Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue (2021): Season 3, Episode 6 - Golden Boy - full transcript
I don't like the
sliding so much.
I don't know what I've
got myself into here.
You ready, pj?
I was born ready.
I've been mining out
here since I was 10.
Getting that yellow
flaky stuff that
just makes my heart go.
I see a lot of myself in him.
They weren't lying about
this weather changing quick.
He is sinking.
You can fight mother nature,
but mother nature's gonna win.
Three generations
can work together.
It would be a dream of mine.
Pj, you wanna run it?
There's only one way for him to make
that dream come true, and that's do it.
Whoa, whoa.
Going from a bigger road to
a two-track road here, juano.
Yeah, this is
barely an atv trail.
It's getting steep here, Juan,
and tighter through the trees.
Freddy and Juan snake
their way 3,000 feet up
into the muddy mountains
of denali in central Alaska.
Enroute to three
generations of goldminers,
fighting to save
the family mine.
Man, I don't know, Freddy.
I'm almost thinking maybe
what we do is park
my truck down below
and just take your
truck up for now.
Yeah.
I hate leaving your truck there,
but let's do a scouting mission.
Just in case I didn't
say good morning.
- Thank you, sir.
- You're welcome.
Really sweet of you.
You're such a sweet guy, Fred.
Thanks.
So, what do we know
about these guys, Freddy?
Well, the son got a hold of
me. He'd sure like our help.
Here, I talked to
him a few years ago
when it was his dream
to go gold-mining
with his family.
From what I know right now,
it's his grandfather,
his dad, and him.
Wow, so three
generations out here mining.
Gold seekers' first flock
to the rugged region
of denali in 1903.
Hiking up huge mountains
on foot in search of gold.
Since then, $180 million worth
has been pulled
from the landscape.
But for those brave enough
to beat the brutal weather,
isolated location,
and short season,
there could still
be huge rewards.
Well, I'm hoping this is them.
Gotta be them. It's the
only place out here, Freddy.
How's it going, guys?
- Good morning.
- Everybody doing all right?
Better now that you're here.
We'll see about that.
Guys.
- Paul.
- Freddy.
Paul's my dad. Beetle.
Pleasure to meet
you, beetle. Freddy.
- You too, Freddy.
- People call you beetle.
Been beetle since
I was a little kid.
You couldn't find a
much more beautiful spot.
Couldn't find much more
screwed up road than I can see it fit.
Road's a little rough, yeah.
Yeah, we've met
before years ago.
We all looked a little younger.
That's right, that's right.
This may be the first time you're
seeing our next big gold rush miner here.
I always loved
watching gold rush.
And I'd seen the super
fans thing for the dirt
and I got to do an
interview with Freddy dodge.
I have one for Freddy.
What made him help Rick?
Rick's a friend of mine.
I always try to help
friends out when I can.
Now, 16-year-old pj's dream
is to become a real gold miner
with his dad, Paul,
and grandfather, beetle.
I've been mining out
here since I was ten,
and it was right over there
where I dug my first
hole in an excavator.
I put a seat belt on him.
Turned the throttle down.
Made sure he was in a spot where
he couldn't do anything and move.
Shut the door, and you know,
let him play with it for hours.
He just loves playing
out here in the dirt.
For most of the year,
pj lives 3,000 miles
away in Virginia.
My heart is in Alaska.
It's where the gold is.
I'm with my family, my
dad, and my grandpa.
We just wanted to
make enough money
to have us three generations
who can work together
would be a big dream of mine.
To have the three of us together
is absolutely priceless.
Do you got some of your
gold that we can see?
I got a little bit.
We ran yesterday.
Looks like pretty
pure gold, actually.
With some bigger flakes in it.
- You got some nuggets.
- Here's the nuggets I've been
- saving over the years.
- There you go.
How long have you guys
been mining out here?
Five years. It started out
as a hobby and full time now.
It felt like that.
The first few years,
it was really slow
because we never got
- to wash rocks really.
- Okay.
In the five years Paul
has been mining here,
the family has sunk
nearly $200,000
into the operation.
Last year returned
only $36,000 in gold.
What's your goal for this year?
We need to get 100
ounces this season.
I got seven weeks
left until winter,
but I just started washing
a couple weeks ago.
Gonna be quite a challenge here.
Only five ounces
mined this season.
The nybergs need another 95
to keep the family dream alive
before winter shuts them down.
Weather is our
biggest time constraint.
It's a bit of a battle
against the clock
and the elements.
The overburdens'
either frozen or mud.
It takes so long to strip it.
The season usually ends
up being weeks long for me.
This remote area of Alaska
sees an average 84 inches
of snowfall each winter.
Some of the highest in the U.S.
Once the snow is gone,
Paul spends two
months stripping.
But snow is replaced by rain,
making conditions treacherous.
It's tough. It's stressful.
It's not without a lot
of hard work, blood,
sweat, and tears.
I gotta pay off what I
spent the last two months.
Missed wages at work.
Price of fuel's
ridiculous this year.
Well, let's take advantage of the
good weather and let's get to work.
Forecast isn't very good, so.
If it starts raining
like it's supposed to...
Just give it a minute.
- Let's run a plant.
- Let's go.
- Here's your trommel.
- Here she is.
- The dude.
- The dude.
The dude. Named
after great-grandpa.
His grandpa. His
great-great-grandpa.
Well, let's fire it up, guys.
- Wash some rocks.
- Make some gold.
Paul pushes a pay dirt
towards the plant in the dozer,
where pj scoops it up
and loads it into the hopper.
The pay washes
through the trommel
and down into the sluice box,
lain out with Hungarian riffles.
Then grandpa beetle
clears the tailings.
It's kind of awesome, you know,
to see a grandfather,
son, and grandson
all working together,
and you know,
they're working great together.
I'm just hoping that
Freddy and I are able
to help these guys
out because you know
from the sounds
of it, they're banking
this whole summer
on this project.
We have moved
so much overburden to
get down to the good pay
and only eight weeks
ago, there was snow
where I'm sitting right now.
There was snow right here.
What do you think, Juan?
Let's go look in the sluice.
He has nothing there for
prime gold recovery at all.
Well, we'll take a pan
of the tailings here.
See if there's any gold in it.
Well, moment of truth, juano.
Couple. There's some
fine pieces in there.
- Some fine gold, yeah.
- Right there.
Gold we found was
really, really fine.
Minute gold, but it adds up.
Gonna go up on the
hill and walk south.
What he is feeding in there
we can kind of see into
the hopper a little bit.
They're getting all that
material brought down here
and they're losing
good pay material
off to the side of the hopper.
There's slop in a lot of
material on the ground.
I would do anything
to make this mine work.
The passion I have to
come out and do all this
really hard work
is getting that gold.
That yellow powder flaky stuff
that just makes my heart go...
- They're sluicing in a lake.
- Yeah.
Two hours in, Freddy
spots another big problem.
They got all that
permafrost melting there
and all that water coming in.
Permafrost is a thick,
frozen layer that sits
on top of bedrock,
containing silt,
rocks, mud, and pay gravels.
Worthless overburden
must be removed to expose
the gold rich pay beneath.
But as it thaws, it
turns into a thick soup
of mud and water
that can cause havoc
with equipment
and gold recovery.
Like feeding a milkshake.
But mostly to
feed it with a straw.
Yeah.
Incoming rain makes
every bucket a fight.
They weren't lying about
this weather changing quick.
Man.
That's not good.
Yeah, he is sinking.
I've seen sloppy
permafrost before but this,
this one takes the cake.
Keeps the rollers clean.
There you go. There you go.
He's getting her. Look at that.
You know, for a 16-year-old,
pj's pretty dang good
on that excavator.
I don't know a whole
lot of 16-year-olds
that can run
equipment like that.
I don't really do video
games. I hate being inside.
I always go out
and I would run an
excavator and that was good.
And now I'm 16, and I
still love it just as much.
Boys don't grow up.
Their toys just get bigger.
Hey, pj! Last bucket!
Well, Juan, that's
officially four hours.
Last bucket.
Talk about a mudhole.
- Yeah.
- Holy cow.
The nybergs managed to
run just 65 yards an hour
in the boggy pay dirt.
Let's see what's in the box.
Well, it's full.
While you guys
finish cleaning this up,
the three of you,
we're gonna go up
and get some numbers
and stuff together
and see what we're
gonna need for material.
- Sounds good.
- All righty.
Thank you.
One thing's for sure,
Freddy, it's beautiful out here.
But you know, it's not a
very forgiving place at all.
Nope, it is not
forgiving at all.
