Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue (2021): Season 3, Episode 2 - High Country Hail Mary - full transcript
Yeah, we're done.
We're just gonna get deeper.
Don't even know
how close to the mine we are.
We're gonna have
to get pulled out.
Hey, it's Freddy Dodge.
We're on the road
coming into your mine here
and it's slicker than snot.
We slid off here
and we're in a bad spot.
We're stuck.
Well, this sucks.
I've had better mornings.
Well, I think
we're pretty lucky
we didn't bring
my truck down, too.
- Yeah.
- We'd have two trucks--
Get two trucks stuck.
Hopefully, he's got a
big enough piece of equipment
- to get this truck out.
- Yeah.
Freddy and Juan
are 900 feet above
the historic town
of Sumpter, Oregon,
bogged down en route
to a struggling mine
operated by 38-year old
Tyler Beers.
He's here.
- Tyler.
- Hey, Juan.
- How you doing?
- Hey, Freddy. How's it going?
Not too bad,
you guys got stuck.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Freddy.
- Tyler.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet
you, Tyler.
- Nice to meet you, Juan.
- Yeah.
Tyler Beers,
a concrete finisher
for most of the year,
has run his one acre mine
in the late spring
for the last two years.
Saturday, April 23rd,
Beers Mine number one.
The mud hole.
The season is short
due to unpredictable snowmelt
being his only water source.
My dad brought me up here
all the time as a little kid.
And I've been up here
in Sumpter
in these Blue Mountains
panning for gold ever since.
He's helping me this year
and he loves it up here.
It's great to have
the family, obviously.
Tyler's dream
is to quit the day job
and make his living
from mining.
I don't wanna pour
concrete anymore.
It means everything for me
to give this a shot
and to be successful at it.
It'd be a dream come true.
Before Freddy can
make that dream a reality...
Well, this little guy
should get us out, huh?
Yeah.
Well,
we're gonna give a heck.
...he's got to
get to the claim.
Well, let's pull her out.
[bleep] come on, baby.
Get her some gas. Let's go.
Come on. Give her some gizzy.
Come on.
Fredrick.
Oh, whoa, whoa.
Once we get to the top
of this hill,
it should be all right.
Let me try to go
without the chain.
He's gonna try to get
a running start at it.
Yee-haw.
Oh, yeah, he's got it.
Perfect.
Thank you, Tyler.
Gold was first discovered
in this region in 1851.
And prospectors flooded in,
creating a boom town.
By 1954,
shaft, dredge,
and hydraulic operations
had extracted more
than $200 million in gold
from the surrounding creeks
and hills.
Now...
Hey, Freddy.
...young gun Tyler Beers
hopes to turn his failing
mine into a money spinner.
So this is your mine, huh?
Yes. This is my mine.
My dad showed it to me
about five years ago.
Okay.
I've been working
since about 2018
- to get where we are today...
- Right.
...with the trommel, the pond,
and the diggings obviously.
So is this your cut
right here?
This is the cut.
Yeah, you can kinda see
where you're working there.
We're struggling.
Our yield's really low.
It's not really paying for...
- the diesel.
- Mmm-hmm.
It's paying for the rental
equipment, that's about it.
How much gold did you do
last year?
Little bit under
12 ounces.
How long did you run?
- Five weeks.
- Five weeks?
At the most.
In the drought year.
So you have a limited window
to get your gold.
Absolutely.
How much have we done
this year?
We're about four
and half ounces, I would say.
Yeah.
How long have you
been running this year?
Four weeks.
Yeah, that's not good.
So in your opinion,
what's your biggest problem
that you have?
The water, definitely.
In this area,
we have snowmelt for water.
So when the snow's
gone, your season's done.
Without the water,
I can't even
begin to wash a rock
to look for the gold, so...
- Exactly.
- The water's...
it's priceless.
So what does your gold
look like out here?
Oh, look at that guy.
Some of its coarse,
some of it's fine,
but the numbers
just aren't adding up.
They really aren't.
One nugget doesn't do it.
No, just to run, I had
to involve two investors
in the past two years
and I started this season
seven ounces in debt.
- Really?
- Mmm-hmm.
So what's at stake here?
My wife brought the last
of our savings up here
and I'm running on the last
$2,000 my family has.
I'm drowning up here.
Family came to visit us.
We missed our daddy.
Tyler's wife, Chelsea,
with their two kids,
Addison and Andy,
make a 300-mile round trip
each week to visit.
I'm here chasing my dream
and I'm very blessed
to have Chelsea, my wife.
You can't do this
and have a family without
a good partner and she is.
She's an amazing partner.
Holy crap,
where did you get that?
Holy, moly.
Good job, Mom.
Great job.
His goal is to be
a gold miner.
He's talked about it
since I met him,
so that's why we support him.
What's the hard part
about me being up here?
Going to bedtime
and you're not tucking me in.
I miss that, too.
Me being away from home
is killing them right now.
But it's in hopes
of a better life.
- Hi.
- Do you think I'll make it?
- Yeah.
- No.
- Hey.
- Andy.
Hey.
Well, I'm sure
there's a lot of people
that would agree with Andy.
What's your goal
this year for ounces?
I really need to get
25 ounces.
I do.
We are four weeks
into the mining season,
- four and a half ounces.
- You only have four?
And I'm hoping you guys
can help enlighten me
on your true opinion
on what needs to happen here.
Well, let's look
at your plant.
- Let's start there.
- Okay.
I wanna introduce you guys
to my dad.
- Okay.
- Awesome.
You think maybe
you can dry some of this up
for us tomorrow?
Hey, Dad,
Freddy and Juan are here.
- What's your name?
- I'm Kevin.
Kevin?
Nice to meet you, Kevin.
Freddy.
Juan, Freddy,
nice to meet you.
So how long have you known
about this place?
About 20 years.
Three years ago,
I got a hold
of Tyler and says,
"You got the gold bug
a little bit."
I says, "I got a place
I wanna show you."
So he set up this high banker.
Him and his buddy shoveled
in some dirt for a while
and there's 40, 50 pieces
of gold there
after about 45 minutes.
And his eyes glazed
over and...
- Gold fever.
- Here we are.
- Here we are.
- Okay.
- Oh, it's your fault.
- It's his fault.
Yeah.
It's all my fault.
Sometimes,
gold will trick you.
- Yeah.
- It does.
Now do you feel responsible a
little bit for him being here?
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
It's very important
that it works out
because he's put
so much into it
and I showed it to him.
And, feel some
responsibility for that.
Yeah, there... There's
gotta be something here.
And we have come across it,
just not near enough of it.
You guys work good together?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- That's good.
We've had a history
of not working well together.
14 to 23.
We don't talk a lot
about those years.
There's some pain
in there, but...
This is Old Yeller.
It's not nice to call
your dad that, man.
We won't
talk about that.
It's a 1929 Lapierre.
You could see some of the big
rocks we throw at it.
- Yeah.
- It'll gobble and--
She looks stout though.
Yeah.
It seems to be tough
for as old as it is.
All right.
Well, let's do it, huh?
Fire it up.
Let's make some gold.
- Let's do it.
- Okay.
You ready?
Think so.
Let's send some water.
All right.
Here goes another day.
Freddy will run
a four-hour test
to simulate
half a working day,
enough time to see how
efficient Tyler's plant runs
and where
he might be losing gold.
Old Yeller does run pretty
good for a hundred years old.
Here we go.
There she goes, Fred.
- First bucket.
- Yeah.
The centerpiece
of the Beers operation,
a 1929 Lapierre trommel,
Old Yeller.
Tyler feeds
the gold-bearing material
through the 17-foot barrel
where water washes gold
off the rocks
into a 12-foot sluice.
Wanna poke around
a little bit, Fred?
Yeah.
We are all in.
I've got my life savings into
this, my family's savings.
If I don't make this work out,
my family won't be able
to make the mortgage payment
next month.
Thank God my dad's up here
to help me.
He's a good hand.
Twenty-five ounces,
that would get him clear,
make his investors happy,
he's happy.
I think it's here.
I really do.
- Oh.
- Yeah, I feel it.
Yeah, they're packed.
Packed solid.
No bueno.
We know we can help him here.
Well, let's keep
on looking around, huh?
Let's go look
at their ponds.
That doesn't look good.
The clean water
is getting mixed instantly
with the dirty water.
You're absolutely
right, Freddy.
The second it comes into
the pond, it gets dirty.
Yup.
Clean water is vital
to effectively wash rocks.
If dirty water is being put
through the plant,
fine gold can be carried away
with the sedimentation.
We should try to get
some of that makeup water
down to the main pond
down below.
Hey, Pa. Bring me some
more pay dirt, would you?
Ow, you son of a bitch.
What do you think,
Juan-o, on that spray bar?
Man, we've have that problem
with a lot of plants, Freddy.
It's just...
It's not set up right.
The material's up on the side.
