13x09 - Freedom for the Bold

[bunniefuu]

[Parker]
Did you bring a gold pan?

I got mine, where's yours?

[Woman] Can I use that one?

- Nope.
- [Woman] Okay.

So, this is the road that
we never mined.

- [Woman] Yeah.
- Like, it starts back there.

It's built on top of
tailings from like, the 90s.

It's virgin underneath.

- Do you wanna pan the road?
- [Parker] Yeah, why not?

My water license in
the Yukon's expiring.

So, if we don't start working
on it now, then we never will.

[Narrator] {\an8}In the Yukon,
{\an8}with the clock ticking,

{\an8}Parker Schnabel is determine
to get every ounce of gold he can,

{\an8}before the end of the season

[Parker] Rule number one
with panning, Tyler.

- [Tyler] Yeah?
- [Parker] What is it?

Um... clean water?

[Parker] No. Make sure there's
nothing in the pan already.

Oh, okay. Yep.
Didn't know that.

[Parker] You've panned before?

[Tyler] Everyone I've learned off
has a different like, method of doing it.

[Parker] There's no right
or wrong.

- I mean, there is.
- [Tyler laughing]

[Laughing] I'm
not comfortable.

- Maybe I'll walk into the water.
- Yeah, go ahead.

- That's how the real miners used to do it.
- Okay.

- Are you [Bleep] with me?
- [Parker] No!

[Tyler] Oh, that's actually
much better.

[Parker] You just gotta
get aggressive with it.

- [Tyler] Like this?
- [Parker] Yeah.

[Tyler] How do I get
all of them out?

[Parker] When you want
material to go out of the pan,

you like, angle it like this
and wash it out.

You don't wanna really throw
it out. You know what I mean?

- [Tyler] Oh!
- And any gold starts to show up down at the bottom.

- [Tyler] Oh, is that a bit of gold?
- [Parker] Yeah.

[Tyler] Oh, cool!
There's color.

- Okay.
- [Parker] That's good enough for me.

What are you doing, man?
I saw your truck on the road.

I didn't know if you were
broke down or something.

- There's always a fair chance of that.
- [Tyler chuckles]

What are you finding?

We're just panning this road. Every
year I've driven by it, I've been like,

"Should we mine that? No."

But now it's the last year
that we can't say no anymore.

If we say no this year, then
it's never gonna get mined.

This has been left because,
well, it's the only section of road.

There's no other way around it
right through here.

We got so many other things
going on.

[Parker] But the stripping crew
has a little opening, don't it?

- I mean... [Scoffs]
- Let's just send them in here and see what happens.

This is not just mining the
road, it's building a new road,

then, it's coming down here,
stripping this.

{\an8}I'm just looking at what
we got going on down there.

{\an8}Everything's froze up.

I feel like, everyday we are
a little bit further behind.

[Parker] I think it's gonna
be thawed.

Like, the sides have
been exposed.

Like, I don't even think that
the pay's gonna be frozen.

If it's thawed,
that's gonna be huge.

If it's not, then I'm gonna
eat a big dose of crow, Mitch.

I'm not trying to mess up
your schedule.

But I am.

Parker just added a huge amount of
work to our already overloaded schedule.

There's already not enough
hours in the day,

and days left in this season,

to get through what we've
got going on.

And for Parker to wanna come
down here

{\an8}and pull out the only road,
the only access we have

{\an8}down to where we're
currently working,

to start another cut,
I think is crazy.

[font color=#FF00FF]*GOLD RUSH*[/font]
[font color=#00FF00]Season 13 Episode 09[/font]

Episode Title: [font color=#FFc30f]"Cursed"[/font]
Aired on: [font color="#00ffff"]November 25, 2022.[/font]

[Parker] {\an8}Big thing for me is I
really like to push ourselves

{\an8}and find more gold each year

And we know this is our last
season to mine this stuff.

[Narrator] {\an8}Nine weeks
{\an8}into this season,

{\an8}27-year old Parker Schnabel'
master plan

{\an8}is starting to come together

[Parker] We're stretched
really thin right now.

It's a good thing we've got a good
group of people this year because

it's a lot going on, especially
with Alaska firing up.

[Narrator] {\an8}In three weeks, Parker
will open a new operation in Alaska.

{\an8}In the Yukon, his two wash
plants are running side by side

{\an8}in the Bear cut,

{\an8}and have delivered more tha


We're more than halfway
through the ground.

{\an8}Nearly four million
square feet.

{\an8}Now, our whole season depend on keeping
two plants runnin as long as possible.

[Narrator] {\an8}His crew have
{\an8}already stripped 48 acres,

{\an8}36 football fields, of the
massive 90-acre airstrip.

{\an8}Now, Parker has tasked
foreman, Mitch Blaschke

{\an8}with opening even more groun

There's a whole bunch of little
pieces of ground here and there

that could probably make us
a quick buck.

{\an8}If we don't do it now,
we'll never get to it.

[Mitch] {\an8}Parker's decided tha
he wants us to strip a new road,

{\an8}which we're calling
the Panama Canal cut.

