Gold Rush: Alaska (2010–…): Season 9, Episode 4 - Durt Reynolds - full transcript

This is the big,
Beautiful bastard.

That's going to catch
All the gold for us this year.

Because one little thing
Goes wrong with this,

And the whole season is shot.

I christen thee, durt reynolds.

On this "Gold rush"...

Just got to get it
Safely off this trailer.

Where's all that water
Coming from?

Hit the bypass!

You know, I expected
Growing pains,

But this is Outrageous.



It's actually a heck of a lot
Better than I thought she would.

I need somebody to replace rick.

I hate these kind of decisions.

We're so far behind.

We don't have time for things
To get screwed up.

We're going to fire up
Sluicifer, see what happens.

Hey, hey.

About time?

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications.

We're so far behind, and we
Lost so much time this spring.

Like, I hate going into a cut
When everything is frozen.

Like, this is a lesson
On how not to mine.

Parker schnabel is
Chasing a 6,000-ounce,

$7.2 million-season gold,



But after a failed attempt
At mining his own ground,

He's three weeks behind schedule
And struggling.

This road is just
Kind of a smash-and-grab.

Until anything else thaws.

With sluicifer running well
Over 200 yards an hour,

Doing this not nearly
Going to keep it fed.

Sluicifer is running.

The only
Pay dirt in the entire cut,

But parker is running out of
Thawed pay.

This is frozen.

That's all full of
Massive chunks.

Like, that can't go
Through the plant.

Open a monster cut,
Twice the size of ellis island,

Between his two wash plants.

To get to the gold-rich
Pay dirt.

Parker's crew must first
Rip through 20 feet of.

Frozen overburden to melt it.

They can then strip away
Material to expose.

The gravels beneath,
Where the gold is concentrated.

Well, as you can see,
We have three dozers running.

I mean, that's crazy costly
To do,

But there's a hell
Of a lot of permafrost.

It's a real pain in the ass.

I mean, if we don't figure
Something out here,

We're going to run into
Some major issues,

But there's just
Nowhere else to go.

Hey, mitch. You got a copy?

Yeah.

Man, everything down here
Is completely frozen.

I'm not really getting
Much pay up.

How much is left up
At the plant?

We're just down
To the last couple.

Of scoops of pay here.

Hey, aaron, how much material
You got left down there?

Probably just scratching
It down to last bucket.

Give us everything you got.

This is the last of the material
Coming up right now.

No sluice and no gold...

Equals for a pretty season.

Parker, that's it.
We're out of pay.

We got to shut sluicifer down.

Why don't you get all the guys
Together,

And I'll meet you out
By the plant,

And we'll try to figure
Out a plan here.

Will do..

Hi, guys.

- How's it going?
- What's up?

Not real great.

So, I mean, we're just really
Struggling for options here.

If you guys know of anything
That we could be running.

Well, we could run
That bedrock down there.

Like, in the old last cut?

Yeah.

If we could find some good
Spots in the bedrock,

Maybe we could run What's left.

I mean, there might be a little
Something left out there,

But I don't think you're going
To get any stellar cleanup.

Out of it,
Just run a bunch of bedrock.

Through and beat a bunch Of up.

I think we can make it work
If we're careful.

I mean, I could go over there
And see what we could scrape up,

And that will get us by
While you guys are getting.

The rest
Of the thaw off up there.

Brennan, if you could get
Ahead of us here.

And get some ditches in
So that we get some drainage.

We've lost a lot of time
This season already.

- All right.
- Let's go get on it.

Thanks, guys. Thanks, dean.

- Thanks, guys.
- Hey.

Dean is a new guy
For us this season,

But he does have quite
A bit of mining experience,

Which is why I hired him.

We'll get over there
And run some bedrock.

And see if there's
Some gold in it.

Right now, I just want to see
That damn plant running.

They've already mined
The gold on the bedrock,

But there could also be
Some hidden deep in the cracks.

