Gold Rush: White Water (2018–…): Season 2, Episode 4 - Too Close for Comfort - full transcript
Get up here, right here!
Watch the fireworks fly.
We have to change the plan
Because this isn't working.
It takes two people
To pull that basket.
So it doesn't go into your hole.
Is there gold there?
We don't know yet.
Well, what's it doing for us?
I mean...
Well, we're taking
The material out of it.
How about you coming up
With a better solution.
For your problem with it
Falling over in the hole?
You're my problem, though!
Dustin, you take care
Of my divers.
I'm gone.
If they don't need me there,
So be it.
Let them get it the way
They want it.
They can do it without me.
Come on, fred.
Five bucks, I bet he hits it.
Fred and I are gonna
Fight to the death.
Right now, changes.
We're digging one hole.
Wow!
We're against the clock, and we
Don't know when the deadline is.
Watch out, fred.
They're bringing a real
Heavy load out.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
I'm nervous.
I'm not seeing enough gold
Right now.
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications.
Quite a trek just to get here.
Narrator In the raging white
Water of mckinley creek,
Alaska, the dakota boys
Are five weeks.
Into their hunt
For millions in gold.
I'm nervous.
I'm not seeing enough gold
Right now.
I've got a lot of money tied up
In this, and I've got, like,
I'd like there to be a lot
More gold, a lot more showing.
Dustin's gambled $75,000.
On this mining season...
Narrator But so far,
All they've found.
Is an ounce of gold worth
Just over $1,000.
We're against the clock, man.
We have to dig every day,
Or else we're not gonna
Get this done.
I'm going to give
This thing a check.
I want to see how much
It filled in overnight.
That's not bad.
That's almost seven feet
Right now.
It's not as bad as I thought
It was gonna be.
Where's bedrock?
Let's get crazy and say
It's 15 feet.
The power of two dredges,
Two divers,
I think we can get that sink two
Or three days of digging, man.
- That's what I'm thinking.
- Yep.
I anticipate getting there
This week.
Together, those two dredges
Are gonna dig this hole out,
And we're gonna get down
To the gold, finally.
It's just finding that
Right pocket,
Because that pocket
Is down there.
I'm not giving up.
I know where we need to go
To get gold.
All right. Let's get to it.
Fred We're really looking
For the big gold.
Porcupine mining district,
The gold has always been.
Almost always right down
On the bedrock.
Narrator Since the ice age,
Tens of millions of dollars.
In gold have flowed down
Mckinley creek.
Because it's seven times
Heavier than the rocks,
The gold sinks to
The lowest point on the bedrock,
Which is now hidden under
15 feet of rocks and gravel.
There's this really
Hard piece of rock.
Right here
That goes across this,
And I believe that formation
Stopped all the gold behind it.
It was there last season,
So I need them to get up
And dig behind it.
Dustin wants us to be
Dredging right here,
Side by side here in the front.
I have a hunch that maybe
That gold had come over.
And got pushed down
A little bit further.
Narrator Dustin will dredge
Towards the bedrock upstream.
By the bridge.
Fred decides to dig
His hole further downstream.
Gold wins, we lose
If we don't get down to it.
Narrator Experienced miner
And new recruit casey morgan.
Will be fred's dive support.
You come down here
And get me ready to dive.
When they bring the radio,
We get in the water.
Okay.
We're gonna check
Everything else out.
- I need some tape.
- All right.
Bring the tape.
It's hell when the diver has to
Lead the support team out there.
Casey Yeah, he's pretty
Demanding today.
I mean, he's the boss,
So whatever.
He thinks he is. I don't know.
Is that good?
- Yeah.
- He's good to go.
All right.
Narrator 74-year-old fred
Takes his chances.
In the glacial torrent.
Texan paul richardson is diving
With dustin's dredge today.
I left a whole bunch of rocks.
Right at the top edge
On the bridge.
I'm gonna try to get a good,
Long dive in.
Because we certainly need it.
All right, amigo. Rock and roll.
Yeah, baby.
Narrator The dredge removes
All the gravel and small rocks,
But anything over six inches...
Has to be hauled out By sled.
Closing in, four feet,
Three feet, two feet.
- Whoo! That's cold!
- Yeah, brother.
Abracadabra, amigo.
Narrator Wes' winch is rated
To pull 6,000 pounds.
All right, fred.
Are you ready for this sled
To come out?
Just gotten started.
Haven't been in the water
That long,
But so far, so good.
Huge rocks.
All right.
- I got it!
- Big hole right here.
You son of a...
There's no reason
For that hole to be there.
There's no gold right there.
I can't get it to move.
Damn it!
Fred, he needs to be up here.
We've already dug that up.
We know exactly
What's under there.
There's a little bit
Of flood gold. I don't care.
One, two, three, pull!
Guys, just try to Play the game?
As if this ain't hard
Enough, we've got to do this.
Narrator For the first time,
The dakota boys are dredging
Two separate holes.
In dustin's hole
Beneath the bridge,
Paul is getting closer
To bedrock gold,
Loading rocks into a sled to
Winch them out of the mine site.
But fred's downstream hole
Is expanding further and further.
Into the path of the sled.
It's just crazy.
