Parker: It's been 2 weeks.
But it still hasn't really, um, hit me.
Been psyching myself up for the day.
You know, it's a big day.
It's probably one of the biggest days in my life, so far.
My grandpa's always told the story.
You know, he showed up in haines at jones point.
And he'll leave there at jones point.
So, um, that day's come.
The search for gold has always meant everything to me.
This season's gonna be different.
I lost my grandpa, the man who taught me how to mine.
And honestly,
I don't know what it's gonna be like without him.
Todd: This year, I'm taking the biggest gamble of my life.
I'm asking my team to walk away
from the guarantee of millions of dollars
in the klondike in the hopes
that we can do even better in oregon.
And it's all on me.
These guys have been with me for years.
The trust they've put in me is a privilege.
And let me tell you, it's also a burden.
Any miner who tells you they know for sure
what's in the ground
is either a liar or a fool.
Now, it's up to me to deliver to my guys
to repay their loyalty
and get them gold.
-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
captions paid for by discovery communications
roger: Good afternoon, everybody.
And our family, um, sincerely thanks you all for coming.
I could look at my dad and pull the good things out of him.
And pulling those good things,
maybe look at just the great things he brought for me,
I think my dad had a lot --
a long list of great things.
He showed compassion, a lot more love.
He was a true christian.
He really was.
Parker: It's a lot bigger than a funeral or...
...Or the 2 weeks that he's been dead or any of that.
It's a lot bigger than that.
[ trumpet plays ]
narrator: April the 2nd, 2016, the schnabel family gathers
to bid farewell to john schnabel,
parker's grandpa and mentor.
[ gunshots ]
john: I'm proud of you. You had a dream.
And you stayed with it till you won it.
What more could I ask for?
Nothing.
Parker: I love you.
John: I love -- I love you, parker.
Parker: So I don't know what that's gonna mean
for the next few months, but...
...It's not gonna be fun.
I'm gonna miss you, grandpa.
Thank you for everything you've done.
Nancy: He -- he's gonna have to deal with grandpa
not coming up,
not planning to see grandpa.
That will be hard for him.
And, you know, I think he's -- this --
this event today is the preparation you need.
Tough day, tough day.
What's up, buddy?
You look good.
-So do you. -Thanks.
Ness: I -- I mean, at the end of the day,
it's just not gonna be the same this year,
you know, with -- with john not being around.
But, you know, it's been a rough year for all of us.
And -- and for all of us to come here and --
and get together and, you know,
celebrate john's life, you know, hopefully it --
it gets us closer as a crew.
You know, hopefully we can, you know,
put it all aside and do what we do this summer and --
uh, and have another killer season.
Narrator: The hoffman crew has quit the klondike.
Last year was his most successful season ever,
but todd has decided to start from scratch
in his home state of oregon.
Todd: Hey, guys, we're coming up the hill, last mile.
I love that we're in oregon.
This is where the whole dream started for my dad and myself.
Hey, dad, what do you think?
Jack: You know, todd, this is like a dream come true.
It's really gonna be a blessing for everybody.
Last year, we mined the klondike.
We got over $3 million worth of gold.
I get it. Todd wants to come home.
But there's no guarantees.
It's still a crapshoot.
Narrator: Todd is transporting his entire operation
to the high bar mine near baker city, oregon.
Gold was first discovered in the area in 1861.
And fortunes were made
from the plentiful supply of massive nuggets.
But nobody's ever managed to set up
a full commercial operation at the high bar.
Over 4,000 feet up in the blue mountains,
the claim is dry.
And no water means no wash plant.
But recently, the claim owners
discovered water further down the mountain
and are now piping it up,
which means high bar mine is open for business.
Last year, when the hoffman crew scouted
the newly accessible claim...
Turin: We got something to show you guys.
You have got to be kidding me.
Jack: Big gold.
Look at that one.
It's one of the best nuggets I've ever seen.
That's jewelry-grade gold.
Narrator: Todd is betting the farm on high bar nuggets.
Hey, guys, this is gonna be our promise land.
I tell you what, um, it sure feels good.
So, you guys know that I made a deal on the claim.
All this -- this whole mountaintop, okay?
But what I didn't tell you
is I leased that million-dollar wash plant right there.
And if we can get that running,
we can have gold one week from now.
And it's just set up? We're ready to roll?
We got the claim, and we got the plant.
But we got to get this plant running.
I want gold in the box in one week.
We need to figure out what this thing does,
how many yards it runs.
Well, this plant has definitely got some different things.
I've never seen one with this many conveyors.
And it's quite the setup.
Hey, freddy.
Monster red has twice as many runs as this.
And they're bigger runs.
Why -- why is this sluice box so small?
We're gonna have to see what the deposit does,
but we got a nugget-trap sluice up here for this bigger gold.
Remember that gold we showed you from the test up here, logan?
Most of it's bigger.
This is the most important sluice box on this plant.
Todd: Freddy, what is that up there?
Got a rock scrubber -- blade mill up here, todd.
That means one thing -- clay.
Oh.
Must be some gummy stuff.
That's not good.
What's clay do to gold?
It steals it.
Clay's a gold thief.
Hey, guys, everybody come over here.
I got something to tell you.
What do you think?
-Looks good. -How we looking?
I thought monster red was a handful last year --
you know, a lot to watch and maintain.
This is three times the size.
Yeah, nine conveyors,
there's a lot of things to go wrong.
Well, you know what -- there's a lot of things
that can go right.
I think we're just set up the best this year.
And I feel better about this year
probably more than any year before.
Jack: You know what I like about this property, todd,
is I've seen great, big nuggets that come out of here.
I don't see why we're not gonna get them.
We're on a mountain that's got nuggets, okay?
We've never even seen nuggets like these.
These are -- these are awesome.