Well, we've gotta move the mud
and get down to some pay gravels.

[Narrator] {\an8}Over a thousand yards
downstream from the Bear cut,

{\an8}and his wash plants,

{\an8}Mitch must open up
a new ten acre cut,

{\an8}taking Parker's total
to a hundred.

{\an8}But to get to the pay,

{\an8}Mitch must dig up the only road
connecting the camp to the cuts.

{\an8}To solve this problem,

{\an8}Mitch must also build
a new road at the same time

{\an8}keeping vital access to
the mine site open.

[Mitch] {\an8}I got half the crew
{\an8}working on our new road.

{\an8}Really important here to hav good
roads. We're constantl moving around.

{\an8}At the same time we're
building the new road,

{\an8}we're also stripping this
new cut,

{\an8}the Panama Canal.

[Tyler] {\an8}I get why Parker wan
{\an8}to mine this ground.

{\an8}But it's just insane.

We need to get this done
super quickly.

{\an8}It's a huge project.

I think everyone's a little
bit on edge at the moment.

[Mitch] {\an8}Parker seems to thin
{\an8}that this chunk of ground he

{\an8}is gonna be some
easy pickings.

{\an8}We'll find out when
we get to the bottom of it.

It's feeling pretty hard here.

Put the ripper in and see
what we got.

Hopefully, it's just compact
from everybody driving on it.

[Bleep]

I know what that is.

Well, so much for it
being thawed.

It's big, frozen chunks.

Lots of ice in it.

All this rock is glued
together, pretty much.

Parker thought with there
being cuts on both sides of this,

that this section of the road
would be all thawed out here.

But you see all this water,

you see all this ice here?

You know, if this was all thawed,
all this would've just drained off

down on both sides here.

We've chopped off our access
to the wash plants.

And we got pay dirt and it
looks like it's all gonna be frozen.

[Clayton] {\an8}Dirt Devil's
{\an8}fired up.

{\an8}We're currently mining
the Aspen.

Squeaking every little ounce
out of it we can.

[Narrator] {\an8}The Claytons are
chasing gold hotspots along the creek

{\an8}on their way to Golden Acres

[Clayton] {\an8}We got a long way
to go and a lot of dirt to move.

{\an8}The gold's getting better,
the plan is going great.

{\an8}We're one step closer
to Golden Acres.

{\an8}That's where we wanna be.

{\an8}That's the best shot
on getting 500 ounces.

We're just hoping
for the best.

The "best" is definitely
kicking Fred's a*s.

[Narrator] {\an8}Across the creek
veteran Green Beret, Fred Lewis,

{\an8}is also chasing 500 ounces.

{\an8}He's finally sluicing pay
from last season's cut

{\an8}and looking to deliver his first
gold weigh at the end of the week.

[Fred] {\an8}It's been a hell of
{\an8}a season so far.

{\an8}You know, we've been fight in
and fighting.

{\an8}We haven't got any gold yet

{\an8}But I know we're almost ther

{\an8}I heard form Tony that
the road ban was lifted.

{\an8}Finally gonna get that
dozer in here.

[Narrator] {\an8}Eight weeks ago,

{\an8}Fred bought a dozer to
dig his way to a gold bonanz

{\an8}at the Freedom cut.

{\an8}But winter road bans have made
delivery of the 53 ton machine impossibl

{\an8}Until today.

[Fred] {\an8}With that dozer,
{\an8}we're gonna be able to lift

{\an8}move, push a hell of a lot
more pay dirt.

And that 500 ounce goal
wouldn't be possible without it.

[honking]

Holy [Bleep].

That is impressive.

[Mike] You made it!

So, Mikey, I was hoping, since you
got a lot more experience than we do,

you could pull this off
the trailer for us

so we don't break it,
pulling it off.

You just rub our bellies and tell
us we're good boys and we'll...

[all laughing]

It's awesome. It's just anything is better
than what we got going right now. So...

- [Fred] You mean nothing?
- [Mike chuckles]

[Mike] Everybody clear?
He's driving ahead.

[Fred] Oh, [Bleep].

[engine sputtering]

Come on, baby.

I got the big haul.
I'll take it off.

- It's alive!
- [Man chuckles]

What do you think now?

- I think it's [Bleep] sweet.
- [Fred chuckles]

{\an8}This is 1984's best made
freaking dozer.

[Man] Damn!

Not gonna lie, she looks a lot
better with the blade on.

Yeah, I bet.

[Narrator] {\an8}To lift the ten t
{\an8}dozer blade off his trailer.

[Bleep] somebody's
[Bleep] chart.

[Narrator] {\an8}...Mike has to us
{\an8}the 250 excavator

{\an8}rated to lift around 10 tons

[Fred] All right,
let's get the blade off.

Fingers crossed that
the 250 can lift this.

I think it can.

[Mike] It barely lifts it.

So, I'm gonna have to be a little bit
ignorant to get the [Bleep] thing off.

[Bleep]

- [Fred] Mike?
- I got it.

[Fred] Watch out,
watch out, watch out.