We're trying to get
These rocks out.
We need to get them out
As fast as possible,
But now we're having to do it.
The hardest way possible,
By hand.
Carlos What's that?
Paul Yeah.
Dustin I got it, thank you.
It's very, very heavy.
Fred, you there?
You've got to watch out, fred.
They're bringing a real heavy
Load out on your right.
Okay.
You up my runway,
But he won't stop.
He's still digging Right there.
Is it helping?
Fred is digging this trench
Just alongside.
Of where we have
To pull our sleds,
And if it hits
Any little rock at all,
It just dumps into his hole.
It's driving me a little crazy.
I mean, this is why I get
So damn mad, it's just...
I have to work my ass off
Because he's stubborn.
It just kills me.
We're trying really hard to keep
Up with what we need to do,
But the truth is,
It's killing us.
I've got to get in there,
And I've got to figure this
out.
Thanks, man.
Carlos All right, dustin.
You're good to go.
Yep, coming your way.
Richard is going to
Guide it towards you.
Whoops.
Dustin All right.
- Thank you.
- Okay.
Okay.
- Rich!
- Okay, what are we doing?
I don't know.
What do we do, paul?
Narrator An hour into his dive,
Dustin is still struggling.
To stop his sled
Falling into fred's hole.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
- All stop, stop, stop.
Stop, stop, stop,
Stop, stop, stop.
Come up here! Right here!
Watch the fireworks fly.
High in the chilkat mountains,
The dakota boys' search
For millions in gold.
Has ground to a halt.
Okay, we have to change the plan
'cause this isn't working.
Narrator Fred has deviated
From dustin's plan.
To dredge by the bridge.
And is digging
A hole downstream.
We're working against
Each other right now.
No, we're not.
It takes two people
To pull that basket.
So it doesn't go into your hole.
I mean...
But we're taking
The material out.
Well, what's it doing for us?
Besides flipping
Our baskets over.
You're 15 feet back
In the middle of that creek.
- Is there gold there?
- We don't know yet.
- What do you want?
- I need this to stop.
This is a waste of
Time as far as I'm concerned.
But it's not. Go ahead.
I don't know what else to do.
Everyone up here is struggling.
Fred I'm convinced the gold
Is right there.
Help me, please.
Well, how about you coming up
With a better solution.
For your problem with it
Falling over in the hole?
You're my problem, though.
Are you guys tired
Of struggling?
Dustin, you take care
Of my divers.
I'm gone.
In all the history
Of every moment
I've ever dug with fred, if
I think we should dig somewhere,
He's gonna dig somewhere else,
And that's what's
Going on right now.
He's just being as stubborn
As he can be.
For absolutely no reason.
All it's doing is just
Costing me money.
That's all it's doing.
Sick and tired of the.
I don't know what...
He just started
Losing his temper.
If they don't need me there,
So be it.
They're expert operators.
They know better.
Let them get it the way
They want it.
They can do it without me.
I'm kind of shocked that
He would actually leave,
But I guess he must
Have been pretty pissed.
I mean, I know him and dustin
Get into it,
But nothing was that bad
Not to work out.
And just come back to work.
And help us
Get this thing going.
He's still an important part
Of the team.
A lot of work
To be done, though.
What's the matter, man?
I just hope that you guys
Can work through it, but...
I had enough.
I can't take it.
He went too far.
If I walked up and said, "That's
Exactly how I would do that,".
He would change it because,
For whatever reason in his head,
He has to beat me somehow.
It's the weirdest
'cause he's in a competition
I'm not involved in.
It has nothing to do with me.
We do what we do.
Yep, and it works.
All right.
It's hard working
With family, man.
I love fred,
But you've got history,
So a regular fight isn't
A regular fight anymore.
That's what you get.
A regular fight is 20 years
Or 30 years of problems.
That you've had throughout
Your whole life.
Fred does not like it
That I'm in charge.
He just wanted it his way.
This is my stuff.
This is my people.
This is my everything here.
I've put my entire life
Into this.
You can't take control.
He just can't do it.
Get with the program,
Or I'm gonna shut you down.
It's up to him.
Narrator Fred heads down to
Porcupine to visit wife jen.
- What's up?
- Come on in.
We'll talk about it.
Dustin and I got into it.
I don't know what else to do.
He just totally loses
His temper,
And I don't know
If I'm gonna stay or not.
Fred took off.
He's all pissed off, but we need
To get the hole dug.
Because we're running out
Of freaking time, bottom line.
We know tomorrow it could flood.
Right below the bridge is
Where the gold is sitting.
Let's get some rocks out,
And we'll just keep
Digging the hole.
- All right?
- Yep.
All right, guys.
Instead of running two dredges,
Dustin will dredge alone.
We're not reliant upon fred.
We're just a man down.
Narrator Rich and casey
Will fill in fred's hole.
To reinstate the sled runway.
Rich We're just gonna get
These rocks moved.
It's frustrating right now,
But the end result
Is gonna be a positive.
- I got it loose!
- Seriously, bro.
Rich Lifting rocks all day,
Dude, lots of rocks.
Rocks!
That's the best spot to be
Right there,
Under the water, in your hole.
No drama down there, brother,
Only against the rocks.