Pj is a grown young man,
trying to make the dream
of gold mining come true.
It's not gonna be
that easy in here,
but for now, we'll keep
our fingers crossed,
hope for good weather, and
fight the battle the best we can.
As even more rain hits
the denali mountains...
How's it going, guys?
Moment of truth. Time
to see how much gold
we got on that first four hour.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
The results from the
nyberg's test run are in.
Well, let's see your gold.
Got it all dried up?
- Yeah.
- Here we go.
There's a quarter ounce.
45.
48.
49.
Exactly a half an ounce.
50.
Think we need a
lot more than that.
Yeah, I was expecting a
little more than that too.
0.5 ounces over four hours
is worth less than $900.
At this rate, the nybergs
will manage barely half
of their 100 ounce season
goal before winter hits.
It's a lot of work for
just half an ounce.
- It is.
- It's a drop in the bucket
for what I got out so far
this year in fuel
and everything else.
There's room for
improvement, I'm sure.
We're gonna be a little limited
on the time it takes
us to get in here.
And if it keeps
raining like this...
As far as repairs of the plant,
we want to redo that hopper.
Put some real grizzlies on it.
Make it a little wider
and a little longer.
Well, we've seen
all that fine gold
- in your clean up, right?
- Yep.
Yeah, you're completely
set up for coarse gold.
So what we'd like to
do is actually set up part
of that sluice box
strictly for fine gold.
And we watched you guys pull
those carpets, your lockdown system.
- Yeah.
- It's a pain in the heinie,
- it looks like.
- It is. That's just what it
- came with and that was...
- So we were thinking
of completely redoing
that all the way down.
That's a heck of a deal.
Freddy and Juan have identified
two key plant fixes.
The hopper is too small,
causing liquid pay
dirt to spill off the sides.
Juan will fabricate a new larger
hopper to increase yardage.
Paul's sluice box is
set up for coarse gold,
allowing fine gold
to wash off the end.
Freddy and Juan will
install expanded metal,
custom carpets, and riffles
to ensure they catch both
the coarse and fine gold.
But the more complicated
fix, finding high-yield ground
worth the fuel it
costs to strip and run.
Yeah, you got a lot of iron
running for half an ounce.
Yeah, exactly.
Hopefully there's better gold.
We'll try to find it.
Perfect.
Now, for the money part of it.
We were thinking in the area
the material we're gonna need
is gonna be around 3,500 bucks.
And that's gonna
be for the material
for the new hopper, the
new riffles, everything else.
Two years ago,
it would've been...
Half that, yeah.
Costs are just high as
the world knows right now.
Yeah, so... As far
as our labor goes,
what we'd like to see
at the end of the season
is an ounce and a half a piece.
- We'll make it work.
- Three ounces, yeah.
And then we can wait
till the end of the season.
That would really help.
Deal.
- Well, let's do it then.
- Deal.
- Deal.
- Sounds good.
- Deal, sir.
- Thank you. Thank you.
- Good.
- Thank you, Juan.
- Deal.
- Yeah, no problem.
- Thank you, Juan.
- Sounds good.
Let's do it.
Hopefully figure out a way
- to stop the rain.
- Yeah.
That's probably the
most important thing.
Yeah.
Find where that valve is.
Shut that thing down.
Turn it off.
Winter's coming, y'all hear.
We got a lot of dirt to move
in a short amount of time.
Hopefully they can help us
get it through that 20% faster
and with better recovery.
In the end, it will be worth it.
We don't have a
whole lot of time
so let's get down there and
start getting all this cut out.
While Juan and
pj head 1,000 feet
down the mountain to
the stranded cut trailer...
We got the right
measurements this time.
- I think we should get it done.
- I hope so.
Freddy and Paul kept
the grips with the ground.
I wish I had a straight
face for you to look at.
It looks like you've got 10
feet or more of overburden
on top of your gravel here up.
Yeah. Never drains,
never really dries out.
All that overburden is
really hard to deal with.
It kind of flows like lava,
- if you will.
- Yeah.
I've dug test holes out here.
- You see the pile.
- I do.
I dug as deep as my
excavator would go.
22 feet.
Nothing?
It could be under
there, but it's deeper
than I wanna go
with. I got 22 feet
- of overburden though.
- Yeah.
If Freddy can identify
better pay channels,
he could lower Paul's
overall cost of running.
But first, he must
figure out the landscape.
Could've been glacier there too.
Still, there's nice gravel
deposit on top of it.
Yeah, this area's hard to read.
It's interesting,
that's for sure.
I've never seen
something exactly like this.
- It's a detective game.
- It is.
Well, let's get back at it.
Yeah, let's fix the wash plant.
I guess, all we can do now is
think about it, keep
looking around some more,
and keep our fingers
crossed and see what we find.
In the cut trailer, Juan designs
the new large capacity hopper.
Your hopper is just completely
too small for what you're doing.
So what we want to do is
we're gonna actually make it
a little wider
and a little longer.
So, it's gotta be exciting
for you to be able to be
out here for the
summer to help your dad.
- Grow up this way.
- Right.
You know, out in the bush,
working on heavy equipment,
learning how to mine,
and how to run equipment.
It was awesome as an
11-year-old to be in an excavator.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Moving... moving mountains.
There it is.
We got it all lined up.
It's pretty much ready to go.
Cool.
We can go ahead
and start cutting.
What actually is plasma cutting?
It's got these
electrodes in there,
and that's to create
the plasma gas
with the electricity in the air.
And that's what is actually used
and it's forcing that
through the steel.
That arc is what's
actually cutting.
What can't that cut through?
Anything that doesn't
conduct electricity.
So if it doesn't
conduct electricity,
- it won't cut it.
- Okay.
So you can cut aluminum,
you can cut
copper, anything that
- conducts electricity.
- Awesome.
You know, pj really reminds
me of me when I was his age.
You know, that's all I wanted
to do was work with my dad.
I'm just hoping that with
what Freddy and I do here,
we can help him realize his
goal of being a full time miner.
Better hurry up before
it starts raining again.
Up at the mine,
Freddy, Paul, and beetle
start work on the sluices.
With this fine
gold that you got,
that really small gold.
That fine gold's
90% of your money
so let's optimize the top end of
this sluice box to catch that stuff.
I've always been meaning
to put something else in here.
But I just never had the
time or the resources to do it.
I'll go grab some welding rod
and the hood and
we'll start welding in.
First, Freddy replaces
Paul's clunky lockdown system
with simple wooden wedges.
Eyeballs.
So, why is this wash plant
called the dude, beetle?
That passion of being a
mechanic went down the bloodline.
From me to Paul.
From Paul to pj.
Pj's great-great-grandfather,
Julius thayer,
nicknamed the
dude, was a mechanic
and owned a gravel
mine in Wisconsin.
His motto, "we move the earth,"
inspired beetle, Paul, and
pj to follow in his footsteps.
I remember my
great-grandpa dude a little bit.
I was probably six or seven
the last time I remember him.
He'd show up to grandma's house
in one of his old dump trucks
and we'd go climb
on it and play on it.
We are a dude train.
Three generations
of Mr. Fix-it's.
Like Paul, there isn't
anything he can't fix.
And I ain't too bad myself.
He had all the fancy
sayings, you know, like,
"if you pull hard,
it'll come easy."
Or "nothing harder
is ever easy."
That ought a be about
perfect right there.
We're gonna put
silicone on this ramp.
Freddy uses silicone
to increase flexibility
in the steel and prevent
cracks forming in the sluice.
Silicone will outlast
this steel 20 to 1.
Boy, you learn
something new everyday.
Yeah.
What do you think, guys?
Let's throw some
carpets in here.
We'll just shingle it up.
- Two footer.
- Yes, sir.
We want that
fine riffle to just be
on this shorter carpet.
I think, that being
small like it is,
when you get these
big loops under it,
it's creating a finer vortex
to catch that finer gold.
Perfect.
Looks like a whole
different sluice box up there.
- Yeah, it does.
- Way different.
Well, let's pick
up all the tools
and head down the mountain
before the rain comes in on us.
After days of heavy rain,
the nyberg mine
site takes another hit.
Middle of August here.
Early middle August.
We got snow today.
Yeah, just gonna add
that much more work
to everything we
already got going on.
Down at base camp...
They call it termination dust,
when you get the
first snow up high.
It could be
shortening our season.
With just two days
left on the build...
Give me a long one of these.
- That long?
- Okay, perfect.
- Where would you like it?
- Right here.
Juan and pj start to assemble
the new large capacity hopper.
Wanna lift that up?
