I've ever staked,

and it's on the richest
offshore reserve in the world.

I like it.

There it is right there.

Department of interior,
bureau of land management.

Yeah, take a picture of that.

There we go.

Now, the only way
you can stake a claim is

if the northeast corner is
on land,

so this is the corner.

It extends out into the ocean
that way and this way.

Our claim is
right out over here.

As gold-mining
forerunners have done

since the mid-19th century,

shawn is the first to stake
this 120-acre off-shore parcel

that he'll now have
exclusive rights to mine.

Back 100 years ago,
there was thousands

upon thousands
of people down there

with picks and shovels
mining that beach.

You know there's got
to be gold out there

in the ocean, too.

We're gonna go down there

and hopefully find
that mother lode.

- It's ours.
- Awesome. Awesome!

The claim is staked.

We need to get
the hell out of here.

I don't like the way
that boat's getting beat up.

But now,
as the winds gain strength,

shawn needs to rescue his boat

before it's ravaged by the sea.

Waves are rolling
on the beach now... not good.

We're gonna have
a hell of a time getting

onto that boat.

This is gonna be fun.

If they lose the vessel
this far from help,

they'll be stranded
indefinitely at the bluff.

Whoa! Whoa!

Whoa! Whoa!

- Ooh.
- No, no, stay in the boat.

Go! Go!

I'm sinking!

The motor died
about halfway out there.

Now shawn's having to paddle

in these 2 1/2-foot,


I'm sinking!

When I was growing up
in nome as a little kid...

I have a lot of hazy memories
of my early childhood

'cause winters are long,

and you know, like,
we had candles for light.

My parents chose to forgo,
like, electricity

and that kind of thing.

We lived kind of, like,
way off the grid.

My parents made me
dog-sled to school.

I was super embarrassed about
that 'cause nobody else did.

It was really embarrassing.
I hated my dogs.

They were real bad dogs.

It was just a nightmare trying
to get back and forth to school.

I'd have to get up
at, like, 6:00 in the morning

or, like, 5:00 in the morning.

I was, like, a 7-year-old kid,
trying to mush these dogs

to school in the dark,
but, like, they're bad dogs,

you know, like, completely
untrained sled dogs.

I was, like, "I don't want
to go to school anymore."

I hate my sled dogs."



I'm sinking!

The motor died
about halfway out there.

Now shawn's having to paddle

in these 2 1/2-foot,


I'm sinking!

Trying to reach
his only way home

in rising seas,

shawn pomrenke's
outboard motor died,

and now his dinghy is
taking on water.

Come on, you son of a b*tch!

Holy

that's a big there.

Yeah! Whoo!

Wow, the whole boat went
up like that,

filled up with water.

Gold mining's not easy.

And the bluff is way more
difficult, way harder.

It's way further from town.

You better have your
together out there.

And, as we found out,

if you don't have your together,

you're not gonna come back
with any gold.

I'm hoping, this season,
it'll be a big difference,

and I can make up for the
money I spent last year,

but I do have a feeling
there's a ton of gold there.

And I'm gonna go find it.

We're on our way back to nome.

We staked
a million-dollar claim...

Maybe more.

Though he struck out
at the bluff before,

this year, with the future
of the pomrenke empire

on the line,
failure is not an option.

I ain't out here wasting money.

Dad might think
I'm out here wasting money.

I'm not wasting money.

One week
of good mining weather...

We're gonna pay
everybody's wages

and make all that money back.

With the summer
season under way,

captains have placed their
bets on new mining grounds.

Now the big question...
Will they pay off?

Listen up close, now

what I say

I just need
my opportunity, a great claim,

and a couple motivated people.

This season is either gonna be
a successful season,

or I'm definitely gonna have
to do something drastic.

If we can do this...

And then we can get out there,
and everything will be perfect.

I'm a-gonna head out west
one day.

It's not gonna be easy,
but nothing in mining is easy.

I heard about a fortune
to be made.

So you want to go to sledge?

Yeah, that's the plan.

These yellow squares
are me, these three.

It's gonna take a lot of work
to get out there,

and then if you start
hitting gold

I'll do, like, a 15% thing
with you or something.

You're on your own, emily.

I know.

It's me and one crazy guy.

'Cause I heard that
there's gold in these hills

- hey, zeke.
- So, what's up?

Did you follow up
any leads on claims?

Yeah, I ran into hank,
and he's good to go.

He gave me authorization.

We're taking a big risk
to mine at sledge island.

It's not
just because we want to.

We have to if we're gonna
continue in this business.

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

building an empire is hard.

Keeping it from falling apart
is even harder.

Lukester!

You want to build family wealth
to where your family can benefit

off of your hard work for
the rest of their lives, too.

Hello, world!

That right there makes it
all worthwhile.

I'm mr. Gold.

I got my hands full
with this one.

'Cause I heard that
there's gold in these hills.

Things don't always go
according to plan.

I'm going to get me
some of that right there.

The bering sea is a beast.

This looks like death.

That ocean's very unforgiving.

Zeke, you got
to get out of there.

I don't know if we're gonna be
able to pull this one off.

Come on! Get on it!

I've never been in so much
pain before in my life.

- I didn't do that, captain.
- -Shut the up!

I hate you!

I am a miner!

We might have hit
the mother lode.

captions paid for by
discovery communications.