Lust for Gold: A Race Against Time

Gotcha.

Couldn't be any happier.

Been waiting 25, 30 years to get in this.

Now we're gonna get it, finally. I know we are.

Last week I couldn't even walk that far.

You know?

Can't keep a treasure hunter down.

According to Rick Gwynne,

there was a cave of gold.

He was getting ready to start bringing some stuff out.

When he went back, a miner had filed a claim on the land

and every time that Rick went there,

the miner and his buddies were getting drunk

and they'd start shooting at him.

So, if he went near the place, he'd get killed.

After 25 years, this guy got off the land

and so Rick's trying to recover it.

And so that's why he called me.

We'll scan that and put it on the laptop.

- (Rick) Well, I... - (Robert) Does that sound okay

or do you want to have us scan a different spot?

- I mean, that's... - No, you...

- you know where the... - I'm thinking that's where...

Your machine says that it's...

Well, I'm saying that when I scanned it last time

I was in that bottom corner over there.

When I got in the cave,

the amazement that I had was just unbelievable.

There was some blunderbusses, there were some paintings,

and there was a cask of coins,

and then next it a little ways was a pile of jewels.

This one jewel, it was on a rug and it was huge.

There's also the skeletons of the people that

must have put it in there.

With all the DNA things that they have nowadays,

we can find out whose family

they belong to and finally set them to rest.

There's a table across from them

with a... with a skeleton

and the gentleman also had his arm near a book,

which I believe this book would have secrets in it

that are just unbelievable.

There's another room and there's also a skeleton there.

There were some stacks of bars, they were silver and

they were gold, maybe a foot and a half off of the ground.

You tell someone that, you know,

that you seen this stuff and you've got all this stuff

if they think, why aren't you a millionaire?

It was just too dangerous

and we had these terrible rainstorms

that came in and it just filled in the washes here.

We could not find another entrance.

Dad likes to kind of think of himself

as Indiana Jones,

which is kind of cool, you know,

and it's true because he's just out there

and finding all the information out,

reporting it. His reward is the adventure

and the journey and everything that comes with that.

I'm following his example.

Y-you need to bring your stuff out. Okay?

All... all right...

Robert had told Rick

that I was the attorney on the expedition

in the Superstition and

Rick wanted to ask me a few quick questions.

Well, I... I... I brought you a retainer agreement

- if you want to sign it. - (man) What it... can you tell us

- what it means? - (Bill) Well, it just means Ri...

he's retaining me as his attorney.

That's all.

So, so, if I have to go to the government,

if I have to, you know, do anything...

do anything on his behalf.

- Just so... - At this... at this very moment,

I'm not planning on going to those guys.

- (Bill) Okay. All right. Well... - Right off the bat.

- (Bill) Yeah, I got you. Okay. - Yeah.

'Cause they're just too greedy.

Well, I... I, you know, it'd be coming to me as an attorney,

I have to tell you, you know, legally, you know,

the correct course

and then it's up to you whatever you want to do,

but, you know, be remiss if I didn't, so.

- Uh-huh, remiss, yeah. - Yeah.

Okay.

Gonna have to put in 10 feet.

Put 10 feet.

I don't see the targets.

I can't get can't get... can't get below something in the rock.

- I don't know what's happened. - What happened?

I can't know what's happened.

I mean we used to have a room

and we used to have a billion marks

and now we got nothing but...

a rock layer that's only a foot deep.

All the ground that we just scanned,

I can't see anything below two feet.

Really?

You got to remember that the heat

affects my instrumentation.

- Oh. - And I had... and I wanted

to be done by 10 o'clock for a reason.

And we're out here almost at 12 and it's 97 degrees.

And I'm thinking that

the Rover may not be operating well enough

because of the damn temperature.

Technology didn't work for us today.

Well, it certainly showed up on our last scan

exactly where... where everything should be, it was.

On... according to your... your screen.

I... I'm thinking you're just going to have to drill,

drill long and take your best shots.

Well, you're going to try some of your drilling,

I hope, at least.

I want to see that dad-burned drill you was running.

I don't have one. Bill brought...

brought to what he's got

and you've got what you've got and I've got nothing.

I'm doing scanning.

Over there I found where the paintings were.

When I came over here,

I scanned across these rocks just about here...

was a rectangular golden blob.

- That'll work. - Okay.

- Anywhere in here. All right? - Okay, I'll get started.

- (Robert) Okay? - (man) Yup.

Is that your wife's vacuum?

- (man 3 chuckling) - (James) Well, yeah,

but she doesn't know I got it.

It looks to be an inch,

but I know that one that I had from Harbor Freight

said an inch.

And this is bigger. So I don't know, huh?

Maybe they have smaller inches at Harbor Freight.

Yeah, okay, lemme... I...

step aside and I'll do it right now.

Put your hand right here.

You don't want to get a hand here

- and then have it twist. - Gotcha.

- So that's why I'm... - Gotcha.

- (drill whirring) - (music continues)

- (vacuum whirring) - (Rick speaking indistinctly)

Try it.

Trying to find the bigger stuff clog it up.

- (drill whirring) - (James) Okay, stop.

I pushed little too far, probably.

Could be stuck, you know.

Stuck in there. It's stuck in there.

We proved the point that this will go down at least two feet.

The numbers that we got through the software

provided by the manufacturer, don't add up to the reality.

I didn't write the software.

I didn't design the tool.

The equipment's here... take your best guess.

Don't go home saying, "I wish I could have tried."

Everybody's just kind of feeling the anxiety,

hoping that we just, you know,

make a breakthrough at some point, you know.

I'm sure... seems... it just seems to be all a matter of, I mean,

you can feel the ground shaking. You know, like something hollow.

- (music continues) - (hissing)

We're gonna go ahead and drop the camera

all the way down in there,

take pictures of whatever's...

whatever... whether everything's down in there, actually.

I always knew it'd still be here, no matter what.

And now it might be coming into fruition.

Salvador started the Victory Club

25 years ago tonight.

He, uh, asked me if I would take it over for 12 years,

and so I said, "Sure."

I felt like it was a great honor to do that.

And so, I started passing out the Treasure Hunter

of the Year Award, which is given to someone that...

that keeps the lore going and represents us in a good way.

Now, this year, Salvador and I are gonna turn it over to, uh,

Bob Schoose and Wayne Tuttle.

- There you go, buddy. - Thank you, guys.

Yes, ma'am, all right.

For this year, Treasure Hunter's 25th Annual Awards Presentation,

"To a true mountain man and treasure hunter:

A special thanks for keeping the legend alive

for many years, hiking in the Superstition ranges,

searching out the many stories, lost mines,

and keeping the secrets of the treasures they've held.

A true legend of the mountains.

You will be remembered by us all forever and always."