Gold Rush (2018) s05e20 Episode Script
Millions in Gold
You know, five years ago, my dad and I set out to make us all millionaires.
It almost killed us.
But look where we are now.
Right at the crossroads.
This is the ground that we could come good on that promise for my guys.
Can we keep it? I believe we can.
I don't care what people think.
I'm gonna get that awesome contraption running.
Whatever struggles we've had so far to get to this point, we're gonna improve, it will dig gold now just as good as a hundred years ago.
For two seasons now, Tony calls all the shots, because I have nowhere else to go.
Now is the point where we have to start fighting for new ground and freedom.
Cos the season ain't over.
In the freezing gold fields of the Klondike I think we got a chance of pulling this off.
.
.
the Hoffman crew has to, somehow, find more gold from their frozen ground Do not shut that fricking plant down! .
.
to secure their future on a claim that could make them all rich.
I can't get this ice through the grizzly bars.
Parker Schnabel's crew is determined to leave.
Everybody's wore out, everybody's tired.
The 20-year-old mine boss has to win them back We can go buy our own ground.
.
.
to get the gold he needs .
.
to buy his own Klondike claim.
This could be mine.
My own empire of dirt.
Tony Beets battles the big freeze Hurry up, let's go! .
.
to get his 75-year-old dredge Let's see what the (BLEEP) will do.
Oh! .
.
catching Klondike gold.
Ah-ha! Is there gold in there? Three crews seeking a fortune Tell us what we got.
.
.
a future and freedom.
And this clean-up right here is Oh, my! In the Yukon, the land is already in the grip of the long winter freeze.
At Scribner Creek, Parker Schnabel's mine is shut down.
His crew has had enough of mining - and Parker - for the season.
I'm just trying to pack up my tools so I can get headed home.
Is Parker a good boss? (SIGHS) You really wanna go there? I don't really want to, honestly.
I really don't.
This season, Parker has already mined 2,060 ounces of gold Bam! .
.
worth two and a half million dollars, twice what he got last year.
After hitting their goal, his exhausted crew wanted to head home.
We've wiped your ass for 2,000 ounces all season and now we're empty.
Everybody's wore out.
But, next year, Parker desperately wants to be his own boss.
I need a better deal.
With him, my wings are pretty well clipped.
To buy a claim of his own, he needs at least another 400 ounces of gold.
But he can't do it alone.
These guys have had a hell of a long season, but I need them on board, if we're gonna do this.
Hey, Mitch? Yeah? Do you guys have a minute? Yeah.
So, you know, we're trying to get set up, so that we can have our own ground.
So that's why we're gonna try to push, if you guys'll stick with me, for another 400 ounces.
Cos I don't like the way that things are headed with Tony.
You know? Every year, it's something else, something else.
Pretty soon, it'll be something we can't deal with or we can't afford to give up.
That's why I'm asking you guys to stick around.
We're all wore out, Parker, we've had a tough season, every one of us is ready to go home.
I know you guys are and I know you guys have busted your asses, but we can go buy our own ground and not have to deal with Tony.
What is your plan? How are we gonna do this? I think that the ground that we've got open will damn near have what we need.
If we can just push through one more week What do you reckon? Yeah, let's go get it done.
Let's do it.
All right.
Yeah.
Thanks, guys.
Let's do this.
We're all exhausted.
But another week? We can do it.
We know what we're doing.
Let's go get all the ground we've got open up sluiced.
Parker has convinced his crew to give him one more week, but they need to mine 400 ounces, almost double their best weekly gold haul.
If we're gonna be able to find 400 ounces, everybody just has to give it a good final push.
That's what needs to happen.
At McKinnon Creek .
.
the Hoffman crew also faces a battle.
They need 1,300 ounces of gold to secure their claim for next year.
But all their ground is either mined-out or frozen solid.
Their only hope is a swamp-like cut, rich in gold, but so muddy that it almost swallowed up Dave Turin's dozer earlier in the season.
Well, we haven't been in here for a while.
We left this cut at the beginning of the season.
There was so much mud that our dozers couldn't handle it.
I hated to abandon this, I know what the drill results are under here.
I know there's good gold.
There's $27 -$31 a yard, but we gotta figure out what we're gonna do next, but, uh, I got a big pond full of mud.
Last week, the Hoffmans hit their goal.
Yeah! Whoo-hoo! 1,000 ounces, worth $1.
2 million.
Yeah! Then claim owner, Peter Tallman, offered Todd the chance to return to gold-rich ground.
But at a price.
Go get me 300 ounces and you got a deal.
Oh.
They scraped up every last yard of thawed paydirt.
We've pulled everything, there's nothing left.
But it wasn't enough.
We pulled up 48 short.
Now, their only option is the unmineable swamp.
I can't get to the gold that's under here.
We've pretty much lost the battle.
Todd, Dave, you copy? Yeah, go ahead, Todd.
I got a little surprise for you.
I'll be right there.
I'm done.
I hate the idea of leaving gold behind.
We're not done on that cut.
I'll tell you what, it's gonna be awesome.
Andy, you got a copy? Yeah, Todd.
Yeah, bring her in.
Ha ha! Holy crap! That thing is huge! Yeah, I know! It's the biggest dozer in the Klondike, Dave! The freaking thing is a super dozer.
Yeah! Dude, I borrowed it from the neighbours, but, dude, we have till the end of the day today to get that dirt out of that cut and to the plant.
The 900 horsepower super-dozer, weighs over 100 tonnes and has a giant blade.
Ho ho ho! Dude, how much can that thing push? About 45-yard pushes.