The water's on the bottom.
- Yeah, it does nothing.
- Yup.
Kinda like taking a shower
but not standing
under the showerhead.
- Yeah.
- You ain't gonna get clean.
What do you think, Freddy?
- Should we take a pan at that
and take a look at it?
- Yeah.
Juan-o.
- Thank you, sir.
- Welcome.
Watch your fingers.
Yeah. There's a lot
of material there.
There's a lot of material.
There's probably, what,
15%, 20% of the material
that should be going down
the sluice
isn't ever never
making it there.
Yeah.
With this much fine material
coming out the end
of the trommel,
Tyler could be losing
20% of his gold.
I'd say we pan the pay.
See what it looks like, huh?
Because it doesn't
look like pay to me anyway.
No.
See if there's
any round rocks at all
while you're panning it, Juan.
Even little ones.
Not a speck, Fred.
Nothing. Yup.
They're putting material
through the plant
that doesn't have
much gold in it.
And this is proof right here.
Here we are, four hours, Freddy.
Last bucket.
The four-hour test
run's over, Pa.
I need you at the pump.
Well, should we go
take a look, Fred?
Yeah.
Let's have a look, Juan-o.
Couple little flakes in there.
Well, guys, clean it up.
Let's get it on the scale.
Okay. Let's do it.
My biggest worry is I looked
at the material
they're running
and it doesn't look good.
The plant itself,
it needs some work,
but if there's no gold
in the material
they're putting in it,
all that is for naught.
- It's coming.
- Oh, yeah.
Test run complete,
Freddy and Juan prepare
for the first gold weigh
with rookie Oregon miner,
Tyler Beers.
Pour it in there, Juan-o.
I'm hoping it's heavy.
Well, moment of truth, guys.
Yup.
0.13.
You sure you got it all?
Yes.
He got it all, 0.13.
Uh-oh.
That's not good, guys.
It's pathetic.
You know there's $250 worth
of gold there, right?
Right.
So about $60 an hour, call it.
That doesn't cover the fuel
for that machine,
or that machine.
There's $250 worth
of gold there.
Probably cost you four times
that to make it.
Each mining day
costs Tyler
close to $1,000
in fuel and materials.
And then after you said,
you know, you're working on
the last of your savings
right now,
there's no use throwing
your savings away.
Right now, you're spending
a dollar to make a dime.
Every hour you run,
you're taking money away
from your family.
Yup.
We started panning your pay.
We never found a color in it.
It's more of a dirt mine
right now
is what you're running.
Juan and myself are
in a pretty tough spot here.
We rolled in here thinking
that water was gonna be
the problem.
Water's not the problem.
You could have
the Mississippi river
through there,
but if there's no gold,
there's no gold.
So what we need to do is,
you know,
put our detective eyes on
and go looking around here.
We can fix your water problem.
We can help you catch
more gold.
But if there's no gold
left there,
it doesn't matter
what repairs we do.
It's all for naught.
So, number one, we're gonna
go on a prospecting mission.
If not, you guys will be
bankrupt fast.
We're already there.
It'll rip your heart out
when you start thinking
about your family
and the success that
you're not having on site.
It'll get you.
Tools gathered...
That's a cute shovel, Freddy.
...Freddy and Juan launch
their most challenging
rescue mission yet.
But on the bright side...
- That is a cute shovel.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
See it folds down.
That's actually
a full-size shovel for you.
For me, it'd be a spoon, but...
Smart-ass.
- Well, should we get to it?
- Yeah.
- I'm gonna--
- You gonna do
- a little prospecting?
- I'll go with Tyler.
- Okay.
- And...
- Yeah.
- we'll start
trying to find some pay.
All right.
See you down there in a bit.
All right. Thanks, Juan.
With just four days
to save the mine,
Freddy must give Tyler
a crash course
in prospecting.
So now it's time
to do some investigation.
The area shows evidence
of historical mining.
First step,
Freddy needs to know
how well it was mined.
These creeks look like
they've been hit
flippin' hard.
Not a little, hard,
by the old timers.
Starting in 1851,
Oregon's first wave
of old-timer miners
were snipers,
picking off the easiest
and biggest gold
as they passed
through the state.
Then in the 1860's,
a more methodical style
of gold rusher took over,
taking time
to strip the ground
and leave nothing behind.
Later in the 1870s,
a high volume of miners
fought to secure
the harder to reach areas,
spending time clearing trees
and intensively cleaning out
all the creeks
they could find.
So let's put our detective
hats on here, Tyler.
Yeah.
See now this
is getting interesting here.
Discovering the date
this ground was mined
is critical
to determine
if Tyler should retreat
or battle it out.
Where does tree from?
About 50 linear feet
at the most.
- So right out of your cut?
- Right, in the center of it.
So, I'm gonna try
to age this tree
using these rings
as a reference or a guide
to let us know
when this was mined,
'cause they would have tore
every tree out of it.
Twenty-four, twenty-five,
twenty-six, twenty-seven,
twenty-eight...
If the tree is less
than 150 years old,
Tyler's ground
may be worthless.
A hundred and thirty-nine,
hundred and forty.
This tree is 140 years old.
That tells me
that this was mined out
in the 1860's, 1870's.
- Most likely, yeah.
- And there was probably
thousands of people
in here at the time
looking for gold.
But this was all done by hand.
The old timers
didn't have pumps.
They didn't have
heavy equipment.
- But you do now.
- Okay.
When Freddy showed me
the age of the tree,
I had no idea
that they were up here
in the 1860's at all.
We got to start over.
We got to start
prospecting again.
And I need to find
some color up here
or else there is no future
for me or my family up here.
With a sliver of hope,
Freddy goes deeper
into the cut
to see where Tyler
pulls his pay.
So, here's material
you were running,
like this bank material here.
- Right.
- So what this is,
this is all just
slip material.
So picture this draw
before it was mined, right?
It was a nice
little creek bed.
- You see these rocks...
- Yeah.
...running,
see how angular they are.
Right?
These never got concentrated
in the bottom of that stream.
Your odd round rocks
you're seeing,
that's the remnants of where
the gold would have been.
The rich material
of the old timers
would have taken out of here,
it would have almost
all been rounded material.
But you can see all these
angular rocks in here, right?
This is slip rock
that slowly slid off the hill
over tremendous
amounts of time,
but it's never been concentrated
to make a good
payable deposit.
This material you're digging
now is totally worthless.
Worthless? I don't know
if I like that, but...
- Okay.
- ...there's no damn
gold in it,
- right?
- Yeah.
Okay. I won't say worthless.
I don't know
if it's worthless.
I spent thousands of dollars
digging, you know what I mean?
I got money in even if
there ain't gold in it.
That's what I'm saying.
When Freddy tells you
that the ground is worthless
and you have, you know,
a couple of years to get
where we are today,
it's very disheartening.
Stings a little bit.
It sucks completely.
So basically what gold
these guys are getting
are just scraps
that were left over
and not a lot of scraps
at that.
But hopefully, we can find
some other material
that the old timers missed.
Never say never
and never give up.
Hi. How are you guys?
How was school?
Good.
Freddy was on site today.
It didn't go very good.
Freddy had bad news for us.
Basically, that whole area
we've been digging is,
Freddy's words, worthless.
He says that's what
the old timers left behind.
And I'm just getting scraps
and basically
just stop digging.
It's a waste of time.
Winners don't give up, right?
Mm-hmm.
Well,
I love and I miss you, guys,
but I do need to get to work,
and I need to find
better gold.
Love you, too.
We're hemorrhaging money
to be up here
chasing our dreams.
Chelsea is very
supporting of me.
I love her to death
and she loves me to death.
Or else you wouldn't be
seeing that demeanor.
I mean, you can tell
when I call her, it's...
She's got just
as much hope as I do.
We got to get
on the gold though.
Or else, this is gonna be
our last mining season
'cause my family
can't keep going through this.
It's always good to have
a local that you can go to.
To understand
Tyler's ground better,
Freddy's tracked down
a local expert
who's mined these gulches
for the last 50 years.
We're only here for a week,
but Walt's been here
for decades.
So we'll go
and see what he has to say.
- Knock, knock.
- Come on in, Fred.
- Walt, I assume.
- Yeah.
Good to see you, Fred.
Well, I came over.
I'd like to pick your brain
a little bit
about the history of the area.
From looking at the tree rings
in there,
there was people in there
in 1860's
where he's mining now.
The old timers,
when they had water...
Mmm-hmm.
...hit all of these gulches
up here,
- clear down the lake.
- Yeah. Okay.
They worked it pretty hard
because the water
lasted longer there.
Right.
Do you got any gold
you can show me from the area?
Here's some coarse stuff.
That was the big stuff
from where I was mining
at Parkerville.
You had some nice
little nuggets in there.
Nothing any bigger than that.
Them old timers,
they mined it hard.
- But they weren't...
