Bering Sea Gold (2012–…): Season 6, Episode 7 - Teamwork - full transcript

Narrator: Nome, alaska.

Zeke:
Mining is about independence.

I'm relying on myself.

And right now,
I'm not doing that well.

And I'm trying to figure out
how to do better.

But at least I'm not relying
on anyone but myself.

Narrator:
In the gold-mining game,

You can't get far without
being able to go it alone.

Derek: I'm a good mechanic.
I'm a good fabricator.

I'm a good problem solver.

There's no situation
I can't handle down here.



Narrator: But late in the 2015
summer dredging season...

Steve:
My dream is happening here,

But, you know,
supposed to be shawn's too.

Narrator:
...The fleet is about to get
a crash course in teamwork.

Steve: Communication between me
and shawn is pretty piss-poor.

I know all his faults,
and he knows all mine.

You know, that's --
only father and son

Can have that relationship,
I think.

Narrator: Even for the most
resourceful miners around...

...Eventually...

Everybody needs a hand.

I need a new crew.

So I was gonna see
if you guys wanted to come

And dive on my boat.



Captions paid for by
discovery communications

On

Narrator:
The outskirts of nome

At zeke tenhoff's compound...

You know, the whole, like,
dynamic of running a boat

For a corporate entity is --

It, like, kind of saps
some of --

Some of my juice out of me.

...The chief gold officer
of the havilah

Is growing tired of life
as a company man.

Another thing is -- is --

That it's treasure-hunting
for somebody else.

It's been a really long summer

And a lot of things
have not gone well for me.

The numbers
for the season are --

Are pretty weak,
pretty damn weak.

Definitely way below
what corporate expected

Me to do for them.

Narrator:
Three months ago...

If you get tired of working
for the man, uh, we'll talk.

...Zeke chose the stability
of the corporate ladder

Over a reboot with emily riedel.

I'd much rather work for the man
than work for her.

Narrator:
But a crew of greenhorns...

I am totally suspended
in the air.

I am taking a ride.

We are no longer on the ground.

...The string
of bad cleanups...

I don't know that the hell's
[bleep] going on.

...Has left him weighing
his options.

I was kind of thinking about
maybe just quitting gold mining

And becoming
a custom couch-maker.

-Hello.
-Hey, there, emily.

-Hey, hey.
-Hey, emily.

It's really nice in here.

[bleep] yeah, it is.

You want a cerveza?

-[ laughs ]
-[bleep]

Aw, you guys
are all laid out.

How are you doing?

I lost daryl.

And daryl got into
a gnarly car accident.

-Is daryl okay?
-He is.

He's just in
for a long recovery.

He can't put any weight
on his leg for three months.

So, um, how's everything
on your boat?

How's --
how's mr. Corporate?

I don't know
what to say about it.

It's okay, but I don't
like my success in mining

To be in the hands
of other people.

It's nice having
gabe here, you know.

Well, emily, generally
when you come down here,

You want something.

So just, like,
just, you know...

Yeah, maybe you're just
down here just to chill.

Maybe I just wanted a beer
and conversation.

I don't believe you, though.
What do you want?

Uh, I need a new crew
to finish out the season.

So I was gonna see
if you guys

Wanted to come and dive
on my boat.

What is my incentive
to do that?

The way I've been working
with my other divers

Is 18% to the lease owner,
50% to the dredge owner.

And the divers
split the remaining percentage

According to hours.

50% to the dredge owner?

Like, don't feel
like I would be okay

About giving you 50%
of the gold that I mined.

Well,
me and gabe will do it

If there's no other divers
other than me and gabe.

And me and gabe
get 70% of the box.

So, I mean,
what did you expect?

I just spent the whole summer
beating my face

Against the situation
where I'm [bleep]

Basically dredging
for somebody else.

And then you're like, "okay,
here come work on my boat.

And I'll take
half the gold."

You're no different
from corporate, dude.

I'd be willing to raise

The percentage
that you guys get.

Not to 70%, though.

70%.

60%.

I think it's fair.

Well, it just sounds like
you need to come back

And talk to us when
you're a little more hard up.

[ laughs ]

Uh, okay.

Sorry it didn't work out.

Yeah.

Good luck
finding some dudes.