Oh, that's like three times the amount of that one.
Yeah.
(LAUGHTER) That's a dozer! And they let us borrow it for one day only! But let me tell you, I think that's all it's gonna take, one day.
You know what, I know how to mine, but Todd Hoffman can make a deal.
I feel like I'm on top of the equipment world now! The last time Dave tried to get to the paydirt here, he almost lost his D9.
All right, here goes nothing.
Come on! Whoo! TODD: How's that, buddy, huh? This thing is awesome, dude.
You made the right choice on this one.
The super-dozer weighs twice as much as the D9.
But, with its wider tracks and almost three times the horsepower, it has no problem moving great swathes of mud with every pass.
The Hoffman crew is back in business.
Yay-ha! Look at this thing.
By late afternoon, the biggest dozer in the Klondike has defeated the mud.
Hey, hey, hey! We made it! I'm down to pay.
I'm ripping now, buddy.
I'm gonna get Andy and the rock trucks down here now.
Whoo! Look at that thing, Todd.
Right through it! Well, here you go, Andy, you got pay.
The Hoffman crew begins transporting what they hope is gold-rich paydirt to Monster Red.
We're able to run, that's the good thing right now.
.
.
At Eureka Creek, Tony Beets' ancient dredge is high and dry.
He's almost out of time to get it up and running.
Six months ago, Tony bought the dredge for a million dollars.
He ripped it apart, piece by piece, dragged it over mountains, and reassembled it.
But when he finally tried to float it .
.
one of the pontoons took on water.
Whoa! The dredge started to sink, forcing Tony to drain the pond.
Now, he has to find the leak, fix it and quickly re-float the dredge or his dream of catching gold, like they did a hundred years ago, will be on ice until the spring.
(BLEEP) Oh, man! Probably leaking right in that corner, cos all the mud's washed out.
Jerry quickly spots the problem, a crack along a welded seam.
Ah, man.
Tony only trusts one man for the crucial fix, his son, Kevin.
I get (BLEEP), but who else is gonna do them? Yeah, there's a crack about a foot long.
Everybody watch out.
There you go! Yeah.
It's a little rough and ugly but it doesn't need to be pretty.
Tony opens the floodgate for the second time.
This allows water to pour into the dredged pond.
Ah.
It will take 24 hours to fill up and, then, Tony and crew will see if their fix has worked.
At Scribner Creek .
.
Rick Ness and Greg Remsburg load paydirt from the berm cut.
They reluctantly agreed to carry on working for their young mine boss, Parker Schnabel.
This is my third season working for Parker.
He never has liked to call it quits at a reasonable time.
Parker promised that they would mine the easy ground in the berm cut for just one week.
But, with 400 ounces to find, Parker is re-thinking his plan.
Where are we going? I think there's an area that's even richer than the berm.
You can kinda see it from right here.
The ground's been getting better as we work upstream.
See where the berm like cuts way back in, right dead straight, in the valley from here? It dog-legs out up there.
Mm-hm.
And I think a few good days and a dozer and we'll be able to get it open.
I'm having a little bit of a hard time understanding what you're talking about.
Parker gave the crew his word that they wouldn't have to open up new ground.
Is this something we wanna chase? Well, we have to.
If we're gonna get away from Tony, we need something big and, to me, this is it.
I think it's gonna be big gold.
It's not worth the effort.
We're just gonna do it, Gene.
That's the way it's gonna be.
Whatever.
Parker is breaking his promise.
I understand Gene's concerns, but we're sticking around, really trying to push for this extra 400 ounces and I think that if it's as good as I think it is, it'll put us well past that.
Parker heads upstream in the D10, to break ground on the new dog-leg cut.
I'm hopeful that it's gonna be good, but nobody really wants to be here.
I hope I'm not burning any bridges by doing this.
The next morning, Parker has Gene building an access road.
Everybody's wore out, everybody's tired, we've had a good year.
Here we are out doing something half-arsed, instead of doing it right the first time.
It's not the way I like to do things.
It's all a bit (BLEEP).
Rick takes the excavator up the new road to the dog-leg cut to dig a test hole.
We're hopping over a whole bunch of ground to go after this little piece that Parker seems to think is gonna pay off really well.
I'll try a pan.
Pretty bony bedrock, huh? Yeah.
Parker needs to find good gold to prove this new cut is worth mining.
There's some gold in there and that's almost 40 flakes, which is pretty damn good, but they're tiny.
Just weird to see that they're all real fine.
There's not one coarse flake in this pan.
Going off the number of colours, it's some of the best ground, but they're tiny.
But it's nothing special to me.
Let's do it.
Parker? (BLEEP) This is a waste of time.
Last-ditch effort here.
Whatever.
Parker decides to mine the dog-leg cut anyway.
First paydirt.
I'll send it up to the plant.
We're gonna knock this dog-leg thing out and get the hell out of Dodge.
With his crew ready to quit, Parker is gambling everything on a hunch.
You know, this cut could make a difference.
It's definitely worth the risks we're taking.
(WHISTLES) Good boy.
At McKinnon Creek .
.
the Hoffman crew is running dirt from their new cut.
They're chasing a final 48 ounces, to secure a future on this gold-rich ground.
(BLEEP) It's just banging.
Dave? Dave Turin, you copy? Can you come down to the wash plant? I think we got a broken spring on the shaker.
We don't need that right now.
Monster Red's shaker separates rocks from the paydirt by vibrating 745 times per minute.
It's precisely balanced on eight springs, two in each corner.
One of the springs has broken, causing the shaker to hit the platform below with every vibration.
Holy craparonie, man.