[Fred] Just gotta be very
[Bleep] carful where I [Bleep] go.

Barely lifting it.

You know what that
blade's about to be doing.

- Pushing up the gold.
- Pushing up some gold.

[Fred] Yeah, that's it. Got
everything off the trailer.

Mining starts the day
this dozer's running.

- Safe trip!
- [Mike] Was nice meeting you all.

Stop for a second, Fred.

Stu, out just a little more.

We've got the beast all put back
together in the front, plates attached,

hydraulics are going well.

Now, the last thing we
gotta do is put this pin

into our ripper blade.

- Ready?
- [Buzz] Yeah!

- Ready to go to work?
- Let's get this beast working!

[Motor chugging] - Bim,
bam, boom, we're ready to roll.

[Narrator] {\an8}Fred and his cre
{\an8}head straight to the claim,

{\an8}eager to tear open
the Freedom cut.

I can't believe we're actually
gonna start working

on the Freedom cut,

which really is where
we're gonna get our gold.

The past few seasons,
we've kind of had to make do.

This is the first season that
we have the right equipment.

This is what's gonna make us
hit our freaking season goal.

[Stuart] {\an8}Think how far we'v
{\an8}grown as a team,

coming together and getting over PTSD
and all sort of the problems that come

{\an8}with going to w*r.

[Fred] {\an8}And since I've been here, I
don't think about an of that [Bleep], {\an8}dude.

{\an8}Just don't have time for it
I need to look forward.

We have to realize
the opportunity we have.

I mean, we're freaking mining
for gold in Yukon.

The adventure is something
for the rest of our lives.

I mean, the story will be a
hell of a lot better if we succeed.

- Right? [Laughs]
- [Stuart] Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Narrator] {\an8}Fred and Stu get
back to keeping the plant fed.

{\an8}While Buzz rips into
the three acre Freedom cut.

We are firing
on all cylinders.

Everything couldn't be
going any better.

{\an8}Buzz is up in the Freedom cu
getting that stripped and ready.

{\an8}This dozer is mammoth.

{\an8}We've named this "the Tank"
and I think you can see why

It's old but it definitely
does the job.

{\an8}Really nice stripping
with this machine.

[Fred] {\an8}I don't care if it's got rust on
it, I don't car if it needs a paint job,

{\an8}its heart is there,
and its soul is there

{\an8}and this thing is gonna mov
a lot of dirt for us.

As long as that
dozer's running,

we really do have a chance
of hitting that 500 ounce goal.

You gotta love it when
a plan comes together.

[Fred] {\an8}We are right
{\an8}where we need to be.

This dozer is an absolute
game changer.

[Narrator] {\an8}At California
{\an8}creek, Fred Lewis finally

{\an8}has the dozer stripping
the Freedom cut.

This dozer can definitely
push dirt.

[thuds, creaks]

[Bleep]

[Buzz] {\an8}Fred, you have
{\an8}a copy on me?

{\an8}I'm gonna need you to
come down here. Dozer broke

[Fred] {\an8}I just heard that
{\an8}the dozer's down.

{\an8}We could be seriously
[Bleep] {\an8}here.

{\an8}Got a lot riding on this.

I've got my house on this. I've
got all of our financials into it.

At this point, if the dozer's
down, we're down.

{\an8}Plain and simple.

All right.

Holy [Bleep].

[Buzz] Come up here and
look at this.

I backed up, I stopped,

set the blades down,
that goes chunk.

[Fred] [Bleep]

[Buzz] The little bracket that holds the
round that lifts the blade up and down

has been cracked for a long
time and finally decided to let go.

So, this has been happening
for a long time.

[Buzz] There was only about an
inch of this piece holding them together.

[Fred] [Bleep], dude.

[Narrator] {\an8}The 53-ton dozer'
{\an8}hydraulic lift cylinder

{\an8}is held in place by a bracke
called a yoke.

{\an8}It pivots, allowing the ten
ton blade to rise and fall.

{\an8}But it's cracked.

{\an8}Fred needs to swap out the o
broken part for a new one

{\an8}before he can get back
to stripping the Freedom cut

[Fred] [Bleep]

This is really gonna cost us.

I honestly don't know
what the hell I'm going to do.

Meanwhile, this is gonna
turn into more and more slop.

Not good. Not good at all.

{\an8}Parts for a 1984 Komatsu

{\an8}are not easy to come by
out here.

{\an8}There reaches a point where
you can't bleed anymore.

{\an8}Kind of reaching that point
with the company.

Tony speaking...

[Narrator] {\an8}Two months into
{\an8}his season,

{\an8}King of the Klondike,
Tony Beets,

{\an8}has opened up two of the
deepest cuts he's ever mined.

{\an8}So far, they've delivered
just over 900 ounces.

{\an8}280 ounces less than this ti
last season.

Tony speaking...

Tony speaking...

[Narrator] {\an8}To get more gold Tony's
got another trick up his sleeve.

Tony speaking...

[Narrator] {\an8}First mined three
seasons ago by daughter, Monica,

{\an8}Tony's cut down on Hunker
creek has been plagued...