Return to
The previously mined ground.

And run another
2 feet of bedrock.

In the hope that
There's still gold left.

I've run bedrock
On several occasions,

But running this
Is our only option.

Operator dean first
Panned for gold at age 9.

On his family's Klondike claim.

The first time I ever
Chased bedrock,

It turned out
Really good for me.

We pulled out 350 ounces.

Bedrock can be
Very tough digging,

And it can break the machines,

But I've seen it work
Time and time again.

And get good gold recovery
Out of it.

While dean works old ground,

The rest of the crew
Is stripping permafrost.

On new ground.

Brennan has been tasked
With digging ditches.

To speed up the thaw.

Digging these ditches.

Is super vital to get down
To pay.

Without them, the thaw
Just doesn't happen.

As fast as it should.

Brennan is going to be
A key guy this year.

And is already proving
To be one,

Especially since rick is gone.

And brennan is The front-runner.

To replace rick
As parker's new foreman.

Parker has got
A trillion stresses.

With crew and keeping
Things going and the thaw.

That's why you need a foreman,

And it needs to be somebody
Who's been here for a while.

That knows what's going on
And sees the big picture.

I'm a month into the season
Right now,

And we still haven't
Mined an ounce of gold.

My guys, you know, they took
A big chance coming up here,

And to this point,
All we've been doing.

Is moving
Massive amounts of dirt.

New mine boss Rick ness.

Is down to pay
In his first-ever cut,

But urgently needs
To start sluicing gold.

You know, I haven't
Paid my guys yet.

All I've been doing so far
Is going into debt.

He's en route To pick up.

The one missing piece in
His operation...

A wash plant.

This machine is key because this
Is the machine.

That's going to
Reinvigorate my guys,

Going to show them
That we're not all going to.

Go broke together this summer,

And by the end
Of the week here, gold.

- Iast week...
- yeah, that's a big trommel.

Rick finally found
A plant for his claim.

That'll do about
200 yards an hour.

Really?
Two hundred yards an hour.

I want to see this thing move.

That's impressive.

$180,000 later,

Rick spent every last dime
On his trommel...

Ruby, we got a wash plant!

Wow, that's big.

And it's ready To be collected.

I love it, man.

The wash plant is loaded up
On the trailer,

Getting ready to head up
To the claim.

I've got all the money
That I can afford.

To put into a wash plant
Into this wash plant.

It's nerve-racking for me.

Because one little thing
Goes wrong with this,

And the whole season
Is shot, you know?

So it needs to show up
In one piece today.

Rick, driver tyson,
And zee in the pilot car,

Start the long haul to the claim
With their oversized load.

Zee, if you encounter
Anyone once we get in,

You know, once we get into this,
You're going to have to flag.

Them down,
Like wave them out, right,

And let them know that something
Really wide.

Is coming through.

Sounds good.

Did you...
Did they tell you what...

got one coming.

All right. Got a car.

Ooh,.

He's hauling ass.

Tourists, man.

Another one coming.

Lot of traffic today.

One coming, one coming.

Lunatics up here, man.

Sixty miles south,
The crew is rushing to finish.

The 60-foot pad,
Ready for the new wash plant.

Looks pretty good to me.

It feels like you're a mile
High up here right now.

It's coming together
Really quickly.

I can kind of picture
A wash plant up here running.

It makes me want to get
That gold out of the ground.

It's pretty crucial that
We start getting things.

Happening pretty quick
To be able to get that gold.

And I'm... Woo!

Rocks flying all over the place.

The fact that we're
Building this pad.

Does give me some hope
That we are moving ahead.

And that something
Is coming our way.

Rick and his wash plant.

Leave the highway.

Onto the unmaintained road
To quartz creek.

So we should hit much less
Traffic now, but, unfortunately,

Now the road is...

Much narrower
And much less maintained.

You got to be kidding me.

Hey, rick. You got a copy?

Yeah, go for it.