If you read some of the history on this place,
they took out nuggets that were 100-ounces size.
You know, they're huge.
And you know what?
I got a good feeling about this, and I'm gonna throw out a number
'cause I think it's possible.
I want 5,000 ounces.
5,000?
5,000 ounces.
We did 3,000 ounces.
I'm thinking 5,000 is within reach.
There's no overburden, guys. Think about it.
And this is unproven ground.
It's unproven to us.
We climbed the mountain.
Let's climb all the way to the peak, right?
But I want to see a miracle on this mountain.
I think there's a chance, todd,
but you're on a treasure hunt here.
Boy, here's to 5,000 ounces, guys.
Dad, say a prayer, man.
Bring it in.
Jack: Heavenly father, we thank you for the opportunity
that you've given us here.
Lord, we ask that you bring those, uh,
nuggets to the surface,
help us to run them through our plant.
And we pray this in your name. Amen.
-Amen. -Amen. -Amen.
Todd: Yeah, mining in oregon, boys.
208
minnie: Hey, how's it going?
Narrator: The beets family has arrived in the klondike
for the start of their mining season.
Tony: Go ahead. There you go.
Nice to see you.
Same, same.
Not too bad.
What do we have planned this summer?
Narrator: Tony's first dredge is working so well,
this season, he's taking on a massive,
new challenge --
bring a second dredge back to life.
He needs his family to keep getting gold
while he works on dredge two.
Tony's kids need to step up like never before.
Do I at least get to pick my own crew?
It's gonna be all girls.
Yeah. You know what?
It'd probably be easier on the equipment,
probably a hell of a lot easier on the eyes.
Mike: See, when they're in a good mood,
yeah, they are 'cause they're mellow.
But once they get in a bad mood, and that happens quite easily,
holy hell are they rough -- like twice as [bleep] bad.
Kevin: You want us to run this, let us [bleep] run it.
Don't fly in all huffy and change [bleep]
[bleep] run it. Just let us
monica: Let us do it. Take a step back.
Oh, we know. We know.
Yeah, there was never any concern
about you not letting us know.
It's gonna be a family effort. Get on with it.
Deal with [bleep]. And let's just make it happen.
I mean, that's all you can do, right?
Give it your 110%.
As a family, we can do it. So let's do it.
And with that said, go to work.
-Get out, get going. -All right.
Tired of [bleep] around.
-Bye. -Yep.
Hi-ho, hi-ho
I have faith in those kids, so...
Well, oh, yeah.
Narrator: Tony's got his work cut out if he's going to get
this second dredge catching gold this season.
But even getting to it is a challenge.
Parker, how you doing, son?
I've had better.
I lost a dad, you lost a grandpa
all at the same time.
It's a good life we've had and the number of years
we've had it. -I know.
-You know? -Yeah.
Death finally hits you. It's sort of a new thing for me.
I'm not too used to this.
But we both knew, parker,
it was gonna have to come down at some time.
That's life, you know?
And I just hope that you're okay with it.
Hopefully, if you'll be strong,
then we'll all be strong together as a family.
I'm all right.
I'll check in with you tomorrow.
We'll see. Okay, fella?
I'm glad you are.
Narrator: The day after his grandpa's funeral,
parker takes the opportunity
to update chris and rick on his plans
for the coming season.
Doumitt: Here we are.
Ness: What's up, buddy?
Parker: How are you?
I'm good, man. Good to see you.
Parker, how you doing, buddy?
Good.
Narrator: And there's someone they need to meet.
It appears you had a pretty nice winter.
Yeah, it was all right.
[ laughter ]
I don't know -- I don't know what the terms are.
An item, is that what they -- are you guys an item now?
From australia -- you came from australia to haines?
Yes, well, so we met in australia,
and I think we just instantly had this connection.
And we got along really, really well.
And we spent some time together back in australia.
And then he left and came home.
He asked me to come over.
I didn't -- I didn't want to stop.
So I just really wanted to be here to support you
and be here for you and your family.
Yeah, no, I'm glad you made it.
Yeah.
We'll be in dawson on Monday.
And we're gonna have a pretty slow start.
So we'll just get a couple of the dozers fired up
and get some mud cleared off and --
and just get things opened up and get camp opened up.
And I've been designing a new wash plant.
Yeah, I've been busy.
Is it a screen or trommel you're getting?
Uh, it's a screen deck.
Narrator: Over the winter,
parker has been hard at work designing
what he believes is the ultimate wash plant.
Parker: So I -- I'm having them put...
Narrator: Although it's smaller than monster red,
parker and the design team have been working hard
to make it leaner and more efficient.
So it will need less manpower.
Parker: You can just unhook it from the tray,
hook it up to the hydraulic riffles and hit the winch,
and it'll lift that hydraulic riffle up out of the way.
Falling asleep yet. -Really?
Parker: Thanks for coming, guys.
-My pleasure. -I appreciate it.
All right, buddy.
Parker: Like, ashley and I met traveling this winter.
And it's really good to have, um,
ashley and rick and chris here.
You know, it was great. It was great.
They're, uh, three of my favorite people in the world.
Tony: Wow.
Narrator: It's 150 tons heavier than his first dredge.
But tony plans to tear this monster apart,
barge it nearly 100 miles down the yukon river,
then transport it 50 miles by road
to have the two dredging side-by-side at eureka creek.
His aggressive goal, have it up and running
by the end of the season.
Kevin: Watch out!
Narrator: But back at eureka creek,
tony's son kevin
and dredge number one are deep in trouble.
Narrator: Two days after tony beets put his son kevin
in charge of the dredge, disaster strikes.
Two hours south, tony's dredge is sinking.
Kevin: Watch out!
Narrator: Kevin and his crew are desperately
trying to save it before tony finds out.
The dredge floats on empty tanks called pontoons.
