Lust for Gold: A Race Against Time (2021) - full transcript

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.

- Well, I...

- 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.

- What it... can you tell us

- what it means?

- 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.

- Okay. All right. Well...

- Right off the bat.

- 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.

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.

- Okay?

- Yup.

Is that

your wife's vacuum?

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.

Try it.

Trying to find the bigger stuff

clog it up.

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.

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."

So, it looks like that the, uh,

silver basin filled with coins

and jewels is still there.

He's got all those

orange targets, it's over here,

where the... the table

and all that stuff was,

and you can see

where I think that basin was,

right there,

that little yellow hit?

- Okay.

- Right, and there's, uh,

maybe some other spots

that I might hit,

but we're getting solid targets.

I have lived 51 years

researching this mine.

Lookin' for gold

and such as that for 31 years.

- 35 years since I come here.

- This is like my rookie year.

I personally have found things

in the Superstition Mountains,

yes.

We found three silver bars up...

up in the rafters.

There's a number of people

that have found gold bars

in or around

the Superstition Mountains.

Uh, gold seekers, we call 'em

"true believers."

They're a... they're

a different breed,

and they come in all shapes

and sizes, and, uh,

they... they just...

they... they have this...

It's this drive.

It's like that carrot

out in front of you,

dangling in front of you.

"I know it's out there,

I know I can find it.

I just wanna find it.”

The gold seeker

trained in science

is going to be

more professional,

because that's more

of your scientific process.

You don't just take it

at face value.

You have to prove it.

This is a scan,

and it lets you see

the 3D images

that have been produced.

The dark blue indicates

an area that's been

disturbed by digging.

The blue-grey and the green,

this indicates the terrain

that's been set down

by natural geology.

And then,

this is a corroded target.

The orange is the corrosion

that coats the target,

and this side view shows you

that the target is

below everything else,

which indicates

it's a real target

and not a false alarm.

What I discovered

was the location

of the Latin Heart site.

I discovered how to read

the Latin Heart Map

that was made from a clay tile.

It has 31 caches.

31 Roman numerals.

It's my opinion

that the Roman numerals

represented bars of gold,

so when I scanned

and I saw bar shapes,

I made the conclusion

I would be looking for bars.

I collated all my results,

I made a master map,

I showed where everything was,

I got everything prepped.

I briefed Gary Hanna, head

Tonto National Forest Ranger.

I said, "I'm willing to

hand you all my notes,

all my records, stand back,

and say, 'It was here, '

and watch you guys do it all."

I thought, when I went to Gary

and I gave him minimum

of four years of work,

research, measurable data,

given that I've got

three degrees

and that I know

my field of expertise,

I honestly hoped

I was gonna get,

"Wow! That's great!"

And boy, was I naive.

They threw it away.

Totally opposite reaction what...

I just was totally dumbfounded.

Usually people think

I have the gold,

think I'm nuts,

or I'm gonna get killed.

Those are the three responses

I usually get.

I only had one choice:

To raise my army.

The army of the greedy.

Okay, so I got Bill, James,

David, Nathan, and myself.

Thank you, guys, for joining me.

- Jason, what'd I say?

- Nathan.

Wrong brother, I'm tired.

The trail that we're taking

is the Massacre Trail of 1862.

It completely matches

what Jacob Waltz

said on his deathbed.

This is the treasure site

that's on the Latin Heart Map.

Everything that I've found

at Latin matches it.

I was just surfing

on the internet one day,

and I typed in

"Lost Dutchman Goldmine"

just to see

what the next story was.

Here's Robert Kesselring's

five-part summary

of what he'd been

working on for six years.

He says,

"I'm looking for an attorney

to do some pro bono work for me

to see if we can get

some digging permits,

and get things going on this.

I stopped right there,

and I emailed back, I go,

"I'm your guy,

I am in this 1,000 percent.

Don't have to look any farther."

The other people on the team...

my next-door neighbor,

James Sybesma.

His passion

has always been gold.

How... how treacherous is...

do you think it is?

I told him right away,

I says, "Count me in."

People have been lookin' for

the Lost Dutchman Mine too long

and they haven't found it.

Kess is like, "Nah! There really

is a Lost Dutchman Mine,

and there really was a guy.”

David Smith I grew up with

in Palm Springs,

and David is a rock hound.

Bill was talking about

this guy's story.

He knows exactly what

the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine

is all about, I mean he...

he carried on,

and carried on, and carried on,

and all I knew was

that I wanted to see

the Superstition Mountains

and hang out for a while.

We're 65 years old, I mean,

we're not far from... behind Kess.

That foundation is...

I think between the two of 'em,

we're pretty well set

with our support staff.

The map says

there's 31 caches of gold,

and totaling over

31,000 gold bars.

If you do the math,

the value today

is $6 billion worth

of gold bars out there.

So, the whole idea here is:

You gotta show

the government proof.

And what's proof?

Well, proof is holding up

that gold bar, dropping it off

on the desk of the...

the forest ranger, and say,

"This is out there."

This is

an Indiana Jones adventure,

I'm telling you!

You're looking at

Superstition Mountain,

a barbaric pile of rock

40 miles long by 20 wide.

