Gold Rush: Alaska (2010–…): Season 7, Episode 6 - No Crane, No Gain - full transcript

Narrator:
On this "gold rush"...

We got to shut down.

The gold that
we're supposed to be

getting up on that hill,
we ain't getting it.

These guys came up here
and wasted our [bleep] time.

Todd:
Thank god for second chances,

'cause buckland is
our second chance.

First pay at buckland!
Yeah!

That 5,000 ounces
might not be too crazy.

Keep putting gold in the box.

[bleep]



there's no way we can
run it like that.

We can't afford
any more weeks like this.

He took all my [bleep]

yes, we have.

[ laughter ]

captions paid for by
discovery communications

[ thunder rumbles ]

jarrod: I don't see any rigs
up here.

Nobody's in here, william.

No one's in here, either.

Narrator: Claim owners jarrod
and william wirth

have leased the high bar mine
to todd hoffman for the
season.

What's going on?

There's nothing, dude.



Nothing.

Nobody's up here.
No rigs are up here.

What the hell
is going on?

What the [bleep] is this?

[bleep] is this?

"sorry guys -- todd."

jarrod: You serious?

He put a [bleep]
sorry tag on the generator.

And that's it.

[bleep] this.

I'm gonna go find todd.

These guys came up here
and wasted our [bleep] time.

This season, todd hoffman
gambled every dollar

he made in the klondike

to chase a mountain of nuggets
here in oregon.

I want to see a miracle
on this mountain.

He set his crew
a massive season goal.

I want 5,000 ounces.

A quarter of the way in,
they have just 138,

barely a tenth of what they
need
to hit his target.

I feel like
such a fool right now.

Hey, todd.
What the hell's going on?

Well...

Plain and simple,

the gold that we're supposed
to be getting up on that hill,

we ain't getting it.

I'm pissed.

When you came up here,
signed the lease on this
place,

I mean, you knew what you were
getting yourself into.

I've lost several hundred
thousand dollars, okay?

I'm worried that
I'm gonna lose my business.

What in the hell happened?

I can tell you what the hell
happened, todd.

This is high bar,
320 acres.

You're complaining
about not finding gold up
here.

We have half our resources
shifted

to a separate mine
you're looking at right now.

This has got gold down here.
That is complete bull[bleep]

your focus should be
on high bar.

Sometimes, you got to
business moves.

And that's just
what I'm making.

We got to shut down.

That's business. And that's
where we part company.

William: Oh [bleep] no,
I'm not happy with what he
said.

I mean, todd came up here,

decides to pin
all the blame on us.

And, I mean, honestly,
he's making a big mistake.

They believe
in that property.

And I don't believe in it.

It comes down to business.

I got guys that I got to
take care of.

I got to make decisions
for my team.

Narrator: Todd is moving
his entire operation

15 miles east

to his new oregon claim,
the buckland.

The high bar claim
was located on a mountaintop

and had patchy nuggets.

The buckland is in a valley

and has fine gold deposits
deep on the bedrock,

more like the claims the
hoffman
crew mined in the klondike.

Hey, guys, how you doing?

Turin: Everything -- we got
all
the machines coming, todd.

Here comes the cavalry
right here.

Whoo-hoo!
Here we are!

It's good to see these guys.
I can't believe it.

We're all together
here at the buckland.

It's a beautiful day.
And you know what?

Thank god for second chances

because buckland is
our second chance.

You know,
after last week's downtime,

we just can't afford
that kind of stuff anymore.

We really got to keep
the plant up and going,

keep sluicifer fed
and keep gold coming in.

Narrator: 2,000 miles
north in the klondike,

parker schnabel works hard

to recover from the worst week
of his season.

He's slipping behind
on his 4,000-ounce,

$4.8 million season goal.

Parker: Got a long ways
to go this season.

And the only way to do that
is keep --

just keep putting gold
in the box.

[ thunder crashes ]

you've got to be kidding me.

Narrator:
A lightning storm forces

and take a break from mining.