A leak has filled half of them with water.
And one side of the dredge now sits on the bottom
of the pond, threatening permanent damage
to the dredge's generator and electrics.
Water is pouring into the pontoons faster
than the crew can pump it out.
Kevin: Oh [bleep] [bleep]
narrator: The dredge is about to be totally submerged.
If it sinks, the damage will be so catastrophic
it could cost tony millions of dollars.
This, uh, has been an ongoing battle
for the last 20 hours or so.
Kevin went through a 12-hour shift
last night fighting with it.
We came out today, and it still wasn't floating.
So...
Kevin: We're gonna start pumping our pond out.
Well, our plan is to drain the pond as much as we can.
Narrator: Kevin's only hope -- open the water outlet
to drain the pond before the dredge sinks.
But it's not working.
Kevin: I don't [bleep] get it.
The pond should be going down.
Narrator: Monica arrives with more bad news.
Monica: Kevin!
Hi.
You look angry.
Tony's supposed to be coming out in the next little bit.
[bleep]
I opened up the outlet culvert, and [bleep] not going down.
It's almost getting [bleep] deeper.
You've got to be kidding me.
If the inlet pipe is open,
there's no way the pond will drain.
'cause I had no conception that that was a thing.
Think you could go close that?
This had better work.
For [bleep] sakes, kevin.
To lower the water level,
kevin has already opened the drainage culvert.
What he didn't know
is that an inlet pipe is still open
that's continually filling up the pond.
Thought about how the water was coming in.
There it was, wide open.
So that's so awesome.
Now, they should be able to drop the water enough
to get all the water out of the pontoons.
Somebody's got to save the day. And that was me today.
Narrator: Within an hour, monica's fix starts to work.
The water is low enough for the pumps
to empty the pontoons and refloat the dredge.
We're just finishing up.
We can actually see the edge of the pontoons now.
Narrator: The dredge is safely out of the water.
[ groans ]
and kevin can finally go home and get some rest.
She should be good to go at this point.
I mean, I'd just be sitting around waiting anyway,
so I might as well take a nap.
That's a lot of hours -- fun.
[ sighs ]
it's been a hell of a couple of one or two hours here.
Which one?
Kevin's sleeping.
He was here till 11:00
well, we knew it was coming from somewhere.
Narrator: If the generator got wet,
starting it up could create some fireworks.
Folster: I honestly don't know what's gonna happen
when I turn this thing on.
So maybe don't be standing in here
in case I do blow some boxes off the wall.
[ generator sputtering ]
[ generator starts ]
sure is good to have it up and running.
Actually, I didn't think it was gonna fire up.
Narrator: On kevin's first week as dredge master,
his failure to check the pontoons
has cost tony 20 hours of running --
over $20,000 worth of lost gold.
At the high bar mine, eastern oregon, the hoffman crew
is ready to run nugget-rich pay dirt on their new claim.
Todd: It's looking good. Everything feels right.
We're early in the season.
And we're gonna get a jump on parker.
And we're gonna get a jump on the klondike.
This plant's got a million different parts.
Hopefully we can, uh, fire it up
and start firing up each piece of this plant.
You got your radio, dave?
Yeah, I'm ready here.
Okay, dave's in place.
And, uh, we're ready to go if you want to try this --
this far conveyor.
Here we go. It's time to go.
-Hey, todd. -Yeah.
We got locks on here. I can't fire it up.
What do you mean?
William and jarrod wirth's, their locks are still on here.
Why in the hell is there a lock on there?
Narrator: The hoffman crew is ready to start the season,
but the claim owners have locked them
out of the wash plant.
Hey, todd.
Todd: William, jarrod.
So we're locked out. What's the scoop?
You know, william and I are representing
the wirth family and the high bar mine.
And this was a humongous investment.
And because of that,
we have to work with you guys, side-by-side, to protect that.
Are you guys just gonna watch us,
or are you gonna work with us?
We'd like to work with you.
Uh, my brother and I have been running this place since 2014.
And one of the things we bring to the table
is a knowledge of this place.
We don't bring in employees just willy-nilly, okay?
We're basically a family.
And we take it really damn serious.
You know what we believe in, okay?
You see -- you see our flags.
You know about our faith.
If you believe in those same things,
I'm open to it.
If you can live by our rules, you know,
we could sure use your help.
Yeah, you bet.
You know, we'll start pulling pay, start running stuff.
And we'll prove ourselves to you that we're ready to go.
You got your keys to those locks?
-We do. -Okay.
Unlock that.
And welcome to 316 mining. -All right.
-Excited to work with you guys. -Jarrod, william.
Let's go. Let's get it started.
Narrator: Over 4,000 feet up in the blue mountains,
the geology of high bar
is different to anything the hoffmans have mined before.
The gold was formed in quartz veins.
Rivers eroded the ground,
exposing and breaking off chunks of gold...
...And carrying them downstream
to where the ground flattened out.
Because the rivers soon slowed,
the gold settled quickly,
leaving large nuggets that have never been worn down
by further movement or friction.
It's these nuggets that have persuaded todd to abandon
the steady pay in the klondike
and risk everything for a mountain of gold.
Jarrod: Let's jump down in there,
and I'll kind of show you guys what we're dealing with.
Let's do it.
You got good stuff right here, the blonde --
nothing in this stuff, in our experience.
And then what's that down below?
Down below, it's really impressive-looking.
It's alluring, but there's nothing in it.
See, normally, in the klondike, andy,
that would have been awesome.
If we saw big rock like that in the klondike, we'd be elated.
And we'd be getting good gold.
So it's gonna be a total different learning curve here.
Let's get logan down here,
and let's take our first load of pay.
Give me some. -Let's do it.
Todd: You want to know how I feel?
I feel unbelievable.
Let me tell you something.