The man is Floyd Buckley.

He's going into

this 800-square miles

of sudden and violent death,

because he thinks

it's just another mountain,

and because he's greedy

for its treasure.

Yeah, I said treasure... gold.

$20 million worth

of precious yellow metal

waiting to be found in

America's most elusive mine,

appropriately named

The Lost Dutchman.

You see, this is the true story

of Superstition Mountain,

the biography of a death trap!

My name's Barry Storm.

I was hurled into this story

when I heard that shot.

Up till then,

I was just an ordinary guy

with a reasonable curiosity

about the Lost Dutchman Mine.

When I was 13,

my Aunt Ruth gave me a copy

of Thunder Gods Gold,

written by Barry Storm.

My aunt met Barry Storm,

who's here,

and had him sign it for her.

It was about more

than just looking for gold.

It was about treasure hunting,

and it was the legends

of the Jesuits,

the Peraltas,

and the Lost Dutchman.

This book I read religiously,

most of my life,

right next to the Bible.

Bible, Thunder Gods Gold.

Back and forth, back and forth,

and that's how I got into

the depths of where I am now

about treasure hunting,

and I am totally in love

with the people that

went through that experience.

When I'm... when I'm there,

my heart and my soul

is with them.

I see their impact,

I see where they slept,

I see where they died.

I see the plants that

are native that they grew

that were herbs for food.

I see all

the little secret symbols

that they've put up,

hidden triangles and stuff.

I can... I can see the ghosts

of ancient past walkin' around.

It's like a... a head trip

Disney can't provide, you know?

And so, I went back

to one of the pictures,

and in it was a petroglyph map,

and I looked at it,

and I look at it, that's when

I realized what he knew,

that the Mexicans

used the metric system.

Everybody before me,

for a hundred years kept saying,

"They're Spanish.

They use leagues,

They use varras.

They didn't understand science."

They had the highest developed

mining university

at the time in Mexico City,

and the Germans would take

their graduate students

and send them there

to learn more

and go into the field.

Hi, poochie.

Dad basically had just

given me copies of the books,

and was telling me

about the Peralta Maps,

and all that kind of stuff.

He was seeing

that I had interest.

He just kinda started saying,

you know, "Hey,

if you wanted to go out

and kinda, you know,

get your camping skills

sharpened up,

I can help you, and...

'cause I wanna

take this big trip.”

Yeah, we'll leave it

in the bedroom.

I like it, though.

Yeah, it was your grandpa's,

he liked it a lot.

My parents were divorced

when I was like two years old.

I was like 12 when,

uh, Dad was able

to kinda come back

into my life briefly.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And then, after high school,

I was 19, I left Texas,

and then pretty much didn't have

any real communication

for 20 years.

Probably been about

32 years total of my life

that I didn't have my father.

My intention is to hand off

everything that I've learned.

Give my son Jason

all the training he needs.

"This is my legacy to you.

This is my work,

I hand it to you,

you carry it on.”

I cherish everything

that we get to do from,

you know, this point on.

Just kinda, like,

"All right, well, you know,

if you need somebody to kinda be

there for ya, and you know,

recording and doing whatever."

I said, “I'll do that.”

Everything out here'll bite ya,

poke ya, prick ya,

sting ya, or poison ya.

The Superstitions

can be real dangerous,

especially if you don't know

what you're doin'.

I was out there walkin' around

Yellow Peak, they call it,

and off to my right,

I couldn't believe it,

I saw what I knew

was a skeleton.

There was one of

the fellas there, and, uh,

he had his arm on the backpack,

and then I looked down

the canyon, uh...

down the canyon a little ways,

and there was

another fella layin' there.

They said that they died of

natural causes,

but the one fella

looked like he had a couple

of indentations

in the back of his head.

Somethin' blunt,

and the other fella,

it looked like his back

had been beat in,

and one rib bone was

stickin' out through the front,

and, uh, but his shirt

was not torn,

so no animal reached in there

and pulled those bones

from the back forward.

They were layin' on

this black basalt rock,

and that... in July?

That must've been just

terribly, terribly hot.

We went out there and asked

the Sheriff's Department

if we could help

look for the guys,

and they told us

that we better go

take a special course,

so that they didn't have to

worry about us gettin' lost.

Hundreds of people have died

in the Superstition Mountains.

This is my last expedition

into the Superstitions

to document the things

that I have discovered,

a project that takes a whole lot

more people than one person.

We had the Mexican-American War

in 1846,

and they had been hoarding

their gold and building it up,

and they were gonna secede

from Mexico.

So, I believe

31 families that were

the wealthiest families

in the district

saw the Americans coming,

told their sons

to take the treasure out

to where the hoard was,

and they buried

the family's wealth,

'cause they couldn't get it

to Mexico fast enough.

That's the treasure

that I've located.

I'm pretty certain that,

uh, you know,

we're gonna... we're gonna

find something out there.

This is real.

There's a lot of gold out there.

Howdy, am I far enough off?

- Well...

- You want me to back up?

He's a big horse,

but I think you'll be okay.

I'm all right.

Looks like you've been

working hard, guys.

When you see people

comin' through with packs,

presumably these guys

struck it rich,

and they're working

the Dutchman's Vein.

