Gold Rush

Let's get some dirt in it!

Get the pile in the plant!

Narrator: On this "gold rush"...

Lee: What's up with rick and parker hiring these old guys?

Sevigny: Tonka toys in your backyard

-perfect! -Whoa, whoa!

Screwed up.

I swear I'm gonna wring doumitt's neck.

I've been forced to work in this cut by myself.

-I need help in the cut. -I go where I am needed.

And I'm needed everywhere.

Monica: Definitely kind of sucks.

Todd: We are at ground zero. I hate to say this.

But I need you guys to go the next 2 weeks without pay.

I didn't come here to work for free.

I don't see how it's gonna work.

I came down here to oregon with a --

a pretty good belief that this ground was worth a damn.

And it's not.

And if there is no gold, we're not getting paid.

And if I don't have money in my account, I can't live.

Narrator: At todd hoffman's high bar mine,

morale is at an all-time low.

Spinks: You know, we thought, when we came to the high bar,

that this was gonna be one of our best seasons ever.

And right now, it just kind of feels like a mistake.

Narrator: This year, todd hoffman has set

by far his most ambitious goal --

5,000 ounces.

-First bucket, trey. -Here we go!

Narrator: After a grim start,

freddy dodge discovered a new pay streak.

Look at that.

Yellow gold.

That could be a serious game-changer.

Narrator: But 5 weeks into the season,

they've mined just 129 ounces of gold,

worth a pathetic $150,000.

That doesn't cut it.

We're hitting a lot more bad spots than good.

We don't want to quit.

But we might not be staying at the high bar.

Can you guys meet me at the edge cut?

Narrator: Frustrated by last week's di

todd's crew gave him an ultimatum.

I'd promised the guys that, if we didn't get 50 ounces,

that I'd close the high bar down.

Even though it's less than half of what we need each week,

50 ounces would keep us in the game.

It could be here. Guys, it could be here.

And I want to give it every last chance we can.

But I need you guys to give me your all.

I'm with you. Let's give it 100%.

If we can get 50 ounces from this,

I think it's a reason to stay, 'cause we can expand on this.

-All right. -One more shot.

-One more shot. -One more shot.

Todd: Let's do it.

So this is it.

We got to get every ounce of pay dirt we can.

We got to get this gold.

Everyone, the plant is going hot.

I repeat, the plant is going hot.

Man: Copy that.

Kevin, you ready to go?

Yeah, we're ready to go here.

Let's do it.

Hiatt: My wife's back home taking care of four kids

while I'm trying to support them.

And I have another kid on the way.

So I hope we can stay here.

Keep this plant running hard.

You know, right now, we're at the point

where it's kind of a sink-or-swim type of deal.

We've got to get gold.

So what we're gonna do is get this top layer off.

And then I'm just gonna go down deeper.

Um, you know, we have no idea

if this goes 20 feet or 100 feet or 5 feet.

I mean, we just -- we just don't know.

So we'll just keep going down,

make it a bigger hole until we get gold.

Wirth: Up here, I'm pretty positive

the deeper you go, the more gold you're gonna see.

Might be more difficult to get.

Andy's in some pretty tough stuff right now.

Um, the clay layer, we have a lot of clay up here.

So we try to stay away from it.

The plant does not like it at all.

And that stuff's just pretty nasty material.

Logan, pick up the pace.

We need to slam as much dirt through this plant as we can.

Getting a full bucket here is next to impossible.

This material is so dense, all kinds of weird clay.

And it's a fight to load with this.

You've got to be kidding me.

Kevin to will.

-Yeah, go -- go ahead, kevin. -It just, like, bogged way down.

And it's taking forever for this stuff to run through.

Kevin, I got that feeder turned all the way up.

So it's -- it's at max it can go.

And that feeder's backed in pretty tight.

What's going on here is we're into some

really wet clay, red material.

And that stuff's just packing that feeder tight in.

This is not good.

At this rate,

we're never gonna get 50 ounces.

Parker: We've got a really good system down.

And as long as we've got good people, it keeps up.

Narrator: 2,000 miles north, parker schnabel

has already mined 412 ounces of gold,

worth almost half a million dollars.

But the only way to hit his massive

4,000-ounce season goal

is to run his new wash plant at full throttle.

Parker: Right now, the plant's running about 240 yards

an hour, which is pretty good.

It's, uh -- it's quite a bit of dirt.

You know, at that, we do an ounce for every 90, 95 yards.

So we should be doing about 2 1/2 ounces an hour.

So, if that's true,

then we're in good shape.

Narrator: Parker's attempting to run lean and mean

with as few crew members as possible.

Yeah, the beauty of this setup with the feeder down in the cut

and those conveyors bringing the pay up

to the plant is that,

with just a few people, you can stay running.

that thing sounds like me when I walk now!

I think this sounds a little better.

Hurry up, tyson. I'm tired of standing here

watching you work hard. You want me to grab you a chair?

-Yeah. -One with wheels?

Narrator: But parker's plan is under strain,

as veteran miner chris doumitt is on light duty.

64 years old, and I can't even dress myself.

I can get it!

-I'm helping, doumitt. -Gol-dang kids!

Just came off of back surgery.

These kids won't let me do anything.

They think I'm old or something.

Yeah, doumitt's definitely eager to get back in the loader.

And I hope he takes his time to do it

'cause I don't want to see him go back for another surgery.

I had back surgery, not brain surgery, okay?

-I got it figured out. -Sometimes, I wonder.

narrator: Chris has been one of parker schnabel's

wash plant operators

for the last three seasons.

But, this year, things have changed.

Is your back all right doing that?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm going slow.

All right.

Parker: I love chris doumitt.

But chris just isn't in the shape to run a loader,

like, all-out like we need here, you know?

And tyson's turning into a very good plant operator.

He watches everything. He keeps a good eye on things.

But he's fast, too.

I'm bailing pay as fast as I can.

And I'm hardly putting a pile up.

We're never gonna keep up with this thing,

not two of us.

Narrator: So parker hires a new operator, denis sevigny.

And with his new lean-and-mean approach,

parker needs every crew member

to be at the top of their game.

But it's all about sluicing, right?

Don't stop the sluice box.

It's been like that everywhere I ever worked.

A guy could drop dead with a heart attack.

If he's dead, well, they'll deal with him.

Keep feeding the box.

I'm gonna go to work.

Parker: Denis is a yukon local. He's been mining a lot of years.

And, uh, I've got high hopes, anyway.

We've got good people in the loaders.

It's a really good system.

Lee: What's up with rick and parker hiring these old guys?

like, did they go to the retirement home

and hand out flyers?

-Hey, tyson! -What's up?

I need fuel. And where's the fuel cap?

-The fuel truck's right there. -Okay.

So just back up to it and lift the ass end.

Lift the cap.

New guy's first day on the job.

Parker: Dude, he's not gonna fuel right there out of that truck, is

I don't think he's got as much experience

in a loader as he claimed.

Now, which one opens the grizzly?

One, but make sure your bucket isn't over it.

-This one here opens it? -Yeah.

And this one closes it?

No. One opens and closes.

Two is stop.

Hopefully, maybe he can figure it out.

Kind of odd how he's going up the ramp

with the bucket all the way in the air, though.