- [expl*si*n]
- [Monica] What just happened?

[Man on radio speaking]

[Narrator] {\an8}...by breakdowns.

[thuds]

{\an8}...frozen pay...

[Monica] I seem to have
hit some frost.

[Narrator] {\an8}...and floods...

[Monica] Should've named it the
Cursed Cut, not the Hunker Cut.

[Narrator] {\an8}...leading Monic
{\an8}to abandon the Cursed Cut.

{\an8}Tony is leasing it to
the Winchester boys.

{\an8}Three new miners hoping to
strike it rich in the Yukon

[Jason] {\an8}We're gold miners,
{\an8}so we like to have, you know

{\an8}buckets of gold if we can
get it in our hands.

[Narrator] {\an8}Leading the crew is mine
boss and constructio worker, Jason Fraser.

[Jason] {\an8}My buddy John there
{\an8}built the plant.

{\an8}And said, "Well, we'll
come up and give it a try."

Figured it might be a chance to at
least get your boots wet here in Klondike.

{\an8}We'll catch some gold here.

[Narrator] {\an8}Retired business
{\an8}owner, John Van Thuyl

{\an8}is the crew's mechanic.

I've never mined in
the Yukon before.

{\an8}I'm semi-retired.

{\an8}I built the wash plant
in my driveway up at home.

{\an8}Five years from now, I hope to
have a five gallon bucke of gold,

{\an8}and I'm gonna totally retire

I got lots of friends that say
that they would love to do mining

but I'm here doing it.

[Narrator] {\an8}Running the heav equipment
is ex-logger, Patrick "Butch" Bouchard.

It's an extremely expensive
operation to be involved in.

{\an8}It's definitely high risk,
high reward.

If this doesn't work out,

{\an8}I'm sure Butch will be processing
logs again all next winter,

{\an8}and John likely will be
plowing snow from Ontario.

And myself, I'll be most likely
digging basements in Vancouver Island.

Tony speaking...

Better than the Three Stooges.

- How've you been?
- Fine.

- Nice to meet you.
- I'm John.

[Jason] The Hunker Cut it is.

- [Monica] Is it cursed for you guys?
- [Jason] Don't say it!

[Butch chuckling]
Don't say it. Yeah.

For us, everything that
could go wrong, went wrong.

[Jason] I don't believe
in curses.

Yeah. I hope so.

Think we can get somewheres
around our goal of 200, 250.

Tony speaking...

[all chuckling]

[Jason] Gotta walk your
Kiwi plant out of the way.

If you can get that out,
we'll get set up.

Tony speaking...

That sounds good.

Tony speaking...

[Narrator] {\an8}Once Tony's old Kiwi wash
plant is moved from the middle of the cut,

{\an8}the new crew will haul in their
homemade 60-yard an hour wash plant,

{\an8}the Winchester.

[John] {\an8}980 hours to build
{\an8}the wash plant.

I was only gonna do one drum,

and then my wife says,
"Well, why don't you do two?"

That's why we called
it "Winchester".

It's a double barrel shotgun.

[Narrator] {\an8}They plan to run
ground already stripped by Tony,

{\an8}chasing gold left behind
by the old timer's dredges.

John to Jason, you got a copy?

{\an8}Mike Beets is coming down
the hill.

[Mike] How you gentlemen
this morning?

[Jason] We good, buddy. You?

[Bleep] I hate rain.

Well, once we get the eyes exposed,
then we can attach it to the D10,

so that we can pull the
[Bleep] thing.

So, your eye will be
around over here.

Butch speaking

[Mike] Scrape it clean until
we can see the eyes.

It's really sticking out
quite decently.

So now I'm trying to wonder
where the [Bleep] it is,

just might be lower
and sitting more further back.

Could you get it
a little deeper?

[Narrator] {\an8}If they can't fin
{\an8}the eye hooks,

{\an8}the stranded Kiwi plant wil
block the Winchester's acces

{\an8}stopping them from
mining gold.

- [Mike] Do we have a shovel?
- Eh?

[Mike] That's so weird.

- [Butch] Well, there's an eye.
- [John] Kind of looks like a rock.

[Mike] No, that is the eye.

So the other one will be
right here.

- Ouch.
- [Tony] Oh, there you go.

[Mike chuckles]

- [Jason] If you can start hooking those up.
- Yeah.

[Mike] I'll hop in the dozer and we can
back her up, and we should be all good.

[Butch] Timber.

[Jason] Whatever it takes
to move it.

It's good to go now.

[Narrator] {\an8}Kiwi plant
{\an8}out of the way...

- [Mike] Good luck, gentlemen.
- [honks]

[Narrator] {\an8}...the Wincheste boys
are one step closer to catching gold

{\an8}and delivering
Tony's royalties.

Butch speaking

One more piece, boys.

We can get back to work
and make some real gold.

[Mitch] {\an8}We've invested
{\an8}a ton of money, a ton of tim

{\an8}into the Panama Canal cut.

{\an8}If we can't get a sluice this year,
it's gonna be nothing but a loss.

[Narrator] {\an8}At Indian River..