- Okay.
...what you would call
totally effective.
There's no doubt in my mind
that there's pockets
all over here.
Yeah.
There's stuff
left out there, you know?
Like high benches.
And there's more gold
out there
on these high benches
than you can shake a stick at.
Well, we'll see what we see
and hopefully
we can help Tyler out.
Sir, it's been
an absolute pleasure.
Thank you very much
for letting me
pick your brain.
You're more than welcome.
I really appreciate
the time.
- And you take care, Walt.
- You, too, Fred.
Thank you very much.
That kind of confirms
what I thought as well,
that creek's gutted.
The old timers hit it hard.
But the most important thing
we can do for them
is try to find them pay,
try to find them pay
that the old timers missed.
And if they didn't miss any,
you know,
it goes without saying,
they're in a tough spot.
Now it's turned into
more of a treasure hunt.
What we wanna do
is we wanna cut
this spray bar
and angle the jets
so they're actually hitting
the material.
In the hope
that Freddy's search for gold
will pay off,
Juan begins modifications
to the trommel
to improve its recovery.
I see a new flopper.
Yup, she's almost there.
Freddy and Juan identified
the spray bar was set
at the wrong angle.
Kinda like taking a shower
but not standing
under the showerhead.
Yeah.
Completely missing the rocks.
Oh, there you go.
Got her now. That's it.
Juan's plan,
rotate the spray bar
45 degrees off the vertical
to ensure water effectively
washes the rocks.
You're gonna run
a trommel and equipment,
it's got to pay.
And so far, it hasn't.
Right here,
you'll see these two holes,
go ahead and drill those out
and then we'll go to the next
size up, go to 3/8.
Tyler, he's spending
money to be here.
I'm helping my son here
and hopefully get him
on the right track.
All right.
You know, we come
into situations sometimes
where it doesn't require
a ton of fixes,
you know, something as small
as adjusting the spray bar.
It's gonna make a huge
difference in their recovery,
but all that is secondary.
First and foremost,
we got to make sure
that we find
a spot that's worth mining.
So, it's got to be exciting
for you to be able to spend
the summer out here
with your son, huh?
Yeah, it is.
You wanna get that
tightened up.
I didn't realize
he was such a slave driver.
Yeah, I get it,
you know?
I worked with my dad,
and it was the same way.
You know, they're great guys,
and they're a father-son team.
So, you know, to me,
that hits close to home.
I love that.
You know, my father and I,
we worked together
quite a bit.
So I like seeing that.
He thinks he knows everything
when he's 13, 14 years old.
Any father probably
knows that story.
But took him a while,
he wasn't a quick learner
by any means, but...
You got to be proud
of him now, though.
- You know, he's out here.
- Yeah. Kid tries.
Yeah, he's trying like heck.
He does good in all aspects.
Tighten that up a little more
we'll be good.
Tyler and I
got a very good relationship
and I'm really proud of him
because of that ethic
working as hard
as he does all the time,
you know, making a living
for his family.
He's the one
under all the pressure.
I got to keep it in mind,
I'm here to help him.
- Okay. I think we got him.
- That looks good.
I'm happy with that angle
on it.
All right, well, let's just
tighten up this top one,
and then it's ready to go.
Let's go up here
and look around a little bit.
All right.
Running down his next lead,
Freddy and Tyler hunt
for richer ground
above the claim.
The most important
thing we can do
for this family now
is find some gold
on their claims.
And if we can't,
we're in real trouble.
We've never been in a spot
like this before.
Up here, a few hundred yards,
there's...
It could be an old bench
that got left up there.
- Right.
- There's a flat spot up there
where that stream
before it started cutting
down over here,
but hopefully left the gravels
there on bedrock
from that time period
millions of years ago.
But there's no way to tell
without digging it.
Let's do it.
A bench deposit forms
when gold settles
in a riverbed.
Later, the creek moves on
to cut a new path,
which ends up
deeper than the bench
had laid down before,
leaving behind
concentrated gold.
We're coming up
right over there.
Sometime in the past,
that would have been
the bottom of the creek.
You see that flat
bench up there?
Wow.
We need to get
your trackhoe up here
and dig a trench across here.
Sounds good.
If there's nothing there,
we bury the trench.
If there's gold bearing
gravels in there,
we sluice the heck out of it.
Okay.
Everything Freddy's
taught me about the ground
that I've been digging's
real valuable.
He's a master class.
In learning that from Freddy,
I'll always have that,
and never forget.
That's it.
Start here and we'll run
a trench right across there.
Okay.
Cut me a little ramp
there to get down in.
You got it.
That'll work, Tyler.
Freddy, exactly
what are you looking for?
Partially rounded gravels.
See? We got some rocks
in here, Tyler...
- Yeah, I'm looking.
- ...that are
partially rounded.
- Okay.
- Right?
So this rock here
was in that stream.
Hopefully that's a bench
the old timers
couldn't get to.
They didn't have pumps.
They didn't have
heavy equipment.
So that's our hope now.
You know, there's
always a glimmer of hope.
Fire in the hole!
Later that afternoon,
Freddy and Tyler
finish a bulk test
on the promising bench.
Well, let's have a look.
If it contains gold,
Tyler's operation has hope.
Nothing.
Tyler and myself looked
around a lot of places today.
There was one bench
that I was hopeful
that there was old gravels
left up there.
Nothing.
So now we're back
to square one.
We'd have it here or here.
This site has drained me.
I just don't know.
I don't know.
Pretty sure
this is my last season.
This doesn't look good.
This is bad.
What do you think
we should do?
After three days
of prospecting,
Freddy is running
out of options.
There's got to be gold in here
that the old timers missed.
They hydraulicked it.
They hydraulicked this.
Pretty sure.
That's why there's so much
material missing.
The most efficient thing
the old timers had
during this time period
was hydraulic mining.
It's a huge water cannon
that just washes the material.
Drawing
from further up the creek,
the old timers
would use a water cannon
to blast huge amounts
of pay dirt downstream
into primitive sluice boxes
where the gold would collect.
If this was hydraulic
like I think it was,
there's a chance
they might have left
quite a bit of gold
in this bedrock.
You can see this fractured
bedrock over here.
- See the cracks in it?
- Yeah.
Well, those pieces of gold,
they're coming down.
They hit that crack
and they fall in.
The old timers
didn't get it, right?
Because they were trying
to pry this
with pry bars
and all kinds of stuff.
The old timers thought this
is freaking tough diggin'.
- Okay.
- Maybe
they left enough.
Let's see.
Freddy believes the gold
that didn't make it
into the old timers' sluices
got trapped
in the fractured bedrock.
This is plan B.
I hope we don't have
to find a plan C
because I don't know
that there'd be one.
Give her hell, bud.
I hope and pray
that we can find
some serious gold.
I need to turn
this thing around.
I need to get my debts paid.
Perfect.
Let's see what's in it.
- Well, fingers crossed, man.
- Yeah.
Look at that.
Heck yeah.
There it is.
Holy cow.
Eleven, twelve, thirteen,
fourteen, fifteen colors
and some of them
pretty flippin' nice.
That's phenomenal, Freddy.
So that's in the bedrock
that the old timers
couldn't clean up.
They left a lot of gold
lying there, didn't they?
Well, they didn't
have a trackhoe.
They had bars and picks.
This excites me.
I'm hopeful.
Thank you.
Well, we need
to start stockpiling this.
- We're wasting time.
- Thank you, sir.
It looks really good.
That was a nice pan.
If he's excited about it,
then I'm giddy.
Freddy found a good spot.
I'm very hopeful that
that goal of 25 ounces,
and hopefully
to pay back my investors,
is in reach now.
From what I can tell,
they left a lot of gold
behind in the bedrock.
So, we're gonna harvest it.
Gosh, I'd like to pull a half
ounce out of here every day
and turn it
into a profitable number.
Let's measure
these riffles real quick.
Okay.
Inspired by
Freddy's 15-color pan...
Twenty one and a quarter.
...and the prospect
of some gold-rich pay dirt...
Forty, forty-eight.
...Juan and Kevin
start a major overhaul
of the sluice system.
What we're gonna do
is we're gonna make
a little bit of a change.
If you did feel it
before when it was running,
the top box
was completely packed.
You can't even
get your finger in it.
- We noticed that.
- So what we wanna do
is by getting...
eliminating those riffles
where they have
the under riffles,
and the top riffles,
and then also adding
a little more pitch.
It's gonna help
clean those out
so they actually
work properly.
They'll
tumble better, huh?
They're
completely packed up.
That gold just skips
right across the top of it.
Just bounces along 'em.
Makes a lot of sense.
See the different
colored carpets go in here.
So what we're doing here,
by having the second layer
of carpet,
what it's gonna do, it's gonna
allow that material.
If it does work its way
through the miner's moss,
it'll still
get trapped underneath.
- Okay.