-Peace out.
-Peace.

Emily's perspective on --
on reality is kind of wonky.

Does she really think

That she's gonna be able
to come out here and just,

Like, employ us to go
make money for her?

Like, no. Nice try.
[ laughs ]

♪♪

Narrator:
Over on belmont beach...

We gonna wait for dad,

Or are we gonna just take
the boat out?

...Kris and andy kelly
are itching to hit the water.

This is gonna be our only day
for a little while.

We need to get out there
right now.

Kris: We decided to go
to the west rec

Where we know for sure
there's good gold.

It's turning out to be awesome.

It's turning out
to be half an ounce an hour.

At least we're starting
to may a paycheck in.

I'm always happy
when I'm making money.

Narrator: This summer...

[bleep] sandbar
piece of [bleep]

...After burning 10 grand

On goldless claims
off the solomon river...

There's no cobble
on this entire claim.

We're gonna get nothing.

...Team kelly return
to familiar turf...

-Oh, my god.
-Oh, my god.

Narrator:
...And against the odds...

Manage to scrounge up a payday.

[ laughs ]

We got to get back out there
on the water now.

-Now...
-Let's just take off and go.

There we go.
Start the engine.

...With their new
hot spot waiting...

We're out of here.

You know, I'm not --

Not waiting for him
any more this year.

...There's the little matter
of their fearless leader.

My dad's got a young girlfriend.

And, uh, he's an old man.

You figure out
what the problem is.

[ baby babbles ]

Brad: You think so?

Ah! Blah!

Seatbelt on.

Brad: Uh, nia was not part
of the plan.

First of all,
when I met with courtney,

She couldn't have kids
for a long period of time.

I went to the doctor,
and doctor said,

"no, she's not able
to have kids."

All of a sudden,
a miracle of god.

Now she's pregnant again
as soon as I come around.

I mean, her family says,
"it's a blessing.

It's a blessing."

To me, I thought,
"why do you do this to me, god?

What are you teaching me?"

Oh, here he comes.

Yeah, the boys
have already left the dock.

We'll catch 'em right here.

Kris: There's just no way
we're gonna stop.

We shouldn't have waited
around this long.

We've already
made the decision.

It's too late to turn back.

What the hell are you doing
with the baby?

You guys are
gonna have to go today.

I've got to take care
of the baby.

What a [bleep] joke.
He brought the baby down.

We shouldn't have
waited around.

I'm happy for him.

I'm happy he's a great father
with his new child.

I really am.

He was 16, 17 years old
when he had me.

He didn't even know
what the hell he was doing.

So I understand
why he was a [bleep] father.

Narrator: With one more
kelly mouth to feed...

...It's big brothers
to the rescue.

We need a lot
of gold today, man.

I know you can do it.

Oh, yeah.
I'll try right here.

Kris: Okay, I mean, I hope
you're really finding gold.

Nia, dad, everybody,

The whole family's
depending on you right now

To find us some gold.

It's all on our shoulders.

He doesn't give a [bleep]

Just outside the city limits

In the shadow of anvil mountain.

It is really exciting.

After three months
of super-hard labor,

I'm so tired,
I can't even sleep.

Narrator: ...63-year-old
steve pomrenke's dream...

Steve:
Oh, I love this.

Narrator:
...Is about to become reality.

I've been thinking
about going back inland mining

From the day that I built
that christine rose.

Spent damn near $1 million
just to get started

With a bunch of used,
20-year-old equipment.

We've got our plan all set up.

We got some pay dirt
hauled up here,

And we're gonna take
the first scoop

Of 2015 pomrenke inland mining.

Narrator: After gambling all
of the company's profits,

The entire family business
now hangs on steve's hunch

That this five-acre parcel
is packed with gold.

Here we go.
We're gonna fire her up.

This thing will burn pay dirt,
I'm telling ya.

I think this is one

Of the slickest operations
around, myself.

Narrator:
Steve's slick operation
breaks down like this --

A 90-ton excavator chews up
tundra 24 hours a day

And loads it into haul trucks.

The potential pay dirt is then
carried to a second excavator,

Which feeds it through
a homemade pomrenke wash plant.