We can't run the screen this way.
This thing will absolutely tear itself apart.
Dude, I cannot believe this.
Oh, you're freaking kidding me.
What a way to end it, man.
.
.
At Eureka Creek, Tony Beets' 75-year-old dredge is finally floating.
After investing over a million dollars and six months of gruelling work, tonight, he'll find out if she can catch gold.
Go! The dredge has power.
For the first time in 30 years, she's ready to go to work.
Tony fires up each system, one by one.
First, the heart of the dredge, the nine-tonne trommel.
Yeah, it goes! The trommel rotates perfectly, ready to separate worthless rocks from gold-rich dirt.
The colossal stacker is ready to dump the tailings off the back of the dredge.
It runs! The one section Tony has never tested is the 24-tonne bucket line.
A chain of 72 cast-iron buckets, designed to claw through the dirt and unearth gold.
Tony takes command in the wheelhouse.
Yeah.
OK.
That's a good idea.
First, Tony has to raise the end of the bucket line, from where it rests on the bottom of the pond.
There you go, there you go.
It held.
The winches still have the power to lift the bucket line.
ALL: Yeah.
Ha ha! The bucket line works first time.
The dredge has come back to life.
The Viking ship is ready to scoop her first Eureka Creek paydirt.
ALL: Yeah! At the beginning of the season I asked you if you were nuts or not when you wanted us to move this.
Yeah.
It's a reality now, isn't it? Not many people can say they've done this.
Thank you, Tony.
The dredge can't wash paydirt without water.
Tony rushes to the pump.
Aah! Water gushes out of a bad weld in the trommel's spray bar.
If water isn't getting to the sluice box, the dredge can't catch gold.
Yes.
Despite losing water, the sluice box is still functioning.
It's a little wet, but, yeah, it works.
There's a big hole! I need a lift! (BLEEP) cool, isn't it? What a night! I know.
Ah! Yeah! Next year, we'll put some heat in here and it'll be wonderful.
A place to kick your feet up.
You could have a flush toilet, a shower, a Jacuzzi! The monster comes alive! At last, the dredge is working as she did 75 years ago.
But Tony will have to wait a few hours to know if she's actually catching gold.
At McKinnon Creek .
.
the Hoffman crew is in luck.
Jim Thurber has found one extra spring Hey, Todd! .
.
that came with Monster Red's supplies.
Is that it? Is that it? That's it.
Yeah! Get it up here, man.
But their problem is far from over.
To replace the broken spring, they need to raise the nine-and-a-half-tonne shaker, with no crane.
Mechanic, Steve, has to improvise.
What do you think, Steve? I'll jack this shaker up.
OK.
We'll get it just high enough to pop that spring in there.
You think it'll fit? It'll be close, man.
Careful! OK.
Steve crawls inside the crippled shaker with a basic jack, usually used to change the wheel on a truck.
You OK, Steve? Yep, I'm ready to go up when you are.
Dude, you're getting it.
Looking good.
Whoa, hold on, Steve! You're up against the wash box.
The top of the shaker is hitting the wash box above.
Steve has only been able to raise the shaker by a fraction.
This is something I really didn't need.
We're gonna pull up short again.
I can't live with that again.
I gotta get I gotta get this up.
Dave has to somehow squeeze the spring into a space three-quarters its size.
What do we look like, Dave? Well, we don't have the room.
Let's see.
If I go this way I want this land so bad, I can taste it and I don't wanna lose it.
Grab that hammer, I got this.
Ow! Oops, sorry.
The only way to get it done is the Yukon way.
Get a bigger hammer, Steve.
Brute force.
Yay-ha! It's in.
You're freaking kidding me? No.
So, what have we gotta do? Fire it up.
All right.
Monster Red is ready to wash rocks again.
This is it, if you get tired, you call me, you get coffee, whatever it takes.
Get the dirt through the plant.
Do this, you guys.
They have enough paydirt for one final run.
To keep their gold-rich claim at McKinnon Creek next year, the Hoffman crew needs a total of 1,300 ounces, worth over one and a half million dollars.
See if we can get some rocking and rolling.
They're still 48 ounces short and the temperature has dropped below zero.
To stop Monster Red freezing up, they have to keep it running.
(HUM OF ENGINE) The water is on its way! The generator's coming on.
Roger that.
I thought that plant was toast.
We're not gonna shut this thing down till we get our goal.
(HORN) I'm turning the feeder on.
Ten-four, Dave.
We're up and rolling! Midnight, at Eureka Creek .
.
the dredge has now run dirt for five hours.
Minnie Beets, Tony's wife, joins her family to find out if their 75-year-old dredge can still catch gold.
It's really amazing, man.
Hey? You know what I wanna see.
Right? What? Gold.
Tony lifts the bucket line and shuts down the dredge.
(LAUGHTER) Well? Oh, wow! That's pretty cool, Tony.
Super, wow, that is awesome.
That's amazing.
Right? The dredge is catching gold.
It's already making money.
And you've got gold.
That is amazing.
At McKinnon Creek .
.
the Hoffman crew has been feeding Monster Red for 26 hours straight.
We're just gonna make the best of it and get everything we can.
At 4am, Kevin loads the last of their pay.
There goes the last bucket.
Their future depends on what's in the sluice box.
If they get less than 48 ounces, they won't have their claim next year.
If we got the gold in there or not, you know what, it's out of our hands now.
That's it.
.
.
At Scribner Creek, Parker's crew runs the last paydirt through the wash plant.
That's the last of the pay, huh? That's it, my young friend.
That's the season, whatever's in the hopper.