What's happening, man?

[Narrator] {\an8}...Parker has tasked
Mitch with using all their resources

{\an8}to open up and mine
an access road.

{\an8}The Panama Canal cut.

{\an8}As well as building a new
access road

{\an8}and keeping the rest of
the operation on track.

Well, we got all the mud off,
but all the gravel's frozen.

[Parker] It gets tons of
sun and...

- [Mitch] Yeah.
- ...high and dry, it makes no sense to me.

Well, and the one we needed to be
thawed more than any of them is this one.

[Parker] Right?

What do you think
we should do?

Well, man I hate walking away from something
after we've poured a bunch of money in it,

but it's a matter of what has
more gold, I guess.

If we have to walk away from
something, it should be this one,

not the ones downstream.

Don't you think?

We have to get out of here.

I think that's the only thing
we can do.

Yeah, I think it's gonna be
this way all year.

- All right. Thanks, Mitch.
- Yep.

[Parker] {\an8}This isn't
{\an8}an ideal scenario but...

we've gotta go get all the mud
off the areas that have mud,

{\an8}and then figure out what we'
gonna do with frozen gravel

Ripping frozen mud
is not too expensive.

Ripping frozen gravel
is intense.

{\an8}And we're gonna have to rip a
whole pile of frozen grave this fall,

because of how much we've
taken on.

[Mitch] {\an8}Panama Canal,

is a project we really didn't
have the time to start,

but now, Parker doesn't
want us to finish it.

{\an8}And that's just a huge waste of
time and a huge waste of money.

{\an8}Right now, we really need
to get this new road done.

[Narrator] {\an8}Before Mitch's cr can
go back to work in the airstrip,

{\an8}they need to finish the new road
to restore acce across the claim.

We're working on this end here
which is through one of our tailings pile,

so this is pretty good
material off the other side.

It's real nasty stuff.

{\an8}And the trucks are having a
hard time getting through there.

I've got no access for anybody
to get back and forth here.

So, it's really put
a time crunch on this.

[Tyler] {\an8}Mitch has got me
running tailings to finish this road.

{\an8}Just so much mud.

It makes driving these things
hard as well.

I can feel my truck going to
get bogged every time nearly.

{\an8}I don't feel very confident
in the mud.

[chuckles] {\an8}Parker definitel
likes to throw you in the deep end

{\an8}and you just have to hope
that you swim.

[Tyson on radio] {\an8}Hey, Mitch
{\an8}You got a copy, Mitch?

- Go ahead.
- [Tyson] {\an8}Yeah, hey man, there's not enough pay up

at Big Red or Sluicifer
for them to run tonight.

Right now I'm looking at


and we need double that.

{\an8}So, we need to steal some
resources and move some iron up here.

Ah, man, This road's gonna
take a little bit here.

It's got a pretty good section
that's real snotty.

But as soon as
we get this road done,

{\an8}I'll be sending everybody
back to you, bud.

{\an8}Just gonna have to make do
for right now, buddy.

[Tyson] {\an8}I don't know about y
{\an8}but I don't wanna see

{\an8}either of these plants
go down tonight.

[Narrator] {\an8}Until the road
{\an8}is finished,

{\an8}the crew can't get back to
stockpiling pay dirt at the plant,

{\an8}risking a double shutdown.

Tyson just hit me up
'cause it doesn't look like

we've got enough dirt
for night shift.

{\an8}That's what happens when
we got so many projects.

{\an8}You don't do anything well.

{\an8}This road is something you'd normally
like to have well ahead of time done.

But Parker sprung this on us.

{\an8}He's bouncing back and fort
between lots of ideas.

{\an8}As a mine boss, you need to make
a [Bleep] {\an8}decision and stick with it.

[Narrator] {\an8}Mitch has
{\an8}his whole crew finishing up

{\an8}the last 350 feet
of the new road.

You wanna try and get me
a spot here where I can get

this new road connected.

Let the trucks know we'll
have them start dumping there.

It ain't gonna be pretty
but it'll work.

- Pretty? It never pretty.
- As long as it works.

[Froggy] {\an8}We're lucky that we got
everybody on deck and working

{\an8}to build this road
right here, right now.

Parker's lucky he's got guys that
are good at more than one thing.

[Tyson] Hey, Mitch.
You got a copy?

When are you hoping to finish
off with your crew over there?

[Mitch] {\an8}Hurrying to try
{\an8}and get this done.

[Tyson] [Bleep] {\an8}We just don'
{\an8}have enough pay.

So, we don't have
much time to do this.

Time is not on our side.

Truck's hauling
coarse tailings.

{\an8}This is where I want you
to drop it.

{\an8}We're gonna tie it back into that
other material you've been putting down.

[Tyler] {\an8}Okay, thank you.

{\an8}Just machinery going
everywhere, it's so intense

Parker just has such
a all or nothing personality.

{\an8}If he's gonna do something,
he's does it a 100 percent.

If this was my mine site, I'd probably
make the same decision as Parker did.

{\an8}I know it sounds risky and it's
full on and there' lots going on.