Powering the wash plant,
a 100-horsepower pump

Carrying water
through 200 feet

Of underground line
back to the plant,

Washing dirt,

And hopefully gold,
right through the sluice.

First scoop of the year
right here, 2015 inland mining.

Narrator: All told,
the $1 million inland site

Can be run
by just a two-person team.

80 yards an hour,
20 hours a day,

1,600 yards a day.

You know, that's --

With a two-man crew,
you're gonna make money

If you've got gold
in the ground.

Narrator: But right now,
it's the second person

That's the problem.

Too bad shawn ain't here
to enjoy it.

Things ain't good with shawn.

I don't know
what to say about that.

It breaks my heart.

Narrator: For over a year...

Are you in on the inland mining
or out?

...All the money for inland

Has been fronted
by steve's son shawn.

Mr. Gold.
You did good.

It's not fun when you're not
appreciated at all.

Narrator: Four days ago...

Stuff all over the place,
and then I got to clean it up.

Narrator: ...On the verge
of his first dig...

All I ask you,
as a manager,

Is to put
the [bleep] tools back.

Narrator: ...A small
disagreement over tools...

Maybe where the [bleep]
it needs to be.

...Became something
much more.

Oh, are you gonna
[bleep] hit me?

[bleep] hit me.

...And father and son
haven't spoken since.

Steve:
You know, I've been waiting
to get this going all summer.

And the fight with shawn
took all the fun

Out of getting
this whole thing going.

I'm trying to soften up.

I really am trying
not to criticize him

For trivial stuff.

I just let that --
I let a lot of things go.

I really do want to work
with the boy,

Make this business
profitable with him.

And deep in my heart, yeah,
I do want to work with my son,

And I do want to work
with him happily,

Not antagonistically
all the time.

We're still trying
to figure this ground out,

Figure out
where the best gold is.

Son of a bitch!

Narrator:
On the outskirts of nome.

2015 inland mining.

Narrator: After a year of prep
and a million bucks spent,

Steve pomrenke's
inland operation

Is finally running dirt.

Hit the water line.

What in the hell?

They buried the water line
too damn close.

Narrator:
While moving pay dirt,

Steve punctured the line
from the pump to the plant.

Now we got to stop
and shut down,

Get this water line fixed.

Damn it!

Come on.

[ ringing ]

Narrator:
Facing a major plumbing fix,

Steve has no choice
but swallow his pride...

...And put in a call to his son.

Guess what I just did?

I just tore a damn hole
in the water line.

You gonna come out

And help me patch
this thing up, shawn?

We need to talk anyhow.

I've been working
my ass off all summer.

I'm tired.
I've got a short fuse.

If he comes out,
that'll be good.

Narrator:
Eight miles away...

Steaming due west.

Emily can [bleep] dude.

This [bleep]
hacks me off, dude.

After dodging a plea
from his ex,

Zeke's taking one last stab
at making his corporate gig pay.

As bad as things have been going
on the havilah recently,

Really the worst thing
I could do

Is just to go work
for emily forever

And go continue
to put gold in her box.

We need to find something
banging, like, bad.

Narrator: So far,
despite his best efforts,

He's struck out
on both the rock wall claim

And the pomrenke-owned lease 38.

We don't know anything
about this lease,

Anything at all.

I figure we might as well
give it a shot.

Now zeke is throwing
a hail mary,

Plotting a course
for the unexplored

And remote claim 44.

Zeke: Lease 44
is way, way out of town.

Takes a long time to get there.

There better be good gold

To justify going that far out
to get into the gold.

If I don't start
producing gold soon,

Then I think we're just
gonna have to call it a failure

And pack it up for the season.

This hasn't been worked,
though.

Nobody's worked
this property.

Nobody's worked 44?

That's why we're here,
virgin ground.

I don't even know anyone
who's dredged out here.

But at this point,
this late in the season,

I'm just gonna keep
looking until,

Like, we get in, like,
the really [bleep] good stuff.

What's pushing me forward
is the fact

That quitting is always
the worst thing you can do.

Honestly, 'cause
quitting burns bridges.

And even if you don't succeed,

If you continue to try,

You don't necessarily
burn the bridge.

Maybe it's not a strong bridge,
but it's not burned.

Zeke's down.
First dive on 44.