All right...
I don't know what went down
With fred.
He just thought we weren't
Doing what he wanted,
So dustin's filling up
Rock baskets.
I'm trying to pull them
Back here.
And to keep him accommodated.
We can flood out at any time
So the faster we get this done,
The better off we are.
Of course,
Right now we're down fred.
So those guys aren't
In the water dredging.
That leaves it up to us
Right now.
Carlos Say what?
Your mask exploded
Off your face?
How's your air?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on up.
Too much air pressure, Maybe?
Aah! Nope.
Getting these big rocks out,
That is one of the biggest.
Time-consuming problems
We have here.
So we're still at eight feet
Right there.
I mean, that's where it was
When I left yesterday afternoon.
I just kept trying and trying.
At some point,
I had to just give up.
It's too much.
There's only so much I can do.
I need two dredges running,
And I need a full crew.
As bad as I hate to admit it,
I need fred here.
He needs to run his team.
I'm too old to be damn
Having arguments and fights.
Narrator Two days ago,
Fred hurt walked off
The mine site.
After clashing with his son.
Fred I'm gonna have to get.
A little more respect
Out of dustin.
We'll see how things work out.
Fred came back this morning.
I hope he's worked it out
In his mind,
Whatever it is that's going
On with him and dustin.
I guess they're trying to
Resolve it in there now.
I don't know.
I hope that he can get
Through this,
Because we need him
To get back to working.
Hard knock life.
It's pretty difficult
Working with family.
You feel that you can kind of
Lean on those bonds,
And sometimes you
Stretch them to the limit.
Dustin Fred and I are gonna
Fight to the death.
That's just the way we are.
If we weren't a little bit
Crazy, we wouldn't be up here.
Fred's just gonna have
To understand.
That I'm in charge,
And everybody's gonna
Have to work together now.
I'm not... I'm not perfect.
I make mistakes just like
Everybody else.
Hey, I'm not a quitter.
Dustin's not a quitter.
We've got to keep in mind that
We're out here for one thing,
That's to find
Some gold, lots of it.
Let's go, carlos!
Yee-haw!
With 74-year-old fred back...
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Narrator The dakota boys
Are at full strength.
All right, everybody.
Whatever anybody thought I said,
This is what I'm saying now.
Working against each other
And that all ends today.
From this day forward,
We dig one hole, Not two holes.
- Hooray!
- That is it.
Right now, changes.
We are on the same page
From now on.
That's it.
We're digging one hole.
Fred These youngsters have got
A lot to learn.
One of these days,
They will become the old man,
And they will look back And say,
"God bless, that old man
Had some real ideas."
I tried to give fred the leeway.
To run his own crew
The way I think he should,
But now it's time for me
To step in and take charge.
So we dug a huge hole right here
Last season before it flooded,
And our gold started
Getting good right up here,
Right up behind me.
We're gonna have
Two people in one hole,
And it's gonna be down here,
And they're gonna Work together.
So you're gonna be digging
From about plywood...
Okay.
To about here.
Narrator Now both dredges
Can run again...
Morning!
Narrator And carlos minor
Is finally cleared to dive.
Today, I'm back in the water,
Brother.
I've got to take it easy,
Though.
I'm pretty wary about it,
You know what I mean?
Definitely keeping my head
On a double swivel this time,
Meaning I'm always
Gonna be cautious.
Cautious for every thing.
Is it too hot?
Yes, too hot, too hot!
Narrator Three weeks ago,
A surge of scalding water...
Dustin Just relax.
Just slow down.
Narrator Gave carlos severe
Second-degree burns.
I'm still healing, man,
So it's gonna take a while.
Narrator He's been sidelined
Since the accident.
Dustin checked me out, man.
He gave me the okay.
Back in the water, brother.
It's time to suit up.
This controls my hot water dump.
If I've got too much hot water,
I've got to dump it out.
Water is almost perfect.
We're getting there.
We're just fine-tuning it.
We're a little worried
About making it too hot.
Just understand, man, you know,
If I get old lady,
Man, just, You know what I mean?
Definition of courage, being
Afraid and doing it anyway.
I like that. I like that.
Good deal, man.
It's good to see
Carlos back in action again.
It took him a little while
To get all healed up.
And patched up and everything
So, he's eager to go.
He is eager to go.
Just lay down there
And get the feel, man.
Yep. Thank you, man.
Good to have you back, man.
Yeah!
Throttle down! Throttle down!
Throttle down!
Ha, ha, ha. Whoo!
Ha, ha, ha.
Whoo!
Rich will dive alongside carlos.
With fred on comms.
With two divers in the water,
The crew can get back.
To chasing millions of dollars
In gold on the bedrock,
Just seven feet from the bottom
Of dustin's hole.
Fred All right.
Carlos thinks rich has strayed.
Onto his side of the creek.
Everybody's working together.
We're digging in the same hole.
This is our ticket
To get to the gold.
Okay, basket is headed your way.
Carlos All right. Coming up.
These two guys right now
Are finally working together.
Rich and carlos,
They're working hand in hand.
At mckinley creek, alaska...
The dakota boys are digging
Down to gold on bedrock.
Just seven feet beneath them.
Okay! Okay.