That's the kind of rumor mill

that keeps churning

all the interest in the gold

and the Superstitions.

Six hours of hiking.

About a mile an hour.

Rover made it.

This is a scanner.

It looks shorter than the...

- Oh, it's...

- It's collapsed.

Collapsed.

I'm acting like I've never

put up a tent before in my life.

Got another

three-and-a-half-mile hike

tomorrow.

Good night,

see you in the morning,

or if something crazy

happens in between,

I will let you know.

A cement bag's

just a-droopin' on down.

Well, that cement's there

it's a-there

for a weight, babe.

Five'll get ya ten,

old Macky's back in town.

Yeah, yeah, oh, the line forms.

Macky's back in town.

So,

today's goal is to, uh,

take you to the notch

of the heart, okay?

And then, we're gonna

climb up the mesa,

and we'll get to the Citadel.

I'm going to break up the teams.

I'll have shown you

where the last place was

I saw a prospect,

and it's under a fire pit.

- Yeah.

- And I'm gonna take Nathan

and I'm gonna teach him

how to do the rover.

Who? Jason.

- Jason.

- There ya go.

Is your bag too heavy,

is it good?

- It's okay.

- Right.

Love you, Dad.

Okay, GPS on.

The day came...'cause I was...

I was gettin' gold fever,

and I went,

"You know what?

Don't quit your day job, James.

You got two kids to raise,

and a hot wife to keep happy.

I think you better

save that for retirement."

Doin' this,

it's right out

of my wildest dreams

- for my retirement.

- Hey, dreams!

Fairy Tales coming true.

It's like chasin' the dragon.

What are you waiting for, Billy?

- Good save.

- Thank you.

Would you like

your cell phone back?

Yeah.

- I got it.

- Okay.

Be careful comin' down.

We're in the Citadel, gentlemen.

You are in the Peralta Map

Latin Heart area.

I found a series of targets,

and I said, "Well, let's dig

a latrine over one of them."

Got done,

and we filled it back in,

and we built a fireplace.

He says that's it.

See it, see where we walked?

- Yeah.

- It's in the right spot.

I think you should scan.

That's my start.

Bush is my last,

right this side.

I'm linked.

There's no hits.

I'm not seein' a prospect.

Now, what I can do is

when I get back to camp,

I can put this on the laptop

and check it,

but I don't have any targets

in there today.

We can start to...

maybe you'll get a...

James, you wanna... you wanna

auger this down a little bit?

There's a rock down there

about little bit bigger

than a soccer ball.

If you go down three feet

to that rock and I scan it,

I should get a hard target.

Point this out.

Efficient operation.

When I say, "Scoop,"

you can start scooping.

Hold on.

Panic is settin' in, guys.

- Time to go.

- All right, he's gotta scan it

- one more time.

- It's time to pull out.

He... what... I don't understand

why he's not gonna scan this

one more time.

You just drop the pole

down in there.

- Two minutes.

- Yeah.

Okay, you guys wanna... you guys

wanna push that envelope,

you can talk to

the main man, but...

- Yeah.

- He's tired and...

- All right.

- It's his time for his,

you know, meds and whatnots.

If this was me, I'd be goin'.

- Yeah.

- "Nobody eats

until we get the gold.

So, tonight is:

Get to bed early, get your rest,

take two vitamins,

say no to sex.

You know, the Olympic thing.

I don't have to at our age.

We're in that...

we're in that club

where all the girls say,

"I don't wanna, and..."

Yeah, I gotta be

reminded of that.

Yeah, you're not in my league.

So, now,

the whole idea of coming here

was to find a target,

and to show that

all of the research

and everything you've done,

is worth it and we find the...

you know, we...

we find a bar

and whatever it is.

That's the number one goal

on this trip

is to find a target.

We just got off to a late...

too late of a start today.

So, we're up at 7:30,

and gettin' dressed,

and goin' and havin' breakfast.

All right,

so it's about 8:00 at night.

Went out to target one,

and it's just, uh,

with the equipment,

seems like it just

was still reading air.

We'll go back tomorrow

and finish it out.

Good morning, Gordy,

how you doin'?

Good morning,

good to see you, too.

After the hike

of a mile and a half,

I'm convinced

I can't hack going back

to the Latin Heart site.

I've had four operations

since I was here last.

It took its toll.

Now, I talked with Jason,

and I said,

"Hey, if there's a spare tent

left over down here for me,

I'm good to stay."

So I've given you

the coordinates,

I've given you the aerial

surveys, and I think

you guys all need

to get up there.

I wish that I had

prior knowledge

to all of this, you know?

No... he... I mean, I... I just

listen to him, you know?

I gotta tell you, that guy is...

He has very interesting,

convincing stories.

He knows what the hell

he's talking about.

I am... well, I am not having

any doubt in my mind.

The kid... the kid is just...

I mean, he's... he's got dreams

of getting the kid all involved,

and I don't see it, do you?

No.

They were... the... you know,

the Peraltas were like

- the Rockefellers for...

- Yeah.

- You know, the King of Spain?

- Nah, but very interesting.

- Yeah.

- To do all the mining.