Hey Paul, you
wanna run up with me
and we'll cut that hopper off?
- Yeah. Let's go.
- If I can take it up there.
- Yeah.
- You got a little mud
- going on here.
- Yeah.
Saving it for a rainy day.
To get Juan's new
hopper in place today,
Freddy must remove
the old smaller hopper.
But first, he must tackle
a seven mile drive
up the mountain.
I don't know how much rain
and snow we got last night,
but I'm guessing probably
an inch of moisture.
Maybe more.
I don't know. But it's
a muddy son of a gun.
We'll fight through
it the best we can.
It's an uphill battle,
but most of them are.
We're gonna have to be
chained up all the way around
now with that snow on the road.
- Yup.
- Okay.
- Well, I'm gonna keep on welding.
- Okay.
Thanks, Juan-o!
- We'll see, - if these chains hold out.
- Yeah.
The snow adds a whole
another layer of snot, if you will.
Just gets them that
much more slippery and
need that much more control,
steering or trying to stop.
We're just gonna
try to do it once,
do it right, and get it done.
As Freddy and Paul
brace for the muck...
Ready or not, here we come.
Juan's master class
with pj is back in session.
Yeah, perfect.
Here's a measuring tape for you.
Sweet.
So the way we got
this cut out a little bit...
Yup.
We're gonna leave
a little bit of a gap.
That's pretty damn good.
So what are your plans?
You know, I know you're
doing this right now.
Well, this year
I'm going to school,
and then whenever I graduate high
school, I plan on moving up here and...
- Full-time?
- Trying to make a living, yeah.
Nice.
- See how this is lifted, right there?
- Yup.
Close that gap up.
So now we know it's flat.
Have you welded much?
No. Not with stick.
Wanna give it a shot?
I'm gonna mess it up.
You can give it a
shot. I don't care, man.
We can grind it out.
You want to be able to continue
this as your future career,
you know, a lot of this is gonna
be real important for you to learn.
You know, when you're a
miner, you kind of have to do it all.
The better prepared you are,
the better off you're gonna be.
You know, it makes
me a little nervous that,
pj's a little reluctant to learn
how to do some of these things.
You know, welding's a big
part of what we do as miners.
What Freddy and I have to do is
kind of help build up his confidence.
I don't know why
I'm sliding so much.
We're definitely spinning.
I don't know what I've
got myself into here, but.
I'm in some kind of rut.
Gonna destroy this truck.
We aren't gonna make it.
- Nope. Not today.
- No.
- Probably gonna have to ride her down?
- Gonna have to.
Unable to reach the
mine, Freddy must reverse
down a mile of sludge.
We're sliding off, your side.
I got the wheels cranked, too.
Son of a bitch.
As long as I can make the truck
turn the direction I want it to...
But it's kind of just
sliding right now.
Whoo. My god.
You can back right in here.
Getting stuck now could
leave Freddy's truck stranded
for days.
Go ahead and cut her.
It's gonna be close.
Go about two feet!
Need that perfect
50-point turnaround.
You're good.
- Hop in.
- Gonna jump in.
Well, that was an epic failure.
Seeing this getting close to
finished, I'm pretty excited.
It's getting there.
We just gotta...
We gotta finish the
backside, put the grizzlies on it,
and, then we're
ready to take it up top.
Why's Freddy back already?
I didn't make her, buddy!
Back already?
Yeah. I got stuck
multiple times,
had to back out about a mile.
I don't know
if you get that hopper done
if we can even get it in there.
Plus we got other
miners to go help, so...
That's exactly right.
If they can't get the 1000-pound
hopper up the mountain
in the next 24 hours,
they may have to
abandon the entire rescue.
We may not be able
to install it for 'em.
You can fight mother nature,
but mother nature's going
to win, sooner or later.
Yesterday, the weather
went to hell on us.
We weren't getting
trucks up there.
Freddy and Juan
have been cut off from
the nyberg's wash
plant for a whole day
after a summer snow storm
turned the access road to sludge.
It's fine right now, but we're running
out of daylight really quick on this job.
And... We just
gotta get it done,
no matter what we
gotta do to get it done.
Now, a short weather
window is their last chance
to get the new 1000-pound
hopper to the mine.
How we gonna
do this, then, Fred?
There's no getting
my truck up there.
I hate saying that,
but, I mean, if we can't
get it in there, we can't.
- Yeah.
- You know, it's the real deal.
Well, we can't get it
in, we can't get it in,
but I don't really like
that idea. I'd like to do it.
Could go right in
the back of the Ford.
Put it in the back
of the pickup.
I could put a welder in the
back of the side-by-side.
- Hopefully we can make it up.
- Yeah.
Paul's pickup is one-third the
weight of Freddy's service truck
and their only shot at
transporting the new hopper,
but it means leaving
most of their tools behind.
Well, let's do it.
Let's load it up.
We'll get it done in time, before
the weather comes back in.
Keep coming! Keep
coming! Keep coming!
- Watch that tailgate.
- Yup.
- Well, we're good there.
- Perfect.
Strap it down.
That's good. She
ain't going anywhere.
Now we're down to
an atv, hand tools,
and the little welders.
What's gonna be a lot more
difficult without all our tools,
without Juan and
mine's trucks up there...
Let's get this hopper in here.
Let's try to, anyway.
I guess you lead the way?
Juan takes point in the atv.
You guys good back there?
We're not crossing the creek.
We're driving in the creek.
It's pretty muddy
in through here.
Yeah, it's a little...
A little rough, Fred.
Whoa.
- Got a little sideways.
- Yeah.
It's a horrible road.
When it is wet, yup.
- Home, sweet home!
- Home, sweet home!
Made it.
- View's pretty, though?
- Beautiful.
Mountain conquered.
- Let's get to work.
- Do it.
We gotta cut that off.
The old one.
Get ready to
swing this in place.
The first step,
remove the old hopper.
Unfortunately, we don't
have our trucks up here,
so we don't have
torches or a plasma cutter.
So we're gonna have
to cut it all out by hand,
get the new hopper in place,
get out of here before
it snows us in again.
Man. It's double-lined.
Come on, baby.
You're almost there.
Come on. Be nice to me.
Is it gonna cut it?
She ain't gonna be
happy, but she'll cut it.
Saw overheated already.
We're trying to do
everything with a grinder,
but we gotta get it done quick
because the weather's
coming back in.
Kind of sucks not having
the trucks in here, Fred.
Yeah.
If we had another day...
- We don't have another day.
- Just gotta go with what we got.
Where do you want
me to cut, Juan?
Along this line, here.
- That one?
- Yup.
To beat the next weather
front and save the rescue,
young gun pj will have to
step up like never before.
You know, the
more you can learn,
the better off you're gonna be.
Now you gotta just get out there
and learn how to do it yourself.
School of hard knocks, yeah?
Careful.
Slippery.
Probably easier
if you go like this.
Nice.
I have kind of an idea.
- Pj, you wanna run it?
- I don't care. Go ahead.
You get in there. You run it.
That's your baby.
Pj's trying to make the dream
of gold mining come true.
But there's only one way for
him to make that dream come true,
and that's do it.
You ready, pj?
I was born ready.
The school of hard knocks
is about to get harder.
- On your call, Juan-o.
- Go ahead, Fred. She's ready to go.
See what it does...
- She stroked out already?
- Yeah.
Roll your bucket up!
Go!
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Other way!
- Got it.
- That's it. That's the end of it.
It's all yours, buddy!
That is one sexy-looking
hunk of scrap iron.
Thank you.
Freddy and Juan are awesome.
They're really good,
down-to-earth guys.
I'm extremely lucky
that I got this opportunity
to learn a lot of good things.
I was proud of myself.
Time running out, the
new hopper is installed.
Am I good over there, Juan?
You're good. Boom down!
- Boom?
- Boom down!
Just perfect.
Looks good.
Wasn't the most ideal situation,
but we were able to
cut the old hopper off.
We got the new one in place.
Now we just gotta weld it.
It's sitting pretty good. I'm
happy with the way it fits, so,
it's a win in my book.
Can't wait to see how this
thing ups our production.
Time is of the essence.
It's beautiful. Let's see
how it performs, though.
Yup.
That will work.
Just keep our fingers crossed
that there's lots of gold
in this next four hour run.
Well, we've got a
little extra time, guys.
You wanna help
me make that sign?
- Yeah, let's do it.
- Yes. Absolutely.
Fixes at the mine complete,
there's just enough
time for a personal touch.
So we're gonna make a
little sign for your trommel.
I know you guys named
it after your father.