Parker will soon find out if he's got the 400 ounces he needs to buy his own Klondike claim.
That one for the last time.
That one for the last time.
The exhausted crew's season is finally over.
It's good to be the last one.
It's what we've been looking for.
Everybody did a good job, busted their butts getting finished.
And Parker has a visitor for the final clean-up.
Oh, look who that is.
Hi! Hello.
Hey, Grandpa.
Oh, it's good to see you.
Oh, you, too.
What's the forecast for shutdown? Well, you just missed it, by an hour.
Oh! You mean for the year? Yeah.
You can come over and take a look.
Let's go.
I wanna see this.
It's a little warmer in here.
Oh, yes! Hi! Ooh, look at that! Money! (CHUCKLES) You're gonna You're gonna be here a while.
We counted it.
It's not getting away from us! Wow, that is a big pile.
Ooh! That's too heavy.
How much ounces? 30.
Ooh! That sounds like you're on a winner.
I'm really happy to be here, to see how he's doing.
And, uh, I think he's doing well.
Yeah.
I mean, this is the final gold of the season right here.
One thing that's nice is my grandpa's here to, you know, see it and be a part of it and that means a lot.
I mean, he's He's the reason I started all this.
Right here is more than three times what I got in my first season mining Big Nugget with him.
Parker has another day's worth of concentrate to process.
Then he'll find out if he has the 400 ounces of gold he needs to buy his freedom, his own Klondike claim.
I hope we've got the gold.
This, here, it's money in the bank, so that, next year, it's gold in the ground.
Want a shot? (LAUGHTER) Parker's crew celebrates the end of a long season.
Well, let's go inside and see how we did, boys.
Yeah.
Come on, dog.
OK.
We'll go.
This box contains all their gold from six months of mining.
Every one of those is 100 ounces.
Ooh! That's impressive.
Last week, Parker beat his season goal of 2,000 ounces, worth a staggering $2.
4 million.
I've worked all my life to make this much money and this is six months.
With Tony's cut, that was 2,060.
Oh, Tony did very well.
I'd say.
There's the reaction.
But he needs another 400 to buy his own claim and finally be free of his landlord, Tony Beets.
So, since the last clean-out, we've done this.
Ooh! Oh, my! And what is that? That's 200.
(LAUGHTER) Oh! Oh ho ho ho ho! Oh, man! Look at that.
That's another 200.
Here it comes again! (LAUGHTER) Oh, yes! This is Parker's biggest clean-up ever.
478 ounces, worth well over half a million dollars.
His goal for the season was 2,000 ounces, but the 20-year-old mine boss, now has a staggering 2,538.
And that's $3 million right there on the table.
Enough to buy himself a new claim.
This clean-up right here is two and a half times what we got last season.
It's a damn good feeling and I thank you all for it.
I appreciate every one of you guys sticking in here.
Thank you.
And he's managed to keep his crew together.
I rode 'em into the ground, to put that gold on the table.
That group of guys can move dirt.
A (BLEEP) group of ass kickers right there.
At McKinnon Creek, Jack Hoffman weighs the final gold of the season.
Claim owner, Peter Tallman, joins the crew to find out if they've hit his target.
Hey, Peter.
Hey, Peter, what's up? I'm good.
How are you guys doing? Good.
Do well on the last little bit? We won't know until they weigh it up.
Right now, the anticipation is killing us.
They need another 48 ounces of gold, for a total of 1,300 for the season, to convince their claim owner to grant them a lease on McKinnon Creek next year.
The moment of truth, guys.
Peter.
Todd.
Thanks for coming out, man.
Guys, we thought we had it at 1,000 ounces and, you know what, it wasn't enough.
We thought we were tired before and now we're just shot.
This has been a hard battle.
Dad? Why don't you show us what we got? OK, we needed 48.
We have double - 97.
(CHEERING) Yeah! Whoo, there you go, huh? Whoo! Good job, buddy.
Yeah! Good job.
The Hoffmans have mined 1,349 ounces of gold, worth $1.
6 million.
More gold than they got in all four of their previous mining seasons combined.
One word that would sum up my season would be 'thankful', thankful for another shot at a dream.
We couldn't have done it if you guys didn't take another risk with me.
Hey, Peter.
Here's your cut.
And I am truly thankful for it and I got something for you.
And that is the future.
There's another three years or more of gold and six miles of ground.
Thank you, guys, for hitting that target.
Peter, thank you.
Dad, hand the gold out.
What have we got? Steve! Here you go, bud.
Thurber! Hey.
All right, man.
Logan! Thank you so much.
You bet, man.
In this jar is more than just gold.
It's hope.
This can change lives and it's definitely changed mine.
Now, I can go back home to my dad, pay him back in gold, and say, 'We did succeed.
' The Klondike season is over.
Every gold miner has left for home.
But, before he leaves, Parker Schnabel takes his grandpa to see the land he can now afford to buy.
Oh, so this is the ground right here.
Oh! We've got the option to buy our freedom.
I hope it's freedom you buy.
Me, too.
I could show up next spring and be mining my own ground.
It'd feel damn good.
I mean, this could be mine.
Not being under anybody.
You know? Having our freedom.
My own empire of dirt.
Next on the final Gold Rush of the season They were shooting guns in camp.
You gonna put that on TV? I don't think so.
.
.
the miners reveal the stories that never featured in the show.
Ha ha ha! What are you gonna go into? They share their plans for the season ahead.
I will get another dredge right beside it.
I can buy ground and get out from under Tony.
We're on the richest documented creek in the history of the world.
And we reveal that one key miner has decided to leave.
