14x02 - Call of the Indian River

[bunniefuu]

Come on, jarv.

It's time to move
to our new home.

Shall I go ahead?

All right, let's go trucking.

We're moving, 10 years'
worth of mining operation

in record time.

We're moving our yard and
our camp over to dominion,

but we've spent $15
million for the ground.

I have no landlord. I can
do it however the I want

and life's standing.

Twenty-eight-year-old
Parker schnabel

is all in on the biggest
gamble of his life.

He bought one of
the last historically

gold-rich pieces of
land left in the Yukon,

dominion creek, and
there's no turning back.

Dominion gold is a lot of
work for the next few years.

It's a lot of ground.

I feel a bit nervous
because it...

It's all been so... It
all happened so fast.

We don't really know
what's gonna happen.

I think everyone's really
concerned about that.

And Parker's gotta have
a lot of stress on him

right now and a lot
of work ahead of him.

This is getting pretty soft.

Yeah.

Gonna need a push.

Yeah, push, push.

Yeah, it's going.

The potential payout
for Parker's new claim

is a staggering


worth $160 million,

but it's known for not
giving up its treasure easily.

Dominion's a creek
that's had a hell of a lot

of mining on it, but it
has k*lled everybody

that's shown up here
because they've always been

in a huge rush to get
gold out of the ground.

It gets very
expensive very fast.

The gold is buried 40 feet deep.

To pull it from the ground,

he'll need to spend
millions on top

of the $15 million
he paid for the claim.

And that's just the start.

Parker's also got access to mine

untapped virgin ground
on Australia creek.

The last four or five
years, we've had really

good financial security,
but no ground security.

And now we've got
really good ground security

and no financial security.

And that's a little scary.

To crack the code at dominion

and land a big payday
before going broke,

Parker's in desperate
need of a plan.

What's happening?

Hey, not a whole
lot. How are you?

I'm doing pretty good.

I know that we have a
lot of things on the go.

We have Australia creek.

We have dominion now.

I'm trying to figure out

what the best... way

of dealing with all of this is.

I don't know if Dean
made much money

throughout the
years or not, honestly.

Um.

I mean, he just made


Yeah.

Like, there is that.

Yeah. Best season
yet was his shortest.

Um, but,

what's k*lled everybody is
that they've been in a huge rush.

This property has taken out

a few people and nobody's
really come out of it

very far ahead.

And you're looking at


- Wow.
- And on Australia,

some of the holes
are 10 feet to bedrock.

So, we can afford to
wait and strip that later.

On dominion, we're gonna
have to have a lot of work done

before we're washing any
rocks and making any money.

So, I think we
should shift gears,

press pause on all
our other projects.

This is Dean's pit as
of when we took over,

so I think that, like,
just like step one

is to pick up
where Dean left off

and just get those
cuts down to gravel

or something that
will start falling, right?

Yeah.

Do you have a rough idea

of how much you need to pull out

or would like to pull
out of the ground

to kind of keep things floating?

Like, to not be totally screwed,

we'd need to do 5,000
ounces this season.

And so, where that comes
from, I don't really know.

All right, well, what's the
game plan for the week then?

If we can get


in a week, then
we'd be really good.

If you start thinking
about all of it,

- it's an overwhelming...
- Yeah.

- Amount of work.
- Let's put on

- those horse blinders.
- Yup.

All right. Thanks, guys.

- All right. Yup.
- Thanks, man.

- Let's go do it.
- Yeah.

You know, we got
a game plan now,

but 5,000 ounces might
not sound like a lot of gold

from what we got in the past,

but with everything we
got going on this season,

that's gonna be a tall order.

Dominion creek is a
massive 7,500 acres,

equivalent to almost


To kick start the new project,

Parker's tasked Mitch and Tyson

with expanding Dean's old cut

and wants the first
four-and-a-half acre,


down to frozen pay gravels

by the end of the week.

All right, let's see what
this place is all about.

Let's get ready
to move some dirt.

Man, things are changing
around here so quick,

but, just really
happy that Parker

was able to put this
deal together here.

We got some stability now.