But as a gold miner,

you just can't leave
gold in the ground.

[Mitch] Yeah, keep coming
back. Keep coming back.

We're gonna go right off
the edge here.

There you go, right there.

This will be our road.

{\an8}We got little bit of mud
on top of the gravel.

{\an8}So, truck that are sinking
could get moving.

{\an8}And we got this road done.

[Narrator] {\an8}12 hours since
{\an8}they began the build,

{\an8}Mitch and crew have
finished the new access road

We got ourselves a road here.

{\an8}It's come along real good.

{\an8}It's been a lot of work. It
should definitely do the job.

[Tyler] {\an8}Mitch is sending me
{\an8}back to the wash plant.

Moving the old road
and building a new one,

{\an8}that's just, like, insane.

I'm actually stoked I actually
helped such a huge project.

[Mitch on radio] {\an8}Hey,
{\an8}Tyson, you got a copy?

{\an8}The road is finished and the trucks
are heading back over to you right now.

[Tyson on radio] {\an8}Yeah, sounds
good. I'll meet you at the wash plants.

[Mitch] {\an8}Just in time, buddy

{\an8}You know, pretty happy with
how this road turned out.

We just had to do it
quick and fast.

But we've got good access
back down to the wash plants.

{\an8}One more thing that Parker'
added to our already busy schedule,

{\an8}but somehow we were able
to make it all happen.

It's been a hell of a day.

But, you know, I'm really happy
with how things turned out here.

Had this freaking dozer for two
days and now it's stuck in the slop.

[Narrator] {\an8}At
{\an8}California Creek,

{\an8}Fred Lewis's crew are
busy sluicing pay.

{\an8}But his new dozer has
a broken yoke bracket.

It's a 1984 dozer. Honestly, I don't know
where the [Bleep] I'm gonna find a part for it.

I think Troy did mention
he had some spare parts.

So, I'm gonna call him.

Hail Mary. Hopefully,
he's got what I'm looking for.

But if we can't get this
dozer going, we are [Bleep].

Hey, Troy. How's it going?

Um, we're having a little
bit of a problem.

It's the lift cylinder.

I was hoping to see if maybe
you might have

parts laying around that we
could come and scavenge from?

Okay, so would you mind me sending
Buzz out there to come and check it out?

I appreciate it.
I'll let you get back to work.

[Bleep] yeah.

We got the part. So I can send
Buzz out right now.

{\an8}Without it, we'd be probabl
down two or three weeks.

Now, we can get that dozer
back up and running.

[Buzz speaking]

[Narrator] {\an8}At
{\an8}Fred Lewis's claim,

{\an8}Buzz returns from his 300 mi
round trip to Keno

{\an8}with the part to fix
the broken dozer.

It took me about 13 hours.

Had to be done.

Cut my sleep time
rather short,

but sacrifices a guy has gotta
make to be a successful miner.

Starting to get pretty
damn sloppy out here.

Broken going out.

Get the new one in.

Pretty heavy. [Bleep]

It's kind of [Bleep] to do
this by yourself.

She's ready to
rock and roll again.

Talk about timing.

- How's it going?
- Whoo! Holy [Bleep], Buzz.

Can't believe you did this
by yourself.

- What a pain in the a*s. Great work, dude.
- Yeah.

While you're here, just
put those parts in the back.

- [Fred] Yes.
- [Buzz] I'll let you carry the big piece.

[Fred] Oh, jeez, what is that?

Oh my [Bleep].

I see why you wanted me
to carry this one.

[grunting] Oh, my [Bleep].

[grunts]

[Buzz] Fire this puppy up.
Let's push some muck.

[Narrator] {\an8}Just 24 hours
{\an8}after the dozer went down..

[Buzz] {\an8}Everything seems
{\an8}right and tight.

{\an8}Ready to rip and strip.

[Narrator] {\an8}...Buzz has it ba
{\an8}stripping in the Freedom cut

Buzz is busting his ba*ls to get
that dozer back up and running.

{\an8}We'll fix every single probl
and eventually,

{\an8}we're gonna pull the gold
out of this ground.

We're gonna keep fighting.

Tony speaking...

[John] {\an8}So, today, we're gonn
{\an8}get her hooked up.

{\an8}We back Winchester down
into the corner.

[Narrator] {\an8}The Winchester bo are racing
to get their wash plant up and running

{\an8}to prove to Tony that
they can catch gold

{\an8}and deliver his


Butch speaking

[John] I'm not using
a chain on Winchester.

I don't wanna mark
the paint up.

Try to keep her as nice
as we can for now.

Okay, Butch.

[Jason] I want it another
foot and a half this way.

[Butch] Okay.

Butch, tighten the strap.
Oh, no.

[Jason] Butch!

[Butch] Holy [Bleep].

Butch speaking

[John] He caught it
before it went over.

We're good. Little stressful.
But we're good.

[Narrator] {\an8}Now that the plan
{\an8}is placed safely on the pad

{\an8}all they need to do is conne
the sluice boxes.

{\an8}And they're ready to run pay

[Jason] Is that gonna go
under there?