His time was up.
I have no idea what I'm gonna do.
It almost killed us.
But look where we are now.
Right at the crossroads.
This is the ground that we could come good on that promise for my guys.
Can we keep it? I believe we can.
I don't care what people think.
I'm gonna get that awesome contraption running.
Whatever struggles we've had so far to get to this point, we're gonna improve, it will dig gold now just as good as a hundred years ago.
For two seasons now, Tony calls all the shots, because I have nowhere else to go.
Now is the point where we have to start fighting for new ground and freedom.
Cos the season ain't over.
In the freezing gold fields of the Klondike I think we got a chance of pulling this off.
.
.
the Hoffman crew has to, somehow, find more gold from their frozen ground Do not shut that fricking plant down! .
.
to secure their future on a claim that could make them all rich.
I can't get this ice through the grizzly bars.
Parker Schnabel's crew is determined to leave.
Everybody's wore out, everybody's tired.
The 20-year-old mine boss has to win them back We can go buy our own ground.
.
.
to get the gold he needs .
.
to buy his own Klondike claim.
This could be mine.
My own empire of dirt.
Tony Beets battles the big freeze Hurry up, let's go! .
.
to get his 75-year-old dredge Let's see what the (BLEEP) will do.
Oh! .
.
catching Klondike gold.
Ah-ha! Is there gold in there? Three crews seeking a fortune Tell us what we got.
.
.
a future and freedom.
And this clean-up right here is Oh, my! In the Yukon, the land is already in the grip of the long winter freeze.
At Scribner Creek, Parker Schnabel's mine is shut down.
His crew has had enough of mining - and Parker - for the season.
I'm just trying to pack up my tools so I can get headed home.
Is Parker a good boss? (SIGHS) You really wanna go there? I don't really want to, honestly.
I really don't.
This season, Parker has already mined 2,060 ounces of gold Bam! .
.
worth two and a half million dollars, twice what he got last year.
After hitting their goal, his exhausted crew wanted to head home.
We've wiped your ass for 2,000 ounces all season and now we're empty.
Everybody's wore out.
But, next year, Parker desperately wants to be his own boss.
I need a better deal.
With him, my wings are pretty well clipped.
To buy a claim of his own, he needs at least another 400 ounces of gold.
But he can't do it alone.
These guys have had a hell of a long season, but I need them on board, if we're gonna do this.
Hey, Mitch? Yeah? Do you guys have a minute? Yeah.
So, you know, we're trying to get set up, so that we can have our own ground.
So that's why we're gonna try to push, if you guys'll stick with me, for another 400 ounces.
Cos I don't like the way that things are headed with Tony.
You know? Every year, it's something else, something else.
Pretty soon, it'll be something we can't deal with or we can't afford to give up.
That's why I'm asking you guys to stick around.
We're all wore out, Parker, we've had a tough season, every one of us is ready to go home.
I know you guys are and I know you guys have busted your asses, but we can go buy our own ground and not have to deal with Tony.
What is your plan? How are we gonna do this? I think that the ground that we've got open will damn near have what we need.
If we can just push through one more week What do you reckon? Yeah, let's go get it done.
Let's do it.
All right.
Yeah.
Thanks, guys.
Let's do this.
We're all exhausted.
But another week? We can do it.
We know what we're doing.
Let's go get all the ground we've got open up sluiced.
Parker has convinced his crew to give him one more week, but they need to mine 400 ounces, almost double their best weekly gold haul.
If we're gonna be able to find 400 ounces, everybody just has to give it a good final push.
That's what needs to happen.
At McKinnon Creek .
.
the Hoffman crew also faces a battle.
They need 1,300 ounces of gold to secure their claim for next year.
But all their ground is either mined-out or frozen solid.
Their only hope is a swamp-like cut, rich in gold, but so muddy that it almost swallowed up Dave Turin's dozer earlier in the season.
Well, we haven't been in here for a while.
We left this cut at the beginning of the season.
There was so much mud that our dozers couldn't handle it.
I hated to abandon this, I know what the drill results are under here.
I know there's good gold.
There's $27 -$31 a yard, but we gotta figure out what we're gonna do next, but, uh, I got a big pond full of mud.
Last week, the Hoffmans hit their goal.
Yeah! Whoo-hoo! 1,000 ounces, worth $1.
2 million.
Yeah! Then claim owner, Peter Tallman, offered Todd the chance to return to gold-rich ground.
But at a price.
Go get me 300 ounces and you got a deal.
Oh.
They scraped up every last yard of thawed paydirt.
We've pulled everything, there's nothing left.
But it wasn't enough.
We pulled up 48 short.
Now, their only option is the unmineable swamp.
I can't get to the gold that's under here.
We've pretty much lost the battle.
Todd, Dave, you copy? Yeah, go ahead, Todd.
I got a little surprise for you.
I'll be right there.
I'm done.
I hate the idea of leaving gold behind.
We're not done on that cut.
I'll tell you what, it's gonna be awesome.
Andy, you got a copy? Yeah, Todd.
Yeah, bring her in.
Ha ha! Holy crap! That thing is huge! Yeah, I know! It's the biggest dozer in the Klondike, Dave! The freaking thing is a super dozer.
Yeah! Dude, I borrowed it from the neighbours, but, dude, we have till the end of the day today to get that dirt out of that cut and to the plant.
The 900 horsepower super-dozer, weighs over 100 tonnes and has a giant blade.
Ho ho ho! Dude, how much can that thing push? About 45-yard pushes.
Oh, that's like three times the amount of that one.
Yeah.