This is the very first load of pay for morgan.
Generator coming on.
[ generator starts ]
everybody, clear!
-Ready? -Going hot.
Cross conveyor going hot.
-Looks good. -Hey, dave.
You want to try the sand screw?
Yeah, sand screw next.
Fire it up.
Yeah!
Screen going hot.
Come on, baby. Come on, baby!
Yeah!
Whoo! -Yeah!
We got a screen.
William, both belts are open.
We're ready for water when you are.
We got water, todd.
Kevin, drop the first bucket.
Let's do this.
10-4.
There we go.
I think we're ready to kick some ass.
So this is our place.
This is all your place?
So this is all what you did last season?
Yeah, and all of that up there.
Wow.
That's impressive.
Yeah, it's good to be back.
Narrator: Parker is returning to scribner creek
with his new girlfriend, ashley yule.
Parker: Look at this rowdy bunch.
Hey, how you been, buddy?
-Hey, kelly. -How you doing, man?
-Good, how are you? -How's it going?
-This is ashley. -Hey, ashley, how are you?
Youle: Good, thanks. Nice to meet you.
-You, too.
-Glad you're here. -Richard.
I'm ashley. It's nice to meet you.
So parker, who's this?
She's my sister.
[ laughter ]
uh, we met in australia.
-Oh, fancy. -Mm-hmm. -Nice.
Narrator: This year, to keep his costs to a minimum,
parker has cut his crew in half.
Yeah, this season, this is it right here.
There's nine of us.
I mean, you know, guys can have a big a crew
as they want and find as much gold as they want.
That's now how much they took home, right?
We've got a handful of guys here -- lean and mean.
What we're gonna do will be impressive
for the group of people we have.
Blaschke: So what's the game plan?
So this season, basically
the goal is the same as it was last year --
3,000 ounces.
Woman: That's our goal for this season?
Yep.
I was honestly coming back thinking
we're shooting for 5,000 at least.
Yeah, I didn't drive 2,500 miles to get 3,000 ounces.
I came up here to make some money.
I always want to go for more, too.
I do, but the royalties --
like, I've started doing the math
on the last couple hundred ounces we did.
At that point, we're paying 25% royalty.
Narrator: Claim owner tony beets has parker locked
into a tough royalty deal.
If he mines over 3,000 ounces, tony's cut increases to 25%.
So, this season, I don't see us going for more than that.
-More than 3,000? -No.
But honestly, it'll be more of a [bleep]
fight this season doing 3,000 ounces
than it was last season because we've got half the crew.
And I didn't think that I'd get this kickback from you guys.
I certainly get where you're coming from.
Economically, it's a smart move,
but it's just not what I expected to hear.
All we've ever done is go bigger.
Well, we proved ourselves last season.
The last thing I want is an issue with you guys,
but I can't say that we're gonna try to do 5,000 ounces
because at 5,000 ounces, we're giving tony beets,
like, $1.5 million.
And I cannot afford to do that.
Narrator: Parker's mining plan this season?
Expand the creek diversion cut another 450 feet
while also extending
last season's gold-rich boundary cut.
Eventually, these will meet,
creating one giant cut covering 70 acres,
the equivalent of around 50 football fields.
But he's determined to keep his costs to a minimum
and pay tony as little royalty as possible.
Ness: Well, I think the guys are pretty surprised by
the target this year, you know?
3,000 ounces is less --
less than what we did last year, you know?
All we've ever done is get better, get bigger.
Um, and it's -- to have parker throw out
a pretty uninspiring goal
for the season is pretty surprising.
Parker: I think a lot of people are wondering
how our mind and our methods
and me will be affected by my grandpa dying.
You know, he died at 96
with a great head on his shoulders.
I'm trying not to be too sad about it, you know?
Like, sure, more years would have been good.
But -- whoa.
[bleep] [bleep]
whoa.
Whoa.
[bleep]
well, now.
Rick, you got a copy?
Narrator: Within hours of starting to mine,
parker schnabel has his 85-ton dozer stranded
at a 40-degree angle.
Yes, sir. Go for rick.
Parker: Yeah, I'm stuck pretty bad.
I'll need -- I'll need you to come up here
and bring the 460.
All right, I'll head back.
Oh, boy.
It's a whole lot of weight teetering there.
You think I'm pulling that out with this?
I was thinking we just dig this out right here.
Once you get this dug out, I should be able to back down.
All right.
If I'd tried to get it out, I would have tipped it over.
All right.
There's no hope of getting out forward.
So rick's just gonna dig out
underneath this track on the high side
and try to get us a spot where it levels out
and I can back up out of there.
Yeah, I'm trying to get all the dirt out from underneath it
that I can so he's got a straight shot back.
I don't know if this is gonna work or not,
but we're gonna get him in the best possible position.
Good job, rick. That looks good.
It's about the best I can do. You want to give her hell?
Seat belt.
Oh, yeah, perfect.
Come on, come on. Come down.
[bleep]
[ chuckles ]
thanks.
You're welcome, man.
You should have seen it from back here.
You were so high up.
That track must have been eight feet in the air.
[bleep]
[ chuckles ]
narrator: Parker can return to opening new ground
while rick digs a test hole in the old boundary cut.
Ness: Bingo, there it is.
That's it right there.
Blaschke: What do you got?
Dude, so I dug a hole right on the edge here,
and there's some big pieces in there.
Oh, yeah.
We couldn't ask for a better situation, you know?
Thawed, really good pay.
If we're only going for 3,000 ounces,
we're [bleep] gonna be here for a month and be gone.
Perfect scenario, man, to just go for it.
Go big, right?
I know parker's got a lot of things on his mind --
all the stuff that happened over the winter.
But I think his grandpa would say, "go for it."
now if there's that much gold in that pan,
think about what's in that cut out there.