His grandpa.
Your grandfather?
My grandfather, Paul's
great-grandfather,
pj's great-great-grandfather.
Okay.
He liked to fish and play cards,
and he cheated at both.
Let's cut it out.
What do you say?
Yeah.
Beautiful.
I love it.
- Thank you so much.
- No problem, guys.
"The dude."
There's one last thing
we need to weld on and
if I could, I'd like to
borrow your welder.
Absolutely.
In Alaska,
the nyberg's wash plant is about
to officially become the dude.
This is to dedicate our
trommel to my grandfather,
someone who has inspired
us, throughout our entire lives.
Probably the most
emotional weld I'll ever do.
- You ready boys?
- Yup.
Watch your eyes.
Can I put a tack on there, too?
Absolutely.
Beautiful.
Give her a whirl, son.
I've never welded with those.
You're gonna be a gold miner, you're
gonna have to learn how to weld, son.
After five days watching
from the sidelines,
pj is ready to take the torch.
How do I start?
You watch there
under your welding rod.
Go just like this
to get it started
and then watch her... Your arc.
And you'll see the sparks.
Yeah, you wanna hold it
just a little bit off of it.
Then you wanna touch
both pieces of metal.
- See that now?
- Yeah.
Now weave it between the two.
And then pull her off.
- There you go. She's gonna stay up there.
- You got her.
It's a real honor to share this
with my son and my grandson.
Now grandpa dude is with us.
How did it come out?
Fantastic, you guys.
Thank you so much
for your helping
- and making that come true.
- Hey, no problem.
That means a lot, you know?
Now you got four generations.
My grandpa, beetle... I
could see the tear in his eyes.
That was the perfect moment.
Made him extremely happy.
I'm proud of pj. I know he was
a little nervous about welding,
but I think he's well on his
way to be a full-time gold miner.
Pretty proud of him.
I see a lot of myself
in him, like fixing stuff.
I think we get it from
our grandpa dude.
Being stubborn, doing
it my way. You know?
Before the final
test run can start,
Freddy has unfinished business.
I'm trying to figure the
geology out here, right?
Yeah.
Helping Paul find
gold-rich ground worth
mining next season.
There's a story here.
We just gotta
learn how to read it.
Yeah. What language is it in?
So you can see these
flat rocks are laying flat?
Yup.
That means it was in water,
'cause when they're
just glaciered in,
- they're all jumbled all over, right?
- Okay.
So, that water
flow was right here.
- Headed that way?
- Right here
when this rock was placed here.
So let's find another flat rock.
So that front edge,
same direction.
- Every one of them?
- Every one of them. Yup.
- That's amazing.
- So that water flow was right here.
- Headed that way?
- Right here.
The direction of the rocks
suggests a water channel once
flowed through this landscape,
concentrating gold as it went
and leaving a gold-rich scene.
- Instead of out here guessing, you know?
- Yeah.
This is kind of leading
you on a road map.
Paul will still have to strip
deep into the overburden.
But if he can find more
old water channels,
he'll run better pay dirt
and increase his profits.
You know, I could turn
something that's worth $1 a yard
into something $50 a yard.
Freddy taught me about
redneck geology 101.
I'm gonna pay closer attention
to how these rocks are laid in
so I can follow where
the channels went and
hopefully find
more gold with it.
- Well, - it's quite an improvement.
- Yes, it is.
All fixes complete,
Freddy and Juan
make a final inspection.
Before, your sluice
box was all the same.
You had all the same
ripples all the way down.
Yeah.
So you were concentrating
strictly on nuggety gold.
Now you're set up to be able to
catch the fine gold and the nuggets.
Paul's old 13-foot
sluice was set up to catch
only coarse gold.
Freddy's installed expanded
metal in five different configurations
to maximize fine gold recovery.
You should catch most of
your coarse gold right up top.
If we can get you another
5% more small gold...
That would be great.
And then that hopper
that Juan built, there
I mean, before,
you were spilling
probably 10% of your
material on the ground.
The nyberg's old 4-foot
hopper could only handle
limited material.
Juan's larger 6-foot wide hopper
will increase the amount of
dirt going through the plant.
This chute... It's gonna
help you get more gold
to where you recover it.
What do you say?
Should we run it?
Let's wash some rocks.
Let's make some gold!
Forget washing rocks!
Fire up the pump!
First bucket ready.
First bucket!
- I'm excited, Juan-o.
- Me, too.
I love this new hopper
that Juan built me.
It's catching all
of the big rocks
that aren't supposed
to go through there,
and I'm not spilling any.
Hey, pj!
How many buckets?
One-hundred twenty
five buckets in 45 minutes.
One-hundred six yards an hour.
That's awesome.
In the first test,
the nybergs ran 65
yards of pay dirt an hour.
The new hopper allows pj to feed
an extra 41 yards through the plant,
an increase of 63%.
Getting as much pay dirt in
the quickest time possible.
Well, what do you think,
Juan? Let's go look in the sluice!
Looks good, Fred.
- How does it feel?
- Feels good.
It's moving pretty good.
Hey, you have father,
son, grandson here.
And his great-great-grandpa,
the dude, washing rocks for us.
I can't put into words
how I feel right now.
It's a dream come true.
Rewarding.
Loving every minute of it.
Wouldn't rather be
in any other place.
Last bucket!
We're running a
lot more material.
Last time, I only had, 350
buckets for the first test.
And the second test, I had 515.
So... You do the math.
I know the bucket count's
up. Tailing pile's bigger.
Let's see if there's
more gold in the box.
- See any gold, Juan-o?
- Well, I see some up top, there, Fred.
Yeah. There's gold here, here.
- Seeing something here.
- Yeah. All in here.
I wouldn't mind
doing a pan right here
to show you how those
carpets work real quick,
and see what we're
catching for fine gold in there.
Okay, now we're gonna
take a gold pan-size area
and throw it on there.
Let's see?
Look at that.
Wow.
Holy cow...
And that was only a
pan-sized piece of that.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
That was all in
this, that one little...
Do you think that's how
much we were losing?
Well, you were
losing some of that.
But that's why we set those
ripples up the way we did.
It's to catch more of that.
The majority of
their gold's that,
- not big nuggets, right?
- Yup, yup.
That's why you
guys are the masters.
We're something, anyway.
Well, let's finish
pulling that box?
We just got the second test done
and, honestly, it
was a great run.
The sluice box that
Freddy reconfigured...
It was set up perfectly,
so we're pretty excited
about the cleanup.
Hopefully, it's gonna be good
for these guys. You know, really,
they're trying to
make a career of this
and, they need all of
the gold they can get.
Over there.
Look who's here.
How does it look?
Looks better.
But, the scale will
tell us the truth.
Well, let's weigh it out.
It's a half ounce last time.
To hit their 100 ounce goal
before winter shuts them down,
this gold weigh needs to
deliver at least an ounce of gold.
- There's a lot of fine gold in it.
- Yeah, there is.
- There you go.
- 0.65.
Point... three-quarters
of an ounce.
There you go.
- 1.07.
- 07.
1.07 ounces, worth
roughly $1800,
a 100% increase
on the first test.
- That's great. That's great.
- It's not bad.
It doubled your recovery.
Same amount of
work, double the gold.
Giving them a fighting
chance at success.
You know, I can see
how you guys have
a really short season out here.
So now, it's not time to
play around. It's game time.
No, yeah, we gotta wash
as much as we can - yeah.
As fast as we can.
It's gonna be a short
fall with the snow here.
Nothing hard is ever easy.
Well, guys,
we gotta hit the road,
so here's your gold.
It was a pleasure
working with everyone.
- Thank you, Juan.
- Thank you.
- Absolute pleasure.
- Thank you, Freddy.
Thank you, Juan.
- Good working with you, sir. Likewise.
- Juan, it was a pleasure.
Safe journeys.
I'm proud of pj,
what he was able to
accomplish while we were here.
Pj... he's got a
bit of gold fever.
I did, as well, at his age.
And he's a hard worker, right?
It's his dream to be
a full-time gold miner,
so hopefully the fixes that
Juan and myself have done
will help him achieve that goal.
It's kind of cool having
three generations on top of a
mountain, mining gold. And they love it.
- Well, Juan-o...
- Off to the next one? - Yup.
My plan is to be out
here for many years
and then, eventually
turn it over to pj and say,
"here you go, kid."
I can sit in my rocking chair in the
cabin and maybe play with the grandkids.
My heart is out here
in the mountains.
I can gold mine.
I can work on the
heavy equipment.
It made me who I am.
I wouldn't choose another life.