I hope so.

Um...

Hm.

- [John] Leg is in the way 'cause of the angle.
- [Jason] I see.

[John] In my driveway, I set
everything to fit on the other side.

I thought it was the same.

Okay, well that's not
gonna work.

[John] Ah, [Bleep].
It's always something.

[Narrator] {\an8}John's homemade plant
is a unique dual-barrel trommel.

{\an8}Pay from the feed conveyer
is split evenly between both

{\an8}High pressure jets clean the
rocks as they spin in the trommels.

{\an8}Gold-rich slurry then runs o the
two chutes into the sluice boxes.

{\an8}When it was built,
the sluice boxes were attach

{\an8}to the right side
of the plant.

{\an8}Now, the tailings
conveyer setup

{\an8}means they need to be
on the left.

{\an8}But a supporting leg
makes that impossible.

{\an8}To fix, John needs to build an
extension to the diversion chute,

{\an8}allowing it to get
around the leg,

{\an8}and direct pay dirt to
the sluice boxes.

[John speaking]

[Jason] {\an8}You know, we're a
tiny crew. We're three people.

Time is money, like everybody.

But maybe more so
when you're small.

{\an8}You look at
the Beets' operation,

they can call in
a service truck or a mechanic.

{\an8}And for us, it stops
until we fix it.

[John speaking]

Hook that little eyelet on.

Looks like it's gonna
work okay.

Well, now we gotta get dirt into the
plant and get gold out of the sluice box.

[Narrator] {\an8}After
{\an8}a 12-hour delay,

{\an8}the Winchesters are finally
ready to run pay.

Tony speaking...

[Jason] That's Winchester.

Tony speaking...

Butch speaking

[Jason] {\an8}Power her up.

[Machine whirring]

[John speaking]

[Jason] {\an8}They call this
{\an8}the Cursed Cut.

{\an8}But if you believe in curses
then you're beat already.

Butch speaking

Looks like all of the
calculations kind of worked out.

{\an8}The water's flowing, beautiful,
the boxes are behaving properly.

[Fred] {\an8}Today is a good day.
{\an8}I'm going to pick up Khara.

And I haven't seen her in probably
about two and a half months.

[blows air]

Oh, baby!

Well, that's her plane.

- Hi!
- Hey, baby! Mm.

[Khara chuckles]
I'm gonna crush you.

Are you ready to see the mine?
You gotta meet The Tank.

[Khara] I knew you were
gonna jump right into that.

[Fred] We should probably
talk about finances.

- You can't have any more money.
- With the finances...

- No more money.
- Yeah, for three months.

Maybe you don't look at the
finances and just kind of trust me on it?

'Cause it's getting
kind of scary.

But I got it.

- Just trust me.
- [Laughs] You say this every year.

- "Just trust me." We barely squeak by.
- Shouldn't have trusted me

in Oregon, by the way.

I didn't trust you
in Oregon. [Laughs]

- Tough love. Tough love.
- I need it.

- Ow.
- Sorry.

Tony speaking...

[Narrator] {\an8}Two days
{\an8}after firing up,

{\an8}it's time to see if the Winchester
boys have broken the curse,

{\an8}and delivered gold.

- Hello, guys.
- [Tony laughs] Ha ha!

- I got the loot.
- [Monica chuckles]

Tony speaking...

We ran for 25 hours
straight and...

Tony speaking...

Yeah.

- Gives you some faith in the box.
- [Butch] Yeah.

[Jason] Yeah. Yeah.

[Jason] Oh, yeah.

[Narrator] {\an8}Tony's hoping the 25 hour
run will delive seven ounces of gold.

So, somebody wanna do
some counting?

- [John] Tear away.
- [Jason] Tear it off.

That's zero.

One ounce, two ounce,

two and a half, three,

three and a half, four,

four and a half, five,

five and a half, 6.125 ounces.

Tony speaking...

[Narrator] {\an8}Worth more
{\an8}than $11,000,

{\an8}a strong start to the Winchesters'
first sea so in the Yukon.

Butch speaking

Tony speaking...

Portioned just about
half an ounce an hour.

[Jason] Really?

Those top gravels would've
been lean anyway

because they've been washed
out for the last few years.

We can do a little better
on the yardage recovery then

we're definitely in the game.

Tony speaking...

[Monica] Well, you did.

[Monica laughing] "Hm".
He says, "Hm."

Now he perks up. [Chuckles]

Nice to see you again.

Butch speaking

[John] {\an8}Each cut that we tak
{\an8}should progress to

{\an8}more and more gold,
the deeper we go.

And hopefully, Winchester's
up for the task.

We are.

[Jason] That's just the
tip of the iceberg for us.

{\an8}We still have a full 100 day
ahead of us.

We're not gonna really
discuss the curse bit.

But I think we beat it.

I'd like to think we beat it.

Tony speaking...

All right, guys.
First gold weigh.

- [Khara] You guys excited?
- Yeah.

[Buzz] [Bleep] Yeah.

We need a fire going here.

[Narrator] {\an8}It's a momentous
day for Fred Lewis and his crew.