For [bleep] sake.

Narrator:
Four hours later, rick returns

ness: Pretty nasty up here.
It's raining a lot.

Still raining now.
It's just been miserable.

Oh, the water's
definitely up a lot.

Hopefully,
there's no damage from it.

But you never know.

[bleep]

[bleep] [bleep]

narrator:
The hopper that feeds pay dirt
into the wash plant is

ness: The tail wheel is
so far under the water,

there's no way we can
run it like that.

[bleep] [bleep]

that's probably 4 feet of
water
at least.

I can't believe
it came up that high.

We're supposed to be firing up
right now and sluicing.

And there's no way
we can do it like this.

Narrator: Every hour
sluicifer stands idle

costs parker $2,500
in lost gold.

Hey, mitch, we're gonna
need pump norris down here.

The hopper's underwater.

Good old pump norris.

Blaschke: Yeah, she's --
she moved a lot of water for
us.

Should be good to go now.

[ engine starts ]

this pump actually has
been swamped several times,

gone underwater running.

We nicknamed it pump norris.
It's a good pump.

Narrator:
Pump norris isn't pumping.

I just want to see this thing
pump some water.

Blaschke: That's the problem.
Ohh!

Yeah, that [bleep]

so that would be
the foot valve.

And what happens is,
this shuts off

and allows it
to create suction.

And as you can see,
this thing's hanging on

by a thread there, so...

I guarantee you we don't
have another one of those.

I guarantee you we don't.

A new part will take 2 weeks
to be delivered to the
klondike.

Should we duct tape it?

Glue it? Pin it?

We could drill it,
put rods through it.

Blaschke: All right.
Now we're just trying to

drill out both halves
of this broken foot valve,

and gonna go kind of with
what we got out here,

a bag of zip ties,

and just try and zip tie it
back together.

We've got to get this pump
up and running.

If you're not first,
you're last,

just like some stitches.

Let's go give her a try.

Narrator:
The whole mining operation

depends on mitch's
bush fix working.

Ready?

Ness: Fire it up.

Come on.

Oh, yeah, come on.

[ laughs ]

there we go. Awesome.

Nice work, mitch.
Pump norris!

Back in action!

But, you know,
it took longer than it should.

But at the end of the day,
we solved the problem, you
know?

That was a dollar fix
for a $10,000 problem.

Hey, ain't that
a pretty site?

Narrator: Todd is setting up
an entirely new operation

on the buckland claim.

And he's bringing in his most
faithful old piece of
equipment.

Hey, guys,
monster red's here.

After a 2-week, 2,000-mile
journey from the klondike,

monster red is in oregon.

Up top.

[ whistles ]

over two seasons,
this colossal wash plant

has delivered the hoffmans
$4.6 million worth of gold.

I feel really, really bad
about
how we started this season,
man.

My spirits are down.

I don't know how
this is gonna end.

And I'm not gonna promise
anybody anything.

We're so far out
on a limb, you know,

it could break at any moment.

But I tell you what --
this right here,

this is an encouragement.

We got monster red.

There's millions of dollars
of gold down there,

and we're gonna get it.

Freddy, dave,
you set this machine up,

make this damn thing run.

Turin: We're gonna make
this thing sing.

It's like a new day.

Monster red's home.
This is where it belongs.

Let's set up monster red,

see what's in the bottom
of that hole.

This is a kick-ass team.

And if we're gonna go
down there into bedrock,

it's gonna be this team
to do it.

I don't care how deep it is.
We will get to bedrock.

We're gonna come out of here
with our heads high

and a big ol' pile of gold.

If we got any chance
of saving this season,

it's right here.

Let's do it.

Turin: With this wash plant,
we're gonna get some gold.

So I'm excited.

But now, it's time
to go to work.

Okay, we're gonna
swing over to you guys.

Yeah, if you can put it
right in front.

Narrator:
Dave is in charge of getting

well, it's nice
to have monster red here.

We got a lot of work.
Look at this.