(LAUGHTER) That's a dozer! And they let us borrow it for one day only! But let me tell you, I think that's all it's gonna take, one day.
You know what, I know how to mine, but Todd Hoffman can make a deal.
I feel like I'm on top of the equipment world now! The last time Dave tried to get to the paydirt here, he almost lost his D9.
All right, here goes nothing.
Come on! Whoo! TODD: How's that, buddy, huh? This thing is awesome, dude.
You made the right choice on this one.
The super-dozer weighs twice as much as the D9.
But, with its wider tracks and almost three times the horsepower, it has no problem moving great swathes of mud with every pass.
The Hoffman crew is back in business.
Yay-ha! Look at this thing.
By late afternoon, the biggest dozer in the Klondike has defeated the mud.
Hey, hey, hey! We made it! I'm down to pay.
I'm ripping now, buddy.
I'm gonna get Andy and the rock trucks down here now.
Whoo! Look at that thing, Todd.
Right through it! Well, here you go, Andy, you got pay.
The Hoffman crew begins transporting what they hope is gold-rich paydirt to Monster Red.
We're able to run, that's the good thing right now.
.
.
At Eureka Creek, Tony Beets' ancient dredge is high and dry.
He's almost out of time to get it up and running.
Six months ago, Tony bought the dredge for a million dollars.
He ripped it apart, piece by piece, dragged it over mountains, and reassembled it.
But when he finally tried to float it .
.
one of the pontoons took on water.
Whoa! The dredge started to sink, forcing Tony to drain the pond.
Now, he has to find the leak, fix it and quickly re-float the dredge or his dream of catching gold, like they did a hundred years ago, will be on ice until the spring.
(BLEEP) Oh, man! Probably leaking right in that corner, cos all the mud's washed out.
Jerry quickly spots the problem, a crack along a welded seam.
Ah, man.
Tony only trusts one man for the crucial fix, his son, Kevin.
I get (BLEEP), but who else is gonna do them? Yeah, there's a crack about a foot long.
Everybody watch out.
There you go! Yeah.
It's a little rough and ugly but it doesn't need to be pretty.
Tony opens the floodgate for the second time.
This allows water to pour into the dredged pond.
Ah.
It will take 24 hours to fill up and, then, Tony and crew will see if their fix has worked.
At Scribner Creek .
.
Rick Ness and Greg Remsburg load paydirt from the berm cut.
They reluctantly agreed to carry on working for their young mine boss, Parker Schnabel.
This is my third season working for Parker.
He never has liked to call it quits at a reasonable time.
Parker promised that they would mine the easy ground in the berm cut for just one week.
But, with 400 ounces to find, Parker is re-thinking his plan.
Where are we going? I think there's an area that's even richer than the berm.
You can kinda see it from right here.
The ground's been getting better as we work upstream.
See where the berm like cuts way back in, right dead straight, in the valley from here? It dog-legs out up there.
Mm-hm.
And I think a few good days and a dozer and we'll be able to get it open.
I'm having a little bit of a hard time understanding what you're talking about.
Parker gave the crew his word that they wouldn't have to open up new ground.
Is this something we wanna chase? Well, we have to.
If we're gonna get away from Tony, we need something big and, to me, this is it.
I think it's gonna be big gold.
It's not worth the effort.
We're just gonna do it, Gene.
That's the way it's gonna be.
Whatever.
Parker is breaking his promise.
I understand Gene's concerns, but we're sticking around, really trying to push for this extra 400 ounces and I think that if it's as good as I think it is, it'll put us well past that.
Parker heads upstream in the D10, to break ground on the new dog-leg cut.
I'm hopeful that it's gonna be good, but nobody really wants to be here.
I hope I'm not burning any bridges by doing this.
The next morning, Parker has Gene building an access road.
Everybody's wore out, everybody's tired, we've had a good year.
Here we are out doing something half-arsed, instead of doing it right the first time.
It's not the way I like to do things.
It's all a bit (BLEEP).
Rick takes the excavator up the new road to the dog-leg cut to dig a test hole.
We're hopping over a whole bunch of ground to go after this little piece that Parker seems to think is gonna pay off really well.
I'll try a pan.
Pretty bony bedrock, huh? Yeah.
Parker needs to find good gold to prove this new cut is worth mining.
There's some gold in there and that's almost 40 flakes, which is pretty damn good, but they're tiny.
Just weird to see that they're all real fine.
There's not one coarse flake in this pan.
Going off the number of colours, it's some of the best ground, but they're tiny.
But it's nothing special to me.
Let's do it.
Parker? (BLEEP) This is a waste of time.
Last-ditch effort here.
Whatever.
Parker decides to mine the dog-leg cut anyway.
First paydirt.
I'll send it up to the plant.
We're gonna knock this dog-leg thing out and get the hell out of Dodge.
With his crew ready to quit, Parker is gambling everything on a hunch.
You know, this cut could make a difference.
It's definitely worth the risks we're taking.
(WHISTLES) Good boy.
At McKinnon Creek .
.
the Hoffman crew is running dirt from their new cut.
They're chasing a final 48 ounces, to secure a future on this gold-rich ground.
(BLEEP) It's just banging.
Dave? Dave Turin, you copy? Can you come down to the wash plant? I think we got a broken spring on the shaker.
We don't need that right now.
Monster Red's shaker separates rocks from the paydirt by vibrating 745 times per minute.
It's precisely balanced on eight springs, two in each corner.
One of the springs has broken, causing the shaker to hit the platform below with every vibration.
Holy craparonie, man.
We can't run the screen this way.
This thing will absolutely tear itself apart.