I was for... for weeks,

I was trying to think

of what Peralta, I was like,

"Is that an Indian?"

I never heard

an Indian group named that.

- Yeah, well...

- I just couldn't think

- of what that was.

- What did they do,

did they get a Spanish

land grant here, or something?

Yeah, they did, and the guy,

the head Peralta guy,

I forget his name,

Manuel Peralta I believe,

he was the largest, uh,

landowner in the state

of California.

So, a lot of people

in the history books

don't know about

these Peralta miners

that were massacred...

86 of 'em in 1847...

by the Apaches.

Billy boy.

10 bucks, are we gonna

see anything or what?

- Yeah, we are.

- Yeah?

Fuckin' A.

Very unstable.

Very loose.

I see the tarp.

And I brought

twice the digging tools.

So, we're gonna go

four times faster

and deeper.

I'll be right back.

I'm not trying

to get out of work.

- Oh, yeah.

- No, I'm not.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Obviously, I think someone

was just diggin' down

to see if there was

some kind of vein.

'Course, who knows?

Anyway, we'll just have to wait

till Robert gets here.

You know, Kess, he's 67, 68,

uh, so he...

It's been a hard trip for him.

So, he's following

up the rear today,

taking it a little bit slower.

So, David and James

are over there hard at it

to get us down

another foot and a half,

so we can run

the scanner over it,

uh, or I've got my,

uh, metal detector.

And if for some reason

there's... there isn't

anything there,

then we're going over

this hill here

to target number two,

and, uh, let's see

what we can, uh...

see if we can, uh,

bring up the target

on, um, Robert's scanner.

Well, that's where

I'm leading to,

is in another two months

is kinda the goal.

I know it sounds stupid,

two months or next week...

That's what I'm saying

is you pick a goal,

put your mind to it,

I just haven't

put my mind to it yet.

I have a mental image

of that shit.

Hey, David.

James.

How's it going?

- We're waiting on you, Bill.

- Okay.

We got the rock out.

You got the rock up?

- What?

- You found the volleyball rock?

- Yeah.

- Get out of here.

- We're waiting on you, Bill.

- Oh, okay.

I thought you would've

set off a flare or something.

Find my way down.

Robert, we're waiting for you,

you have honors.

There were other rocks

that we found on the way

down there to it,

but this was the big one,

- right smack in the middle.

- I'll scan it for you.

Now, Robert, there's another

fire pit right here.

Just kind of in the open.

Well, I'm just sayin',

I don't know how long it takes,

but this... you know,

this could be

a fire pit right here, and...

This looks like a big,

uh... bigger one.

- Look at it, it's not here.

- Well, I'm just saying,

it's in line with this,

I just, you know...

No, no, but I'm sayin' that

what... what you're lookin' at

is not just that,

it's this here.

Yeah.

- I see a fire pit.

- Got the laptop?

Got the cables?

- Yes.

- Bring 'em up.

I just don't wanna leave

this area without trying to...

You should see pretty much

what we were seeing.

And you'll notice that

there's no target in there.

Well, this is right in line,

look at it.

- By... by...

- Do you know what I'm sayin'?

Yeah.

There's nothing there

in the center.

But, you can see

where I'm saying that target

used to be,

and the ground all around it

was dug up.

So, I don't think

they're gonna find anything.

I think it's been dug out,

or they've moved my fireplace.

- So, Bill.

- Yeah?

I don't have anything on there.

So, either they moved

the fireplace or they took it.

You wanna look at this, Robert?

- That's a fire pit, too.

- That's not ours.

That's not yours, okay, okay.

Since time's fleeting,

why don't you go to target two?

- Gettin' my strength.

- Okay.

Even this... look at it, Bill,

even this is...

I'm... I'm... you know,

you can see 'em everywhere.

That... that could be a spot,

that could be a spot.

And they're really close

to the general area.

And to be so fixated on...

Yeah, yeah.

I want you to come up here

and look at what we just found.

You won't fricking

believe this.

- Is that paper?

- It's a tarp.

They stuffed it with

something to hide it.

How deep did they go?

- Look at this shit!

- Am I wrong? Good lord.

- Look at this!

- Leave it for prints.

- Yeah.

- Well, I got my gloves on.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- We got...

- Are those empty?

- No, they're full!

We've got Campbell's soup,

pea with bacon.

Progresso

loaded potato and bacon.

Bean and bacon.

These guys loved bacon!

Unbelievable!

They opened up an abandoned mine

from the Mexican Peralta's.

- Well, I wouldn't.

- Yeah, could of.

You're not gonna dig

like that to hide tools!

- That...

- No, no, they didn't do that.

That's... that's for sure.

They opened up a shaft

that'd been sealed.

And they... they broke in.

Okay, well, uh, leave the tarp

in the hole so it's safe.

The mine was already going.

It had been built way back when.

This mine was already... had

already been started.

Now, the mine...

you're saying mine?

- Yeah, mine.

- Were they looking for gold

in here? The original

guy who dug in here?

- Yes, why would he do that?

- Of course they were

gold miners, this point

I'm ready to call the FBI

and say there's been gold stolen

on federal land.

That looks like explosives

to me.

I don't know anything

about explosives.

- I... I wouldn't touch it.