3,000 ounces -- that's like a warm-up lap.
We're all ready to go get it.
This is the season we go big and set some records.
We just got to convince parker.
Spinks: Things are going good, trucks are running,
equipment's running, dirt's coming out of the ground.
So hopefully there's gold in it.
Narrator: Less than a week after arriving,
the hoffman crew is already running pay dirt.
Todd is gambling everything on the search
for the legendary high bar nuggets.
You can't succeed if you're afraid of failure.
You have to risk to have a big reward.
Sometimes you got to shoot for the moon.
Narrator: To help him achieve his massive 5,000-ounce goal,
todd has leased this million-dollar wash plant
specifically designed to cope
with the difficult mining conditions at high bar.
The ground contains heavy clay,
so the pay dirt passes first through a blade mill.
Paddles on a shaft agitate the material
to help the water wash the clay off the rocks.
The gold-rich gravel can then pass into a sluice box,
which traps the nuggets.
The remaining material goes on through a shaker deck
and into the lower sluices
that catch all the remaining fine gold.
What do you think overall?
So far, it looks like it's running good.
Tell you what, let's do a shutdown.
You want the bypass valves open?
Todd has put his reputation on the line.
At the end of their first full day's work,
he stops to see if they're on track for 5,000 ounces.
There's nothing up here.
What do you think?
Jarrod: I mean, there's definitely gold in there.
Everything up here's gonna have gold in it
no matter what you run -- good, bad, or indifferent.
On a good day, though, top to bottom,
it'll be nothing but yellow.
I see some down here.
Turin: Yeah, there's gold in there.
And it's -- it's sunk down in there.
But I don't see a whole lot of it.
Maybe it'll add up.
Guys, pull the mat. Let's see what we got.
Into a tub, then we wash the whole thing out.
Narrator: The mats go down to the gold shack
for the first cleanup of the season.
Time to fire it up, jack.
Here we go.
You know, it's, uh, high hopes. And it's called the high bar.
So, uh, todd lifted the bar pretty high.
Let's see if we can reach it.
Narrator: Last year...
That's the biggest nugget I think I've ever seen.
...The hoffmans ran a 100-yard test at high bar...
Holy mackerel.
Listen.
-I love the sound of that. -That is awesome.
Narrator: ...With impressive results.
-1.7 ounces. -Per 100 yards.
-Yeah. -Oh, man.
-Whoo! -That is great.
Look at that. -That's pretty dang good, hoff.
Narrator: Now, they're cleaning up
2,000 yards of dirt.
The total should be around 35 ounces.
Thurber: Nicole is back here.
She's picking up the big nuggets.
They're corn flake-size nuggets.
They move real easy 'cause they're so big
but not that much weight to them.
So we want to catch all of it,
and, uh, she's grabbing it before it takes off.
All right, let's see it.
I want to see the first nugget.
Jack: You ready?
Little shake so we can...
3.55 ounces.
-That's it. -That's it.
Where's the rest of it?
I wish there was more.
Well, listen -- it's our first cleanup.
Nobody panic.
It's not what I was expecting, todd.
That's, uh -- it's not good.
We know that.
You know, we got 1.7 ounces on our test last year.
There's got to be gold there somewhere.
3.55 ounces is fricking horrible.
That should have been full of nuggets.
It should have been 30 to 40 ounces.
So I don't know what's going on.
This might be a harder treasure hunt than we thought.
Parker: Right now, the crew's in the boundary cut.
You know, we had really good gold in there last year.
Narrator: At scribner creek,
parker starts his second week of mining.
At the same time, we want to get this creek cut,
sorted out, because it's got good gold in it, too.
Got the pond drained out.
Got good thaw going.
It's a nice, warm, early spring.
Oh.
Looks like tony is here.
Looks like we're heading for our first battle with tony.
Uh, I don't know.
I hope he's, uh, reasonable.
But we've seen him both ways, right?
He can be very accommodating
or completely unrealistic.
Mr. Beets!
Good, how are you?
Good to see you, tony.
Thanks.
I mean, what more can you ask for?
He had a lot of good years.
And I got to see him in his --
at his birthday there a month before he died.
And it was a ton of fun, you know? We had a great time.
Yeah, no kidding.
Yeah, trying to.
This cut's thawing out nicely.
So get her -- get her thawing
and get things opened up here.
Uh, right now we're just shooting for 3,000.
Just 'cause of the royalty rates and this --
the fighting for it and not really making any off of it.
Narrator: Tony's royalty increases to 25%
as soon as parker hits 3,000 ounces.
And with his massive overheads,
there's little left for profit.
We work 6 hours a day for tony beets at that point.
We've had this conversation a lot of times before.
And I'd love to do more ounces. I'd love to push harder.
But with the royalties the way they are, I can't.
Lower your royalty rates a little.
You could probably get a little more money in.
There's mountains of ground to be mined here,
so something's gonna have to happen.
Wow.
We've got our problems.
Parker: I don't like having clipped wings,
but the more we make, the more we work for tony beets.
It just ain't cool.
I want to be working for parker [bleep] schnabel.
Kevin: And off we go.
Narrator: Down at eureka creek,
kevin is back on the dredge,
determined to redeem himself.
It's time to step up.
Let's make this [bleep] work.
Come on, girls, are you gonna kick ass this summer?
Narrator: Monica has brought in her all-girl rock truck crew
to help strip the overburden ahead of the bucket line.
Monica: All of us here, we all grew up in the yukon.
We're all around the same age.
These girls are doing really good.
I'm really happy.
And I think we can really show everybody
that us women can do the job just as well as any man can.
What the [bleep]
narrator: Up on the dredge, kevin has struck a problem.
Can you see what's in those buckets,
'cause I can't see [bleep]
narrator: The bucket line is bouncing.