Thank you, Juan.
Thank you, Freddy.
sliding so much.
I don't know what I've
got myself into here.
You ready, pj?
I was born ready.
I've been mining out
here since I was 10.
Getting that yellow
flaky stuff that
just makes my heart go.
I see a lot of myself in him.
They weren't lying about
this weather changing quick.
He is sinking.
You can fight mother nature,
but mother nature's gonna win.
Three generations
can work together.
It would be a dream of mine.
Pj, you wanna run it?
There's only one way for him to make
that dream come true, and that's do it.
Whoa, whoa.
Going from a bigger road to
a two-track road here, juano.
Yeah, this is
barely an atv trail.
It's getting steep here, Juan,
and tighter through the trees.
Freddy and Juan snake
their way 3,000 feet up
into the muddy mountains
of denali in central Alaska.
Enroute to three
generations of goldminers,
fighting to save
the family mine.
Man, I don't know, Freddy.
I'm almost thinking maybe
what we do is park
my truck down below
and just take your
truck up for now.
Yeah.
I hate leaving your truck there,
but let's do a scouting mission.
Just in case I didn't
say good morning.
- Thank you, sir.
- You're welcome.
Really sweet of you.
You're such a sweet guy, Fred.
Thanks.
So, what do we know
about these guys, Freddy?
Well, the son got a hold of
me. He'd sure like our help.
Here, I talked to
him a few years ago
when it was his dream
to go gold-mining
with his family.
From what I know right now,
it's his grandfather,
his dad, and him.
Wow, so three
generations out here mining.
Gold seekers' first flock
to the rugged region
of denali in 1903.
Hiking up huge mountains
on foot in search of gold.
Since then, $180 million worth
has been pulled
from the landscape.
But for those brave enough
to beat the brutal weather,
isolated location,
and short season,
there could still
be huge rewards.
Well, I'm hoping this is them.
Gotta be them. It's the
only place out here, Freddy.
How's it going, guys?
- Good morning.
- Everybody doing all right?
Better now that you're here.
We'll see about that.
Guys.
- Paul.
- Freddy.
Paul's my dad. Beetle.
Pleasure to meet
you, beetle. Freddy.
- You too, Freddy.
- People call you beetle.
Been beetle since
I was a little kid.
You couldn't find a
much more beautiful spot.
Couldn't find much more
screwed up road than I can see it fit.
Road's a little rough, yeah.
Yeah, we've met
before years ago.
We all looked a little younger.
That's right, that's right.
This may be the first time you're
seeing our next big gold rush miner here.
I always loved
watching gold rush.
And I'd seen the super
fans thing for the dirt
and I got to do an
interview with Freddy dodge.
I have one for Freddy.
What made him help Rick?
Rick's a friend of mine.
I always try to help
friends out when I can.
Now, 16-year-old pj's dream
is to become a real gold miner
with his dad, Paul,
and grandfather, beetle.
I've been mining out
here since I was ten,
and it was right over there
where I dug my first
hole in an excavator.
I put a seat belt on him.
Turned the throttle down.
Made sure he was in a spot where
he couldn't do anything and move.
Shut the door, and you know,
let him play with it for hours.
He just loves playing
out here in the dirt.
For most of the year,
pj lives 3,000 miles
away in Virginia.
My heart is in Alaska.
It's where the gold is.
I'm with my family, my
dad, and my grandpa.
We just wanted to
make enough money
to have us three generations
who can work together
would be a big dream of mine.
To have the three of us together
is absolutely priceless.
Do you got some of your
gold that we can see?
I got a little bit.
We ran yesterday.
Looks like pretty
pure gold, actually.
With some bigger flakes in it.
- You got some nuggets.
- Here's the nuggets I've been
- saving over the years.
- There you go.
How long have you guys
been mining out here?
Five years. It started out
as a hobby and full time now.
It felt like that.
The first few years,
it was really slow
because we never got
- to wash rocks really.
- Okay.
In the five years Paul
has been mining here,
the family has sunk
nearly $200,000
into the operation.
Last year returned
only $36,000 in gold.
What's your goal for this year?
We need to get 100
ounces this season.
I got seven weeks
left until winter,
but I just started washing
a couple weeks ago.
Gonna be quite a challenge here.
Only five ounces
mined this season.
The nybergs need another 95
to keep the family dream alive
before winter shuts them down.
Weather is our
biggest time constraint.
It's a bit of a battle
against the clock
and the elements.
The overburdens'
either frozen or mud.
It takes so long to strip it.
The season usually ends
up being weeks long for me.
This remote area of Alaska
sees an average 84 inches
of snowfall each winter.
Some of the highest in the U.S.
Once the snow is gone,
Paul spends two
months stripping.
But snow is replaced by rain,
making conditions treacherous.
It's tough. It's stressful.
It's not without a lot
of hard work, blood,
sweat, and tears.
I gotta pay off what I
spent the last two months.
Missed wages at work.
Price of fuel's
ridiculous this year.
Well, let's take advantage of the
good weather and let's get to work.
Forecast isn't very good, so.
If it starts raining
like it's supposed to...
Just give it a minute.
- Let's run a plant.
- Let's go.
- Here's your trommel.
- Here she is.
- The dude.
- The dude.
The dude. Named
after great-grandpa.
His grandpa. His
great-great-grandpa.
Well, let's fire it up, guys.
- Wash some rocks.
- Make some gold.
Paul pushes a pay dirt
towards the plant in the dozer,
where pj scoops it up
and loads it into the hopper.
The pay washes
through the trommel
and down into the sluice box,
lain out with Hungarian riffles.
Then grandpa beetle
clears the tailings.
It's kind of awesome, you know,
to see a grandfather,
son, and grandson
all working together,
and you know,
they're working great together.
I'm just hoping that
Freddy and I are able
to help these guys
out because you know
from the sounds
of it, they're banking
this whole summer
on this project.
We have moved
so much overburden to
get down to the good pay
and only eight weeks
ago, there was snow
where I'm sitting right now.
There was snow right here.
What do you think, Juan?
Let's go look in the sluice.
He has nothing there for
prime gold recovery at all.
Well, we'll take a pan
of the tailings here.
See if there's any gold in it.
Well, moment of truth, juano.
Couple. There's some
fine pieces in there.
- Some fine gold, yeah.
- Right there.
Gold we found was
really, really fine.
Minute gold, but it adds up.
Gonna go up on the
hill and walk south.
What he is feeding in there
we can kind of see into
the hopper a little bit.
They're getting all that
material brought down here
and they're losing
good pay material
off to the side of the hopper.
There's slop in a lot of
material on the ground.
I would do anything
to make this mine work.
The passion I have to
come out and do all this
really hard work
is getting that gold.
That yellow powder flaky stuff
that just makes my heart go...
- They're sluicing in a lake.
- Yeah.
Two hours in, Freddy
spots another big problem.
They got all that
permafrost melting there
and all that water coming in.
Permafrost is a thick,
frozen layer that sits
on top of bedrock,
containing silt,
rocks, mud, and pay gravels.
Worthless overburden
must be removed to expose
the gold rich pay beneath.
But as it thaws, it
turns into a thick soup
of mud and water
that can cause havoc
with equipment
and gold recovery.
Like feeding a milkshake.
But mostly to
feed it with a straw.
Yeah.
Incoming rain makes
every bucket a fight.
They weren't lying about
this weather changing quick.
Man.
That's not good.
Yeah, he is sinking.
I've seen sloppy
permafrost before but this,
this one takes the cake.
Keeps the rollers clean.
There you go. There you go.
He's getting her. Look at that.
You know, for a 16-year-old,
pj's pretty dang good
on that excavator.
I don't know a whole
lot of 16-year-olds
that can run
equipment like that.
I don't really do video
games. I hate being inside.
I always go out
and I would run an
excavator and that was good.
And now I'm 16, and I
still love it just as much.
Boys don't grow up.
Their toys just get bigger.
Hey, pj! Last bucket!
Well, Juan, that's
officially four hours.
Last bucket.
Talk about a mudhole.
- Yeah.
- Holy cow.
The nybergs managed to
run just 65 yards an hour
in the boggy pay dirt.
Let's see what's in the box.
Well, it's full.
While you guys
finish cleaning this up,
the three of you,
we're gonna go up
and get some numbers
and stuff together
and see what we're
gonna need for material.
- Sounds good.
- All righty.
Thank you.
One thing's for sure,
Freddy, it's beautiful out here.
But you know, it's not a
very forgiving place at all.
Nope, it is not
forgiving at all.
Pj is a grown young man,
trying to make the dream
of gold mining come true.