Rich, come here.
Come here. Come here.
You want a break?
They're getting together
And they're working.
Together and it's awesome.
This is what I need.
Some of these rocks are so big,
It is so hard for one guy,
But two people can just flip
A giant rock.
Over pretty easy underwater,
And that's what they're doing.
All right, are you ready for
That basket over there?
All right, it's all yours.
Carlos Yeah, stand by.
One, two, three!
More, more, more.
One, two, three!
Watch yourself.
Watch yourself.
All right.
A monster boulder is blocking.
The crew's road to gold.
Whoo, good dive. Good dive.
Good job, man.
Whoo!!
Glad to be back home.
First dive back
Since I got hurt.
I was really, really scared
In the beginning.
Very scared in the beginning.
That water washed it away.
Rock and freaking roll, brother.
It's great we got
Carlos back in the water.
We got two dredges going,
But if we can't move.
Those rocks, We're screwed, man.
I've got an idea.
I think it's gonna work.
All right. Let's try it out.
All right.
Those rocks are very difficult
To grab ahold of,
But if you can drill
A hole into one,
You can put a concrete
Anchor into it.
And you could pull with
A mighty force with that winch.
We've got these huge boulders.
That are underneath the surface
Down at the bottom,
And we've tried everything we
Can to rig up to pull them out.
Fred's got this idea
That if I extend this drill bit.
And make it 10-foot long,
He can drill them rocks
From the bridge.
We could drill a hole,
Put an anchor bolt in it.
And pull it right out
With no problem.
If it works,
That would be great for me.
Anything that gets us
To the gold faster.
We need to happen.
Well, yeah.
I need to get these rocks
Out of the damn way.
I did bring my experimental
Drill bit.
We don't know if it's gonna
Work or not.
A monster boulder is blocking.
The way to bedrock gold.
Fred's plan...
Use a hammer drill.
With a 10-foot extension
Welded to the drill bit to bore.
A hole into the boulder,
Fit an anchor bolt,
Then drag the massive rock.
Out of the creek.
Rich All right, good to go.
You're right in the middle,
Underneath the bridge.
These rocks probably
Weigh maybe 1,000 pounds.
The divers can't move them.
Well, fred came up
With this idea.
To make this long drill bit,
And right now we're
Drilling away at this rock.
It seems to be working
Real well.
I hope this works.
So far, so good.
So far, so good.
Good medicine so far.
All stop. All stop, there, wes.
You can pull out.
Okay.
- Yeah!
- Hey!
It worked great, fred.
This worked really well.
That's gonna save us
A ton of time right there.
Hey, right now the drill
Is working.
Nothing is broke yet.
Some ideas work,
Sometimes they don't.
You're making fun
Of my little peashooter.
But that's what concealed
Weapons are all about.
You can't tell that
I'm carrying it.
Dustin Fred,
You've got to take out.
One of those pigeons, man.
Fred How many shots
Do I get to hit them?
You don't want to bet
Against him.
Five bucks. Five bucks,
I bet he hits it.
- Five bucks he won't.
- That's what, 40 feet?
Come on, fred.
Don't let me down, bub.
- That's one!
- That was close.
Way low.
Ooh, just to the left.
Come on, you're gonna
Lose me five bucks, fred!
Pigeon 40 feet away with that.
- I'll give you that.
- That was good.
I don't want you
Shooting at me, fred.
Looks pretty nice.
The floods are going to come.
We're against the clock, and we
Don't know when the deadline is.
Narrator The dakota boys are in
A race against time.
To get down to gold.
Wes That depth looks
Pretty good there.
We're at, like, 10 feet.
Narrator With two dredges
And monster boulders removed,
They're close
To hitting bedrock.
We managed to get
A fairly good dive yesterday.
We got a lot of boulders out,
And nothing filled in overnight.
So we're gonna
Make headway today.
Narrator Dustin's invested
Every last cent in this season.
He needs to make a return.
Or they all go home
With nothing.
All right.
I'm really tired today.
I know I'm the youngest guy
Here, but I feel old right now.
Happen in your mid-40s,
At least, it did for me.
- He's becoming his father.
- No!
If you mean tired and beat up
After strenuous activities...
Whoo!
All right. Let's get to it.
So right here we've dug
This trench down,
And I think we're really
Close to hardpack right now.
Before they hit bedrock gold,
They'll encounter a layer.
Of compacted material
Known as hardpack.
Well, we know last year
We hit it about 12 feet.
Right there, around that area
Right there.
That's where we were
Last season.
Over thousands of years,
Pressure compresses
Sedimentary sand and gravel.
Into a rock layer
Called hardpack.
Sandwiched between the hardpack
And the bedrock.
Is the gold deposit that could
Make the dakota boys rich.
We're almost there.
I think another couple of feet.
We've got to figure out
How to get through it.
Maybe use a chipper
Or something,
And then right
Underneath it on the bedrock
I think there's gonna
Be a lot of gold.
We're going to find some gold.
A lot of it.
I hope you're right, man.
Ready?
Diving today... Rich webster...
Well, so far this morning
The conditions are really nice.
If I can stay warm,
It'll be good.
And paul richardson.
- Am I good to go?