And the buckets are coming up empty.
Kevin: I don't like this.
This really isn't [bleep] good.
What the [bleep]
[ creaking, groaning ]
shut her off.
Stop!
[bleep] [bleep]
narrator: The dredge usually mines fractured bedrock.
But it's hit a solid ridge of unfractured material
that the bucket line can't break through,
preventing it from reaching the gold-rich pay dirt beyond.
Kevin takes a chance.
He'll try and smash his way through the obstruction.
You've got to be kidding me.
Man: Well, better radio monica.
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
The dredge is having a hard time chewing through it.
It's all solid.
So monica's going to take the volvo ho
and dig out a chunk of bedrock we got there.
She's gonna, hopefully, pull that out for me.
Well, right now, monica's just scraping
where we've been dredging,
trying to break up all that bedrocky [bleep] there,
at least make it into manageable chunks.
Hopefully, I can rip it up
and make it more of a smooth ride for the boys.
[ sighs ]
holy [bleep]
no way.
What do you think?
Um, I can't really work through it.
It's [bleep] bedrock.
Pretty much.
I'm not gonna try and chew through it anymore.
[bleep] so... Just, you know,
narrator: Kevin's new plan -- flood the pond.
The higher water level should allow the dredge to float
right over the obstruction.
Inlet valve.
In comes the water.
That'll raise the dredge up,
and we can get over that [bleep] bedrock.
Narrator: But as the water level rises, it causes
a serious problem for monica's crew.
Monica: You [bleep] out of here.
Just [bleep] go, go, go, go.
Not happy about the water because the water needs to be,
like, four feet lower than it is.
Trucks are getting stuck in it,
and that just makes the whole stripping situation
a [bleep] show.
Narrator: At eureka creek, kevin is flooding the pond
to float the dredge over a bedrock obstruction.
You, out the [bleep] way.
[ groans ]
[bleep] go, go for a loop.
Go.
Tell her to [bleep] go.
[ engine revving ]
klubi: The ground is too soft.
[bleep] kidding me?
I mean, all the water's kind of seeping down.
Like, if we dug down three more feet,
it would all just flood out.
So it's just too soft for the trucks.
Narrator: Mechanic mike beaudry brings in the 360 excavator
to rescue the rock truck.
Looks like jell-o in there.
The fully loaded rock truck weighs 75 tons.
There you go. Back in action.
Narrator: The water level in the pond
is finally high enough for the dredge
to get over the bedrock ridge.
There we go.
We're back in business.
That should be good.
All right.
Tony: Wow.
Kevin: What?
Well, if we don't have this much water,
we're digging about 6-plus feet of bedrock.
Okay.
Uh, no, but we'll do it anyways.
Kevin: Tony's reaction like it usually is,
and now he's gonna go out in a big old huff
and have a big, old union meeting.
[ mumbles ]
and then we're gonna keep on doing what we're doing,
because he doesn't got a [bleep] clue.
Not a great start for him letting us run
our own [bleep] thing, is it?
Narrator: At the high bar mine,
the hoffman crew is working at full throttle.
Washing in rocks. That means we're getting gold.
Narrator: And despite a poor cleanup
on their first day of mining,
hopes are high for the new ground.
Spinks: So, up in the klondike,
you start stripping ground in April.
You've got to go down 20 feet of mud -- of frozen mud.
And then in about June, you start running pay dirt.
Pierce: One really awesome part about mining
at the high bar here in oregon
is that this gold is very coarse,
where, at mckinnon creek, it is was just powder.
We were chasing dust.
Here, we're actually on a treasure hunt.
Narrator: The crew has run for two days
since the disappointing gold weigh.
Shut it down.
And they're anxious to spot-check the sluices
for signs of nuggets and fine gold.
Dodge: I'm not seeing much for gold down here,
which is telling me there's not much gold
in material we're running right now.
I'd sure like to see some gold, not rocks.
This is crap. Something's got to change.
Todd: I should go and speak to the wirths.
Things got to improve. We got to start finding gold.
We got to keep the morale up,
but right now, things aren't looking real good.
Todd: Definitely not a good start.
And I'll tell you what, right now,
I'm not gonna get 500 ounces, let alone 5,000.
Then the joke's on todd.
Yeah, we're not doing good.
Jarrod: Yeah, we know.
And now I'm starting to wonder if I made a big, huge mistake.
My advice would be stay in this cut.
You know, don't panic.
Stay up here.
William: The problem with high bar
is that you have deposits all over the place.
So, yeah, you're gonna have your crappy days.
You're gonna have days where you look in the nugget trap
and there's nothing.
But you're gonna have really hot days
where you look in the nugget trap,
and you're gonna pull 80 ounces.
I wouldn't panic.
I would just try and hold out for at least
a few more days... -Yeah.
...Right here in this cut and see how it goes.
Narrator: The patchy deposits of gold nuggets result
from a unique combination of events.
Millions of years ago,
a series of small streams carried gold-rich gravel
down the mountainside.
Tectonic uplift started pushing the area up
until it cut off the water supply and,
with it, the gold,
leaving only isolated pockets of nuggets.
Out of this cut that we're standing in right here,
this is some of the stuff that we've pulled.
Todd: God, it's so pretty.
It's chunky. You know, you hit --
you hit these really rich deposits every now and then.
But you're gonna hit quite a few of them.
I don't want to lose hard, but I tell you what --
you know, we're not used to not seeing something in the box.
You know?
You got it? -Got it.
I say we've only given this cut 3 days
I say we keep on pushing for at least a week.
And after a week, we'll analyze it and then decide
whether we should move or not.
What I don't want is my guys to lose heart.
I can handle just about anything.
But, uh, when I look in my guys' eyes,
and they stop believing, that's when we got troubles.
They're not there yet,
but I want to make sure that we can --
we got to hit gold pretty quick.