- Well no, I'm not touching it.

Well if it's fulminated mercury,

it could go off in your hand.

Nice little PVC pipe bomb.

Ah, shit!

This is unreal,

this is un-fricking-believable.

What is that? A backpack?

Well that's fricking

unbelievable!

Look at that!

- That's gutsy.

- Well... well.

Well, we'll look at

the contents.

There's a Red Bull can here.

Don't touch it, there might be

prints the sheriffs can get.

- You okay?

- Yup.

I'm just staggering down.

- You got it?

- That's brand new!

We got a name!

Yeah, here's L.A. Swat

when you need them?

Right, they're catching stuff!

This is unreal,

this is un-fricking-believable.

Okay, doing the Vietnam check

here.

A phone number!

- Is that a score?

- Oh, that's a score!

Oh, damn.

Oh, baby.

But holy... That's a... That's it.

We flushed them.

They ran out of here like...

ran out of here like illegals.

- This is damp.

- Okay.

Another bottle.

Don't wanna handle that.

- Foil.

- Tinfoil.

Uh, space blanket?

Oh, I think we can connect

him with the explosives.

What's in there?

- Don't play too much.

- Oh.

We got matches, cannon fuse.

Thermite igniter, two pack.

You got bomb making equipment

out here.

This is FBI evidence.

We're good at finding tools, and

we're good at finding backpacks.

Somebody's moved a butt load

of dirt over here.

Just recently.

Looks like 80 percent

of the material is gone.

This used to be up there,

and right here was a stone

monument about that high.

It's gone.

The history's gone.

The shit's trashed.

Bomb went off out up here.

I told the Feds, I said,

"If... if we go get a bar,

and we find it's a bar

then the cache here was... would

be worth today

a billion dollars."

Those guys left those tools

because they're coming back

because they didn't get

down far enough.

You saw those guys

coming out of here

with all those horses

with the crates?

Fuck!

I'm gonna bet they took out

whatever they found.

Pretty clear that the plunderers

have been out here.

Government wouldn't

listen to me.

They're probably gonna say,

"Well, you're the one

that released the information."

I said, "I told you I would."

All right.

Visions of sugarplums dancing

in your heads, huh, Bill?

- Ugh, this is...

- Frustrating for yah, huh?

- My God.

- Those gold bars

are just flying

out of your mind!

We'll be back.

You throw out GPS coordinates

on the...

Publish those,

somebody's gonna grab them.

And start looking.

So, this doesn't surprise me.

I don't know what they dug up.

I just wanted a permit

to dig a tiny little hole.

I'm a missile scientist

that knows the technology.

I know this works.

Why don't you believe me?

I said, "If you don't let me

do this, I've got to publish.

I've gotta put this before my

peers and get judged."

I'm pissed!

I'm going to the sheriff

when we get out of here!

We give them the evidence.

I want their ass kicked!

And I want the goddamn

politicians to wear the blood!

The question is did those people

come up empty handed or not?

Did they get it?

Or didn't they get it?

Was it there ever?

He did let out that

he believed there was... there

was deposits of something there.

That has not, uh, that has

gotten out to the public.

And he believes that there

may some deposits left.

But he said a chunk of that,

a big piece of that, is...

has been, uh, taken out.

He gave out the coordinates,

and... and you know,

probably shouldn't have done...

well, shouldn't have done that.

- Shouldn't have done that.

- I think if he had to do it

over again, uh,

he certainly wouldn't have

put those coordinates in.

I don't wanna say,

you know, that I...

I think he's full of shit,

but, you know,

the first couple of days

I was really questioning,

you know, what...

what does this guy see?

What... what makes him

feel this way?

Why... why would he think

that there's gold bars there?

And I haven't seen any gold yet.

I'm very interested in, you

know, preserving the history,

and, you know, keeping people

from coming out here

and dying and, you know,

killing themselves,

or blowing up terrain

and using pipe bombs

and all that kind of stuff.

I'm definitely interested

in helping out stop that,

but my main interest is my dad,

you know.

This is somebody I just

never really got to know.

So, you know, I was angry

and upset and hurt

and then a little bit later,

a few years

later, I found out about Nathan

being my half-brother.

And so then you kind of

deal with jealousy

and that kind of stuff,

and like, "Well, hey, I'm here.

What about me?" Um.

And then you just kind of,

you know,

It... it stuck with me

for a while, but then

as I grew older and just

kind of learned to let it go.

Alright so here we are

on like day seven,

six, somewhere in there.

Psh, my days kind of gotten

blurred all together.

What we saw, and all those

holes, is a federal crime.

I didn't sleep last night.

It's against the Wilderness Act,

and if they got manmade items,

they've also broken

- the Antiquities Act.

- You're the lawyer, am I wrong?

- It was tough yesterday.

- I know it is, don't cry.

- It was just tough, you know.

- You can imagine how I feel.

No, I know, I've only been doing

this for sixteen months.

- You've been at this for...

- Six years.

Are you convinced that we found

the Peralta Latin Heart site?

As I told you before,

I look through the lens,

you know,

of a litigation attorney,

and what I could prove to a jury

and what I couldn't.

And this would be easy to prove.