- Yep, you're good to go.
Carlos All right, gentlemen.
You know the drill, As always.
Yeah.
Yeah!
Everything is going perfect
Right now.
Nobody's yelling at each other.
We're digging a hole together.
This is digging in perfect
Harmony, right here.
- Ready?
- Ready.
They're doing a good job!
You think you got down to it?
Look at that.
- Yeah!
- Right?
- Yeah.
- Yeah!
Yeah.
Carlos Dang right,
Paul. You're the freaking man.
Did you see it? Good job.
Hey, fred, we hit
That hardpack, man.
Sounds like that good stuff,
Man!
That's good! Finally!
It's been creeping in my dreams
For an entire year now.
I need to find out.
Where the gold's at
Below that hardpack.
We're right back on track.
We're down to that hardpack,
So now we've just got to be.
Within a couple of feet
Of being on bedrock.
We all know what's gonna be
Running down.
Right at the bottom of a glacier
In a nice little v-formation.
The heaviest stuff... gold.
From this day forward,
We should get really good gold.
There's just no excuse for it.
We're at least 12 feet deep
Right now.
That's a long way down.
I've had so many damn problems
That it has taken me.
A lot longer than
I thought it was gonna take.
But we're only halfway
Through the season,
And we're exactly
Where we ended last season.
So I need to find
A gold streak in here.
And follow it wherever the hell
It goes and line my pockets.
With that beautiful,
Beautiful, sweet gold.
I'm tired of letting
Mother nature win!
It's time to fight back!
Still ahead this season...
- Yeah!
- , that's beautiful.
That's where the gold is at.
That's where we're going next.
- Look out below!
- Landslide! Landslide!
Diver two, up! Get him up.
There's some perfect
Nuggets here.
Yeah!
My.
What is that!
Watch the fireworks fly.
We have to change the plan
Because this isn't working.
It takes two people
To pull that basket.
So it doesn't go into your hole.
Is there gold there?
We don't know yet.
Well, what's it doing for us?
I mean...
Well, we're taking
The material out of it.
How about you coming up
With a better solution.
For your problem with it
Falling over in the hole?
You're my problem, though!
Dustin, you take care
Of my divers.
I'm gone.
If they don't need me there,
So be it.
Let them get it the way
They want it.
They can do it without me.
Come on, fred.
Five bucks, I bet he hits it.
Fred and I are gonna
Fight to the death.
Right now, changes.
We're digging one hole.
Wow!
We're against the clock, and we
Don't know when the deadline is.
Watch out, fred.
They're bringing a real
Heavy load out.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
I'm nervous.
I'm not seeing enough gold
Right now.
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications.
Quite a trek just to get here.
Narrator In the raging white
Water of mckinley creek,
Alaska, the dakota boys
Are five weeks.
Into their hunt
For millions in gold.
I'm nervous.
I'm not seeing enough gold
Right now.
I've got a lot of money tied up
In this, and I've got, like,
I'd like there to be a lot
More gold, a lot more showing.
Dustin's gambled $75,000.
On this mining season...
Narrator But so far,
All they've found.
Is an ounce of gold worth
Just over $1,000.
We're against the clock, man.
We have to dig every day,
Or else we're not gonna
Get this done.
I'm going to give
This thing a check.
I want to see how much
It filled in overnight.
That's not bad.
That's almost seven feet
Right now.
It's not as bad as I thought
It was gonna be.
Where's bedrock?
Let's get crazy and say
It's 15 feet.
The power of two dredges,
Two divers,
I think we can get that sink two
Or three days of digging, man.
- That's what I'm thinking.
- Yep.
I anticipate getting there
This week.
Together, those two dredges
Are gonna dig this hole out,
And we're gonna get down
To the gold, finally.
It's just finding that
Right pocket,
Because that pocket
Is down there.
I'm not giving up.
I know where we need to go
To get gold.
All right. Let's get to it.
Fred We're really looking
For the big gold.
Porcupine mining district,
The gold has always been.
Almost always right down
On the bedrock.
Narrator Since the ice age,
Tens of millions of dollars.
In gold have flowed down
Mckinley creek.
Because it's seven times
Heavier than the rocks,
The gold sinks to
The lowest point on the bedrock,
Which is now hidden under
15 feet of rocks and gravel.
There's this really
Hard piece of rock.
Right here
That goes across this,
And I believe that formation
Stopped all the gold behind it.
It was there last season,
So I need them to get up
And dig behind it.
Dustin wants us to be
Dredging right here,
Side by side here in the front.
I have a hunch that maybe
That gold had come over.
And got pushed down
A little bit further.
Narrator Dustin will dredge
Towards the bedrock upstream.
By the bridge.
Fred decides to dig
His hole further downstream.
Gold wins, we lose
If we don't get down to it.
Narrator Experienced miner
And new recruit casey morgan.
Will be fred's dive support.
You come down here
And get me ready to dive.
When they bring the radio,
We get in the water.
Okay.
We're gonna check
Everything else out.
- I need some tape.
- All right.
Bring the tape.
It's hell when the diver has to
Lead the support team out there.
Casey Yeah, he's pretty
Demanding today.
I mean, he's the boss,
So whatever.