-Yeah. -You know?
-We're gonna hit big gold. -Yeah.
So I think just keep hope.
We'll keep pushing along.
And, uh, you know, we're gonna have a day
where it's gonna -- everything's gonna change.
Let's, uh, get on our knees and say a little prayer, too.
You know what I mean? -Yeah, you bet.
A lot of it's faith.
1074
[ horn blares ]
narrator: Six months after parker first
commissioned his brand-new wash plant,
finally, it arrives at the claim.
Built to his own spec and costing $600,000,
parker's gambling his whole season
on an untested design.
Parker: There she is.
Oh, yeah.
[ horn blares ]
doesn't that just look sexy?
[bleep] yeah.
This thing's beautiful.
I love the color scheme.
It looks badass.
Man, I like it
yeah, it's sweet.
It's bitching.
-It's nice and compact. -Yeah.
I like that it's nice and new.
That's the best part.
Parker: It's like our first new car.
Blaschke: Yeah.
Ness: It's gonna be a shame to run dirt through it.
I think we might just set it up and just look at it every day
party next to it?
Yeah, we'll just party next to it.
Yeah, I mean, this is a big day for us.
It's probably the biggest day
that we've ever had in the yukon.
You know?
It's the first brand-new plant we've had.
We've never had anything like this.
All we've had is a bunch of hand-me-downs.
And, uh, this is our chance right here
at having the best season yet.
Yeah, I kind of wish my grandpa was here to see this, you know?
It's a pretty impressive, big plant.
Man, we've been waiting for something like this
for a few years now.
A lot of the money that we've made has gone
into this plant -- almost all of it.
And, uh, now it's time for it to make it back.
And it's gonna find us a lot of [bleep] gold.
Narrator: Now, the crew has to unload
the 90,000-pound wash plant...
Easy, tyson. Slow up a little bit.
Yeah, that's good.
Narrator: ...And haul it into position,
close to the new pay piles.
Parker: For some reason, I'm incredibly nervous today.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
Like, super uneasy.
Well, I guess this is it, huh?
[ groans ]
you think that thing's gonna pull that thing?
One machine all the way. This is 700.
-That's a lot of faith, rick. -Yep.
Narrator: Rick has to drag the 70-foot wash plant
along a narrow path onto the elevated pad,
which has a sheer drop on either side...
...Then rotate the massive machine 90 degrees,
leaving the sluices hanging over a 40-foot drop.
Let's do it.
Don't drop it!
No problem.
[ chuckles ]
wheelie time.
Whoo!
Rick, that is not okay.
That conveyor's moving like five feet back and forth.
Narrator: The most vulnerable part of the wash plant
is the 53-foot tailings conveyor
that sticks out unprotected at the back.
Easy, rick.
Rick!
Holy [bleep]
what?
It's waving all over the place.
Oh, gotcha. Sorry.
Parker: Rick's a little aggressive there, you know?
And this is our first time moving the thing.
You'd think he'd take it a little easy.
You start trying to rush stuff like that,
that's when you make mistakes.
Narrator: Next, the most difficult part --
spin the plant 90 degrees so the sluices
and tailings conveyor hang over the void.
You ready?
If rick gets this wrong,
parker's $600,000 wash plant could be destroyed.
Parker: Easy, easy, easy, easy.
Nope. That's probably pretty close.
Maybe start swinging it back this way.
Whoa, rick.
Ness: What's going on now?
It's lefting pretty good.
This is so screwed.
Narrator: The ground is slipping out from under him.
Rick is forced to stop. -Wow.
That's just a [bleep] sheer drop right there.
Parker: I was thinking that I could just drag it
with the ho.
Narrator: Parker comes up with a solution.
Ness: I'm just gonna try to move this thing straight forward
about six feet.
Narrator: He positions himself
right in the firing line
beneath the plant to inch it into place.
You should have a lot of leverage sitting like that.
You should be able to pull it forward no problem.
You'd think so.
Let's give it a try.
I don't want to stand by that [bleep] chain.
Yep, yep.
She's a-moving.
Oh [bleep]
and I thought that chain was gonna go.
There it goes.
[bleep] so close -- 2 or 3 feet.
We need one more [bleep] shackle.
Why do we have 3 shackles on this whole [bleep] site.
Narrator: Rick replaces the shackle.
And it's round two.
How far off are we?
One more little bit.
Go another 6 inches?
Yeah.
Narrator: After six hours,
parker's wash plant is finally in position.
It is showtime.
Hopefully, this thing runs as good as it looks.
Well, here's the moment of truth.
Let's fire it up.
Go.
-Oh, that's smooth. -Oh, that's nice and smooth.
You guys ready for some dirt?
Yeah.
Light her up with some dirt, tyson.
Yes, sir.
Ness: We got the first dirt of the season heading
in to our brand-new wash plant.
[ laughter ] whoo!
-Shaking its first rock. -It looks good.
Good job, man! Hey!
Our season starts now!
Here we go.
Time to make some money.
Parker: You got to be kidding me.
Narrator: At scribner creek, parker's crew is struggling
to keep up the pace.
Mechanic mitch is attempting
to fix a leaking radiator.
We've got a, uh, coolant leak on one of our 40s here.
What I did is went down to the kitchen and grabbed,
uh, just some pepper right off the dinner table.
And, uh, I'm gonna throw that in the radiator.
Something gene taught me a long time ago.
We're gonna give it a try.
I mean, out here, if you can keep things running,
that's the difference of having a good season or not.
So, as you see, I mean, just as the pepper gets wet,
you already see it's all sticking together on my fingers.
And, well, that's kind of what it does
in the cooling system.
Hopefully, it works good enough to keep this truck running.
Go ahead and run it for awhile. Just keep an eye on it.
Hopefully that'll slow down the leak.