{\an8}After battling for ten week
to get on the gold,

{\an8}it's time for their first
gold weigh of the season.

[Fred] It's really awesome to
have Khara here.

Mama's in town, it just
completes the mine site.

[Kiera] Well, I'm excited. We're
gonna make it happen this season.

Yeah.

Buzz, you saved us this week

and we really appreciate that.

[Stuart] Look at Buzz go, man.

[Laughs] We're just
getting started.

Well, seeing
getting started...

- [Fred] You wanna see gold.
- [Khara] I'm ready. I'm ready.

- [Fred] I know.
- I wanna see what we've got.

- [Narrator] {\an8}Last season...
- [Khara] Okay, here we go.

[Narrator] {\an8}...Fred's first gold
weigh delivered 8.4 ounces.

[Stuart] One, two...

- three, four...
- [Buzz] Oh?

- ...five.
- [Fred] Come on, come on, come on, come on.

[Stuart] Uh, six.

- [Fred] Six point oh.
- Six point oh.

[Fred] Six point oh,
on the dot.

[Narrator] {\an8}Six ounces falls far
short of where the crew need to be

{\an8}in order to hit their


You know, this is still more than we mined
the entire first [Bleep] season we mined.

Even though it's been
miserable hard work

and we haven't got a lot
of gold to show for it,

we're paying the bills.

- We need to get better at it to get rich.
- Yeah.

This is the worst run
we're gonna have all season.

[Fred] We've now got a dozer.

Like, we're in the position
we wanted to be.

So, now we need to put serios
yardage to the plant, and keep it going.

Now, get back to work.

{\an8}Six ounces in a week.

Not even close to cutting it.
We need that everyday.

'Cause I feel like that was
a bunch of [Bleep].

But I just gotta figure out a
way to keep the guys' hope up.

That we're still...
[Sighs deeply]

We're still here mining,
we're still pulling in gold.

But to put all the work
that we put in

to this point of the season, and to
walk out with six freaking ounces,

it's not where I wanna be,
but we gotta get better.

- What's shaking, buddy?
- How's it going, man?

Good. Good.

- How's it going, Doumitt?
- Good, how're you doing, buddy?

[Parker] Good, thanks.
How are you feeling?

Yeah, it's been a fight, man, keeping
both wash plants going side by side.

- They make you work.
- Oh, the two together,

they do,
they grind through the pay.

I was a little worried about that for a
while. It's getting pretty skinny down there.

But yeah, not long
after we had that road built,

started pushing the overburden

and everything was frozen.

[Parker] I was wrong.

I freely admit that.

- And...
- I totally thought that would be thawed.

It's very frozen.

Now, what do we do
with Panama Canal?

Yeah, we'll have to just
let it thaw and see

if it's ready by the end
of the year,

and if we have time
to sluice it.

It's gonna be tough to get that worked
into everything else we got going on, man.

Yeah, at the beginning of the season
when we started, it was little overwhelming

in the amount we have to do.

Yeah. It's one of those things I think
it's gonna get worse before it gets better.

- [Doumitt] It's all mind game. It's all head game.
- Is that what it is?

- Yeah.
- [Doumitt] We're a third way through the season already.

[Parker] Yeah, well, how much
gold do we got there?

We a third of weight of
where we want to be?

Let's take a look see.

- We'll do Big Red first, yeah?
- [Mitch] All right.

Get in there!

[Narrator] {\an8}Last week,

{\an8}Big Red delivered a 124.3
ounces of bare cut gold.

[Mitch] Let's see what she did
this week, buddy.

All right. 20, 40, 60,





Oh! 200.220.



[taps bottle]



It's about time we started
having some big numbers.

What's the other one?

[Narrator] {\an8}Sluicifer's haul
{\an8}from the Bear cut last week

{\an8}was a 174.9 ounces.





- over 200.
- [Mitch] Yeah.

- Come on. Come on.
- [Tyson] 230, 240,

- 250, 260, 270...
- [Mitch chuckles]

- Yeah!
- 289.05.

- There we go!
- Yeah!

- Whoo!
- Chest bump.

- No.
- [all laugh]

Oh! [Laughing]

[Doumitt] Not a bad
week, fellas.

[Narrator] {\an8}Parker's crew
{\an8}have pulled in mor than

{\an8}$980,000 worth of gold
this week,

{\an8}bringing their season total
to over 2,300 ounces.

[Parker] Man, that's pretty cool
to see, even after everything,

fighting with that road...

It's encouragement when you
put in that much work and effort

- that you get good numbers.
- Yeah.

- Doesn't always go that way.
- No, but it did this time.

- And hopefully will next time.
- That's cool, man.

- I'll bag this stuff up. We'll get out of here.
- All right, man. Thanks!

[Doumitt] You betcha.
Thank you, you guys.

- Thanks, Chris.
- [Mitch] Thanks, guys.

You know, I really feel like we wasted a
lot of time this week building that new road

and stripping
the Panama Canal.

{\an8}Pretty tough, but when you s
that much gold at the end of it all,

definitely worth it.