It's not gonna be
that easy in here,
but for now, we'll keep
our fingers crossed,
hope for good weather, and
fight the battle the best we can.
As even more rain hits
the denali mountains...
How's it going, guys?
Moment of truth. Time
to see how much gold
we got on that first four hour.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
The results from the
nyberg's test run are in.
Well, let's see your gold.
Got it all dried up?
- Yeah.
- Here we go.
There's a quarter ounce.
45.
48.
49.
Exactly a half an ounce.
50.
Think we need a
lot more than that.
Yeah, I was expecting a
little more than that too.
0.5 ounces over four hours
is worth less than $900.
At this rate, the nybergs
will manage barely half
of their 100 ounce season
goal before winter hits.
It's a lot of work for
just half an ounce.
- It is.
- It's a drop in the bucket
for what I got out so far
this year in fuel
and everything else.
There's room for
improvement, I'm sure.
We're gonna be a little limited
on the time it takes
us to get in here.
And if it keeps
raining like this...
As far as repairs of the plant,
we want to redo that hopper.
Put some real grizzlies on it.
Make it a little wider
and a little longer.
Well, we've seen
all that fine gold
- in your clean up, right?
- Yep.
Yeah, you're completely
set up for coarse gold.
So what we'd like to
do is actually set up part
of that sluice box
strictly for fine gold.
And we watched you guys pull
those carpets, your lockdown system.
- Yeah.
- It's a pain in the heinie,
- it looks like.
- It is. That's just what it
- came with and that was...
- So we were thinking
of completely redoing
that all the way down.
That's a heck of a deal.
Freddy and Juan have identified
two key plant fixes.
The hopper is too small,
causing liquid pay
dirt to spill off the sides.
Juan will fabricate a new larger
hopper to increase yardage.
Paul's sluice box is
set up for coarse gold,
allowing fine gold
to wash off the end.
Freddy and Juan will
install expanded metal,
custom carpets, and riffles
to ensure they catch both
the coarse and fine gold.
But the more complicated
fix, finding high-yield ground
worth the fuel it
costs to strip and run.
Yeah, you got a lot of iron
running for half an ounce.
Yeah, exactly.
Hopefully there's better gold.
We'll try to find it.
Perfect.
Now, for the money part of it.
We were thinking in the area
the material we're gonna need
is gonna be around 3,500 bucks.
And that's gonna
be for the material
for the new hopper, the
new riffles, everything else.
Two years ago,
it would've been...
Half that, yeah.
Costs are just high as
the world knows right now.
Yeah, so... As far
as our labor goes,
what we'd like to see
at the end of the season
is an ounce and a half a piece.
- We'll make it work.
- Three ounces, yeah.
And then we can wait
till the end of the season.
That would really help.
Deal.
- Well, let's do it then.
- Deal.
- Deal.
- Sounds good.
- Deal, sir.
- Thank you. Thank you.
- Good.
- Thank you, Juan.
- Deal.
- Yeah, no problem.
- Thank you, Juan.
- Sounds good.
Let's do it.
Hopefully figure out a way
- to stop the rain.
- Yeah.
That's probably the
most important thing.
Yeah.
Find where that valve is.
Shut that thing down.
Turn it off.
Winter's coming, y'all hear.
We got a lot of dirt to move
in a short amount of time.
Hopefully they can help us
get it through that 20% faster
and with better recovery.
In the end, it will be worth it.
We don't have a
whole lot of time
so let's get down there and
start getting all this cut out.
While Juan and
pj head 1,000 feet
down the mountain to
the stranded cut trailer...
We got the right
measurements this time.
- I think we should get it done.
- I hope so.
Freddy and Paul kept
the grips with the ground.
I wish I had a straight
face for you to look at.
It looks like you've got 10
feet or more of overburden
on top of your gravel here up.
Yeah. Never drains,
never really dries out.
All that overburden is
really hard to deal with.
It kind of flows like lava,
- if you will.
- Yeah.
I've dug test holes out here.
- You see the pile.
- I do.
I dug as deep as my
excavator would go.
22 feet.
Nothing?
It could be under
there, but it's deeper
than I wanna go
with. I got 22 feet
- of overburden though.
- Yeah.
If Freddy can identify
better pay channels,
he could lower Paul's
overall cost of running.
But first, he must
figure out the landscape.
Could've been glacier there too.
Still, there's nice gravel
deposit on top of it.
Yeah, this area's hard to read.
It's interesting,
that's for sure.
I've never seen
something exactly like this.
- It's a detective game.
- It is.
Well, let's get back at it.
Yeah, let's fix the wash plant.
I guess, all we can do now is
think about it, keep
looking around some more,
and keep our fingers
crossed and see what we find.
In the cut trailer, Juan designs
the new large capacity hopper.
Your hopper is just completely
too small for what you're doing.
So what we want to do is
we're gonna actually make it
a little wider
and a little longer.
So, it's gotta be exciting
for you to be able to be
out here for the
summer to help your dad.
- Grow up this way.
- Right.
You know, out in the bush,
working on heavy equipment,
learning how to mine,
and how to run equipment.
It was awesome as an
11-year-old to be in an excavator.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Moving... moving mountains.
There it is.
We got it all lined up.
It's pretty much ready to go.
Cool.
We can go ahead
and start cutting.
What actually is plasma cutting?
It's got these
electrodes in there,
and that's to create
the plasma gas
with the electricity in the air.
And that's what is actually used
and it's forcing that
through the steel.
That arc is what's
actually cutting.
What can't that cut through?
Anything that doesn't
conduct electricity.
So if it doesn't
conduct electricity,
- it won't cut it.
- Okay.
So you can cut aluminum,
you can cut
copper, anything that
- conducts electricity.
- Awesome.
You know, pj really reminds
me of me when I was his age.
You know, that's all I wanted
to do was work with my dad.
I'm just hoping that with
what Freddy and I do here,
we can help him realize his
goal of being a full time miner.
Better hurry up before
it starts raining again.
Up at the mine,
Freddy, Paul, and beetle
start work on the sluices.
With this fine
gold that you got,
that really small gold.
That fine gold's
90% of your money
so let's optimize the top end of
this sluice box to catch that stuff.
I've always been meaning
to put something else in here.
But I just never had the
time or the resources to do it.
I'll go grab some welding rod
and the hood and
we'll start welding in.
First, Freddy replaces
Paul's clunky lockdown system
with simple wooden wedges.
Eyeballs.
So, why is this wash plant
called the dude, beetle?
That passion of being a
mechanic went down the bloodline.
From me to Paul.
From Paul to pj.
Pj's great-great-grandfather,
Julius thayer,
nicknamed the
dude, was a mechanic
and owned a gravel
mine in Wisconsin.
His motto, "we move the earth,"
inspired beetle, Paul, and
pj to follow in his footsteps.
I remember my
great-grandpa dude a little bit.
I was probably six or seven
the last time I remember him.
He'd show up to grandma's house
in one of his old dump trucks
and we'd go climb
on it and play on it.
We are a dude train.
Three generations
of Mr. Fix-it's.
Like Paul, there isn't
anything he can't fix.
And I ain't too bad myself.
He had all the fancy
sayings, you know, like,
"if you pull hard,
it'll come easy."
Or "nothing harder
is ever easy."
That ought a be about
perfect right there.
We're gonna put
silicone on this ramp.
Freddy uses silicone
to increase flexibility
in the steel and prevent
cracks forming in the sluice.
Silicone will outlast
this steel 20 to 1.
Boy, you learn
something new everyday.
Yeah.
What do you think, guys?
Let's throw some
carpets in here.
We'll just shingle it up.
- Two footer.
- Yes, sir.
We want that
fine riffle to just be
on this shorter carpet.
I think, that being
small like it is,
when you get these
big loops under it,
it's creating a finer vortex
to catch that finer gold.
Perfect.
Looks like a whole
different sluice box up there.
- Yeah, it does.
- Way different.
Well, let's pick
up all the tools
and head down the mountain
before the rain comes in on us.
After days of heavy rain,
the nyberg mine
site takes another hit.
Middle of August here.
Early middle August.
We got snow today.
Yeah, just gonna add
that much more work
to everything we
already got going on.
Down at base camp...
They call it termination dust,
when you get the
first snow up high.
It could be
shortening our season.
With just two days
left on the build...
Give me a long one of these.
- That long?
- Okay, perfect.
- Where would you like it?
- Right here.
Juan and pj start to assemble
the new large capacity hopper.
Wanna lift that up?
Hey Paul, you
wanna run up with me
and we'll cut that hopper off?