If you look at the lay of the

land on that topo map I've got,

- it's a total match.

- No, it's a total match.

And so we've had the people that

were in the Dutch Hunters Club

of Apache Junction

stand up and acknowledge

that I had succeeded.

“Robert has found it.”

They acknowledged that publicly.

He's got gold fever!

We bring two guys on our crew

that have got gold fever

that bring all the... Stop!

- Yeah, but...

- Stop!

I brought you here

and now you're all jammed up

about something

that somebody else did...

I'm all jammed up

about you two knuckleheads

going around digging holes

all over this place!

What holes have we dug

all over this place?

Did you bury a single bit of the

crap that you dug up yesterday?

- Where you dug those casings up.

- There was already a hole there.

- You dug, and you walked away!

- Wait a minute.

You dug, and you walked away!

If you can't admit that,

I'm through!

- That was a five-hour job.

- Did you hear what I just said?

Oh, you're nuttier

than a fruitcake.

You're a knucklehead today.

You're really a knucklehead.

Bill, there's gold here.

Shut the fuck up.

No, I don't have to shut up!

There's another story here that

you don't know anything about.

And that's why it's important

for us to bring a gold bar up...

No, it is not important to bring

a single piece of gold out...

We are here to show

that technology has proven

that there's gold here!

That's the backpack.

That's the label that was on

the orange pack that contained

- the detonators and shit.

- Okay.

- That's the bag.

- Okay, gotcha.

- And where's the pipe bombs?

- They had taken that,

uh, grey PVC

with some white PVC caps.

And this is what

it looked like or what?

Yeah, that's... that's right,

yeah, it is.

Like it's all homemade shit.

In that area

is a lot of the land destroyed?

Yeah, yeah, they dug a big hole.

And then underneath that

they put in a tunnel,

and that's where the food

and some tools was stashed.

That name you found?

On that bag?

Yeah, sir.

Yeah, we have it.

We've contacted him numerous

times last summer out there

where he was out hiking

for miles and miles

and miles with no water.

About four times we had

to get him out of there.

I tell you, it's the richest

gold ore ya ever seen!

Come on!

Gold fever'll make you

do some terrible things.

It's that... it's that

luster lure of a treasure.

You can tell someone when

someone has gold fever

'cause they just become totally

turn on the dime of interest.

I've had, um,

some gold fever for sure.

You know, I mean, not bad enough

that I wanted to hit my partner

over the head

or anything like that.

But it is an obsession.

I've got the gold fever.

- You still have gold fever?

- Oh, one hundred percent.

I mean, I wouldn't have tootled

down to Florida for ten days

looking for treasure

on the beach if I hadn't.

It's all part of it.

It's all part of it.

It gnaws at them,

it eats away at them.

That they're just there,

they got to get it done,

they got to get it done

and we hear about that,

a number of treasure hunters

who died in the mountains,

that they just

couldn't let it go.

Is your odometer working?

Your mileage odometer?

Well, yeah, I know,

I gotta look at it.

I see 160,000, is that

what you're talking about?

Yeah, but I wanna know

the last two digits.

Oh, okay.

83.

- 83?

- Yeah.

The map that Robert cracked,

the Peralta Heart Map,

so far has been spot on.

I've seen the bars,

and we're bringing the gold out!

But where... where

is our destination?

Our destination's

right over here.

- Okay.

- So we've gotta go down,

we've gotta go over

this mountain,

and then we go around

Marsh Valley?

- See that's where we...

- Yeah.

So this is where... that's where...

And we're going past that today?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can't

believe you don't remember.

We gotta go over that we gotta

hike over that big mountain!

- I'm drawing a blank.

- It's a bitch.

Now, do you have

an idea where that is?

Yes, I have an idea

where that is!

Like, like it's right here.

I know where the arch

is but I mean,

you're looking at this.

What indicates

that you know where that is?

- I don't know.

- Okay.

You're asking me questions,

I don't know.

No, I'm gonna ask you five times

and then we're done.

There's gonna be... There's gonna

be some kind of marker.

Okay, I do wanna get up here

to see what they've dug.

Yeah, yeah, oh no, no, I don't

have any problem with that!

- Because I do know-

- Yeah, yeah!

I do know... We do know

where that is.

And we do know

what's under there, okay?

Yeah, yeah.

You can see that those arms

appear to have been sheared off.

And there's those two long arms

create a 'V' okay?

And that's the line of sight.

So it's not going to be a

perfect... but you know that

you're gonna go in this

direction.

- Right.

- Okay? It's got a cross cut

in the very top of it, okay?

That's a marker,

that was cut in there, alright?

Could Mother Nature

have done that?

Yeah but it just... it aligns

right with that.

I'm at that point,

it's the heat...

it's not even the heat of the

day, and I'm melting up here,

wasting a lot of energy,

and uh, there's only uh,

the hours that

we're wasting also.

He might've thought

that was a Roman Numeral one

'cause there's a cross on it,

and then there's a one.

- I wouldn't call that a three.

- It's not a Roman Numeral.

I'm not saying it ain't!

I wouldn't call it that.

I think enough with this.

I think that can be put off

till later.

I think we should be digging.