I think it's a great
new home for us.

Parker's given us a week

to get this cut down to gravel.

I don't know what
you're thinking, Mitch,

but, man, this is
some deep ground.

It's gonna take
a little bit for us

to get this out of here.

It doesn't seem that
bad when you're just

looking at it on paper.

But once you come out here

and start moving this dirt,

it's a long way to the bottom.

It's not gonna be easy.

We're in the money
pit right now here

because we're gonna
spend a whole bunch

before we ever see
anything come out of this.

Here's to hoping there's
a hell of a lot of gold here.

Yup. We're,
definitely gonna need

a little bit to pay
the bills now.

Two weeks into the season,

king of the klondike Tony beets

has already spent
over a million dollars

stripping overburden
at paradise hill

and still isn't on the gold.

Tony's lifeline of an
amended water license

allows him to return to
his Indian river claims,

but it would mean moving
his whole operation.

He must now decide
whether to stay

at the hill or pivot to Indian.

It's always good to head out
to the Indian. I love it out there.

It's beautiful and it'll be nice

to see what it looks like.

I mean, it's been a few years
since we've been out there,

so hopefully all of
our is still out there.

Knife?

Yeah -for liposuction?

There you go.

Forty miles south
of paradise hill,

Tony's Indian river
claim has over eight miles

of pre-stripped
gold-rich ground.

Eight years ago.

Tony resurrected an old dredge

to mine one of the
most lucrative valleys

in the history of the Yukon.

Tony's pretty
obsessed with dredges

because, I mean, they work.

Doubling down on
the gold-rich ground,

Tony added a second
wash plant, a shaker deck.

Two hundred.

In just two seasons.

I think we will.

His operation pulled in

a massive $10 million of gold.

Anyway... holy.

Now, he finally has
the chance to return.

Yeah. When we left,
we literally just pulled up

our underwear and, didn't we?

It's a great
picture of you, dad.

- The one on the frame.
- What? Yeah...

For a while, I was
living in this camp.

I think I was
living in this room.

It had a rough life.

And there was an ant colony.
You see all that duct tape?

That was to keep the
ant colony that was living

in between the desk and the wall

from getting out.

The chutes?

Yeah.

And we're gonna
be trying to get a lot

of sluicing done here
as soon as we can.

With ten rock trucks,
three excavators,

two g11s and a d6,

like, it is seriously
all hands on deck.

Yeah. We're moving
dirt, as Tony would say.

It's chaos.

After scouting his
Indian river claim,

Tony is facing a dilemma,

gamble on a move to the Indian

or stick to the super
pit on paradise hill?

I don't know about you, but I
have nightmares of mud like this.

As temperatures rise,

the winter snow
and ice flood the cut,

creating a thick black mud stew.

It's sticky, it's everywhere

and it takes forever to dry.

It makes working on the hill.

Right. Be there in a sec.

You know, you
can always smell it.

How much do you want?

Half a pail will do then.

Yeah.

If Tony's hit paradise's
white channel pastry,

it could swing his
decision to the hill.

Hello.

We're surviving.

I know. I even made sure
there was hot water for you.

You even remember
how to do that?

That's awesome.

No, that's super promising.

Woo! Here we go.

We're back, baby.

Running monster red.

Couldn't be happier.

We're running good pay, so...

Nothing but up and up from here.


klondike in keno city,

Rick ness is
already on the gold.

Beautiful day.
Storm's going away.

We're getting gold.

Starting off with
what I'm coming out,

it's incredible, you
know what I mean?

It's been too long
since I've seen gold

in the box, and right
now, we've got that.

After going Mia for over a year

and hitting rock bottom,

Rick's had to sell
his late mom's house

to kick start his season.

Now he's a man on a mission,

chasing a 1,000-ounce
$2 million dream.

Running old stockpiled pay dirt,

he needs to net 20 ounces
by the end of the week.

This is a great beginning.

I mean, I couldn't be happier.

But we're never
gonna get to our goal

with just three people.

I gotta get more people in here.

So I reached out
to a buddy of mine

and he recommended someone.