We got stuff scattered
everywhere.

So now, the real work starts.

Narrator: While dave rushes
to assemble the plant,

andy's in charge
of opening up the first cut.

It's not too late

to get the gold
that I think we need to get.

But there's not gonna be any
easy days right now.

Till we get down
to that bottom,

we're not gonna know
what's in the ground.

They've already dug
a 490-by-90-foot settling pond

and built a 25-foot-high pad
for the wash plant.

3,000 feet east,

andy's team is opening up
a 200-foot-wide cut.

But no one knows how deep

they'll have to dig
to hit pay dirt.

Todd: I'm just praying
that we hit pay dirt soon.

I'm telling ya, I don't want
these guys to be let down
again.

Narrator: Todd has delayed
paying his crews' wages

until they strike gold again.

We are at ground zero.

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

You tell mindy
I'm not getting paid.

I didn't come here
to work for free.

Pierce: I'm currently in here
operating machines for free.

I hate this.
I have a mortgage to pay.

I have a lot more
responsibilities now.

And I won't give up on todd.

But I can't say that I like
what he's asking me to do.

There just better be
some damn gold at this
buckland.

Hiatt: Todd needs all the gold
he can get right now

to convince us all to stay
here.

But if I know one thing, he's
gonna give it his best shot.

Come on in and push it, kev.

Narrator:
Before they can get any gold,

dave has to haul the plant
onto its pad.

Todd: Don't tip it.

All right.
There, you got it.

That way, dave!

All right.
Here we go.

Kev, it needs
to go that way.

Kevin, ho!

We're putting blood
back into the monster.

It's coming to life.

Todd: Okay. What's next?

Let's set the shaker deck.

Oh, my gosh. Okay.

That's the big one.

Narrator: They need to lift
the 25,000-pound shaker deck

50 feet up
onto its stand.

I've moved this bad boy
over 2,000 miles.

And the last 50 feet
is probably the most
important.

We've got a crane here
to lift the shaker deck

and put it on our stand.

Hey, willie.

Narrator:
Crane operator willie
borgerding

has never done a job like this
before.

This will definitely be
my first shaker screen.

Going from ground level up
to an elevated position

is definitely a --

gives it a little bit
more of a complication.

Todd:
It's really hard for this
crane,

to lift this screen
at this angle.

It's just so heavy.

We drop this screen,
we're screwed.

Narrator:
The only secure crane position

is at the bottom of the slope.

The crane arm
will have to reach across

more than 20 feet
to place the deck on its
stand.

Turin:
So what he's gonna do is pick

but as he's swinging this
over,
keep your distance.

Borgerding:
Wherever that load's going,

that I have out,

if it tips over,
it's gonna get ya.

Man: You know, a lot of things
can go wrong quick,

so let's just be
real careful out there.

Willie, you ready?
You bet.

Let's go for it.

Everybody good?
Good.

Toes clear!
Clear!

I hope he's got his seatbelt
on.

We got to be careful
with this, guys.

Come on up.

Come on, big boy.

Turin: If it gets too far
over one side,

it could literally
tip the crane over.

Narrator: The crane has
maximum lift capability

when its arm
is close to vertical.

For every five degrees
the arm reaches across,

the crane's safe lifting load
drops by 5,000 pounds.

If willie extends
the boom too far,

the entire crane
will crash to the ground.

Turin: Right here, willie.

Give me your hand.

Thank you, todd.

Push it!

Whoa, stop!

Whoa, stop!

Willie!
Willie!

Are you maxed out there?

No.
This isn't gonna work.

Willie, set her down.

Set it down, willie.

Narrator:
The crane arm can't lift t

coming down.

Their only option --

set the shaker down
on the edge of the 25-foot
drop.

All clear!

Turin: I don't like the way
this thing's leaning.

It's making me really nervous.

Todd: We're gonna have to
reposition the crane closer.

But this is exactly
what I was worried about.

If this bank kicks out,
that screen's gonna fall over.

So we got to move
pretty fast.