Or, or we should be,

uh researching

where there may be caches

undisturbed and the markers

are still in place, and we can

say, “This is where it's at.”

Right down here is a rock

with fricking rocks piled

on top of it is a marker!

Those rocks were put there!

You just don't have a pile of

rocks to have a pile of rocks!

Those things are heavy.

And that's a fricking marker,

and it's next to

he crossed saguaro.

It all... It all fits.

This is a one bar site.

This is, you know

what I'm saying?

- So this is...

- Why?

Let go.

You need to know

what to look for.

You need to look for cuts

in saguaro cactuses.

You need to look

for rocks that are piled up

on top of each other 'cause

that's how they would mark it!

- I got it!

- All right, well.

- Let's move on!

- Okay, we're moving on.

I would like to set up a plan

where we can actually prove

that this, uh,

this research had...

that was done by Kess is valid.

All we can do is go look

and observe and see if we can...

- See if we can...

- Figure out because we don't

- have the scanner.

- Mhm.

So.

First off, this is on the map,

okay?

And there's... it shows

that there's a...

Here, let me pull it out.

That spike, all I've heard

from Kesselring is,

“The spike! The spike!"

Once you find a spike,

that is a telltale sign

that they have that's a...

that they've hidden...

they've buried gold bullion!

Men put this together.

Uh, James,

we're not gonna destroy that.

That's too precious of a thing,

I'm not gonna destroy it.

- It ain't precious to me!

- Well, I just...

I'm not saying it shouldn't be

here when we get done!

I'm saying we can take pictures

of it and put it back together

- 90 percent of the way it was.

- No, we can't.

- No, we can't.

- This is not a religious

- fucking thing!

- Well, I understand, but I'd...

Don't get religious on me!

Well, I'm telling you!

I'm not talking about

destroying stuff,

I'm just talking about

taking the door off

and putting the door back on.

What, are you gonna move that?

That's not part of...

that's not part of it.

Take that off of there.

Well, I don't wanna be stupid

about some of this shit,

and that's stupid.

I think I can dig right here.

Is it alright if I move this,

Bill?

I wanna say this, though,

I wanna just question you

one more time on this.

You basically were saying

it's underneath this.

It could be.

Well, it could be to the side.

According to the map, right over

here is another cache site.

So I'm just gonna walk over here

right over here and see

if I can see anything

that looks...

Now what does

that look like to you?

That looks like a fucking...

fricking one of those

spike markers.

But, you know, it could just be

a regular rock.

- Hey, Bill.

- Huh?

What'd you see on the screen?

- I saw the gold bars!

- Here?

- Yeah.

- Here's... here's...

James, it's saying

there's 5,000 bars there.

So it's gonna be massive.

My guess is, it would be there.

Because that's where

the deeper mud is, right?

As the slope goes up,

it's another foot.

I don't know, I mean,

it's an idiot project to me.

Bill, how many?

Give me that number again?

5,000.

Five thousand?

That's a lot, man.

5,000 bars?

Where?

You know what I'm saying?

All I'm waiting for

is that full moon.

When it comes through

that window,

it'll light up the patch

of ground where I'm to dig.

I'm standing

right in the center of it!

Right here!

This is where I dig.

20 million bucks worth.

It is the moon

that'll point out that gold,

it'll only do it once a year

on the anniversary of the night

the Peraltas made that sign.

That's the catch,

when was that sign made?

What night?

What hour? What moment?

If I could figure that out,

I'd hit the jackpot!

In my mind, if something

monetarily comes of it,

it's gonna come down the road,

if we discover something,

'cause it's like finding

the Titanic!

James Cameron, they make

20 million dollars a year

taking all that... taking

all the uh, artifacts

that they found, uh, from

the Titanic around the country.

You do things for passion, okay,

and this is being part of

history,

coming out in the Superstition

where thousands of people

have been out here

trying to locate stuff.

If I could've been, you know,

and I still feel I will,

but you know,

to be a part of that?

It's being a part of history,

so money didn't have that much...

didn't have that much... I wasn't

even thinking about money!

You know, do I have gold fever?

I've never been... I've never been

prospecting in my life

except this time, you know,

so if I had gold fever,

it would've started

a long time ago.

There's no doubt in my mind,

if those guys hadn't blown up

the side of that mountain

and taken 13 hundred gold bars

that were there

that I saw on the scanning?

No problem,

there's no doubt in my mind.

And I know there's bars

back there, you know?

It's just you gotta

have that scanner.

So I'm coming out here again.

With Jason and I can guarantee...

well, I can't guarantee

anything.

I thought we'd have one now.

I'm pretty sure that

we'll be able to locate,

uh, you know, those bars.

I had no business

coming right now.

I had no fucking business.

I need help with my pack

to put it on.

We're almost... we're almost up.

Mother of pearl.

God fricking.

Woo.

Schoose is here, Feldman's here,

San Felice is here.

- Yeah, I saw him.

- This is?

- Gary.

- My son, Nathan.

- Nathan.

- Jason.

- Jason!

- You have a son named Nathan?

- Yeah, I got...

- Okay, I'm hoping so.

- Too many kids.

- 'Cause that really sucks

- if he doesn't.

- Oh, no, yeah.