It's a huge boulder
In the middle of the road.

Holy. We're coming up on it.

I see it right now.

What a spot?

Man. Right on the corner.

Right on the corner.

We'll get it moved,
And we'll see what happens.

All right. Cool.
I'll get out of your way.

Sweet, man.

Rick's new mega trommel.

Is heading to his claim,

But a huge boulder
Stands in its way.

Trommel architect
Will pilkington.

Is lending a hand.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Ooh, digging in.

Yeah.

Big rock to get Out of the way.

See you later, big rock.

You, rock.

Thanks so much, will.
Yeah, no worries, mate.

Good luck.

Thanks man.

Let's do this.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, finally at the top of
The mountain.

With my own wash plant.

We're on a roll now.

We are dredging.

While tony beets' son
Kevin runs dredge 1.

To bring in gold
For the season...

- Keep the buckets full.
- Don't break.

1 mile east, tony is working
On a plan for his kids.

To mine the klondike
Long after he's gone.

To help barge his
Second dredge back to eureka,

He's retrofitting his top-heavy
Tug, the kid commando.

Tony spent the last 6 months.

Figuring out
How to make the tug stable.

Add bespoke
Pontoons to widen her hull.

The kid commando,

Three stories high on a hull
Just 12 feet wide,

Was deemed unstable by
Transport canada.

By extending the width
Of the hull.

With a pair of 3-1/2-foot
Steel pontoons,

Tony hopes to lower
Its center of gravity.

So it can pass
Its stability test.

I'll be in the loader!

Once the boat is in the water,

The loader is going
To help pull me out.

Yeah?

Well, there you go.
That didn't go too bad.

There's a lot of season left,

But we got all
The important pieces now.

We got the big machine
For getting gold.

At quartz creek,

Rick finally
Makes it to the claim.

With his $180,000 wash plant.

I see it. I see it.

It looks huge.

It's kicking up a lot of dust.

I'm stoked. There it is.

Holy.

It's a big girl?

Woo-hoo.

Yeah, baby.

Woo, yes!

Look at that beast.

What do you guys think?

Awesome! Let's get it.

Good purchase, rick.

It's pretty bitching.

This is the big,
Beautiful bastard.

That's going to catch
All the gold for us this year.

Rick's new wash plant
Is a monster 40-foot trommel,

Twice the size of the trommel
On tony beets' dredge 2.

Two hundred yards of pay an hour
Is fed into the prewash.

The big rocks will fall out
The back,

And the fine material
Passes into sluice runs,

Where the gold will catch
In the riffles.

It's all coming together.

I know, finally. All right.

Well, let's get her offloaded.

I'm going to let
Rick take it off.

He paid for it.

All right.

Last piece of the puzzle
Right here, wash plant.

Just got to get it...

Try and get it safely off
This trailer...

All right.

Get it put together, and
We're going to be in business.

Whoa, whoa!

What the?

Whoa!

Whoa, whoa!

What the?

Whoa!

What the was that?

It came off the dolly.

You're kidding me.

At quartz creek,

Rick may have totaled his
$180,000 wash plant.

Before even firing up.

Man, just pulling the thing,
Nice and easy,

Like I planned on,
And all of a sudden.

The thing just fell
Right off the dolly.

Stupid.

Can't catch a break.

One thing after another.

And the guys loaded it
On the trailer,

And they never Relocked it.

Damn it.

Well, nothing is ruined except
The lowboy, so you're fine.

Just going to be Extra cautious.

And get two
More machines in here.

We'll put excavator on this side
And lift this side up.

We'll put the loader
On the other side.

And pull the other side up,
And then I'll use the 700.

To push the dolly back
Underneath it.

And make sure it
Locked in place this time.

Just keep everyone
Out of the way.

Okay, straight up.

Pull it.
Coming up nice and easy.

A little bit more.

Okay, hold that. Stop.

Go up!

A little more. Hold that.

Okay, we're hooked this time.