They've done a lot of work
in the oil fields in Alaska.

A lot of experience
with big equipment,

so it should work out.

And if it doesn't, they're
gonna be gone by the end

of the week because I'm
not carrying people this year.

- I got faith in you.
- Good.

- All right?
- Sweet.

All right. Good.

I'm really excited to
be out here with Rick.

I've heard only good
things about him

from our mutual friend,

but it's a little
nerve-wracking knowing

Rick is really relying
on some good help

and me doing it right.

And that's a lot of
weight on my shoulders.

Twenty-eight-year-old
operator Morgan Lauren

has been running heavy equipment

since she was
eighteen years old.

I'm from Alaska and I've been up

in the oil field
for like 10 years.

I quit my job and
I'm really risking

being out here and being
away from everything at home.

I grew up gold
panning with my family.

My earliest memory is
in a piece of equipment.

I was maybe four or five
sitting on my grandpa's lap

as he was putting in an air
strip at his house in the dozer.

I've never worked on
a gold claim before.

I'm hoping to come out of it

where if one day I wanted
to go and open my own claim,

I would be like, "yep,
I know the steps.

I know what's needed."

And it's evident every
single second I'm out here

how much I have to learn.

My god.

What's the matter?

This is so frozen.

You're just not quite
getting your bucket straight.

That's all.

See how... see how the top

- of that bucket slide?
- Yeah.

That's how you
want it. There you go.

Twist it down on the first,

go ahead, move forward.

Okay.

Give it some juice.

Whenever your
tires start to spin...

- Yeah?
- Just lift off on the bucket,

- that will put pressure on them.
- Okay.

So I'm gonna do it on value

and I'll loosen it
up for you, all right?

- Thank you.
- Yeah.

It's nice. I mean,
Morgan showed up.

She seems to got
the hang of it already.

She's doing great.

I watched her make her passes.

I'm confident she's,
the right one for the job.

She'll be fine
loading the plant,

just from the little bit
I've been watching, so...

It looks like Rick made
a pretty good choice.

Um, hopefully, the
rest of his choices

are as good as Morgan.

Operating this loader
is entirely different

than what I've
always had at work

and even laying around at home.

That thing is over 40 years old,

and it has definitely
been used and abused.

What the heck?

Hey, Rick. There's no water.

There's no water at the plant.

- What happened?
- There's no water.

- What the is that all about?
- -I don't know.

All right, let's just
go check the pump.

Without water, Rick
can't wash pay dirt

and can't catch gold.

, it's k*lling the batteries.

Why aren't you starting, pig?

Yeah, I don't know what
else to do besides pulling

the suction basket,
see if it's clogged up.

I don't know what
else it could be.

We need the excavator, pull
it up, see what it looks like.

I just wanna get running again.

It's just pissing me off.

If we don't have a water
pump, we can't be sluicing.

That kind of puts
us at a standstill.

Rick's down by the pump.
I'm gonna come up here

and just make sure
everything's good.

Rick ness' operation
is at a standstill.

His only pump for feeding water

to the wash plant
has broken down.

Time's a-wasting.

We need to get that
pump up and running.

I was running the plant

and realized we
don't have any water.

And this is something
that's so simple,

but it ends up being, you
know, make-or-break today.

Every hour they're
down means less gold

and Rick's target for 20 ounces

by the end of the
week slips further away.

I don't know what else
to do besides pull up

the suction basket,
see if it clogged up.

Come up.

This is a pump. I do
not need it going down.

I mean, it's an
expensive thing, so...

It's just a pain in the a*s.

Yeah.

That thing was buried.

Dude, that thing was bad.

Buried.

Great. Now, this river
is running really dirty

because of the spring runoff,
so everything's coming down

the river right now,
dirt, sediment, sand.

And they're all getting caught
right here in our suction hole, so.

All you can do is dig it out

and you clean the dirt off it.

That's what we get for
trying to run this time of year.

And hopefully that's it.

Yeah.

She got pressure.

Plenty of pressure.

You gotta push
on... Push the button.

Sake.

I hate pumps.

You know what the... You
know what pumps have to do?