We're gonna see
if there's any gold to get here.

It's kind of hard
to start on a new lease

When you don't really
know where to go

And where the gold is.

It's gonna take some work
and time and hopefully

We'll get lucky.

Is that --
is that good?

That's really [bleep] good.

-Gold?
-Yeah.

Lot of pieces of gold.

Zeke is finding
some pieces of gold.

Narrator: With zeke
working on a comeback...

Eight miles to the east...

Just outside nome harbor...

Pretty close.
Might get a little closer.

There's an old river channel
somewhere through here.

But you can't really see it

Until you mow through
all the overburden and find it.

...High noon owner
derek mclarty

And his crew have dialed in
to some of the hottest gold

In all of nome.

Spenser:
We ended up finding a hot spot.

And there's a lot
of gold right in here.

Narrator: Last trip...

Narrator: ...After fighting
through low visibility...

Whoo! Yeah!

Narrator: ...And high seas...

Let's get out of here,
dude.

-Does that really say 41?
-41, bro.

-Yeah!
-Bro.

Narrator: ...Derek scored
one of the biggest paydays

Of the season.

High noon is coming up.

Now...

Derek: Real cold, north wind,
I don't know.

Really low tide.

It's gonna be stirring up
some terrible vis,

But if we don't put
some gold in the box

We're eating ramen all winter.

Narrator: ...The race is on
to cash back in.

Reasonably speaking,
I've got to get 160, 170 ounces

To go and play again next year.

We got on this spot.

We found some really good
coarse gold.

And, you know, I mean,
that's that spot.

I'm not gonna tell you
any more about it

'cause I don't want people
to know about it.

All right.
Fire in the hole.

[ motor starts ]

My motivation
spurs from way back.

When my dad was in med school,
my mom was a babysitter.

We didn't worry
about giving canned goods

To the church around christmas

Or anything like that 'cause
we knew we were getting it back.

I was raised poor.
I'm never going back there.

You all right
down there?

Yeah. I'm all right.

The current's ripping.

I can't see a damn thing.

Holy crap.

I can almost see my feet.

Spenser: These really aren't
the best conditions.

They're making everybody
a little bit nervous.

Diving on this thing
when you can't see is...

Is dangerous.

Sounds like we're getting
some cobble.

Narrator: With the most powerful
suction dredge in the fleet,

Derek's strategy is simple --

Dig massive craters in the sand

To reveal a pay layer beneath.

Holy [bleep]
that's crazy, dude.

I'm literally just
throwing it in the hole.

Like, I can stand on it

And then just ride it down
into this hole.

Visibility or no,
it's full steam ahead

With a 12-inch nozzle.

[bleep]

You all right down there?

Spenser, this thing just dove
in its own hole

And then took off to china.

And now it's stuck.

Did the sand cave in
around the hose?

Yeah.

It's buried.

It's buried buried.

The biggest problem

With not looking
where you're dredging?

It's bad.
Really bad.

Not seeing your honey hole
collapse on itself.

Spenser: Nozzle took off,
the sand filled in so fast

Now our hose and our nozzle
is completely buried

And it's completely filled back
in with sand around the hose.

Basically, we're stuck here.

Our hose is stuck.

Um, our boat's stuck.

Our hose is completely full
of sand from end to end.

Kind of [bleep]

Narrator: Off the coast of nome
on the high noon.

Did the sand cave in
around the hose?

Derek: Yeah.

It's buried.

It's buried buried.

Narrator:
Pushing through deep sand

To uncover
his secret hot spot...

It's bad.
Really bad.

...Derek mclarty dug himself
a hole he can't get out of.

Spenser: Nozzle took off,
the sand filled in so fast

Now our hose and our nozzle
is completely buried

And it's completely filled back
in with sand around the hose.

Basically, we're stuck here.

Our hose is stuck.

Um, our boat's stuck.

Our hose is completely full
of sand from end to end.

Kind of [bleep]

I'm just trying to see
if the nozzle's moving at all.

The hose is $200 a foot.

So we can't just cut it off.

Can't just try to back
out of it.

We'll end up ripping
our dredge apart.

Narrator:
With the dredge now helpless
and pinned to the ocean floor,

Derek and crew
need to come up with a fix fast.