- So it's just giving you
a second layer
of a protection.
Let me finish
cutting this up.
And then we can start working
on the adjustment on them.
All righty.
How's she going, Juan?
It's coming along, Freddy.
I'm just putting
- these riffles back together.
- Looks good.
I'll start lowering
the sluice that I wanted.
Yeah.
All hands on deck
right now to get this done.
We've got, you know,
just a limited amount of time.
We only have one day left.
After stockpiling
the new pay,
Tyler joins Kevin
for the final critical fix.
Accessing clean water.
Freddy wants
to bring our fresh water
from up here
so we're bringing a pipe
from up here where
the fresh spring runoff
is coming clear
down to the last pond
that we're actually
pumping out of
so that the water
that we're using
for processing is cleaner.
It potentially means
cleaner water running
through the wash plant,
more fluid type water
working our gravels
and more gold recovery,
more gold in our pocket.
I hear water flowing.
There she is.
Look at that.
Now, we've got clean water
where we need it.
Juan-o, watch yourself.
- If this son of a gun dropped.
- At the wash plant,
Freddy and Juan
make final adjustments
to the pitch
of the sluice box.
Tad bit more.
- Perfect.
- Perfect.
How do you say
easy in Spanish?
Well, here it is.
Box is ready to go, Freddy.
The way the old timers
mined this,
they were gonna lose
some gold, right?
- Yeah.
- Now let's just pray
they lost enough.
Only one way
to find out, Fred.
It's right.
Well, you know, it's been
kind of a weird week for sure.
Yeah.
Honestly, you know,
Freddy feels a lot of weight
on his shoulders.
When we come into a place
and do a mine rescue,
he's put a lot of time
and a lot of thought into it.
Even after a tough week...
- Oh, thank you.
- Holy moly.
Look at that. I got you
something special, Freddy.
...Juan knows how to turn
Freddy's frown upside down.
What'd you order me?
I got you
Mickey Mouse pancakes.
- Mickey Mouse pancakes.
- You know.
Thanks, Juan.
Looks good, though.
He's cute.
My pancake's
looking at me.
Thank you for the mouse pancake.
Well, let's eat
and hit the road.
Let's do it, huh?
- Good morning, guys.
- Good morning.
Hey, how are we doing today?
- Doing all right.
- Good morning.
You guys ready to run
some material?
After a hard week
hunting for gold
and retrofitting
the wash plant,
today is the moment of truth
for the Beers Mine.
Oh, I'm excited.
I guarantee you,
with what we did to the plant,
it'll increase
the recovery by far.
With the spray bar,
the riffles, and then also
making that a little steeper
and really, your makeup water
now, you know.
We ought to be able to run
a little longer. Yeah.
- Good.
- Increasing
the amount of recovery
from that first run, though,
won't matter a whole lot.
We got to get more gold.
- Well, let's fire it up.
- Thanks, Freddy.
Let's run a wash plant.
Give her some juice, Pa.
Let's run this dirt drill
through Old Yeller,
and let's show you guys
some damn gold, huh?
They'll run
a four-hour test
to see if Freddy
and Juan's fixes have worked.
Here we go.
And if the new pay
dirt Freddy has identified
is as rich as his
15-colored test pan suggests.
I'm excited to see
the first group of material
go through,
see what it looks like.
Here goes.
First bucket, Juan-o.
Moment of truth huh, Freddy?
Yup, let's start a timer.
- All right.
- Let's do a four-hour run.
Over the last week,
Freddy and Juan
have re-angled
the spray bar
to ensure water
washes gold off the rocks,
lowered the sluices
and installed custom mats
and riffles
to capture fine gold,
and diverted snowmelt
into their feeder pond
so that the water
they pump up
to the trommel is clean.
But Freddy's
toughest challenge
was finding pay.
I've never been
in a situation like this.
The old timers were in here
hydraulicking it
with water cannons, right?
So a lot of stuff tried
getting away from them, right?
Let's just hope it was enough
in these creeks.
Here we go, golden nugget.
Come on, baby.
This material's
a lot different
than what we've been
running before.
The new pay Tyler's running
contains fractured bedrock.
This stuff's really rocky.
Hoo-hoo, it's rocky.
But if Freddy's right,
it's the bedrock
that contains the gold
the old timers
couldn't reach.
Stuff is jamming me up.
Maybe I'm feeding it
a little too fast.
Poor old girl.
Gonna beat this rock here,
stuff a little slow.
Come on, baby.
That spray bar, Freddy,
is working good.
- Yup.
- It's pointing
where it needs to be.
They had 20%
of the material
that should have been
going through the sluice
was going out
in these poor tailings.
If I was a piece of gold,
I'd rather be with my friends
- in the sluice box.
- Yeah.
Not out by yourself
in the tailings
pile out there.
Where am I?
The water coming
out of that spray bar, Freddy,
- looks a lot cleaner.
- Yes.
Now, we got
that makeup water
right next to the intake.
All that water
that was coming in
is going in that pipe now.
So that's gonna help
with the scrubbing.
And that fine,
fine gold recovery.
Those pieces of gold
you can barely see,
that cleaner water
is gonna help recover those.
Take a look at that.
That's a hell of a lot
cleaner than it was before.
This is now and before.
Look at the difference
in that.
It's a hell of a lot
better than it was.
That just tells us
that the sluice box
is at the right angle.
We got the water flow
where it needs to be.
- Running good, bud.
- Yeah.
Tyler...
that's four hours.
- Okay.
- One more bucket.
Last bucket.
Come on, gold nugget.
Last bucket for today
and let's hope it's not
the last for good.
Yeah.
See some gold, baby.
You wanna shut her down, Pa?
After making the changes
that Freddy and Juan did,
I'm excited about the future.
This is only the beginning.
Even if I'm not mining here
my whole life,
I'm gonna be a gold miner.
- Well... Yeah.
- Let's take
a look at it.
See what you got up there?
There's gold there, Freddy.
Yup.
Lots of it right there.
And up here.
Really, every riffle has
a little bit of gold in it.
Yeah. Well, there's gold
in the box, guys.
- Yeah, it looks great, Freddy.
- Juan-o.
- Yeah.
- Good job, Juan.
- You guys did good.
- We don't know how much,
but there's gold in the box,
that's for dang sure.
All the gold accumulation
in the sluice box,
it's only gonna inspire me.
- Well, I like it.
- Well, let's get
it cleaned up.
Okay. Sounds good.
Thanks, Freddy.
You're welcome.
Well, here they are, Freddy.
To make this mine viable...
Moment of truth.
...Tyler needs
at least .44 ounces.
- That's a beanie.
- Here you go, Fred,
I'll let you do the honors.
There's a hat in it.
Actually looks pretty good.
- Yeah, it does.
- Wow.
The first four-hour test
produced less than $250
with just 0.13 ounces
of gold.
You guys ready to weigh us up?
Yup, I am.
- Well--
- Dang, look at that.
We're already ahead
of where you were last time.
There's a half ounce.
Half an ounce. Wow.
We just
went past three quarters.
That looks really good.
That looks really good, guys.
Well,
0.77.
0.77.
That's amazing.
0.77 ounces,
an increase of nearly 600%.
I'm happy to see you
smiling now.
A full day
would produce 1.54 ounces.
If the gold
and snowmelt hold up
in the next month,
Tyler could mine
$65,000 worth of gold.
Thanks, Fred.
- You're welcome.
- Thanks a million.
That's gonna save my season.
Enough to pay back investors
and provide an income
for his family.
You've gone from, what,
$200 a day in four hours to...
1,300 bucks in four hours.
That's phenomenal.
That's the best
we've ever done.
- Finally smiling.
- I know. I know.
It's been a great opportunity
to learn.
These lessons,
they're something
I'll always have
and never forget.
I'm not quitting.
I'm not giving up,
I'm gonna mine
the heck out of this thing
and get all the gold I can.
Thanks, Fred,
- Juan.
- No problem.
Turned it...
Completely turned it around.
Tyler and Kevin now,
they actually
have an opportunity
to make a living.
You know, before they were
not even paying the bills,
but now with what
we were able to find them
and with the plant
being fixed properly,
they have a chance.
They have a real shot at this.
No wasting time.
I got to get my ass to mining.
You gotta
get to work, huh?
Well, we really got
to get on the road, too, so...
The biggest help
that we helped these guys with
was turning them
into prospector miners.
Now, they've got a vision.
Now, they've got a goal.
Now, they understand
the lay of their land.
And the sky's the limit
for these guys.
- Travel safe, Freddy.
- Thanks.
Well, lead the way.
The learning experience is
incomprehensible
what they taught us.
Tyler, I'm really proud
of him.
We're gonna put some
long days in
and do a lot of catching up.
He's got something
to look forward to now.
Sincerely,
Freddy and Juan, thank you.
Looks like
it's gonna be successful.
I'll be able
to reach my goals
and spend some gold
on my family.