Water pumps? One job.

Pump water.

- You know what they almost never do?
- Is their job.

For one reason or another,
this pump isn't, priming.

It's probably just got
an air lock somewhere.

I'm thinking if we
get the small one

and set it up there
and then open both

top and bottom valves

just to get air and pressure,

'cause that worked
in the oil field.

It should... I mean, if we
plumb it in here, it should...

It should fill that and
then it should back

in air out of this line.

So we think we had an air lock.

We weren't getting any
suction out of this one,

so we're gonna try,

use the little pump
and hook up over here

and just kind of start
force-feeding water into it,

see if we can get
it flowing again.

Rick's pump sucks water

from the river using
a rotating impeller.

This creates centrifugal force

that pulls water in
and then pushes it out

towards Rick's wash plant.

But air has caused a
blockage in the pump,

stopping the water flow.

Morgan's plan, use a second pump

to force more water
into the system.

The extra pressure
should push the air out

and allow the water
to flow to monster red.

We've already wasted
most of the day on that, so...

Hopefully this will work.

It shouldn't take
long. If it's gonna work,

it's gonna work quick.

We'll know when it takes off.

Fingers crossed.

I think it went.

Yeah, she primed.

That was it.

There we go. There's some water.

Here it comes.

So, it ended up
being a fairly easy fix,

but we spent all
morning diagnosing it.

That kind of
pisses me off, but...

Either way, we're gonna get up
there, run it, and get some gold.

Hello, sir. Would
you like a ride?

I would love a ride.

Run it, run it.

- Well, I think you did a good job today.
- Thanks.

You can stay at
least till tomorrow.

I'm feeling pretty thankful,

actually, that I took the
risk to come out here.

I'm feeling good in Rick,
I'm feeling confident in him,

and I think this is gonna be
a really good season for us.

Been pretty impressed.

Morgan was right there
running through stuff

and helping me getting
that pump going, so...

She's a breath of fresh
air, you know what I mean?

She's a good one.
If I can get a few

more like her, we'll be set.

It's a precarious situation
right at the moment.

We're gonna run out of money in

about eight to ten weeks.

To conquer his new
dominion creek claim,

Parker's unleashed
a torrent of cash,

spending $21,000 a day

to strip the first
four-and-a-half acres

of his new money pit down
to pay in just one week.

Parker finally bought
us some ground

and, yeah, we got a lot of it.

Three days in, they've
gotten through half that.

Three more days
to finish this will be...

Pretty tight.

But we might make it.

Twenty-year veteran
dozer operator

Stephan la rose is
breaking up ground

ahead of the crew in a d11.

Capable of pushing 45
yards of dirt in every push,

the 850-horsepower,


is the lead machine

of Parker's money
pit stripping operation.

We're about four
feet depth right now.

It's pulling pretty hard,
but it's the way it is.

Whoops.

My.

Hello, Mitch. You copy, Mitch?

Yeah, go for Mitch.

Hey, Mitch, I got an oil spring

all over the place in
the back of the cut here.

Well, man, you're just gonna
have to hang tight there.

Okay. Thank you. 10-4.

Nothing's easy on
this machine to fix.

I expect major it's
gonna take time

just to get in,
just to get here.

Look where we are. We're
at the end of the cut too.

You know, I've been working
on equipment for a long time

in the Yukon and this
is one of those things

that you hate to see is

your machinery is about far
away from you as it can be

and then it breaks down.

Halfway through
Parker's stripping blitz

in the money pit,
the lead d11 dozer

has gone down in the
worst possible location.

Now I'm having to use
a dozer just to be able

to gain access out here.

Obviously we're not driving
our service trucks back here

to work on this thing.

Hey, Mitch.

Wow, you weren't kidding?

You see it from there already?

Yeah.

It's this...

Man, that's pretty wild for
that thing to pop like that.

- Yes.
- Yeah.

Broke the eye
right off the end of it.

Yeah, broke right off.

Well, we need to figure out how
we're gonna get this thing outta here.

Right now, we're just
looking at our d11t here

and we broke the barrel off

the end of the ripper cylinder.