Four miles to the west...

On the reaper...

Ooh, yeah, baby!

Five hours into a dive
on familiar terrain,

Team big brother
is raking in the gold.

I was pulling a half ounce
an hour with dad

At the end of last summer.

Oh, that's awesome.

Kris:
I'm actually glad he's home.

This is a great excuse
for my brother and I

To go do our own thing.

We're really doing this
for our sister.

And she's so cute.
What are you gonna do?

My sister's a great addition
to the family.

Here's the product
of ruining my life

And then she's so awesome
in the same breath.

You definitely can't blame her.

Even though my dad's a piece of
[bleep] I still love my sister.

Narrator:
Speaking of pieces of that...

No, the boys
won't change my diaper

When I'm an old man, dude.

It's gonna have to be
nia doing it.

Narrator:
After missing the boats,
all that's left for brad

Is to swab the poop deck.

Nia, you better change my diaper
too, when I'm old.

Mining's a lot easier
than having a baby,

I'll tell ya.

I didn't realize that, you know?
I forgot.

Had kris and andy
when I was young

And I forgot
how much labor it was.

Or maybe I just didn't have
to do as much work before.

I don't know.
One of the two.

You're dad's girl,
aren't you?

Kris and andy are old.

And they better
thank god I had nia.

Who do you think's gonna
be wheeling them around

When they're old?
Her.

They ain't gonna have no kids,
you know?

Okay.
What are we looking like?

There's, uh, flower gold
in between the rocks

On all the clay and all that.

And then I'm finding
little chunky [bleep]

In between crevasses
and rocks jammed into the clay.

Like this little crevasse
right here

Where this big black rock is.

I think we're starting
to make money.

Thank god.
Thank god.

It's great working
with my brother.

It's great when we're on gold.

It's great when he's actually
committed and in a great mood.

We're really unstoppable
when we're together.

But, you know, andy
hasn't been properly motivated.

We haven't had a great success.

Without my dad,
we need to kill it.

And I don't stop
until there's no gold.

Narrator:
Four miles up the coast...

Back on the high noon.

We're gonna try to,
uh, use this garden hose...

With his dredge pinned

And his nozzle
buried in deep sand,

Derek mclarty is attempting
a high-tech rescue.

This is a pretty stupid idea,
trying to use the garden hose...

Not gonna work.

I really think the only way
we're gonna get it out

Is to grab somebody else
with another dredge

And dredge it out.

Narrator: A master mechanic,
derek's built a reputation

As the one to call
when you're stuck in a jam.

Does the box look like it's
doing anything different?

-What, the box?
-Yeah.

No.

Narrator: Now, with the shoe
on the other foot,

He's not about to cry "uncle."

Derek: There's a whole lot
of pride going on here.

I'm kind of the puppet master
at the moment.

And if I can't do it,
then nobody can.

We all fail.
That's not an option.

Derek's stubborn.
He doesn't want to ask for help.

He's gonna do
what he's gonna do.

We're gonna be here a while.

No answer.

Nope.
Straight to voicemail.

Rick's not answering either.

Hey, vernon.

I just went through
my contacts.

And I was able to get
a hold of vernon.

Do you think I can talk you
into coming up

And waiting for vern?

Yeah.

I better come up.

Derek's finally coming up.

I didn't want to call for help
because I thought

There's no situation
I can't handle down here.

I was just trying
to figure out a way

To unscrew myself

Before I said I was screwed.

Narrator:
On the outskirts of nome.

Now he ain't answering
his phone.

You know,
he's the master plumber.

I'm not.

Oh, there he is right now.

Narrator: After days
of the silent treatment,

A broken water main has brought
steve and shawn face-to-face.

Steve: I just have a hard time
talking with that guy.

You know, it's a lot
of my fault, but --

Mostly my fault, I guess.

He's trying to get
the pipe uncovered here.

Shawn: He knows I can fix it
because I can fix anything.

But if he's grateful,
he doesn't show it to me.

But that's my dad.

He's never really shown
any emotions or feelings.

It's just the way he is.

Well, you know,
half the pipe

Is pretty damn good here,
you know.

Just got to put
two of them in there for now.

[bleep]
I was gonna do the 90.

