Gold Rush

I guess we won't learn. It's snowing.

And here we're takin' on another big project.

Narrator: On this "gold rush"...

We actually got a pretty big shot at beatin' todd.

All we gotta do is divert the creek.

A big, frozen hole. Can you clear it?

Tony, what's up?

If you don't have the buckets, then don't run.

Winter's settin' in, and I got twice the amount

Of pay and half the time to run it.

Man: Fort knox. It's the biggest piece of equipment

We've ever moved.

Be careful. Whoa!

Two plants, 600 yards an hour...

We got double-barrel shotgun comin' to parker.

Captions paid for by discovery communications

This is when a season is won or lost.

Narrator: At scribner creek, parker schnabel

Is mining a new section of the boundary cut,

His richest ground to date.

With just 2 weeks left in the season,

He has over 2,500 ounces of gold.

He could still hit his 3,000-ounce,

$3.3-million gold

If his ground continues to deliver.

Man: The boundary cut's been really good.

Gotta get the gold out of the ground.

We gotta finish strong.

Narrator: Parker and crew are once again

Ahead of their rival, todd hoffman.

The competition goin' on

Between us and todd hoffman is pretty close.

So we're expectin' this to pay off really big.

And if it does, it's probably gonna be just what we need.

Ah, come on, man.

Gravel that's frozen.

Basically a big, frozen hole.

thaw .

When teeth are breakin' off the bucket, we got problems.

Too hard. It's rippin' the bucket apart.

I'm gonna have to talk to parker.

Narrator: Just a week ago,

This new section of the boundary cut

Produced a monster 388 ounces of gold

Worth well over $400,000.

So what do you wanna look at?

This hole here. This is frozen.

yeah.

Forty feet that way, it's frost.

How much thawed dirt you think we have?

If we run another week, we'll be lucky, huh?

Yeah.

Narrator: Earlier, in the summer,

Frozen pay gravels quickly thawed out.

But now, in late September, with less sunlight

And temperatures dropping below freezing,

Frozen ground has no chance to thaw.

If parker can't find thawed ground,

His season is over.

I wanna show you something.

Rick comes up with a plan,

But it's a long shot.

You know, treasure island was right there.

Boundary cut's right here. Both amazing ground.

And right through the middle of it, we've got a big, ol',

Thawed creek bed.

And there's, uh, zero chance of it bein' frozen.

All we gotta do is divert the creek.

It's not that simple.

True. Yeah.

In our water license, they lay out how to do it.

And it's pretty strict, you know,

As far as building a stream bed.

Sure. It would have to be constructed

Like it's been a creek bed for the last 30 years...

Sure. With fish habitat features.

We need to take it seriously, you know?

We -- we have to do it right.

Like, if we screw up, I mean,

They could take our water license.

But it's got no overburden on it.

And it's thawed.

Could be somethin' special.

I mean, it's doable.

And we've actually got a pretty big shot at beatin' todd too.

Yeah, man. Then let's do it.

Sweet.

Narrator: The plan -- construct a 120-foot-wide channel

To divert dominion creek west into neighboring sulphur creek,

Exposing 1,800 feet of thawed,

Gold-rich gravel in the riverbed

Between their two best cuts,

Treasure island and the boundary cut.

And we still got gold to find.

So if this is what it's gonna take to do that,

Then we gotta do it.

It's all or nothin' right now.

We're runnin' monster red pretty much

24/7 to get rid of this pile of pay.

We gotta get this pay run.

Narrator: Todd hoffman and crew

Have mined 2,376 ounces of gold,

Worth over $2.6 million,

324 ounces short

Of their 2,700-ounce season goal.

Man: If we get all this gold sluiced off this hill,

There's even a chance we can beat parker.

Narrator: Todd is just 215 ounces

Behind his young rival.

Man: We're callin' this the $1 million pay pile.

We probably have no more than 2 weeks left.

And there's a lot of dirt and a little bit of time.

Narrator: With temperatures hovering at

The freezing point...

A snow squall hits the mckinnon creek claim.

Man: Freakin' cold.

I didn't expect this snow.

The way I see it,

We got 2 to 3 weeks of pay here...

And we don't have that kind of weather.

Look at this. Oh, yeah.

Because it gets colder at night, this will continue to get worse.

When it freezes here, it freezes.

All that gold's gonna be froze

In this pile right here, this winter.

I'm runnin' day and night. We're just balls to the wall.

There's no way to go any faster.

Narrator: The hoffman crew has barely sluiced half

Of their $1 million pay pile.

They're losing their battle with the frozen north.

We're not gonna make it. Wait a minute.

Whoa. Whoa. What do you mean, "we ain't gonna make it?"

What I'm tellin' ya is,

I don't think we got time to run this pay.

Normally, I would say, "you know what,

We gotta jump on next year."

But if we leave this here, we're never gonna get it.

I don't wanna leave gold here if we're headin' to oregon.

Do all that work for somebody else to sluice your gold.

We gotta get this pay. We cannot leave this pay here.

Don't stop.

Narrator: It'll take the hoffman crew at least 2 weeks

To sluice their 70,000-yard pay pile.

But the yukon winter has come early.

If temperatures continue to drop,

They'll be forced to leave behind half a million in dollars

In gold.

Todd has to come up with a way

To get the gold

His crew has worked for all season.

There's definitely don't wanna drive outta here

And leave that pay. There's just no way.

We're gonna get that pay ran, come hell or high water.

This is the christies'. This is definitely one

Of the biggest mines on the indian river.

It's a family operation.

May have the answer to our problems.

Sheamus? Yes?

How's it goin', man? Not bad, todd.

You? Good.

Narrator: Ever since he arrived in the klondike,

Todd's admired his neighbor's wash plant.

There it is, todd: Fort knox. Wow.

Built out of 150,000 pounds of steel.

It's easy to use. It's easy to set up.

How many yards an hour?

It'll do up to 350 yards when we...

Three-hundred and fifty. Crank it up.

I personally think this is the best wash plant in the klondike.

It's got things on it

That no other wash plant in the klondike has.

Narrator: Fort knox features a pre-wash box

That pumps 4,000 gallons of water a minute

To blast every grain of gold

Off the rocks.

The concentrate is then slowed down

By a unique bed of nails

Before it enters a pair of opposing sluice runs,

Fitted with two boil boxes.

Inside each boil box, water jets

Spin the slurry, forcing lighter material out,

While allowing large nuggets

And the finest gold to settle.

Man: Usually a neighbor comes over

And borrows sugar or somethin' like that.

But I'm askin' to borrow probably

A $1 million wash plant.

Just kinda stay back and let me talk to her.

Narrator: To rent fort knox,

Todd has to close a deal with the mine boss,

Tara christie.

Hey, tara.

Hey. How are you?

It's kind of a...

I'm kind of in a pinch.

Is there any chance

That you might be able to rent me your wash plant?

I don't think I can help ya, todd.

We were just packin' up to leave,

So it's, um...