And I'm excited to do that.
God bless you.
We're just gonna get deeper.
Don't even know
how close to the mine we are.
We're gonna have
to get pulled out.
Hey, it's Freddy Dodge.
We're on the road
coming into your mine here
and it's slicker than snot.
We slid off here
and we're in a bad spot.
We're stuck.
Well, this sucks.
I've had better mornings.
Well, I think
we're pretty lucky
we didn't bring
my truck down, too.
- Yeah.
- We'd have two trucks--
Get two trucks stuck.
Hopefully, he's got a
big enough piece of equipment
- to get this truck out.
- Yeah.
Freddy and Juan
are 900 feet above
the historic town
of Sumpter, Oregon,
bogged down en route
to a struggling mine
operated by 38-year old
Tyler Beers.
He's here.
- Tyler.
- Hey, Juan.
- How you doing?
- Hey, Freddy. How's it going?
Not too bad,
you guys got stuck.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Freddy.
- Tyler.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet
you, Tyler.
- Nice to meet you, Juan.
- Yeah.
Tyler Beers,
a concrete finisher
for most of the year,
has run his one acre mine
in the late spring
for the last two years.
Saturday, April 23rd,
Beers Mine number one.
The mud hole.
The season is short
due to unpredictable snowmelt
being his only water source.
My dad brought me up here
all the time as a little kid.
And I've been up here
in Sumpter
in these Blue Mountains
panning for gold ever since.
He's helping me this year
and he loves it up here.
It's great to have
the family, obviously.
Tyler's dream
is to quit the day job
and make his living
from mining.
I don't wanna pour
concrete anymore.
It means everything for me
to give this a shot
and to be successful at it.
It'd be a dream come true.
Before Freddy can
make that dream a reality...
Well, this little guy
should get us out, huh?
Yeah.
Well,
we're gonna give a heck.
...he's got to
get to the claim.
Well, let's pull her out.
[bleep] come on, baby.
Get her some gas. Let's go.
Come on. Give her some gizzy.
Come on.
Fredrick.
Oh, whoa, whoa.
Once we get to the top
of this hill,
it should be all right.
Let me try to go
without the chain.
He's gonna try to get
a running start at it.
Yee-haw.
Oh, yeah, he's got it.
Perfect.
Thank you, Tyler.
Gold was first discovered
in this region in 1851.
And prospectors flooded in,
creating a boom town.
By 1954,
shaft, dredge,
and hydraulic operations
had extracted more
than $200 million in gold
from the surrounding creeks
and hills.
Now...
Hey, Freddy.
...young gun Tyler Beers
hopes to turn his failing
mine into a money spinner.
So this is your mine, huh?
Yes. This is my mine.
My dad showed it to me
about five years ago.
Okay.
I've been working
since about 2018
- to get where we are today...
- Right.
...with the trommel, the pond,
and the diggings obviously.
So is this your cut
right here?
This is the cut.
Yeah, you can kinda see
where you're working there.
We're struggling.
Our yield's really low.
It's not really paying for...
- the diesel.
- Mmm-hmm.
It's paying for the rental
equipment, that's about it.
How much gold did you do
last year?
Little bit under
12 ounces.
How long did you run?
- Five weeks.
- Five weeks?
At the most.
In the drought year.
So you have a limited window
to get your gold.
Absolutely.
How much have we done
this year?
We're about four
and half ounces, I would say.
Yeah.
How long have you
been running this year?
Four weeks.
Yeah, that's not good.
So in your opinion,
what's your biggest problem
that you have?
The water, definitely.
In this area,
we have snowmelt for water.
So when the snow's
gone, your season's done.
Without the water,
I can't even
begin to wash a rock
to look for the gold, so...
- Exactly.
- The water's...
it's priceless.
So what does your gold
look like out here?
Oh, look at that guy.
Some of its coarse,
some of it's fine,
but the numbers
just aren't adding up.
They really aren't.
One nugget doesn't do it.
No, just to run, I had
to involve two investors
in the past two years
and I started this season
seven ounces in debt.
- Really?
- Mmm-hmm.
So what's at stake here?
My wife brought the last
of our savings up here
and I'm running on the last
$2,000 my family has.
I'm drowning up here.
Family came to visit us.
We missed our daddy.
Tyler's wife, Chelsea,
with their two kids,
Addison and Andy,
make a 300-mile round trip
each week to visit.
I'm here chasing my dream
and I'm very blessed
to have Chelsea, my wife.
You can't do this
and have a family without
a good partner and she is.
She's an amazing partner.
Holy crap,
where did you get that?
Holy, moly.
Good job, Mom.
Great job.
His goal is to be
a gold miner.
He's talked about it
since I met him,
so that's why we support him.
What's the hard part
about me being up here?
Going to bedtime
and you're not tucking me in.
I miss that, too.
Me being away from home
is killing them right now.
But it's in hopes
of a better life.
- Hi.
- Do you think I'll make it?
- Yeah.
- No.
- Hey.
- Andy.
Hey.
Well, I'm sure
there's a lot of people
that would agree with Andy.
What's your goal
this year for ounces?
I really need to get
25 ounces.
I do.
We are four weeks
into the mining season,
- four and a half ounces.
- You only have four?
And I'm hoping you guys
can help enlighten me
on your true opinion
on what needs to happen here.
Well, let's look
at your plant.
- Let's start there.
- Okay.
I wanna introduce you guys
to my dad.
- Okay.
- Awesome.
You think maybe
you can dry some of this up
for us tomorrow?
Hey, Dad,
Freddy and Juan are here.
- What's your name?
- I'm Kevin.
Kevin?
Nice to meet you, Kevin.
Freddy.
Juan, Freddy,
nice to meet you.
So how long have you known
about this place?
About 20 years.
Three years ago,
I got a hold
of Tyler and says,
"You got the gold bug
a little bit."
I says, "I got a place
I wanna show you."
So he set up this high banker.
Him and his buddy shoveled
in some dirt for a while
and there's 40, 50 pieces
of gold there
after about 45 minutes.
And his eyes glazed
over and...
- Gold fever.
- Here we are.
- Here we are.
- Okay.
- Oh, it's your fault.
- It's his fault.
Yeah.
It's all my fault.
Sometimes,
gold will trick you.
- Yeah.
- It does.
Now do you feel responsible a
little bit for him being here?
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
It's very important
that it works out
because he's put
so much into it
and I showed it to him.
And, feel some
responsibility for that.
Yeah, there... There's
gotta be something here.
And we have come across it,
just not near enough of it.
You guys work good together?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- That's good.
We've had a history
of not working well together.
14 to 23.
We don't talk a lot
about those years.
There's some pain
in there, but...
This is Old Yeller.
It's not nice to call
your dad that, man.
We won't
talk about that.
It's a 1929 Lapierre.
You could see some of the big
rocks we throw at it.
- Yeah.
- It'll gobble and--
She looks stout though.
Yeah.
It seems to be tough
for as old as it is.
All right.
Well, let's do it, huh?
Fire it up.
Let's make some gold.
- Let's do it.
- Okay.
You ready?
Think so.
Let's send some water.
All right.
Here goes another day.
Freddy will run
a four-hour test
to simulate
half a working day,
enough time to see how
efficient Tyler's plant runs
and where
he might be losing gold.
Old Yeller does run pretty
good for a hundred years old.
Here we go.
There she goes, Fred.
- First bucket.
- Yeah.
The centerpiece
of the Beers operation,
a 1929 Lapierre trommel,
Old Yeller.
Tyler feeds
the gold-bearing material
through the 17-foot barrel
where water washes gold
off the rocks
into a 12-foot sluice.
Wanna poke around
a little bit, Fred?
Yeah.
We are all in.
I've got my life savings into
this, my family's savings.
If I don't make this work out,
my family won't be able
to make the mortgage payment
next month.
Thank God my dad's up here
to help me.
He's a good hand.
Twenty-five ounces,
that would get him clear,
make his investors happy,
he's happy.
I think it's here.
I really do.
- Oh.
- Yeah, I feel it.
Yeah, they're packed.
Packed solid.
No bueno.
We know we can help him here.
Well, let's keep
on looking around, huh?
Let's go look
at their ponds.
That doesn't look good.
The clean water
is getting mixed instantly
with the dirty water.
You're absolutely
right, Freddy.
The second it comes into
the pond, it gets dirty.
Yup.
Clean water is vital
to effectively wash rocks.
If dirty water is being put
through the plant,
fine gold can be carried away
with the sedimentation.
We should try to get
some of that makeup water
down to the main pond
down below.
Hey, Pa. Bring me some
more pay dirt, would you?
Ow, you son of a bitch.
What do you think,
Juan-o, on that spray bar?
Man, we've have that problem
with a lot of plants, Freddy.
It's just...
It's not set up right.
The material's up on the side.
The water's on the bottom.
- Yeah, it does nothing.