But then whoever cut the 90 off
[bleep] short...It.

Now we got to get
this water line fixed.

I got this under control.

Yeah, he's got enough dirt
on that row.

I need to get up there.

And then he can start
hauling pay dirt.

Yeah, yeah.
Get me some pay -- get some --

I mean,
I know we have our differences.

But we do pretty
damn good together.

So we don't need to [bleep]
nitpick each other.

Forget about it.
Yeah, don't do no nitpicking.

Let's just work together
and get this --

A lot of conflict today.

-Yes. I love ya.
-I love you, too, dad.

I was sad the last couple
of days, fighting with you.

Well, you don't need
to be like that.

Well, I wasn't --
I was just trying to do the --

Trying to ask you
to do the job.

-No, you weren't asking me.
-Yes.

You weren't talking
to me like this.

'cause you could've been like,
"hey, you know what?"

Well, I was celebrating
the plant running,

But that all got spoiled
with fighting with you.

Well, you count --

Three times that day
you come up yelling at me.

And it's like,
"[bleep] hey. Relax."

Didn't mean to.

I'm just wound up trying
to get this whole thing going.

All right.
It's gonna work.

We got it.
We're [bleep] right there.

Let's get her done.

-[bleep] just, hey.
-Well...

I don't like fighting
with ya.

I don't want to fight
with you either.

[ sniffles ]

[ speaks indistinctly ]

I just want to work
with you, too, you know.

Yeah.
We do good together.

We get [bleep] done.

If it starts
bothering you,

Just talk to me,
and let me know.

And I'll [bleep]
we'll make it happen.

Steve: Yeah.
Let's get this fixed

So we can make
some money here

So you can do
your trip to bluff.

Yeah, I know
you want to do that.

I'm on your side.

Right on.
Sounds good.

Narrator:
Five miles to the south...

Come on, vern.
Giddy-up.

Narrator: ...The high noon
is marooned off the coast.

Open them ponies up.
Let's roll.

Narrator: With the sun setting
on the mining grounds...

It's getting nasty dark, too.
That's gonna be bad.

...The battle to recover
the hose

Is about to get
even more dangerous.

Yeah.
Go ahead, bobby.

Vern:
That's the high noon over there.

The wild rover's
on the other side her.

Narrator:
To the fellow miner in distress,

Vernon atkinson has dispatched
his own 10-inch suction dredge

To help derek dig himself free.

I'm about to have
a ripping 10 in this hand,

A ripping 12 in this hand,

No e-flap I can hold here.

The fear is being buried alive.

Tell bobby
to go ahead and fire up.

Copy that.

Idle up.

Roger that.

Narrator: Diving solo
in murky seas at night,

Derek is at the mercy
of not one,

But two powerful dredges.

Yeah, sounds like derek's
to the nozzle now.

He's got their nozzle in hand.
He's gonna start working.

Uh, you can idle up
the high noon?

Copy that.

We're at full throttle
right now.

Looks like she's gonna pop
out here pretty soon.

Shut it down,
the wild rover.

Yeah. Copy that.

Narrator:
Reaching the high noon's nozzle,

Derek lets go
of the other dredge.

Wild rover, do you copy?

Yeah, I idled down.

Yeah, it's moving dirt.

Ahh.

[bleep]

Hell yeah.
Awesome.

Holy [bleep]
[bleep]

Hey!

Remind me to never
do that again.

Narrator:
In the city of nome...

Emily:
I want to prove myself to zeke

But I don't know how effective
that's ever going to be.

Narrator: ...Emily riedel
is a captain without a crew.

Emily:
I don't know if I'll ever

Really change the way
zeke views me.

For him, it's personal.

For me, I don't [bleep] care
if we had problems, you know?

I need you on my boat.

Every man here is for themself,

And that's something
that I accepted a long time ago.

I need to adapt
in order to succeed, you know?

It's time to [bleep]
get it or get out.

[ laughs ]

Narrator: On belmont beach...

You have two buckets.

You said to put the mats
in the other one.

No I --

Yeah you did.
It's right there.

Mats were in it.

...The kelly big brother squad
is looking to cash in.

There's dad pretending
like he did something today.

Oh, and he brought
the little baby.

Next thing you know,
he'll be taking her on the boat.