- Yeah. Let's go.
- If I can take it up there.
- Yeah.
- You got a little mud
- going on here.
- Yeah.
Saving it for a rainy day.
To get Juan's new
hopper in place today,
Freddy must remove
the old smaller hopper.
But first, he must tackle
a seven mile drive
up the mountain.
I don't know how much rain
and snow we got last night,
but I'm guessing probably
an inch of moisture.
Maybe more.
I don't know. But it's
a muddy son of a gun.
We'll fight through
it the best we can.
It's an uphill battle,
but most of them are.
We're gonna have to be
chained up all the way around
now with that snow on the road.
- Yup.
- Okay.
- Well, I'm gonna keep on welding.
- Okay.
Thanks, Juan-o!
- We'll see, - if these chains hold out.
- Yeah.
The snow adds a whole
another layer of snot, if you will.
Just gets them that
much more slippery and
need that much more control,
steering or trying to stop.
We're just gonna
try to do it once,
do it right, and get it done.
As Freddy and Paul
brace for the muck...
Ready or not, here we come.
Juan's master class
with pj is back in session.
Yeah, perfect.
Here's a measuring tape for you.
Sweet.
So the way we got
this cut out a little bit...
Yup.
We're gonna leave
a little bit of a gap.
That's pretty damn good.
So what are your plans?
You know, I know you're
doing this right now.
Well, this year
I'm going to school,
and then whenever I graduate high
school, I plan on moving up here and...
- Full-time?
- Trying to make a living, yeah.
Nice.
- See how this is lifted, right there?
- Yup.
Close that gap up.
So now we know it's flat.
Have you welded much?
No. Not with stick.
Wanna give it a shot?
I'm gonna mess it up.
You can give it a
shot. I don't care, man.
We can grind it out.
You want to be able to continue
this as your future career,
you know, a lot of this is gonna
be real important for you to learn.
You know, when you're a
miner, you kind of have to do it all.
The better prepared you are,
the better off you're gonna be.
You know, it makes
me a little nervous that,
pj's a little reluctant to learn
how to do some of these things.
You know, welding's a big
part of what we do as miners.
What Freddy and I have to do is
kind of help build up his confidence.
I don't know why
I'm sliding so much.
We're definitely spinning.
I don't know what I've
got myself into here, but.
I'm in some kind of rut.
Gonna destroy this truck.
We aren't gonna make it.
- Nope. Not today.
- No.
- Probably gonna have to ride her down?
- Gonna have to.
Unable to reach the
mine, Freddy must reverse
down a mile of sludge.
We're sliding off, your side.
I got the wheels cranked, too.
Son of a bitch.
As long as I can make the truck
turn the direction I want it to...
But it's kind of just
sliding right now.
Whoo. My god.
You can back right in here.
Getting stuck now could
leave Freddy's truck stranded
for days.
Go ahead and cut her.
It's gonna be close.
Go about two feet!
Need that perfect
50-point turnaround.
You're good.
- Hop in.
- Gonna jump in.
Well, that was an epic failure.
Seeing this getting close to
finished, I'm pretty excited.
It's getting there.
We just gotta...
We gotta finish the
backside, put the grizzlies on it,
and, then we're
ready to take it up top.
Why's Freddy back already?
I didn't make her, buddy!
Back already?
Yeah. I got stuck
multiple times,
had to back out about a mile.
I don't know
if you get that hopper done
if we can even get it in there.
Plus we got other
miners to go help, so...
That's exactly right.
If they can't get the 1000-pound
hopper up the mountain
in the next 24 hours,
they may have to
abandon the entire rescue.
We may not be able
to install it for 'em.
You can fight mother nature,
but mother nature's going
to win, sooner or later.
Yesterday, the weather
went to hell on us.
We weren't getting
trucks up there.
Freddy and Juan
have been cut off from
the nyberg's wash
plant for a whole day
after a summer snow storm
turned the access road to sludge.
It's fine right now, but we're running
out of daylight really quick on this job.
And... We just
gotta get it done,
no matter what we
gotta do to get it done.
Now, a short weather
window is their last chance
to get the new 1000-pound
hopper to the mine.
How we gonna
do this, then, Fred?
There's no getting
my truck up there.
I hate saying that,
but, I mean, if we can't
get it in there, we can't.
- Yeah.
- You know, it's the real deal.
Well, we can't get it
in, we can't get it in,
but I don't really like
that idea. I'd like to do it.
Could go right in
the back of the Ford.
Put it in the back
of the pickup.
I could put a welder in the
back of the side-by-side.
- Hopefully we can make it up.
- Yeah.
Paul's pickup is one-third the
weight of Freddy's service truck
and their only shot at
transporting the new hopper,
but it means leaving
most of their tools behind.
Well, let's do it.
Let's load it up.
We'll get it done in time, before
the weather comes back in.
Keep coming! Keep
coming! Keep coming!
- Watch that tailgate.
- Yup.
- Well, we're good there.
- Perfect.
Strap it down.
That's good. She
ain't going anywhere.
Now we're down to
an atv, hand tools,
and the little welders.
What's gonna be a lot more
difficult without all our tools,
without Juan and
mine's trucks up there...
Let's get this hopper in here.
Let's try to, anyway.
I guess you lead the way?
Juan takes point in the atv.
You guys good back there?
We're not crossing the creek.
We're driving in the creek.
It's pretty muddy
in through here.
Yeah, it's a little...
A little rough, Fred.
Whoa.
- Got a little sideways.
- Yeah.
It's a horrible road.
When it is wet, yup.
- Home, sweet home!
- Home, sweet home!
Made it.
- View's pretty, though?
- Beautiful.
Mountain conquered.
- Let's get to work.
- Do it.
We gotta cut that off.
The old one.
Get ready to
swing this in place.
The first step,
remove the old hopper.
Unfortunately, we don't
have our trucks up here,
so we don't have
torches or a plasma cutter.
So we're gonna have
to cut it all out by hand,
get the new hopper in place,
get out of here before
it snows us in again.
Man. It's double-lined.
Come on, baby.
You're almost there.
Come on. Be nice to me.
Is it gonna cut it?
She ain't gonna be
happy, but she'll cut it.
Saw overheated already.
We're trying to do
everything with a grinder,
but we gotta get it done quick
because the weather's
coming back in.
Kind of sucks not having
the trucks in here, Fred.
Yeah.
If we had another day...
- We don't have another day.
- Just gotta go with what we got.
Where do you want
me to cut, Juan?
Along this line, here.
- That one?
- Yup.
To beat the next weather
front and save the rescue,
young gun pj will have to
step up like never before.
You know, the
more you can learn,
the better off you're gonna be.
Now you gotta just get out there
and learn how to do it yourself.
School of hard knocks, yeah?
Careful.
Slippery.
Probably easier
if you go like this.
Nice.
I have kind of an idea.
- Pj, you wanna run it?
- I don't care. Go ahead.
You get in there. You run it.
That's your baby.
Pj's trying to make the dream
of gold mining come true.
But there's only one way for
him to make that dream come true,
and that's do it.
You ready, pj?
I was born ready.
The school of hard knocks
is about to get harder.
- On your call, Juan-o.
- Go ahead, Fred. She's ready to go.
See what it does...
- She stroked out already?
- Yeah.
Roll your bucket up!
Go!
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Other way!
- Got it.
- That's it. That's the end of it.
It's all yours, buddy!
That is one sexy-looking
hunk of scrap iron.
Thank you.
Freddy and Juan are awesome.
They're really good,
down-to-earth guys.
I'm extremely lucky
that I got this opportunity
to learn a lot of good things.
I was proud of myself.
Time running out, the
new hopper is installed.
Am I good over there, Juan?
You're good. Boom down!
- Boom?
- Boom down!
Just perfect.
Looks good.
Wasn't the most ideal situation,
but we were able to
cut the old hopper off.
We got the new one in place.
Now we just gotta weld it.
It's sitting pretty good. I'm
happy with the way it fits, so,
it's a win in my book.
Can't wait to see how this
thing ups our production.
Time is of the essence.
It's beautiful. Let's see
how it performs, though.
Yup.
That will work.
Just keep our fingers crossed
that there's lots of gold
in this next four hour run.
Well, we've got a
little extra time, guys.
You wanna help
me make that sign?
- Yeah, let's do it.
- Yes. Absolutely.
Fixes at the mine complete,
there's just enough
time for a personal touch.
So we're gonna make a
little sign for your trommel.
I know you guys named
it after your father.
His grandpa.
Your grandfather?