He thinks he is. I don't know.
Is that good?
- Yeah.
- He's good to go.
All right.
Narrator 74-year-old fred
Takes his chances.
In the glacial torrent.
Texan paul richardson is diving
With dustin's dredge today.
I left a whole bunch of rocks.
Right at the top edge
On the bridge.
I'm gonna try to get a good,
Long dive in.
Because we certainly need it.
All right, amigo. Rock and roll.
Yeah, baby.
Narrator The dredge removes
All the gravel and small rocks,
But anything over six inches...
Has to be hauled out By sled.
Closing in, four feet,
Three feet, two feet.
- Whoo! That's cold!
- Yeah, brother.
Abracadabra, amigo.
Narrator Wes' winch is rated
To pull 6,000 pounds.
All right, fred.
Are you ready for this sled
To come out?
Just gotten started.
Haven't been in the water
That long,
But so far, so good.
Huge rocks.
All right.
- I got it!
- Big hole right here.
You son of a...
There's no reason
For that hole to be there.
There's no gold right there.
I can't get it to move.
Damn it!
Fred, he needs to be up here.
We've already dug that up.
We know exactly
What's under there.
There's a little bit
Of flood gold. I don't care.
One, two, three, pull!
Guys, just try to Play the game?
As if this ain't hard
Enough, we've got to do this.
Narrator For the first time,
The dakota boys are dredging
Two separate holes.
In dustin's hole
Beneath the bridge,
Paul is getting closer
To bedrock gold,
Loading rocks into a sled to
Winch them out of the mine site.
But fred's downstream hole
Is expanding further and further.
Into the path of the sled.
It's just crazy.
We're trying to get
These rocks out.
We need to get them out
As fast as possible,
But now we're having to do it.
The hardest way possible,
By hand.
Carlos What's that?
Paul Yeah.
Dustin I got it, thank you.
It's very, very heavy.
Fred, you there?
You've got to watch out, fred.
They're bringing a real heavy
Load out on your right.
Okay.
You up my runway,
But he won't stop.
He's still digging Right there.
Is it helping?
Fred is digging this trench
Just alongside.
Of where we have
To pull our sleds,
And if it hits
Any little rock at all,
It just dumps into his hole.
It's driving me a little crazy.
I mean, this is why I get
So damn mad, it's just...
I have to work my ass off
Because he's stubborn.
It just kills me.
We're trying really hard to keep
Up with what we need to do,
But the truth is,
It's killing us.
I've got to get in there,
And I've got to figure this
out.
Thanks, man.
Carlos All right, dustin.
You're good to go.
Yep, coming your way.
Richard is going to
Guide it towards you.
Whoops.
Dustin All right.
- Thank you.
- Okay.
Okay.
- Rich!
- Okay, what are we doing?
I don't know.
What do we do, paul?
Narrator An hour into his dive,
Dustin is still struggling.
To stop his sled
Falling into fred's hole.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
- All stop, stop, stop.
Stop, stop, stop,
Stop, stop, stop.
Come up here! Right here!
Watch the fireworks fly.
High in the chilkat mountains,
The dakota boys' search
For millions in gold.
Has ground to a halt.
Okay, we have to change the plan
'cause this isn't working.
Narrator Fred has deviated
From dustin's plan.
To dredge by the bridge.
And is digging
A hole downstream.
We're working against
Each other right now.
No, we're not.
It takes two people
To pull that basket.
So it doesn't go into your hole.
I mean...
But we're taking
The material out.
Well, what's it doing for us?
Besides flipping
Our baskets over.
You're 15 feet back
In the middle of that creek.
- Is there gold there?
- We don't know yet.
- What do you want?
- I need this to stop.
This is a waste of
Time as far as I'm concerned.
But it's not. Go ahead.
I don't know what else to do.
Everyone up here is struggling.
Fred I'm convinced the gold
Is right there.
Help me, please.
Well, how about you coming up
With a better solution.
For your problem with it
Falling over in the hole?
You're my problem, though.
Are you guys tired
Of struggling?
Dustin, you take care
Of my divers.
I'm gone.
In all the history
Of every moment
I've ever dug with fred, if
I think we should dig somewhere,
He's gonna dig somewhere else,
And that's what's
Going on right now.
He's just being as stubborn
As he can be.
For absolutely no reason.
All it's doing is just
Costing me money.
That's all it's doing.
Sick and tired of the.
I don't know what...
He just started
Losing his temper.
If they don't need me there,
So be it.
They're expert operators.
They know better.
Let them get it the way
They want it.
They can do it without me.
I'm kind of shocked that
He would actually leave,
But I guess he must
Have been pretty pissed.
I mean, I know him and dustin
Get into it,
But nothing was that bad
Not to work out.
And just come back to work.
And help us
Get this thing going.
He's still an important part
Of the team.
A lot of work
To be done, though.
What's the matter, man?
I just hope that you guys
Can work through it, but...
I had enough.
I can't take it.
He went too far.
If I walked up and said, "That's
Exactly how I would do that,".
He would change it because,
For whatever reason in his head,
He has to beat me somehow.
It's the weirdest
'cause he's in a competition
I'm not involved in.
It has nothing to do with me.
We do what we do.