Dave, we need to hurry
and get it off the side hill!

Move this thing!

Okay.
Just come on ahead, you guys.

I'm going as fast
as we can.

It's leaning this way.

We need to get this
out of here.

We need to get this out of
here.

Narrator:
The hoffman crew is racing

to lift monster red's
25,000-pound shaker deck

onto its stand
at the top of a 25-foot pad.

All right. Let's go.
Move this thing.

The deck is unstable
on the edge of a ridge.

The crew needs to reposition
the crane fast.

All clear!

Todd: Hurry up, hurry up!

You got to get these
outriggers out.

Time is of the essence
on that.

Come on. Come on. Come on.
Come on. Come on. Come on.

Hurry, hurry, hurry.

Hurry up.

Put some timbers under it.

See if this'll work.

Turin: Little bit more.
Give me a little bit more.

If this settles
and this bank kicks out,

we've lost our stream.

Narrator: If the outrigger
legs
aren't secure,

the crane could topple,

taking the 25,000-pound
shaker deck with it.

Bring him down.
Man: Come on, come on, come
on.

We cannot screw this up.

Think we got it.

We get the shaker in there,
it'll by the skin of our
teeth.

Let's go!

Hey, guys, be real careful.

We cannot screw this up.

Your whole season
sitting right here.

Scary.

Bring us your line.
Turin: Let it go.

Up a bit.

Down a bit.

Right a bit.

Left a bit.

One, two. I'm in.

I'm in!
I'm in!

Good job, guys.
Nice job, freddy!

Nice job!

Man: Yeah!

Dave, one shot!

Todd: Good job, willie!
Yes, sir.

Thank you.
Good job, willie!

That was smooth.
I like doing [bleep] like
that.

I could have bent rebar
with my butt cheeks right
there.

Your whole season
is freakin' dangling 20 --

20 feet in the air.

It's not funny.

Oh, we did it, though.

Ah, well,
back at her, then.

Looking good.

Narrator: At eureka creek,
kevin beets is in charge

of his father's
75-year-old dredge.

Easy, bud. Whew.

So far this season,

kevin has mined a phenomenal
757 ounces of gold,

worth $900,000.

Now back to dredging.
Nice and slow, nice and
steady.

Oh, [bleep]

oh.

[bleep] all's happening?
Man:

Piece of [bleep] [bleep]

I don't like this.

Narrator:
The tailings have stopped

this is [bleep]

I guess there was another
problem with the stacker belt.

So I'm gonna go investigate
that, see how bad it is.

Let's see what the problem is.

Okay.

That does not look [bleep]
good.

This is part of the belt.

It's [bleep] ripped
from the looks of it.

[bleep]

pretty clear what happened
here.

One of these belt clips
got loose, got caught.

Apparently this [bleep] got
caught in a roller, ripped it.

Tony, do you copy?

We got a problem
with the belt.

There is a 5-foot long,
4-inch-thick strip torn out.

We don't have any belt clips.

I need the ones you guys stole
and all the toys and tools,

that little red toolbox
and everything.

Just bring
the whole shebang.

Sounds like a plan.

If tony's pissed about having
to
send me out tools and people,

he should stop stealing
my tools and people

in the first [bleep] place.

Could've had the job done
long before he had to s

but he took all my [bleep]

what does he expect's
gonna happen?

Narrator: Six hours later,
mechanic mike beaudry turns up

with the kit
to fix the conveyor.

Every hour the dredge is down

costs kevin $1,200 in gold.

Beaudry:
Yeah, we're gonna have to

and get you running again.

We need to zip cut
all of these [bleep] clips

off both sides of the belt
so we can put new clips in.

Then after that, we can
get it pulled together.

And then we'll run
a row of clips

right down the cut.

It'll be
just like stitches.

Ready?
There you go.

Well, that's her.
Skirting's on.

Ready to try it out.

[ engine starts ]

she's running
right down the middle.

Let's crank it up.

This is it.

Yeah.
We got it!

Don't get better than that.