Hi, nia.

Nia, we're getting gold.
Yay!

Though he may have missed
the boat,

Brad kelly isn't about to miss
a payday.

Everything went great
without you.

We had a great day.

Kris, I can't find
that [bleep] piece.

-Hi, sweetheart.
-Aw.

Well,
look a little bit harder.

Oh, look at all the gold
on that side.

Whoa!

There's another
big chunky piece.

See, I told you.
Oh, lookit underneath the mat.

Nia gets her share.
We're gonna make her

A nice little set of earrings.

She gets 10%
of all the gold.

Having a baby sister
at 35 years old,

You know, who could ask
for anything more?

I think things
are getting easier,

You know, with our whole family.

We were trying to make the best
of what we can make it.

Every year
we make it a little higher.

We may go back down,
but we make it up higher.

One day we'll be
at the top of the peak.

There it is,
the first scoop

Of our fortune right here.

It was nice working without dad
for a little while

Where we got most of this gold.

Oh!

Yeah!

Give me my gold crib.

Lookit, nia!

Yay! Nia, gold!

Got a little gold.

Narrator: The total --
21.9 ounces,

Worth over 26,000 bucks...

Look.
That's yours.

That's our first
river of gold.

No, don't let her
touch it, please.

-She wants to get a feel.
-I know.

Every woman just wants to grab
gold for them

Whenever they see it.

Narrator: ...Enough for a whole
truckload of diapers.

Over in nome harbor...

Zeke: We got a big, dirty
clean-up to deal with.

Narrator:
...After turning down his ex
for a corporate hail mary...

Dude, every tear
out of emily's eyeballs

Is a precious gift.

[ laughs ]

...Zeke needs his gamble
on claim 44 to pay off big.

Here, I'm gonna put the gold
in the truck

So we can have a big, dirty,
satisfying-ass clean-up.

That's what we need.
It's what we deserve.

So I really took a risk
on lease 44.

I didn't have any idea
if I was

Gonna find anything
out there at all.

And I actually kind of
didn't think that I would.

What actually happened is that
I found probably better gold

Than I'd seen anywhere
in my entire career

As a dredger.

So let's weigh this gold.

Three.

Four.

11, 12.

Ah, yeah.
Ah, sweet.

Better than our
shawn's claim one there.

15.
We're up to 15.

Come on,
break 20 for me.

20! 20!

[ laughter ]

28, dude.

Narrator: 28.3 ounces.

-It's a grand total of $34,000.
-Oh, wow.

All of a sudden,
I'm real successful.

Great. Whoa.
How did that happen?

[ laughs ]

Sexy little pile
of gold right there,

If I do say so myself.

Narrator:
Just below anvil mountain...

Shawn's putting stacks
of big rocks around our pipe.

Narrator: ...After a father-son
reconciliation

And a fix on the water main...

You're gonna like how it runs,
I'm telling ya.

...Pomrenke inland mining
is running full tilt.

It washes the material?
Nice, beautiful.

Now it's finally time
to find out

If steve's hunch was right

And if the mine is moving
something more than dirt.

See what gold
is really in there.

Hell yeah!

Whoa!

I see some gold.

[ laughs ]

It looks like a nugget.

Nice.

There's all kinds
of pickers in here.

Holy [bleep]

With gold in the box
and the gamble paying off,

All is right for the pomrenkes.

Shawn:
It's hard for dad to need me.

When he was my age,
he could do it all.

There was no stopping him.

Now, he's having
to slow down a little bit.

And that's why I'm here.

I mean, I'm here
to take that load off of him.

Together we --

We do pretty damn good.

Nice to see some gold.

I was worried
that there was none.

Steve: We're a lot alike.

We're both ornery and both
hard-headed and stubborn

And whatever the hell.

We're actually kind of
getting along now

That we are working together.

'cause it is kind of nice
to have a family business.

Narrator: While the kelly boys
make a big score for baby sis,

Zeke's havilah
is finally on good gold.

I'm going to a place
that nobody's ever mined.

[ laughs ]
thank you, mr. Gold.

The way it's been going,
it's just not profitable.

140...

Whoa!

I don't know who the [bleep]
he thinks he's attacking,

But I'll break his jaw.