Yep, and it works.
All right.
It's hard working
With family, man.
I love fred,
But you've got history,
So a regular fight isn't
A regular fight anymore.
That's what you get.
A regular fight is 20 years
Or 30 years of problems.
That you've had throughout
Your whole life.
Fred does not like it
That I'm in charge.
He just wanted it his way.
This is my stuff.
This is my people.
This is my everything here.
I've put my entire life
Into this.
You can't take control.
He just can't do it.
Get with the program,
Or I'm gonna shut you down.
It's up to him.
Narrator Fred heads down to
Porcupine to visit wife jen.
- What's up?
- Come on in.
We'll talk about it.
Dustin and I got into it.
I don't know what else to do.
He just totally loses
His temper,
And I don't know
If I'm gonna stay or not.
Fred took off.
He's all pissed off, but we need
To get the hole dug.
Because we're running out
Of freaking time, bottom line.
We know tomorrow it could flood.
Right below the bridge is
Where the gold is sitting.
Let's get some rocks out,
And we'll just keep
Digging the hole.
- All right?
- Yep.
All right, guys.
Instead of running two dredges,
Dustin will dredge alone.
We're not reliant upon fred.
We're just a man down.
Narrator Rich and casey
Will fill in fred's hole.
To reinstate the sled runway.
Rich We're just gonna get
These rocks moved.
It's frustrating right now,
But the end result
Is gonna be a positive.
- I got it loose!
- Seriously, bro.
Rich Lifting rocks all day,
Dude, lots of rocks.
Rocks!
That's the best spot to be
Right there,
Under the water, in your hole.
No drama down there, brother,
Only against the rocks.
All right...
I don't know what went down
With fred.
He just thought we weren't
Doing what he wanted,
So dustin's filling up
Rock baskets.
I'm trying to pull them
Back here.
And to keep him accommodated.
We can flood out at any time
So the faster we get this done,
The better off we are.
Of course,
Right now we're down fred.
So those guys aren't
In the water dredging.
That leaves it up to us
Right now.
Carlos Say what?
Your mask exploded
Off your face?
How's your air?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on up.
Too much air pressure, Maybe?
Aah! Nope.
Getting these big rocks out,
That is one of the biggest.
Time-consuming problems
We have here.
So we're still at eight feet
Right there.
I mean, that's where it was
When I left yesterday afternoon.
I just kept trying and trying.
At some point,
I had to just give up.
It's too much.
There's only so much I can do.
I need two dredges running,
And I need a full crew.
As bad as I hate to admit it,
I need fred here.
He needs to run his team.
I'm too old to be damn
Having arguments and fights.
Narrator Two days ago,
Fred hurt walked off
The mine site.
After clashing with his son.
Fred I'm gonna have to get.
A little more respect
Out of dustin.
We'll see how things work out.
Fred came back this morning.
I hope he's worked it out
In his mind,
Whatever it is that's going
On with him and dustin.
I guess they're trying to
Resolve it in there now.
I don't know.
I hope that he can get
Through this,
Because we need him
To get back to working.
Hard knock life.
It's pretty difficult
Working with family.
You feel that you can kind of
Lean on those bonds,
And sometimes you
Stretch them to the limit.
Dustin Fred and I are gonna
Fight to the death.
That's just the way we are.
If we weren't a little bit
Crazy, we wouldn't be up here.
Fred's just gonna have
To understand.
That I'm in charge,
And everybody's gonna
Have to work together now.
I'm not... I'm not perfect.
I make mistakes just like
Everybody else.
Hey, I'm not a quitter.
Dustin's not a quitter.
We've got to keep in mind that
We're out here for one thing,
That's to find
Some gold, lots of it.
Let's go, carlos!
Yee-haw!
With 74-year-old fred back...
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Narrator The dakota boys
Are at full strength.
All right, everybody.
Whatever anybody thought I said,
This is what I'm saying now.
Working against each other
And that all ends today.
From this day forward,
We dig one hole, Not two holes.
- Hooray!
- That is it.
Right now, changes.
We are on the same page
From now on.
That's it.
We're digging one hole.
Fred These youngsters have got
A lot to learn.
One of these days,
They will become the old man,
And they will look back And say,
"God bless, that old man
Had some real ideas."
I tried to give fred the leeway.
To run his own crew
The way I think he should,
But now it's time for me
To step in and take charge.
So we dug a huge hole right here
Last season before it flooded,
And our gold started
Getting good right up here,
Right up behind me.
We're gonna have
Two people in one hole,
And it's gonna be down here,
And they're gonna Work together.
So you're gonna be digging
From about plywood...
Okay.
To about here.
Narrator Now both dredges
Can run again...
Morning!
Narrator And carlos minor
Is finally cleared to dive.
Today, I'm back in the water,
Brother.
I've got to take it easy,
Though.
I'm pretty wary about it,
You know what I mean?
Definitely keeping my head
On a double swivel this time,
Meaning I'm always
Gonna be cautious.
Cautious for every thing.
Is it too hot?
Yes, too hot, too hot!
Narrator Three weeks ago,
A surge of scalding water...
Dustin Just relax.
Just slow down.
Narrator Gave carlos severe
Second-degree burns.