Narrator: The dredge is
finally
back to capturing gold.

Kevin: We fixed it, as usual,

without tony's having
to be here and babysit.

Could've been a two-hour fix,
turned into an eight-hour one.

So now that we're running,

we can finally make
some [bleep] gold again.

Turin:
Just got to finish wiring.

We'll be running.

Narrator: At the buckland,

dave's team has been
assembling monster red all
week.

Anderson: Plant's almost done,
getting ready to go here.

Crossing our is
and dotting our ts.

Dodge: The feeder's in now.
Last piece.

Monster red,
soon to be ready to roll.

Starting to put all
the little pieces in place.

Fire the screw, dave!

Sands screw's coming on!

[ engine starts ]

yeah!

Screen's coming on!

Conveyor, dave!

Conveyor coming on.

All right.

It's looking good.

Going the right direction.

How's it look, dave?

Everything looks good so far.
I like it.

Todd: Watching it
come back to life is great.

You better talk to andy
and tell him

to get his butt moving
and get some pay down here.

Amen.

Narrator: Over at the cut,

andy's dug down 15 feet
in search of pay dirt.

This here looks like
an old stream bed,

which means we're out
of the overburden.

And this is actually
where a stream

actually had flowed at one
time.

This could be
really good news.

This is the start of maybe

where we're getting
closer to pay.

Todd, do you copy?

Yeah, I got it, copy.

Hey, you want to
come down into the cut?

I got something here
to show you.

10-4.

[ engine shuts off ]

well, maybe this is it,
huh?

Let's take a look.

Two little pieces.

So freakin' tiny.

It ain't pretty.

Spinks:
I think we need to go deeper.

You and I both know
it's gonna be deep.

We're gonna have to
get back in there

and start
stripping down deep.

Gold's not really coming in
like I thought it would.

Our cut got flooded.

I mean, I know it's early
in the season still.

But we need to start
picking the pace up.

Hopefully, that means more
gold.

Narrator: After floods
stopped them running,

parker's wash plant has been
back sluicing for four days.

Getting ready to do
another clean up.

Doumitt, kill it.

Narrator: Parker is behind on
his 4,000-ounce season goal.

He needs every grain
of gold he can get.

All right.
Let's see what we got.

Well, we're just
getting rolling.

What do you think, parker?

Oh...
Oh, yeah!

Rick!

Ness: Beautiful.

[ laughs ]
geez, look at that, parker.

Already, there's a ton
of gold coming through

see, it's real chunky gold.

Seeing a lot of chunks
like that.

Parker: Some chunky stuff.
Ness: Yeah.

You know, this time of year,
it's almost enjoyable.

But...
Hey, parker,

pretty nice.

Looks are always deceiving
in the sluice box.

You see the gold
just pouring out of the mats.

You don't know until it
goes in the jar, you know?

It doesn't look too bad,

but you never know till you
get the gold on the scale.

We're gonna jig it.

We're gonna clean
the jig real well.

We'll table it.
We'll clean it.

Narrator:
Parker's girlfriend, ashley,

youle: I'm picking nuggets.

Ain't no nugget's
getting past me.

Gentlemen.
Hey, parker.

How's it going?

Narrator:
To get back on track,

parker needs this cleanup
to deliver around 150 ounces.

All right.
Let's see what we got.

There is 20 and 40,

60, 100, hundred and...

122.6.

Ness: Little less
than normal, huh?

Parker: [bleep]
that ain't good.

Narrator: 122 ounces is worth
around $140,000.

Doumitt: Hmm.

Parker:
A long way to 4,000 ounces.

Parker and his crew have
slipped even further behind.

Well, let's try to keep
the hours up on sluicifer.

Yep.

[ sighs ]

wow, that's a pretty
disappointing result, you
know.

The weather, I think,
probably cost us about 20
grand.

And we can't afford
any more weeks like this.

I got a guy named jim
coming.

And supposedly,

he's got a little bit
of information on the
buckland.

