Gold Rush

Narrator: On this "gold rush"...

...A side of tony beets few have ever seen.

Minnie: And we danced for the first time.

The big, bad gold miner gets back to his roots

As a farm boy in the netherlands.

You still know how that works, tony?

Tony reveals a devastating family tragedy...

...How he went halfway around the world

To make his fortune...

...And eventually become one of the kings of the klondike.

And in a first, tony and minnie

Let us in on their secret life

When they're not mining for gold.

Captions paid for by discovery communications

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On their gold mine, up north in the yukon...

Monica!

We got it!

...Tony's kids monica and kevin

Dig into some family history.

Minnie: Hey, guys.

Are we looking at pictures?

Yep. Yeah.

Okay. The amount of pictures I've seen of dad in a dress

Is starting to concern me.

Look how skinny dad was.

I know. And he looks so young.

Holy

I was only 16 then, I think.

You're such a fox.

No wonder you fell for mom. Why'd you go with him?

Oh, that's you and I.

That was bc, before children.

Look at how cute they once were.

That was in '78.

7. 7?

Yeah. And I...

So I've known you for 51 years.

Really? I heard stories.

About?

Oh, yeah.

About what?

The hell-raising y'all did.

I didn't. I was always very nice and good and polite.

He was horrible. You know what?

You've seen the town we grew up in, right?

That little town.

Anyways, when I first started dating him,

Half the town didn't wanna talk me anymore.

Why? And not a lie.

'cause he was just a wild man.

Everybody was always bitching about his driving and...

At least that hasn't changed!

And then, you know, I thought he was --

Have money, because he was driving a mercedes.

Then I found out it was his dad's.

Oh, my god. That's amazing.

Narrator: It's been a remarkable journey,

But gold-mining legend tony beets

Now runs one of the largest

And most successful operations in the klondike.

Tony is well-known for being a hard-ass.

And over his 30-year career,

He's pulled millions of dollars in gold out of the ground.

But this larger-than-life klondike king

Started out 4,000 miles away

In a little village in the netherlands.

On a rare visit to his homeland,

Tony returns to the family farm,

Where he discovered the true meaning of hard work.

You did?

How old were you when you put 'em in?

'cause they were here when we were dating already.

Oh, I remember walking here, and there was pure muck.

Oh, my god. That was horrible.

For over two decades,

The beets family struggled to make a living

On this 50-acre dairy farm.

Why? Does he attack?

No.

It is. It is really a lot smaller.

You still know how that works, tony?

Let me have a look on the inside.

Huh? Uh, no.

No, I don't think so.

no!

How many fields did you guys have?

Yeah.

Okay.

Narrator: On a dairy farm,

The cows have to be milked twice a day.

Yes.

Let's go.

Tony was first put to work at the age of 7.

But tony hasn't been at the business end of a cow

In three decades.

Man: Can I have a drink of that?

Minnie: It is kind of weird being here,

Knowing that we could have been here for like 40 years.

It's, like, scary, actually.

You don't know how life would have been

If we would've stayed here.

It might've been a good life, too.

We would've made a living

Because you're a little bit of an entrepreneur anyway.

So you would've done something.

And I probably would've kept on working, too.

But it would've been totally different lifestyle.

We could've started a bed-and-breakfast.

Narrator: Tony's mother, magda, is now retired.

But she still lives close to the family farm.

Oh, it's horrible!

It's cold! It's blugh!

Hey, mother! Hello.

Hello.

Good. How are you?

See?

Nice to see you.

Oh!

There we go.

Narrator: Magda has lived on her own

Since tony's father, klaus, died 10 years ago.

And she is one tough lady.

Good. Minnie: That's good.

Magda: Yes.

Narrator: When tony left the netherlands

At 24 years old,

He was a small-town dairy farmer.

No one could've predicted

He would be returning 35 years later

A successful gold miner.

Who would've ever thought

Your son would have had a fan club?

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Wow. Wow.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So do they ever say anything about his swearing?

Yes.

Tony bleep!

Well, mom, you should've taught him not to swear!

Narrator: Coming up...

Is this where your dad had his accident?

...Tony relives the tragedy that forever changed his life.

Narrator: In his hometown in the netherlands,

Tony beets relives his childhood with his mother, magda.

Okay.

Magda: No, no, no, no, no.

okay.

Narrator: From a young age, tony was a rebel.

Yeah.

Minnie: It was hard. Yeah.

Is this where your dad had his accident?

Yeah.

Were you -- like, you were hauling 'em?

Or you were stacking?

Right?

And it gains momentum, too, as it goes down, right?

But that's quite a distance it fell, you know?

That must've been horrible.

Yeah.

There was not a lot he could do.

He couldn't work on the farm anymore.

No.

Let's go.

Narrator: The beets' farm is surrounded by canals and dikes

Built with world-famous dutch engineering

And a fleet of dredges.

Tony wants to know everything about dredges.

So here we are on holidays looking at dredges.

Oh, I think he's a little obsessed.

Narrator: There's only one miner

Dredging for gold in the klondike.

And it's no coincidence

That he grew up in a land of dredges.

The netherlands is protected by 2,000 miles

Of dikes and dams

Built by floating digging machines.

This dredge isn't mining for gold.

It's making the canal deeper.

Hey, tony! Hey, minnie!

We got to go! Let's go!

I don't really give a let's go.

We have to go, man.

No.

Narrator: Coming up...

...Tony and minnie make the bold decision

To leave their homeland

For the promise of a better future.

And he goes, "oh, by the way, I'm going to canada."

¶

Minnie:

How the hell did you do that one?

I think you're supposed to stand way further way back.

I mean, the way you're standing right now,

You might as well put it in.

Narrator: Tony and minnie beets went on their first date

Way back in 1978.

I mean, this has to stay there, too.