It's locked in the dolly now.

Good here.

Looking good here.

Nice and easy.

Yeah.

A little bit more.

It's off the trailer,
Hallelujah.

I am glad we made it here
In one piece.

It wasn't looking good
For a while.

We've still got to get
Our retaining wall built,

Get the wash plant
Put up on that,

Build the sluice boxes Onto it,

Set our pump up, run a water
Line, plumb our water in.

After that, good to go.

Nice. Cheers, guys.

Cheers!

Couldn't be more proud of you.

To the wash plant.

Well, so I know we were
Talking about.

What we were going
To name the wash plant,

And zee actually came up to me
With a really good one,

And I made the executive
Decision to go with that,

So it's dirty.

It's rusty.

It's named after a classic
American icon.

It reeks of us.

I christen thee, durt reynolds.

I'm really starting to get
Pretty frustrated.

With all this frozen ground.

We're out of pay,
And we've ran the road,

And we've just got to start
Getting some gold coming in.

In the last cut,

Both of parker's plants
Are standing idle.

New hire dean is working
On a quick fix...

Dig up bedrock left
From last season.

To see if there's
Any gold left behind.

There's gold in this bedrock.

There always is.

Parker's long-term plan...

Thaw and drain the cut to get
Fresh pay dirt by next week.

Brennan has got the crucial job
Of digging the ditches.

To channel the melt water
Away from the pay dirt.

This is going to be the first
Part of the cut that we mine,

So we need the thaw
To be perfect.

When we go To dig up our pay.

I'm happy with the progress
So far.

Things are looking good.
It's definitely a nice feeling.

That he gave me
A little bit of responsibility.

Maybe it's just one step closer.

To possibly moving up the ladder
Here one of these days.

With rick gone here,
There's a big void to fill,

And I know he's trying
To do it himself,

And it's starting
To stress him out.

Because there's a lot
Of things to look at.

What a disaster.

Brennan is throwing
A lot of this stuff.

Right on the edge Of the ditch,

Which insulates the ground
Next to all our ditches,

And it's making me Want to.

Shoot somebody In the head.

Brennan's digging ditches.

To channel the thawing water
Out of the cut,

But by piling the dirt
High next to the ditch,

He's insulated the ground below,
Creating a frozen wall.

Which blocks water
From leaving the cut.

Brennan, when we're ditching,

Our ditches can't be low.

And then a big old
Frost hump right beside them.

But... I understand.

That you say you're going to
Get it cleaned up,

But that thawing
Is more important.

Than the ditch thawing, right?

Like, that big bank that you
Threw the material on.

That isn't thawing
Because of the material.

Is more important
Than the ditch.

I don't know what to say.

It doesn't seem like anything I.

Been doing the last week
Has been right in his eyes,

So just Keep pushing on.

Whatever.

Brennan ain't quite
Doing it right,

So it's just, you know,
We're so far behind.

We don't have time for things
To get screwed up.

Well, I'm going to go have
Some beers and kill this day.

Brennan is a damn good hand,

But...

Little things like that
Just can't happen, you know?

What happens when we put more
And more on his plate?

Parker's only chance
Of getting any gold this week.

Is dean going back
To the old bedrock.

They pulled really good
Gold out of this cut last year.

That's telling me,
In my experience,

That this bedrock is going
To have good gold in it.

We're going to probably
Keep this plant going for a week.

While we get the new cut
Opened up and thawed out,

Ready for sluicing.

You never know.

It's hard to say until it goes
Through the plant,

But it looks very promising.

After 3 days of downtime,

Parker finally
Has material to run.

Well, it looks like dean has
Got us some bedrock to run here.

We're going to fire up
Sluicifer and see what happens.

Here we go.

Hey, we're ready!
Send us some dirt!

We just really have to watch
The size of the material here.

That we're sending
Into sluicifer.

That's my biggest concern.

We've run extra bedrock
In the past.