- Yup.
Kinda like taking a shower
but not standing
under the showerhead.
- Yeah.
- You ain't gonna get clean.
What do you think, Freddy?
- Should we take a pan at that
and take a look at it?
- Yeah.
Juan-o.
- Thank you, sir.
- Welcome.
Watch your fingers.
Yeah. There's a lot
of material there.
There's a lot of material.
There's probably, what,
15%, 20% of the material
that should be going down
the sluice
isn't ever never
making it there.
Yeah.
With this much fine material
coming out the end
of the trommel,
Tyler could be losing
20% of his gold.
I'd say we pan the pay.
See what it looks like, huh?
Because it doesn't
look like pay to me anyway.
No.
See if there's
any round rocks at all
while you're panning it, Juan.
Even little ones.
Not a speck, Fred.
Nothing. Yup.
They're putting material
through the plant
that doesn't have
much gold in it.
And this is proof right here.
Here we are, four hours, Freddy.
Last bucket.
The four-hour test
run's over, Pa.
I need you at the pump.
Well, should we go
take a look, Fred?
Yeah.
Let's have a look, Juan-o.
Couple little flakes in there.
Well, guys, clean it up.
Let's get it on the scale.
Okay. Let's do it.
My biggest worry is I looked
at the material
they're running
and it doesn't look good.
The plant itself,
it needs some work,
but if there's no gold
in the material
they're putting in it,
all that is for naught.
- It's coming.
- Oh, yeah.
Test run complete,
Freddy and Juan prepare
for the first gold weigh
with rookie Oregon miner,
Tyler Beers.
Pour it in there, Juan-o.
I'm hoping it's heavy.
Well, moment of truth, guys.
Yup.
0.13.
You sure you got it all?
Yes.
He got it all, 0.13.
Uh-oh.
That's not good, guys.
It's pathetic.
You know there's $250 worth
of gold there, right?
Right.
So about $60 an hour, call it.
That doesn't cover the fuel
for that machine,
or that machine.
There's $250 worth
of gold there.
Probably cost you four times
that to make it.
Each mining day
costs Tyler
close to $1,000
in fuel and materials.
And then after you said,
you know, you're working on
the last of your savings
right now,
there's no use throwing
your savings away.
Right now, you're spending
a dollar to make a dime.
Every hour you run,
you're taking money away
from your family.
Yup.
We started panning your pay.
We never found a color in it.
It's more of a dirt mine
right now
is what you're running.
Juan and myself are
in a pretty tough spot here.
We rolled in here thinking
that water was gonna be
the problem.
Water's not the problem.
You could have
the Mississippi river
through there,
but if there's no gold,
there's no gold.
So what we need to do is,
you know,
put our detective eyes on
and go looking around here.
We can fix your water problem.
We can help you catch
more gold.
But if there's no gold
left there,
it doesn't matter
what repairs we do.
It's all for naught.
So, number one, we're gonna
go on a prospecting mission.
If not, you guys will be
bankrupt fast.
We're already there.
It'll rip your heart out
when you start thinking
about your family
and the success that
you're not having on site.
It'll get you.
Tools gathered...
That's a cute shovel, Freddy.
...Freddy and Juan launch
their most challenging
rescue mission yet.
But on the bright side...
- That is a cute shovel.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
See it folds down.
That's actually
a full-size shovel for you.
For me, it'd be a spoon, but...
Smart-ass.
- Well, should we get to it?
- Yeah.
- I'm gonna--
- You gonna do
- a little prospecting?
- I'll go with Tyler.
- Okay.
- And...
- Yeah.
- we'll start
trying to find some pay.
All right.
See you down there in a bit.
All right. Thanks, Juan.
With just four days
to save the mine,
Freddy must give Tyler
a crash course
in prospecting.
So now it's time
to do some investigation.
The area shows evidence
of historical mining.
First step,
Freddy needs to know
how well it was mined.
These creeks look like
they've been hit
flippin' hard.
Not a little, hard,
by the old timers.
Starting in 1851,
Oregon's first wave
of old-timer miners
were snipers,
picking off the easiest
and biggest gold
as they passed
through the state.
Then in the 1860's,
a more methodical style
of gold rusher took over,
taking time
to strip the ground
and leave nothing behind.
Later in the 1870s,
a high volume of miners
fought to secure
the harder to reach areas,
spending time clearing trees
and intensively cleaning out
all the creeks
they could find.
So let's put our detective
hats on here, Tyler.
Yeah.
See now this
is getting interesting here.
Discovering the date
this ground was mined
is critical
to determine
if Tyler should retreat
or battle it out.
Where does tree from?
About 50 linear feet
at the most.
- So right out of your cut?
- Right, in the center of it.
So, I'm gonna try
to age this tree
using these rings
as a reference or a guide
to let us know
when this was mined,
'cause they would have tore
every tree out of it.
Twenty-four, twenty-five,
twenty-six, twenty-seven,
twenty-eight...
If the tree is less
than 150 years old,
Tyler's ground
may be worthless.
A hundred and thirty-nine,
hundred and forty.
This tree is 140 years old.
That tells me
that this was mined out
in the 1860's, 1870's.
- Most likely, yeah.
- And there was probably
thousands of people
in here at the time
looking for gold.
But this was all done by hand.
The old timers
didn't have pumps.
They didn't have
heavy equipment.
- But you do now.
- Okay.
When Freddy showed me
the age of the tree,
I had no idea
that they were up here
in the 1860's at all.
We got to start over.
We got to start
prospecting again.
And I need to find
some color up here
or else there is no future
for me or my family up here.
With a sliver of hope,
Freddy goes deeper
into the cut
to see where Tyler
pulls his pay.
So, here's material
you were running,
like this bank material here.
- Right.
- So what this is,
this is all just
slip material.
So picture this draw
before it was mined, right?
It was a nice
little creek bed.
- You see these rocks...
- Yeah.
...running,
see how angular they are.
Right?
These never got concentrated
in the bottom of that stream.
Your odd round rocks
you're seeing,
that's the remnants of where
the gold would have been.
The rich material
of the old timers
would have taken out of here,
it would have almost
all been rounded material.
But you can see all these
angular rocks in here, right?
This is slip rock
that slowly slid off the hill
over tremendous
amounts of time,
but it's never been concentrated
to make a good
payable deposit.
This material you're digging
now is totally worthless.
Worthless? I don't know
if I like that, but...
- Okay.
- ...there's no damn
gold in it,
- right?
- Yeah.
Okay. I won't say worthless.
I don't know
if it's worthless.
I spent thousands of dollars
digging, you know what I mean?
I got money in even if
there ain't gold in it.
That's what I'm saying.
When Freddy tells you
that the ground is worthless
and you have, you know,
a couple of years to get
where we are today,
it's very disheartening.
Stings a little bit.
It sucks completely.
So basically what gold
these guys are getting
are just scraps
that were left over
and not a lot of scraps
at that.
But hopefully, we can find
some other material
that the old timers missed.
Never say never
and never give up.
Hi. How are you guys?
How was school?
Good.
Freddy was on site today.
It didn't go very good.
Freddy had bad news for us.
Basically, that whole area
we've been digging is,
Freddy's words, worthless.
He says that's what
the old timers left behind.
And I'm just getting scraps
and basically
just stop digging.
It's a waste of time.
Winners don't give up, right?
Mm-hmm.
Well,
I love and I miss you, guys,
but I do need to get to work,
and I need to find
better gold.
Love you, too.
We're hemorrhaging money
to be up here
chasing our dreams.
Chelsea is very
supporting of me.
I love her to death
and she loves me to death.
Or else you wouldn't be
seeing that demeanor.
I mean, you can tell
when I call her, it's...
She's got just
as much hope as I do.
We got to get
on the gold though.
Or else, this is gonna be
our last mining season
'cause my family
can't keep going through this.
It's always good to have
a local that you can go to.
To understand
Tyler's ground better,
Freddy's tracked down
a local expert
who's mined these gulches
for the last 50 years.
We're only here for a week,
but Walt's been here
for decades.
So we'll go
and see what he has to say.
- Knock, knock.
- Come on in, Fred.
- Walt, I assume.
- Yeah.
Good to see you, Fred.
Well, I came over.
I'd like to pick your brain
a little bit
about the history of the area.
From looking at the tree rings
in there,
there was people in there
in 1860's
where he's mining now.
The old timers,
when they had water...
Mmm-hmm.
...hit all of these gulches
up here,
- clear down the lake.
- Yeah. Okay.
They worked it pretty hard
because the water
lasted longer there.
Right.
Do you got any gold
you can show me from the area?
Here's some coarse stuff.
That was the big stuff
from where I was mining
at Parkerville.
You had some nice
little nuggets in there.
Nothing any bigger than that.
Them old timers,
they mined it hard.
- But they weren't...
- Okay.
...what you would call
totally effective.