Dude, I cannot believe this.
Oh, you're freaking kidding me.
What a way to end it, man.
.
.
At Eureka Creek, Tony Beets' 75-year-old dredge is finally floating.
After investing over a million dollars and six months of gruelling work, tonight, he'll find out if she can catch gold.
Go! The dredge has power.
For the first time in 30 years, she's ready to go to work.
Tony fires up each system, one by one.
First, the heart of the dredge, the nine-tonne trommel.
Yeah, it goes! The trommel rotates perfectly, ready to separate worthless rocks from gold-rich dirt.
The colossal stacker is ready to dump the tailings off the back of the dredge.
It runs! The one section Tony has never tested is the 24-tonne bucket line.
A chain of 72 cast-iron buckets, designed to claw through the dirt and unearth gold.
Tony takes command in the wheelhouse.
Yeah.
OK.
That's a good idea.
First, Tony has to raise the end of the bucket line, from where it rests on the bottom of the pond.
There you go, there you go.
It held.
The winches still have the power to lift the bucket line.
ALL: Yeah.
Ha ha! The bucket line works first time.
The dredge has come back to life.
The Viking ship is ready to scoop her first Eureka Creek paydirt.
ALL: Yeah! At the beginning of the season I asked you if you were nuts or not when you wanted us to move this.
Yeah.
It's a reality now, isn't it? Not many people can say they've done this.
Thank you, Tony.
The dredge can't wash paydirt without water.
Tony rushes to the pump.
Aah! Water gushes out of a bad weld in the trommel's spray bar.
If water isn't getting to the sluice box, the dredge can't catch gold.
Yes.
Despite losing water, the sluice box is still functioning.
It's a little wet, but, yeah, it works.
There's a big hole! I need a lift! (BLEEP) cool, isn't it? What a night! I know.
Ah! Yeah! Next year, we'll put some heat in here and it'll be wonderful.
A place to kick your feet up.
You could have a flush toilet, a shower, a Jacuzzi! The monster comes alive! At last, the dredge is working as she did 75 years ago.
But Tony will have to wait a few hours to know if she's actually catching gold.
At McKinnon Creek .
.
the Hoffman crew is in luck.
Jim Thurber has found one extra spring Hey, Todd! .
.
that came with Monster Red's supplies.
Is that it? Is that it? That's it.
Yeah! Get it up here, man.
But their problem is far from over.
To replace the broken spring, they need to raise the nine-and-a-half-tonne shaker, with no crane.
Mechanic, Steve, has to improvise.
What do you think, Steve? I'll jack this shaker up.
OK.
We'll get it just high enough to pop that spring in there.
You think it'll fit? It'll be close, man.
Careful! OK.
Steve crawls inside the crippled shaker with a basic jack, usually used to change the wheel on a truck.
You OK, Steve? Yep, I'm ready to go up when you are.
Dude, you're getting it.
Looking good.
Whoa, hold on, Steve! You're up against the wash box.
The top of the shaker is hitting the wash box above.
Steve has only been able to raise the shaker by a fraction.
This is something I really didn't need.
We're gonna pull up short again.
I can't live with that again.
I gotta get I gotta get this up.
Dave has to somehow squeeze the spring into a space three-quarters its size.
What do we look like, Dave? Well, we don't have the room.
Let's see.
If I go this way I want this land so bad, I can taste it and I don't wanna lose it.
Grab that hammer, I got this.
Ow! Oops, sorry.
The only way to get it done is the Yukon way.
Get a bigger hammer, Steve.
Brute force.
Yay-ha! It's in.
You're freaking kidding me? No.
So, what have we gotta do? Fire it up.
All right.
Monster Red is ready to wash rocks again.
This is it, if you get tired, you call me, you get coffee, whatever it takes.
Get the dirt through the plant.
Do this, you guys.
They have enough paydirt for one final run.
To keep their gold-rich claim at McKinnon Creek next year, the Hoffman crew needs a total of 1,300 ounces, worth over one and a half million dollars.
See if we can get some rocking and rolling.
They're still 48 ounces short and the temperature has dropped below zero.
To stop Monster Red freezing up, they have to keep it running.
(HUM OF ENGINE) The water is on its way! The generator's coming on.
Roger that.
I thought that plant was toast.
We're not gonna shut this thing down till we get our goal.
(HORN) I'm turning the feeder on.
Ten-four, Dave.
We're up and rolling! Midnight, at Eureka Creek .
.
the dredge has now run dirt for five hours.
Minnie Beets, Tony's wife, joins her family to find out if their 75-year-old dredge can still catch gold.
It's really amazing, man.
Hey? You know what I wanna see.
Right? What? Gold.
Tony lifts the bucket line and shuts down the dredge.
(LAUGHTER) Well? Oh, wow! That's pretty cool, Tony.
Super, wow, that is awesome.
That's amazing.
Right? The dredge is catching gold.
It's already making money.
And you've got gold.
That is amazing.
At McKinnon Creek .
.
the Hoffman crew has been feeding Monster Red for 26 hours straight.
We're just gonna make the best of it and get everything we can.
At 4am, Kevin loads the last of their pay.
There goes the last bucket.
Their future depends on what's in the sluice box.
If they get less than 48 ounces, they won't have their claim next year.
If we got the gold in there or not, you know what, it's out of our hands now.
That's it.
.
.
At Scribner Creek, Parker's crew runs the last paydirt through the wash plant.
That's the last of the pay, huh? That's it, my young friend.
That's the season, whatever's in the hopper.
Parker will soon find out if he's got the 400 ounces he needs to buy his own Klondike claim.