It's never been a good thing,
But, you know,

It is a good feeling
To be sluicing, finally.

I just hope there's
A lot of gold in it.

Tony has The kid commando

In the yukon river.

The new 34-foot pontoons
Should make her stable,

But if she fails.

The transport canada
Stability test,

Tony's plans to cut in half.

The time of his dredge move
Are toast.

The ballast test is a success.

The results are confirmed
By transport canada,

And the kid commando
Is officially seaworthy.

Attach the new barge,

Christened the monica,
And head upstream.

She pushes good.

She's not tippy anymore.

It's actually a heck
Of a lot better.

Than I thought she would.

We need to get the wash plant
Up and running,

And every minute counts.

Rick ness has
Everything on the line.

He spent his last $180,000
On a new wash plant,

durt reynolds,
And to avoid going broke,

He needs to start sluicing
Gold asap.

I've always had
Some input as far as.

How we set our wash plants up
When I was with parker,

But ultimately,
He had the final say,

And now this year,
It's 100 percent my call.

So I've ordered up a bunch
Of concrete blocks.

I'm going to build a bit
Of a retaining wall.

For my plant to sit on.

It's a little more work,

But it should actually
Be a cleaner setup.

And less likely
To undermine itself.

I'm unloading giant legos.

Pad complete,

It's time to haul
In the 20-ton wash plant.

Good. Wrapping that around.

Aw, it's scary using chain like
That, man.

Is it going to let go?

Hey, carl,
When it comes unhooked,

Tell me so I can
Get out of the way.

Holy.

That was... That's scary?

Yeah.

Ryan and carl direct
The risky maneuver.

Right beside The 60-foot drop.

How's it looking, ryan?
Looking good.

We got to aim and get this set
Of tires.

On top of these
White blocks behind me.

Keep... Is it looking good?

Looking good!

Do I got to start
Cutting it that way?

Straighten it out.

, this is Nerve-racking.

Talk about right On the edge.

I don't think I could get it
Any closer to the edge.

Yeah, that's not Too bad, buddy.

Have you done this
Before or what?

It's going to work or it's not.

I'm going to find out.

It could be $180,000
Right off the side of a cliff.

The crew only has to
Attach the sluice boxes.

And connect up The water supply,

And they can mine
Their first gold.

My way, my way!

A little bit...
Give me a little bit more.

That's good. Good?

Watch your head.

Go ahead.

I got this pump for $5.

- Pull it out.
- Pull it?

Yeah.

Yeah, you're clear, buddy.

I'm finally dragging the hose
Up the hill.

To connect
To durt reynolds.

I'm just kind of flying
By the seat of my pants,

So I think This will work.

It... We'll just wing it.

Does it worry you that
It's hanging off the edge?

No.

This is it. This is the last
Joint for the wash plant.

There we go.

A little more, little more.
Okay, I'll try that.

All right. Grip it.

Now we're getting somewhere.

All right.
I'm going to start this thing.

Is it going to work?

Yes.

What are you worried about?

Everything.

Fire it up!

There it is.

All right, I'm going to put
A bucket of dirt in.

- Ten-four.
- Yeah, we're feeding the plant.

This is a pretty big deal.

Woo, woo, woo, Woo, woo, woo.

Yay, people are smiling.

The Trommel ain't turning.

What?

The trommel is not spinning.

Classic, classic.

By forgetting to
Turn on the trommel,

Rocks are backing up.

What? Where's all that water
Coming from?

Carl, hit the bypass.

Shut the pump off.

Shut the by... shut the pump off,
Hit the bypass.

Shut it off. Shut it off.
Shut it off.

Hit the bypass!

Okay.

Turnbuckles gave way.

Where's rick?

I'm going to need a minute.

Sluice boxes fell off.

Water almost took out
The pad enough.

To dump the plant Off the pad.

You know, I expected
Growing pains,

But this is Outrageous.

That's a nice six-by-six
Floating out in the pond.