Narrator: At eureka creek,
it's two weeks since kevin took charge of the dredge.
Up to 100.
Now, tony has arrived for the first cleanup of the season.
It's a major test of kevin's role as dredge master.
Kevin: That looks okay to me.
Man: Kevin, how's it going?
It's going like usual -- slow.
But at the end of the day, it's been encouraging,
considering it's only 100 hours on these mats.
So...
Narrator: The moment of truth.
Kevin: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
When you did the cleanups?
There you go. That's a little [bleep] better.
Uh, we need 163 more ounces to pay for the dredge.
So -- for last year.
-One. -That's good.
2, 80, 90, 100,
10, 20, 30, 160,
161, 162, 160 -- stop.
The dredge is paid off right there.
And that is mine because you can't spend it.
-Come on. -Unh-unh.
Narrator: From now on, all the gold caught
by the $1-million dredge is profit.
Do it.
190, 200,
254, 55, 56, 57.
258.5.
-That's amazing. -Huh?
Narrator: Even with all the setbacks, in two weeks,
kevin's captured $310,000 worth of gold --
on a par with the dredge's best cleanup last year.
It looks really good.
See? I told you so.
Just leave us be and let us get [bleep] to it.
I think he's whining.
Monica: I think he needs some cheese.
Jarrod: I won't give up on todd.
We're all gonna give this 150% effort.
We knew that the challenges would be different,
but there's not gold here.
I think we're up [bleep] creek without a paddle.
Narrator: The hoffman crew has run pay dirt
for five straight days in their quest
for high bar's elusive nuggets.
Spinks: We're all pretty excited about coming back to oregon.
The problem is is there's no rhyme or reason
to where the gold is.
Narrator: After producing only 3.55 ounces of gold
on the first day... -Shut it down.
Narrator: ...The hoffman crew is about to find out
if high bar can deliver on its promise.
Todd: We want all these mats out of here all the way down,
because I'll tell you what, we need something good.
One, two, three.
[ engine starts ]
narrator: They've managed to run more
than 10,000 yards of high bar pay dirt.
Thurber: So far, it's slow but steady.
So, uh, showing signs of gold.
-Hey. -How we doing?
I just got it right out.
Oh, yeah.
All right, let's see how much we got.
All right.
Narrator: To hit his 5,000-ounce season goal,
todd needs around 250 ounces every week.
Yeah, it sure doesn't look like a whole lot, dad.
No, for what we been running, it isn't.
35 on the money right there.
Narrator: 35 ounces is less than 15% of what they're hoping for.
It doesn't even cover running costs.
It is what it is.
It's 35, and that's just not enough.
This is not working.
Well, that's what we used to get in a day.
No, todd.
We got almost twice that in a day.
I don't want to panic, but I'm pissed.
You know?
I was expecting a whole lot more.
Why don't we, uh, go up there and have a talk with the guys?
-I'll come with you. -Okay.
All right.
Turin: What do you think? That cleanup didn't very good.
Jarrod: Didn't look good at all.
Todd: So we got 35 ounces out of all we ran.
What's been coming down to the gold room,
it's not enough, you know?
It's not working out.
Something's wrong.
This stuff is the right material.
It just doesn't have any gold in it.
And it's what they been telling us
that we got to send to the plant.
There's no sense in going in the hole.
At some point, if it doesn't improve --
I mean, we're with you, but it's costing a lot of money.
We were looking for a miracle on a mountain.
Now we really need one, man.
We need a miracle.
-Yep. -I don't know.
I just don't think that this is why we're here.
I think -- I think there's something
better's gonna happen, I hope.
You know what, we've had our backs against the wall before.
We didn't do very good in the jungle,
and we might get out ass kicked again this year.
But I'll tell you what,
we're not gonna go down without a fight.
Dad.
Heavenly father, we ask that you would, uh,
give us a miracle right now.
Uh, right now, we're asking for what we think is impossible.
But with you, it's possible.
So, that's what we pray for.
And we pray for a lot of gold.
And, lord, we ask that you do it in a most, uh, rapid way.
We pray this in your name, amen.
-Amen. -Amen.
Todd: I love you, guys.
Don't [bleep] do that again.
Ness: Shut it down!
Narrator: On the all-new season of "gold rush"...
Watch out!
Damn it!
Narrator: ...Gold mining legend tony beets...
...Is relying on his family...
[bleep]
no one can push your buttons like family can.
Narrator: ...To expand his viking fleet...
Minnie: It looks like a piece of [bleep]
there's a lot more that can go wrong on the water.
Narrator: ...And double down on the gold.
If it's in the ground, I can get it out of there.
Narrator: Parker schnabel confronts a world of changes.
Parker: Oh [bleep]
todd: Think you've achieved everything?
I just got finished burying my grandpa.
You don't need to tell me [bleep] like that.
Narrator: But the 21-year-old mine boss...
Great start, huh?
Narrator : ...Has a new woman in his life...
I'm loving it.
She's just such a good rock truck driver.
Got to put a ring on that.
Narrator: ...A brand-new wash plant...
Sluicifer!
Now that we're running dirt,
we're not gonna stop for the next three months.
Narrator: ...And he's expanding his empire.
We're starting a second operation.
Got my own operation,
and, uh, I couldn't be more excited.
Narrator: Todd hoffman is risking everything...
Todd: My future isn't in the klondike.
Narrator: ...For a mountain of gold.
Todd: It's one of the best nuggets I've ever seen.
Narrator: But this season...
-Oh, no! -Hunter, you okay?
Narrator: ..Goes from bad...
Todd: Hey, hey, hey!
Narrator: ...To worse.
Turin: I love you like a brother.
I'm done.
Enough is enough. I'm finished.
Todd: I've lost several $100,000 and my friends.
We got to shut down.