That one for the last time.
That one for the last time.
The exhausted crew's season is finally over.
It's good to be the last one.
It's what we've been looking for.
Everybody did a good job, busted their butts getting finished.
And Parker has a visitor for the final clean-up.
Oh, look who that is.
Hi! Hello.
Hey, Grandpa.
Oh, it's good to see you.
Oh, you, too.
What's the forecast for shutdown? Well, you just missed it, by an hour.
Oh! You mean for the year? Yeah.
You can come over and take a look.
Let's go.
I wanna see this.
It's a little warmer in here.
Oh, yes! Hi! Ooh, look at that! Money! (CHUCKLES) You're gonna You're gonna be here a while.
We counted it.
It's not getting away from us! Wow, that is a big pile.
Ooh! That's too heavy.
How much ounces? 30.
Ooh! That sounds like you're on a winner.
I'm really happy to be here, to see how he's doing.
And, uh, I think he's doing well.
Yeah.
I mean, this is the final gold of the season right here.
One thing that's nice is my grandpa's here to, you know, see it and be a part of it and that means a lot.
I mean, he's He's the reason I started all this.
Right here is more than three times what I got in my first season mining Big Nugget with him.
Parker has another day's worth of concentrate to process.
Then he'll find out if he has the 400 ounces of gold he needs to buy his freedom, his own Klondike claim.
I hope we've got the gold.
This, here, it's money in the bank, so that, next year, it's gold in the ground.
Want a shot? (LAUGHTER) Parker's crew celebrates the end of a long season.
Well, let's go inside and see how we did, boys.
Yeah.
Come on, dog.
OK.
We'll go.
This box contains all their gold from six months of mining.
Every one of those is 100 ounces.
Ooh! That's impressive.
Last week, Parker beat his season goal of 2,000 ounces, worth a staggering $2.
4 million.
I've worked all my life to make this much money and this is six months.
With Tony's cut, that was 2,060.
Oh, Tony did very well.
I'd say.
There's the reaction.
But he needs another 400 to buy his own claim and finally be free of his landlord, Tony Beets.
So, since the last clean-out, we've done this.
Ooh! Oh, my! And what is that? That's 200.
(LAUGHTER) Oh! Oh ho ho ho ho! Oh, man! Look at that.
That's another 200.
Here it comes again! (LAUGHTER) Oh, yes! This is Parker's biggest clean-up ever.
478 ounces, worth well over half a million dollars.
His goal for the season was 2,000 ounces, but the 20-year-old mine boss, now has a staggering 2,538.
And that's $3 million right there on the table.
Enough to buy himself a new claim.
This clean-up right here is two and a half times what we got last season.
It's a damn good feeling and I thank you all for it.
I appreciate every one of you guys sticking in here.
Thank you.
And he's managed to keep his crew together.
I rode 'em into the ground, to put that gold on the table.
That group of guys can move dirt.
A (BLEEP) group of ass kickers right there.
At McKinnon Creek, Jack Hoffman weighs the final gold of the season.
Claim owner, Peter Tallman, joins the crew to find out if they've hit his target.
Hey, Peter.
Hey, Peter, what's up? I'm good.
How are you guys doing? Good.
Do well on the last little bit? We won't know until they weigh it up.
Right now, the anticipation is killing us.
They need another 48 ounces of gold, for a total of 1,300 for the season, to convince their claim owner to grant them a lease on McKinnon Creek next year.
The moment of truth, guys.
Peter.
Todd.
Thanks for coming out, man.
Guys, we thought we had it at 1,000 ounces and, you know what, it wasn't enough.
We thought we were tired before and now we're just shot.
This has been a hard battle.
Dad? Why don't you show us what we got? OK, we needed 48.
We have double - 97.
(CHEERING) Yeah! Whoo, there you go, huh? Whoo! Good job, buddy.
Yeah! Good job.
The Hoffmans have mined 1,349 ounces of gold, worth $1.
6 million.
More gold than they got in all four of their previous mining seasons combined.
One word that would sum up my season would be 'thankful', thankful for another shot at a dream.
We couldn't have done it if you guys didn't take another risk with me.
Hey, Peter.
Here's your cut.
And I am truly thankful for it and I got something for you.
And that is the future.
There's another three years or more of gold and six miles of ground.
Thank you, guys, for hitting that target.
Peter, thank you.
Dad, hand the gold out.
What have we got? Steve! Here you go, bud.
Thurber! Hey.
All right, man.
Logan! Thank you so much.
You bet, man.
In this jar is more than just gold.
It's hope.
This can change lives and it's definitely changed mine.
Now, I can go back home to my dad, pay him back in gold, and say, 'We did succeed.
' The Klondike season is over.
Every gold miner has left for home.
But, before he leaves, Parker Schnabel takes his grandpa to see the land he can now afford to buy.
Oh, so this is the ground right here.
Oh! We've got the option to buy our freedom.
I hope it's freedom you buy.
Me, too.
I could show up next spring and be mining my own ground.
It'd feel damn good.
I mean, this could be mine.
Not being under anybody.
You know? Having our freedom.
My own empire of dirt.
Next on the final Gold Rush of the season They were shooting guns in camp.
You gonna put that on TV? I don't think so.
.
.
the miners reveal the stories that never featured in the show.
Ha ha ha! What are you gonna go into? They share their plans for the season ahead.
I will get another dredge right beside it.
I can buy ground and get out from under Tony.
We're on the richest documented creek in the history of the world.
And we reveal that one key miner has decided to leave.
His time was up.
I have no idea what I'm gonna do.