I should probably get that.

Why are you coming down here?

It's a little bit Big for me.

Watch out.

It's all slimy.

It's a good six-by-six,.

In the yukon,
These things are worth, like...

That's a $100 piece of wood.

Dozer, help.

Looks like I had
All over me now.

Parker has managed
To run sluicifer for 3 days.

This week with the bedrock
Dean thinks contains gold.

What's up, chris?

We got some gold?

Hey, hey.

About time?

Yeah, no kidding.

Well, that pan
Looks a lot fuller than

I thought it was going to be
With how the week went.

Yeah. You guys battle up there?

It was pretty tough running
All that extra bedrock.

Like, wash plants Don't like it,

But looks
Like it might be worth it.

There's gold in it.

To be worth running,

It should
Produce an ounce an hour,

A minimum of 70 ounces.

All right.

There's 20, 40, 60.

We're going to beat
The last one, 80,

Hundy,

A buck 20...

There we go. There we go.

131.45.

Bingo. Not bad.

That's not bad
For the run time we had.

Yeah, it was like, what,
60, 70 hours?

Yeah. Good call, dean.

Good call.

Looks like you made
A good shout, dean.

Well, I'm just glad
To see the gold.

Worth $160,000.

It's pretty sweet.

Dean's bedrock
Strategy has paid off.

We had that cut completely
Cleared in my mind.

Like, I'm glad that you came in.

And gave us that suggestion
To run that.

Because, like, otherwise,

Most of that would
Have been left behind.

Thanks for that.

Not a problem.

Well, you keep having ideas
Like that,

We might keep you around
For a week or two.

Yeah.

Well, we've got a hell of a busy
Couple of weeks coming up here,

Trying to get two plants going,
And we're well behind the gun,

So let's tag it and bag it
And go get some plants running.

Let's do it.

Thanks, guys.

Next morning, parker
Has to make a crucial decision.

He's been putting off
All season.

So I've got to go let
The guys know.

Who the foreman is.

I hate these kind of decisions.

Because you can never
Please everybody,

And things like this definitely
Keep me up at night,

But we'll go Get it over with.

So I just wanted to get
Everybody together.

And let you know a few
Things that's going on.

You know, this season
Is a tough one for us.

Because we were so late
To the game on stripping.

This time last year, we had,
Probably,

Two wash plants running.

So I've been doing
Some thinking, guys,

And I'm not
The greatest communicator,

As a lot of you guys know. What?

So I need somebody
To replace rick,

And I really can't afford
To lose any of you guys.

In your current roles,

So dean here is going
To be our new foreman.

He has a lot of experience
Up here.

He's been mining
For a lot of years.

This isn't a decision that has
To do with any of you guys.

Just... I just want you guys
To know that.

I'll leave it at that,

And let's get out there
Kick some ass today.

Thanks, guys. Thank you.

I'm hopeful that
They took it good.

I want a good season,

And hopefully
Everybody's heart is into it,

And that's what I'm aiming for.

I don't know.
I can't wrap my head around it.

I haven't worked this hard
To try.

And move up the ladder and stay

limbo, And this pisses me off.

I'm going to have to really
Think about what I want.

To do this year.

Some people are going
To be irritated by it.

Because they wanted the job,

Or they don't like him,
Or whatever,

But at the end of the day,
You know,

What am I going to do,

Let everybody do whatever
They want all season?

Like, you know,
We're here to make money.

On the next "Gold rush"...

That's my entire livelihood
Up there ready to fall.

Big things are starting
To go wrong.

Freddy dodge, am I glad
To see you, buddy.

My advice, rick Doze this
thing off the hill.

Fire it up!

If parker's going to get
6,000 ounces,

We're going to get 6,000 ounces.

One sixty, 170, 180, 190...

Let's fire this up.

What the?
Why is the conveyor stopped?

What's going on, man?

I just don't want to know
What the boss's mood.

Is going to be In over this one.