We're short on information.
So it could be a big deal.

Narrator: The hoffman crew
has been digging deep

in their cut at the buckland.

But they still haven't
found the gold-rich pay layer.

What I like to know is that
there's gold at the bottom.

At least we know
there's a goal.

Todd's brought in
a neighboring miner for
advice.

The best gold, I think,

is right in the bottom
of the valley here.

When I was working
up here,

I got an ounce an hour
for 25 yards.

I was on a main deposit.

Todd: We might actually be
on to something big here.

But I tell ya what --
it ain't gonna be easy.

It's gonna be hard
to get to

but maybe worth it
when you get down there.

We're gonna go right
to the bottom.

We're gonna go get rich.

Tell ya what -- that 5,000
ounces might not be too crazy.

Narrator:
Tony beets relies on the gold

to fund his dream of building
an entire fleet.

Kevin: I think she's about
dry.
Yeah?

There's a bit there.

Want to make sure
that she's ready?

I think this gold weigh
is gonna be a bit lighter

than the last few.

I mean, we don't have quite as
many hours in the box as we
did.

So find out.

Narrator:
Over the last 5 weeks,

kevin has mined 757 ounces,
worth $900,000.

Minnie: 70, 80, 90, 120,
130, 140, 156.06.

Not bad.

156 ounces is worth
over $180,000.

And now, our total
is 913 ounces.

Yes, we have.

[ laughter ]

really?
That is.

It totally is.

Narrator: In just six weeks,
kevin has hit 913 ounces...

Daddy and little brother.

...$1.1 million in gold,

a quarter million more than
they got in all of last year.

Minnie: Oh, we're not even
halfway through.

We're only a third
of the way through.

Yeah, have to keep it up.

Kevin:
Yeah, nice if you're not the
one that has t

out the [bleep] ground.

I think we can, yeah.

Narrator: Hitting tony's
new 2,000-ounce goal

would net them $2.4 million.

So far, we haven't
found any gold.

I'm gonna dig down
as deep as I can.

And we'll see what we find.

Narrator: After seven days
digging at the buckland,

the hoffman crew still
has no pay dirt.

What I'm gonna do
is dig a test hole,

see what --
see what I can find.

Narrator: Andy spinks
digs down to 25 feet.

Spinks:
This looks like bedrock to me.

See the different color?

This is what we've been
digging.

So you got two different kinds
of dirt.

And your -- that gold's
usually
gonna sit on that change.

Gonna ta
ke some of this bedrock,pan.

Hopefully, it's good news.

We need to see
some gold right now.

That right there?
Yep. That's gold right there.

There's some little pieces
right there, too.

Well, we got gold there.
Yeah.

It's encouraging to see gold
in that material.

And that's what we wanted.
You know what, buddy?

I think we're back in
business.
Let's do it.

Let's start
running this pay dirt.

Hey, guys, we're in business.
Let's start running.

Bring the pay.

We're ready.
Let's do this.

Kevin, give us some water.

We got water, dave!
Let's rock 'n' roll.

We got water
in the desert, boys!

Todd: He's got pay dirt
in the back of the truck.

We're about ready
to run some dirt.

Let's make some gold!

Yeah!

Bring some pay in here!
Let's go!

Narrator: The hoffman crew
is finally running pay dirt

on their new claim.

There we go.
First pay at the buckland!

Yeah!

Whoo!

Todd:
You want to know the truth?

I've never felt pressure
like this before.

Our whole future,
the entire future of our mine

and all of our guys
is resting on that pay dirt.

I'm just praying that
it's got gold in it.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Look out!

What's going on?

Narrator:
On the next "gold rush"...

This is bad.

I think we should
shut it down.

All I know is,
I'm not getting paid, todd.

Crap!

That's a disaster.

Right now,
it's a losing battle.

What the [bleep] happened?

Aah!

It's all frozen mud.
Time's ticking.

I think this means
shutting right down.

It's just [bleep] [bleep]

I just got word
that my grandpa died.

I got to go.