So we gotta get it
swapped out here.

Two cylinders power
the ripper up and down,

but one has broken clean
off and must be replaced,

leaving the blades
stuck deep in the mud,

paralyzing the dozer.

So it's good to see
my usual good timing

is in full force.

Yeah.

Heckin'.

What happened?

Just broke the end
of the rod right off.

We need to try and
get the ripper out

of the ground, but
we're only using half

of the power that we
normally have here.

I can probably just
come in here sideways

and push some of this out of the
way and then get underneath it.

Okay.

Come on, come on, come on.

There we go.

Yeah. That'll work.

- Good?
- Thanks, buddy.

Right now, we're just
walking the d11 out here.

Now this is the full definition

of limping your way home.

To get the d11 back into the cut

as fast as possible...
Just put it right there.

Mechanic Jordan sands

brings in a replacement cylinder

from the lay down yard.

There it is.

This is off of an 11r
so a different model,

but as long as it will work
on this, we'll be happy.

Some repair required.

Yeah.

Beautiful.

- This is looking good.
- Nice.

I'm just hooking up
the hydraulic lines.

Ripped one apart, so we
gotta put a new one on.

You know, we're taking
this part off of a dozer

that's been sitting parked
for who knows how long,

so no guarantees
this is gonna work,

but we're gonna cross our
fingers here and hope it does.

All right.

Beautiful.

Yeah, it's working.

Well, the d11 is back in action.

Just really fortunate
we had a part to put on it.

So, it could've
been a lot worse,

but it's fixed and ready to go.

Last guy back
is buyin' the beer.

Okay. Well, I guess
I'm broke then.

After five hours of downtime,

the d11 is ready
to get back to work.

Stephan, you gotta
copy? Stephan?

Hey, buddy, this d11t is
all back in action for you,

so you're back to moving mud.

No problem, man.

You know, three days
to make all this happen.

You know, we lost
a little time here,

but hopefully, we don't
have any more trouble.

After finally hitting
pay dirt in the super pit

on paradise hill,

the beets family must now decide

whether to stay at paradise

or gamble on Indian river.

Yeah, the mud
here is ridiculous.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

It's literally almost
like starting from zero.

I mean, it's gonna be a
lot more work whereas

staying out in the hill, if
we have everything here...

A move always takes way
more than what you think

and it always takes
more time as well.

Literally, you always
find out there's more work

than you thought there would be.

It'll be the shaker deck in the
Indian when we do start sluicing?

You're gonna put all
your focus on putting that

together?

You don't wanna try

to get the trommel
in place here first?

Okay.

But if we've made this decision,

we can't be mad
about this decision later.

Wait.

Are your pants burning?

So I guess, decision made?

Yes.

Sounds good.

Sounds like a plan.

Now Tony has
committed to relocating

his operation
from paradise hill,

his 6,000 ounce
season goal hangs

on the success
of the Indian river.

Parker got some ground from Dean

and it came with
a lot of equipment.

At dominion creek,

Parker's crew are
treasure hunting

in their new yard.

The equipment is
in very rough shape.

I don't like this junk.

Yeah.

Look at this old ancient thing.

The tires of this are worth
more than the machine.

Then we got a short bus!

Yes. She's still got
air in all the tires.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

I think out of everything,
that is the most useful

vehicle that he bought here,
including all the equipment.

Yup.

This is sick.

So what's your thought so far?

Yeah. I mean, it feels good.

It feels good to be in the
equipment, to be out here.

I like working with Rick.

I thought I was
coming up here to...

Just to help him get
the plant up and running,

but I kind of switched
gears and now I'm hoping

to just get him mentally
prepared for the season.

- Hey.
- Hey.

You got fire going
and everything.

Buddy, I'm tired.

Is she all cleaned up?

Yeah, she... well,

listen, the gold room is
barely set up and I am

not qualified to be running
that, let me tell you that.

- So I've seen cleaner gold.
- All right.

But I don't know. I mean, it's

I mean, for what
we're up against, holy.

I'm pretty happy about it.