My grandfather, Paul's
great-grandfather,
pj's great-great-grandfather.
Okay.
He liked to fish and play cards,
and he cheated at both.
Let's cut it out.
What do you say?
Yeah.
Beautiful.
I love it.
- Thank you so much.
- No problem, guys.
"The dude."
There's one last thing
we need to weld on and
if I could, I'd like to
borrow your welder.
Absolutely.
In Alaska,
the nyberg's wash plant is about
to officially become the dude.
This is to dedicate our
trommel to my grandfather,
someone who has inspired
us, throughout our entire lives.
Probably the most
emotional weld I'll ever do.
- You ready boys?
- Yup.
Watch your eyes.
Can I put a tack on there, too?
Absolutely.
Beautiful.
Give her a whirl, son.
I've never welded with those.
You're gonna be a gold miner, you're
gonna have to learn how to weld, son.
After five days watching
from the sidelines,
pj is ready to take the torch.
How do I start?
You watch there
under your welding rod.
Go just like this
to get it started
and then watch her... Your arc.
And you'll see the sparks.
Yeah, you wanna hold it
just a little bit off of it.
Then you wanna touch
both pieces of metal.
- See that now?
- Yeah.
Now weave it between the two.
And then pull her off.
- There you go. She's gonna stay up there.
- You got her.
It's a real honor to share this
with my son and my grandson.
Now grandpa dude is with us.
How did it come out?
Fantastic, you guys.
Thank you so much
for your helping
- and making that come true.
- Hey, no problem.
That means a lot, you know?
Now you got four generations.
My grandpa, beetle... I
could see the tear in his eyes.
That was the perfect moment.
Made him extremely happy.
I'm proud of pj. I know he was
a little nervous about welding,
but I think he's well on his
way to be a full-time gold miner.
Pretty proud of him.
I see a lot of myself
in him, like fixing stuff.
I think we get it from
our grandpa dude.
Being stubborn, doing
it my way. You know?
Before the final
test run can start,
Freddy has unfinished business.
I'm trying to figure the
geology out here, right?
Yeah.
Helping Paul find
gold-rich ground worth
mining next season.
There's a story here.
We just gotta
learn how to read it.
Yeah. What language is it in?
So you can see these
flat rocks are laying flat?
Yup.
That means it was in water,
'cause when they're
just glaciered in,
- they're all jumbled all over, right?
- Okay.
So, that water
flow was right here.
- Headed that way?
- Right here
when this rock was placed here.
So let's find another flat rock.
So that front edge,
same direction.
- Every one of them?
- Every one of them. Yup.
- That's amazing.
- So that water flow was right here.
- Headed that way?
- Right here.
The direction of the rocks
suggests a water channel once
flowed through this landscape,
concentrating gold as it went
and leaving a gold-rich scene.
- Instead of out here guessing, you know?
- Yeah.
This is kind of leading
you on a road map.
Paul will still have to strip
deep into the overburden.
But if he can find more
old water channels,
he'll run better pay dirt
and increase his profits.
You know, I could turn
something that's worth $1 a yard
into something $50 a yard.
Freddy taught me about
redneck geology 101.
I'm gonna pay closer attention
to how these rocks are laid in
so I can follow where
the channels went and
hopefully find
more gold with it.
- Well, - it's quite an improvement.
- Yes, it is.
All fixes complete,
Freddy and Juan
make a final inspection.
Before, your sluice
box was all the same.
You had all the same
ripples all the way down.
Yeah.
So you were concentrating
strictly on nuggety gold.
Now you're set up to be able to
catch the fine gold and the nuggets.
Paul's old 13-foot
sluice was set up to catch
only coarse gold.
Freddy's installed expanded
metal in five different configurations
to maximize fine gold recovery.
You should catch most of
your coarse gold right up top.
If we can get you another
5% more small gold...
That would be great.
And then that hopper
that Juan built, there
I mean, before,
you were spilling
probably 10% of your
material on the ground.
The nyberg's old 4-foot
hopper could only handle
limited material.
Juan's larger 6-foot wide hopper
will increase the amount of
dirt going through the plant.
This chute... It's gonna
help you get more gold
to where you recover it.
What do you say?
Should we run it?
Let's wash some rocks.
Let's make some gold!
Forget washing rocks!
Fire up the pump!
First bucket ready.
First bucket!
- I'm excited, Juan-o.
- Me, too.
I love this new hopper
that Juan built me.
It's catching all
of the big rocks
that aren't supposed
to go through there,
and I'm not spilling any.
Hey, pj!
How many buckets?
One-hundred twenty
five buckets in 45 minutes.
One-hundred six yards an hour.
That's awesome.
In the first test,
the nybergs ran 65
yards of pay dirt an hour.
The new hopper allows pj to feed
an extra 41 yards through the plant,
an increase of 63%.
Getting as much pay dirt in
the quickest time possible.
Well, what do you think,
Juan? Let's go look in the sluice!
Looks good, Fred.
- How does it feel?
- Feels good.
It's moving pretty good.
Hey, you have father,
son, grandson here.
And his great-great-grandpa,
the dude, washing rocks for us.
I can't put into words
how I feel right now.
It's a dream come true.
Rewarding.
Loving every minute of it.
Wouldn't rather be
in any other place.
Last bucket!
We're running a
lot more material.
Last time, I only had, 350
buckets for the first test.
And the second test, I had 515.
So... You do the math.
I know the bucket count's
up. Tailing pile's bigger.
Let's see if there's
more gold in the box.
- See any gold, Juan-o?
- Well, I see some up top, there, Fred.
Yeah. There's gold here, here.
- Seeing something here.
- Yeah. All in here.
I wouldn't mind
doing a pan right here
to show you how those
carpets work real quick,
and see what we're
catching for fine gold in there.
Okay, now we're gonna
take a gold pan-size area
and throw it on there.
Let's see?
Look at that.
Wow.
Holy cow...
And that was only a
pan-sized piece of that.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
That was all in
this, that one little...
Do you think that's how
much we were losing?
Well, you were
losing some of that.
But that's why we set those
ripples up the way we did.
It's to catch more of that.
The majority of
their gold's that,
- not big nuggets, right?
- Yup, yup.
That's why you
guys are the masters.
We're something, anyway.
Well, let's finish
pulling that box?
We just got the second test done
and, honestly, it
was a great run.
The sluice box that
Freddy reconfigured...
It was set up perfectly,
so we're pretty excited
about the cleanup.
Hopefully, it's gonna be good
for these guys. You know, really,
they're trying to
make a career of this
and, they need all of
the gold they can get.
Over there.
Look who's here.
How does it look?
Looks better.
But, the scale will
tell us the truth.
Well, let's weigh it out.
It's a half ounce last time.
To hit their 100 ounce goal
before winter shuts them down,
this gold weigh needs to
deliver at least an ounce of gold.
- There's a lot of fine gold in it.
- Yeah, there is.
- There you go.
- 0.65.
Point... three-quarters
of an ounce.
There you go.
- 1.07.
- 07.
1.07 ounces, worth
roughly $1800,
a 100% increase
on the first test.
- That's great. That's great.
- It's not bad.
It doubled your recovery.
Same amount of
work, double the gold.
Giving them a fighting
chance at success.
You know, I can see
how you guys have
a really short season out here.
So now, it's not time to
play around. It's game time.
No, yeah, we gotta wash
as much as we can - yeah.
As fast as we can.
It's gonna be a short
fall with the snow here.
Nothing hard is ever easy.
Well, guys,
we gotta hit the road,
so here's your gold.
It was a pleasure
working with everyone.
- Thank you, Juan.
- Thank you.
- Absolute pleasure.
- Thank you, Freddy.
Thank you, Juan.
- Good working with you, sir. Likewise.
- Juan, it was a pleasure.
Safe journeys.
I'm proud of pj,
what he was able to
accomplish while we were here.
Pj... he's got a
bit of gold fever.
I did, as well, at his age.
And he's a hard worker, right?
It's his dream to be
a full-time gold miner,
so hopefully the fixes that
Juan and myself have done
will help him achieve that goal.
It's kind of cool having
three generations on top of a
mountain, mining gold. And they love it.
- Well, Juan-o...
- Off to the next one? - Yup.
My plan is to be out
here for many years
and then, eventually
turn it over to pj and say,
"here you go, kid."
I can sit in my rocking chair in the
cabin and maybe play with the grandkids.
My heart is out here
in the mountains.
I can gold mine.
I can work on the
heavy equipment.
It made me who I am.
I wouldn't choose another life.
Thank you, Juan.
Thank you, Freddy.