There's no doubt in my mind
that there's pockets
all over here.
Yeah.
There's stuff
left out there, you know?
Like high benches.
And there's more gold
out there
on these high benches
than you can shake a stick at.
Well, we'll see what we see
and hopefully
we can help Tyler out.
Sir, it's been
an absolute pleasure.
Thank you very much
for letting me
pick your brain.
You're more than welcome.
I really appreciate
the time.
- And you take care, Walt.
- You, too, Fred.
Thank you very much.
That kind of confirms
what I thought as well,
that creek's gutted.
The old timers hit it hard.
But the most important thing
we can do for them
is try to find them pay,
try to find them pay
that the old timers missed.
And if they didn't miss any,
you know,
it goes without saying,
they're in a tough spot.
Now it's turned into
more of a treasure hunt.
What we wanna do
is we wanna cut
this spray bar
and angle the jets
so they're actually hitting
the material.
In the hope
that Freddy's search for gold
will pay off,
Juan begins modifications
to the trommel
to improve its recovery.
I see a new flopper.
Yup, she's almost there.
Freddy and Juan identified
the spray bar was set
at the wrong angle.
Kinda like taking a shower
but not standing
under the showerhead.
Yeah.
Completely missing the rocks.
Oh, there you go.
Got her now. That's it.
Juan's plan,
rotate the spray bar
45 degrees off the vertical
to ensure water effectively
washes the rocks.
You're gonna run
a trommel and equipment,
it's got to pay.
And so far, it hasn't.
Right here,
you'll see these two holes,
go ahead and drill those out
and then we'll go to the next
size up, go to 3/8.
Tyler, he's spending
money to be here.
I'm helping my son here
and hopefully get him
on the right track.
All right.
You know, we come
into situations sometimes
where it doesn't require
a ton of fixes,
you know, something as small
as adjusting the spray bar.
It's gonna make a huge
difference in their recovery,
but all that is secondary.
First and foremost,
we got to make sure
that we find
a spot that's worth mining.
So, it's got to be exciting
for you to be able to spend
the summer out here
with your son, huh?
Yeah, it is.
You wanna get that
tightened up.
I didn't realize
he was such a slave driver.
Yeah, I get it,
you know?
I worked with my dad,
and it was the same way.
You know, they're great guys,
and they're a father-son team.
So, you know, to me,
that hits close to home.
I love that.
You know, my father and I,
we worked together
quite a bit.
So I like seeing that.
He thinks he knows everything
when he's 13, 14 years old.
Any father probably
knows that story.
But took him a while,
he wasn't a quick learner
by any means, but...
You got to be proud
of him now, though.
- You know, he's out here.
- Yeah. Kid tries.
Yeah, he's trying like heck.
He does good in all aspects.
Tighten that up a little more
we'll be good.
Tyler and I
got a very good relationship
and I'm really proud of him
because of that ethic
working as hard
as he does all the time,
you know, making a living
for his family.
He's the one
under all the pressure.
I got to keep it in mind,
I'm here to help him.
- Okay. I think we got him.
- That looks good.
I'm happy with that angle
on it.
All right, well, let's just
tighten up this top one,
and then it's ready to go.
Let's go up here
and look around a little bit.
All right.
Running down his next lead,
Freddy and Tyler hunt
for richer ground
above the claim.
The most important
thing we can do
for this family now
is find some gold
on their claims.
And if we can't,
we're in real trouble.
We've never been in a spot
like this before.
Up here, a few hundred yards,
there's...
It could be an old bench
that got left up there.
- Right.
- There's a flat spot up there
where that stream
before it started cutting
down over here,
but hopefully left the gravels
there on bedrock
from that time period
millions of years ago.
But there's no way to tell
without digging it.
Let's do it.
A bench deposit forms
when gold settles
in a riverbed.
Later, the creek moves on
to cut a new path,
which ends up
deeper than the bench
had laid down before,
leaving behind
concentrated gold.
We're coming up
right over there.
Sometime in the past,
that would have been
the bottom of the creek.
You see that flat
bench up there?
Wow.
We need to get
your trackhoe up here
and dig a trench across here.
Sounds good.
If there's nothing there,
we bury the trench.
If there's gold bearing
gravels in there,
we sluice the heck out of it.
Okay.
Everything Freddy's
taught me about the ground
that I've been digging's
real valuable.
He's a master class.
In learning that from Freddy,
I'll always have that,
and never forget.
That's it.
Start here and we'll run
a trench right across there.
Okay.
Cut me a little ramp
there to get down in.
You got it.
That'll work, Tyler.
Freddy, exactly
what are you looking for?
Partially rounded gravels.
See? We got some rocks
in here, Tyler...
- Yeah, I'm looking.
- ...that are
partially rounded.
- Okay.
- Right?
So this rock here
was in that stream.
Hopefully that's a bench
the old timers
couldn't get to.
They didn't have pumps.
They didn't have
heavy equipment.
So that's our hope now.
You know, there's
always a glimmer of hope.
Fire in the hole!
Later that afternoon,
Freddy and Tyler
finish a bulk test
on the promising bench.
Well, let's have a look.
If it contains gold,
Tyler's operation has hope.
Nothing.
Tyler and myself looked
around a lot of places today.
There was one bench
that I was hopeful
that there was old gravels
left up there.
Nothing.
So now we're back
to square one.
We'd have it here or here.
This site has drained me.
I just don't know.
I don't know.
Pretty sure
this is my last season.
This doesn't look good.
This is bad.
What do you think
we should do?
After three days
of prospecting,
Freddy is running
out of options.
There's got to be gold in here
that the old timers missed.
They hydraulicked it.
They hydraulicked this.
Pretty sure.
That's why there's so much
material missing.
The most efficient thing
the old timers had
during this time period
was hydraulic mining.
It's a huge water cannon
that just washes the material.
Drawing
from further up the creek,
the old timers
would use a water cannon
to blast huge amounts
of pay dirt downstream
into primitive sluice boxes
where the gold would collect.
If this was hydraulic
like I think it was,
there's a chance
they might have left
quite a bit of gold
in this bedrock.
You can see this fractured
bedrock over here.
- See the cracks in it?
- Yeah.
Well, those pieces of gold,
they're coming down.
They hit that crack
and they fall in.
The old timers
didn't get it, right?
Because they were trying
to pry this
with pry bars
and all kinds of stuff.
The old timers thought this
is freaking tough diggin'.
- Okay.
- Maybe
they left enough.
Let's see.
Freddy believes the gold
that didn't make it
into the old timers' sluices
got trapped
in the fractured bedrock.
This is plan B.
I hope we don't have
to find a plan C
because I don't know
that there'd be one.
Give her hell, bud.
I hope and pray
that we can find
some serious gold.
I need to turn
this thing around.
I need to get my debts paid.
Perfect.
Let's see what's in it.
- Well, fingers crossed, man.
- Yeah.
Look at that.
Heck yeah.
There it is.
Holy cow.
Eleven, twelve, thirteen,
fourteen, fifteen colors
and some of them
pretty flippin' nice.
That's phenomenal, Freddy.
So that's in the bedrock
that the old timers
couldn't clean up.
They left a lot of gold
lying there, didn't they?
Well, they didn't
have a trackhoe.
They had bars and picks.
This excites me.
I'm hopeful.
Thank you.
Well, we need
to start stockpiling this.
- We're wasting time.
- Thank you, sir.
It looks really good.
That was a nice pan.
If he's excited about it,
then I'm giddy.
Freddy found a good spot.
I'm very hopeful that
that goal of 25 ounces,
and hopefully
to pay back my investors,
is in reach now.
From what I can tell,
they left a lot of gold
behind in the bedrock.
So, we're gonna harvest it.
Gosh, I'd like to pull a half
ounce out of here every day
and turn it
into a profitable number.
Let's measure
these riffles real quick.
Okay.
Inspired by
Freddy's 15-color pan...
Twenty one and a quarter.
...and the prospect
of some gold-rich pay dirt...
Forty, forty-eight.
...Juan and Kevin
start a major overhaul
of the sluice system.
What we're gonna do
is we're gonna make
a little bit of a change.
If you did feel it
before when it was running,
the top box
was completely packed.
You can't even
get your finger in it.
- We noticed that.
- So what we wanna do
is by getting...
eliminating those riffles
where they have
the under riffles,
and the top riffles,
and then also adding
a little more pitch.
It's gonna help
clean those out
so they actually
work properly.
They'll
tumble better, huh?
They're
completely packed up.
That gold just skips
right across the top of it.
Just bounces along 'em.
Makes a lot of sense.
See the different
colored carpets go in here.
So what we're doing here,
by having the second layer
of carpet,
what it's gonna do, it's gonna
allow that material.
If it does work its way
through the miner's moss,
it'll still
get trapped underneath.
- Okay.
- So it's just giving you
a second layer
of a protection.
Let me finish
cutting this up.