We got long ways to go.

You know, we've
got gear coming in,

we've got more crew coming in,

you know, then
we're off to the races.

That's when... That's when
we crank it up to 11, get after it.

Without further ado,
would you like to see

the dirtiest gold you've
ever sees in your life?

I'd like to see what it weighs.

Yeah, me too.

That ain't too bad.

Yeah, that's pretty dirty.

But here we go, two,
five, eight, 10, 15...

Holy it's going over 20.

- 20, 21.2 ounces.
- Nice.

Holy.

It's a good start.

Rick's first gold of the season

has exceeded his target,

delivering a $42,000
cash injection.

What do you think, Morgan?

I'm excited.

Is that the dirtiest gold
you've ever seen in your life?

You know what
though? It's still gold.

Yes, it is.

It's not like it's
not worth anything.

See, I like your answer.

We've got a long way to go

but onwards and
upwards from here.

A lot more gold
coming this season.

All right, what do you say,
should we get some dinner?

- Yeah.
- All right. Okay.

Well, it was awesome getting
to be part of my first gold weigh.

I absolutely love seeing
all the gold in there.

You know, I quit my job

to come out here and
moved from Alaska,

and so this is really big
for me, and getting to see

the gold there just
makes it feel real

and it makes it feel like
I made the right choice,

so I'm really excited to see

what the season has to bring me.

I am gonna take the
time to appreciate this one

single first gold
weigh, you know.

Is it my biggest
gold weigh ever?

Hell, no. Not by a mile.

But it might be
my most important.

You know, I'm still
trying to stop and just,

you know, appreciate it,
'cause, like I said, you know...

It does mean more this year

and it's the beginning
of my new chapter.

I'm excited about it.

Man, I don't know how
you're looking over there,

but it's looking pretty
sweet over here.

I think we... I
think we got her.

After stripping
non-stop for six days...

Yeah, man. I'm starting to see
a lot of gravel pokin' through.

I think Parker will
be pretty happy

'cause we got this
done in a week.

Parker schnabel's
crew is finally

down to the gold pay layer.

Here we go! We got down to
some gravels here in dominion.

And this is real awesome here.

This is what it's all about.

We're gonna get this
ground thawed out,

we're gonna get a
wash plant set up,

and hopefully there's
a whole bunch of gold

right underneath this gravel.

For 10 years,

while building his mining
empire in the Yukon,

Parker's lived out of a trailer,

but with the
purchase of dominion,

he now owns his first house.

I have a house now.

We're having a
housewarming party.

All aboard.

So, um, the back of the bus
is gonna be the roughest ride.

So if you're in the back,
you're gonna wanna hold on.

Great..

Whoa!

Did it break? Like,
you've got a wine glass?

Think about the children.

- Yeah, you got her there?
- -Yeah!

Everyone watch out.

Sorry about your bus, bill.

That's your bus now, brother.

Unfortunately.

Thanks for coming. Let's
get drunk and eat food.

Honestly, like, can
you imagine, like,

"ten dead in bus
accident on a mine site"?

I can't imagine it.

That is not a headline we need.

I've never owned a house before.

It's very weird being
in a house out here.

Well, kinda cool.

Like, my stack can
even fit, like, 20 in here.

But it's a weird house.

Like, come here.

I wouldn't say I'm a germaphobe,

but this is a bedroom.

And this is the master bathroom

and, like, that creeps me out.

I don't... I don't like that.

There's carpet
around the toilet.

It's gross.

I don't like that.

I don't like that. I
haven't used it yet.

I'm not sure I can.

Well, congrats on
your first house, man.

- Yeah.
- Thanks.

- Yeah, it's, um... - Nice house.
- It's something.

Well, Parker, I know
this is your starter home.

We finally have a
home, that's really cool,

so I brought this for
later, the celebration.

Thank you.

- Yeah.
- I really appreciate that.

I think we'll enjoy it.

Congratulations, Parker.

Nice place, man.

Well done, young man.

Thank you, Chris.

Congratulations on
being a land owner.

Thanks, dude. I appreciate that.

Yeah, we're here now.