- Bar's open right?

- Bar's open.

- Nice meeting you, Nathan.

- Jason!

This year, Treasure Hunter's

25th Annual Awards Presentation.

"To a true mountain man

and treasure hunter.

You will be remembered

by us all forever and always.

Happy trails, thanks for

the campfires we have shared."

It is an honor and a privilege

to present this award to

Brian Lichtman!

I've looked for this mine a long

time with my good partner,

- Ron Feldman, here...

- No matter what he's done,

Robert Kesselring would be

on a list for an award.

But he's not being accepted

by all of the people

that have spent

their lives out there.

- How do you spell that again?

- Uh, Walz, W-A-L-Z.

Jacob Walz.

Nope, nobody with that name

ever registered a claim here.

This record goes clear back

to 1870.

But there must've been,

the Lost Dutchman

was supposed to be worth a

fortune, he wouldn't just leave

- that money laying around.

- Maybe he never found a mine.

Some people don't believe

there ever was a Lost Dutchman.

Anybody that would use

Thunder Gods Gold as the Bible

is, uh, shooting blanks.

Yeah, it's got a lot

of information in it,

but realize that

Barry Storm created

a lot of the information.

According to my friend

who was out there with him,

he had a little problem

with drinking

and so he did

a lot of that instead

of doing a lot

of this uh, treasure hunting.

Barry Storm, in his time

in the '40s...'30s and '40s

was using what was considered

state-of-the-art electronics

and detecting equipment.

It seems ridiculous now, looks

like a bunch of PVC framework

they're carrying around,

not too much different

than what we see now still,

though.

I guess if you were to

look at it in one certain way

they're all competing.

Everybody's competing

for the, you know,

the same ultimate goals.

To the people that wanna call

Dad a fraud,

I just, I shake my head them,

like, okay.

If that's what you think,

but I believe him.

That's just, yeah, I have

no other thought other than,

right, I believe him.

It's a good story.

And it's a great legend.

There is something

magical about it.

The true believers will believe

these stories, though,

because they are feasible.

They're plausible.

But, uh, take you down

the path of plausibility,

you just have to figure out

where to get off.

Place like this

is just made for folklore.

It gives the dreamers

the opportunity to dream.

We all need that.

Thank you for calling

SenArt Films.

If you know your party's

extension,

you may dial it at any time.

Hello, Mr. May, my name

is Brian McDonough.

I'm a gold miner from Arizona.

I'm calling to tell you

about the film

that you're producing right

now.

I've spent 30 years prospecting

for gold in Arizona.

Kesselring, Schoose,

Feldman, Tuttle.

They all know

that I've found the mine.

I never looked for the mine,

I found it. It came to me.

They're just a little pissed

off and a little upset

that a prospecting cab driver

has found the mine, not them.

If you guys tell the story

from these assholes,

these idiots in Apache

Junction, that are nothing

but a bunch

of crazy-eyed whack jobs,

that the mine has

not been found

and that it's some kind of

farce legend,

or the stones were carved in

someone's garage,

that's a bunch of hogwash!

Up on Stoneman Lake Road,

when I was just a kid

my dad said,

when you pass here, look around

those outlaws came

this way with that stolen.

Clarkdale payroll.

They were caught,

But the bag was never found.

And after all these years,

Each time I drive that road.

My eyes are always searching,

so it seems.

But I don't know

if I'm looking for

that lost outlaw payroll.

Or searching for

a kid's forgotten dreams.

That secret canyon never

really given up its secrets.

Does Peralta Canyon

hide a Spanish mine?

Are those silver pesos buried

beside the Reavis Trail.

Is the Dutchman's gold still

there for men to find.

Oh, I never found that fame.

Never even found a nugget.

No outlaw stash

nor mystic motherlode.

But as time goes by, I realize.

The joy is in the searching.

And I'd rather have

the stories than the gold.

That secret canyon never

really given up its secrets.

Does Peralta Canyon

hide a Spanish mine?

Are those silver pesos buried

beside the Reavis Trail.

Is the Dutchman's gold

still there for men to find.

Did the Dutchman

ever really have a mine.

Hey there, partners!

Welcome to

Goldfield Ghost Town!

I'm Jacob Waltz,

The Lost Dutchman!

Come on over here, now,

and I'll tell you

how to find my goldmine!

Everybody that has ever hunted

the Lost Dutchman Mine

knows where it is,

including myself,

and every one of us

is in a different location.

These guys believe what...

in their theories

that they come up with.

They will always tell you

where there's not gold.

And they will tell you how

there's fraud, and there's...

there's been plenty of fraud.

There ain't a whole lot of facts

about The Lost Dutchman Mine.

They're all stories.

Legends.

Of all the people you know,

how many stories do you know

that are actually true?

How many stories that I've heard

do I think are actually true?

Mine!

We haven't had any luck

but we're absolutely positive

that there is a treasure

in there.

If you look at the people

that are here today,

none of them are quitters.

All of them

are absolutely dedicated

to answering the question.

Next time,

when we come back out,

we're gonna get in it,

I guarantee it.

I imagine that same feeling

that I had before

is going to be right back

in my stomach.

I'm just gonna keep the faith

and keep on digging.