And then we can start working
on the adjustment on them.
All righty.
How's she going, Juan?
It's coming along, Freddy.
I'm just putting
- these riffles back together.
- Looks good.
I'll start lowering
the sluice that I wanted.
Yeah.
All hands on deck
right now to get this done.
We've got, you know,
just a limited amount of time.
We only have one day left.
After stockpiling
the new pay,
Tyler joins Kevin
for the final critical fix.
Accessing clean water.
Freddy wants
to bring our fresh water
from up here
so we're bringing a pipe
from up here where
the fresh spring runoff
is coming clear
down to the last pond
that we're actually
pumping out of
so that the water
that we're using
for processing is cleaner.
It potentially means
cleaner water running
through the wash plant,
more fluid type water
working our gravels
and more gold recovery,
more gold in our pocket.
I hear water flowing.
There she is.
Look at that.
Now, we've got clean water
where we need it.
Juan-o, watch yourself.
- If this son of a gun dropped.
- At the wash plant,
Freddy and Juan
make final adjustments
to the pitch
of the sluice box.
Tad bit more.
- Perfect.
- Perfect.
How do you say
easy in Spanish?
Well, here it is.
Box is ready to go, Freddy.
The way the old timers
mined this,
they were gonna lose
some gold, right?
- Yeah.
- Now let's just pray
they lost enough.
Only one way
to find out, Fred.
It's right.
Well, you know, it's been
kind of a weird week for sure.
Yeah.
Honestly, you know,
Freddy feels a lot of weight
on his shoulders.
When we come into a place
and do a mine rescue,
he's put a lot of time
and a lot of thought into it.
Even after a tough week...
- Oh, thank you.
- Holy moly.
Look at that. I got you
something special, Freddy.
...Juan knows how to turn
Freddy's frown upside down.
What'd you order me?
I got you
Mickey Mouse pancakes.
- Mickey Mouse pancakes.
- You know.
Thanks, Juan.
Looks good, though.
He's cute.
My pancake's
looking at me.
Thank you for the mouse pancake.
Well, let's eat
and hit the road.
Let's do it, huh?
- Good morning, guys.
- Good morning.
Hey, how are we doing today?
- Doing all right.
- Good morning.
You guys ready to run
some material?
After a hard week
hunting for gold
and retrofitting
the wash plant,
today is the moment of truth
for the Beers Mine.
Oh, I'm excited.
I guarantee you,
with what we did to the plant,
it'll increase
the recovery by far.
With the spray bar,
the riffles, and then also
making that a little steeper
and really, your makeup water
now, you know.
We ought to be able to run
a little longer. Yeah.
- Good.
- Increasing
the amount of recovery
from that first run, though,
won't matter a whole lot.
We got to get more gold.
- Well, let's fire it up.
- Thanks, Freddy.
Let's run a wash plant.
Give her some juice, Pa.
Let's run this dirt drill
through Old Yeller,
and let's show you guys
some damn gold, huh?
They'll run
a four-hour test
to see if Freddy
and Juan's fixes have worked.
Here we go.
And if the new pay
dirt Freddy has identified
is as rich as his
15-colored test pan suggests.
I'm excited to see
the first group of material
go through,
see what it looks like.
Here goes.
First bucket, Juan-o.
Moment of truth huh, Freddy?
Yup, let's start a timer.
- All right.
- Let's do a four-hour run.
Over the last week,
Freddy and Juan
have re-angled
the spray bar
to ensure water
washes gold off the rocks,
lowered the sluices
and installed custom mats
and riffles
to capture fine gold,
and diverted snowmelt
into their feeder pond
so that the water
they pump up
to the trommel is clean.
But Freddy's
toughest challenge
was finding pay.
I've never been
in a situation like this.
The old timers were in here
hydraulicking it
with water cannons, right?
So a lot of stuff tried
getting away from them, right?
Let's just hope it was enough
in these creeks.
Here we go, golden nugget.
Come on, baby.
This material's
a lot different
than what we've been
running before.
The new pay Tyler's running
contains fractured bedrock.
This stuff's really rocky.
Hoo-hoo, it's rocky.
But if Freddy's right,
it's the bedrock
that contains the gold
the old timers
couldn't reach.
Stuff is jamming me up.
Maybe I'm feeding it
a little too fast.
Poor old girl.
Gonna beat this rock here,
stuff a little slow.
Come on, baby.
That spray bar, Freddy,
is working good.
- Yup.
- It's pointing
where it needs to be.
They had 20%
of the material
that should have been
going through the sluice
was going out
in these poor tailings.
If I was a piece of gold,
I'd rather be with my friends
- in the sluice box.
- Yeah.
Not out by yourself
in the tailings
pile out there.
Where am I?
The water coming
out of that spray bar, Freddy,
- looks a lot cleaner.
- Yes.
Now, we got
that makeup water
right next to the intake.
All that water
that was coming in
is going in that pipe now.
So that's gonna help
with the scrubbing.
And that fine,
fine gold recovery.
Those pieces of gold
you can barely see,
that cleaner water
is gonna help recover those.
Take a look at that.
That's a hell of a lot
cleaner than it was before.
This is now and before.
Look at the difference
in that.
It's a hell of a lot
better than it was.
That just tells us
that the sluice box
is at the right angle.
We got the water flow
where it needs to be.
- Running good, bud.
- Yeah.
Tyler...
that's four hours.
- Okay.
- One more bucket.
Last bucket.
Come on, gold nugget.
Last bucket for today
and let's hope it's not
the last for good.
Yeah.
See some gold, baby.
You wanna shut her down, Pa?
After making the changes
that Freddy and Juan did,
I'm excited about the future.
This is only the beginning.
Even if I'm not mining here
my whole life,
I'm gonna be a gold miner.
- Well... Yeah.
- Let's take
a look at it.
See what you got up there?
There's gold there, Freddy.
Yup.
Lots of it right there.
And up here.
Really, every riffle has
a little bit of gold in it.
Yeah. Well, there's gold
in the box, guys.
- Yeah, it looks great, Freddy.
- Juan-o.
- Yeah.
- Good job, Juan.
- You guys did good.
- We don't know how much,
but there's gold in the box,
that's for dang sure.
All the gold accumulation
in the sluice box,
it's only gonna inspire me.
- Well, I like it.
- Well, let's get
it cleaned up.
Okay. Sounds good.
Thanks, Freddy.
You're welcome.
Well, here they are, Freddy.
To make this mine viable...
Moment of truth.
...Tyler needs
at least .44 ounces.
- That's a beanie.
- Here you go, Fred,
I'll let you do the honors.
There's a hat in it.
Actually looks pretty good.
- Yeah, it does.
- Wow.
The first four-hour test
produced less than $250
with just 0.13 ounces
of gold.
You guys ready to weigh us up?
Yup, I am.
- Well--
- Dang, look at that.
We're already ahead
of where you were last time.
There's a half ounce.
Half an ounce. Wow.
We just
went past three quarters.
That looks really good.
That looks really good, guys.
Well,
0.77.
0.77.
That's amazing.
0.77 ounces,
an increase of nearly 600%.
I'm happy to see you
smiling now.
A full day
would produce 1.54 ounces.
If the gold
and snowmelt hold up
in the next month,
Tyler could mine
$65,000 worth of gold.
Thanks, Fred.
- You're welcome.
- Thanks a million.
That's gonna save my season.
Enough to pay back investors
and provide an income
for his family.
You've gone from, what,
$200 a day in four hours to...
1,300 bucks in four hours.
That's phenomenal.
That's the best
we've ever done.
- Finally smiling.
- I know. I know.
It's been a great opportunity
to learn.
These lessons,
they're something
I'll always have
and never forget.
I'm not quitting.
I'm not giving up,
I'm gonna mine
the heck out of this thing
and get all the gold I can.
Thanks, Fred,
- Juan.
- No problem.
Turned it...
Completely turned it around.
Tyler and Kevin now,
they actually
have an opportunity
to make a living.
You know, before they were
not even paying the bills,
but now with what
we were able to find them
and with the plant
being fixed properly,
they have a chance.
They have a real shot at this.
No wasting time.
I got to get my ass to mining.
You gotta
get to work, huh?
Well, we really got
to get on the road, too, so...
The biggest help
that we helped these guys with
was turning them
into prospector miners.
Now, they've got a vision.
Now, they've got a goal.
Now, they understand
the lay of their land.
And the sky's the limit
for these guys.
- Travel safe, Freddy.
- Thanks.
Well, lead the way.
The learning experience is
incomprehensible
what they taught us.
Tyler, I'm really proud
of him.
We're gonna put some
long days in
and do a lot of catching up.
He's got something
to look forward to now.
Sincerely,
Freddy and Juan, thank you.
Looks like
it's gonna be successful.
I'll be able
to reach my goals
and spend some gold
on my family.
And I'm excited to do that.
God bless you.