I'm still healing, man,
So it's gonna take a while.
Narrator He's been sidelined
Since the accident.
Dustin checked me out, man.
He gave me the okay.
Back in the water, brother.
It's time to suit up.
This controls my hot water dump.
If I've got too much hot water,
I've got to dump it out.
Water is almost perfect.
We're getting there.
We're just fine-tuning it.
We're a little worried
About making it too hot.
Just understand, man, you know,
If I get old lady,
Man, just, You know what I mean?
Definition of courage, being
Afraid and doing it anyway.
I like that. I like that.
Good deal, man.
It's good to see
Carlos back in action again.
It took him a little while
To get all healed up.
And patched up and everything
So, he's eager to go.
He is eager to go.
Just lay down there
And get the feel, man.
Yep. Thank you, man.
Good to have you back, man.
Yeah!
Throttle down! Throttle down!
Throttle down!
Ha, ha, ha. Whoo!
Ha, ha, ha.
Whoo!
Rich will dive alongside carlos.
With fred on comms.
With two divers in the water,
The crew can get back.
To chasing millions of dollars
In gold on the bedrock,
Just seven feet from the bottom
Of dustin's hole.
Fred All right.
Carlos thinks rich has strayed.
Onto his side of the creek.
Everybody's working together.
We're digging in the same hole.
This is our ticket
To get to the gold.
Okay, basket is headed your way.
Carlos All right. Coming up.
These two guys right now
Are finally working together.
Rich and carlos,
They're working hand in hand.
At mckinley creek, alaska...
The dakota boys are digging
Down to gold on bedrock.
Just seven feet beneath them.
Okay! Okay.
Rich, come here.
Come here. Come here.
You want a break?
They're getting together
And they're working.
Together and it's awesome.
This is what I need.
Some of these rocks are so big,
It is so hard for one guy,
But two people can just flip
A giant rock.
Over pretty easy underwater,
And that's what they're doing.
All right, are you ready for
That basket over there?
All right, it's all yours.
Carlos Yeah, stand by.
One, two, three!
More, more, more.
One, two, three!
Watch yourself.
Watch yourself.
All right.
A monster boulder is blocking.
The crew's road to gold.
Whoo, good dive. Good dive.
Good job, man.
Whoo!!
Glad to be back home.
First dive back
Since I got hurt.
I was really, really scared
In the beginning.
Very scared in the beginning.
That water washed it away.
Rock and freaking roll, brother.
It's great we got
Carlos back in the water.
We got two dredges going,
But if we can't move.
Those rocks, We're screwed, man.
I've got an idea.
I think it's gonna work.
All right. Let's try it out.
All right.
Those rocks are very difficult
To grab ahold of,
But if you can drill
A hole into one,
You can put a concrete
Anchor into it.
And you could pull with
A mighty force with that winch.
We've got these huge boulders.
That are underneath the surface
Down at the bottom,
And we've tried everything we
Can to rig up to pull them out.
Fred's got this idea
That if I extend this drill bit.
And make it 10-foot long,
He can drill them rocks
From the bridge.
We could drill a hole,
Put an anchor bolt in it.
And pull it right out
With no problem.
If it works,
That would be great for me.
Anything that gets us
To the gold faster.
We need to happen.
Well, yeah.
I need to get these rocks
Out of the damn way.
I did bring my experimental
Drill bit.
We don't know if it's gonna
Work or not.
A monster boulder is blocking.
The way to bedrock gold.
Fred's plan...
Use a hammer drill.
With a 10-foot extension
Welded to the drill bit to bore.
A hole into the boulder,
Fit an anchor bolt,
Then drag the massive rock.
Out of the creek.
Rich All right, good to go.
You're right in the middle,
Underneath the bridge.
These rocks probably
Weigh maybe 1,000 pounds.
The divers can't move them.
Well, fred came up
With this idea.
To make this long drill bit,
And right now we're
Drilling away at this rock.
It seems to be working
Real well.
I hope this works.
So far, so good.
So far, so good.
Good medicine so far.
All stop. All stop, there, wes.
You can pull out.
Okay.
- Yeah!
- Hey!
It worked great, fred.
This worked really well.
That's gonna save us
A ton of time right there.
Hey, right now the drill
Is working.
Nothing is broke yet.
Some ideas work,
Sometimes they don't.
You're making fun
Of my little peashooter.
But that's what concealed
Weapons are all about.
You can't tell that
I'm carrying it.
Dustin Fred,
You've got to take out.
One of those pigeons, man.
Fred How many shots
Do I get to hit them?
You don't want to bet
Against him.
Five bucks. Five bucks,
I bet he hits it.
- Five bucks he won't.
- That's what, 40 feet?
Come on, fred.
Don't let me down, bub.
- That's one!
- That was close.
Way low.
Ooh, just to the left.
Come on, you're gonna
Lose me five bucks, fred!
Pigeon 40 feet away with that.
- I'll give you that.
- That was good.
I don't want you
Shooting at me, fred.
Looks pretty nice.
The floods are going to come.
We're against the clock, and we
Don't know when the deadline is.
Narrator The dakota boys are in
A race against time.
To get down to gold.
Wes That depth looks
Pretty good there.
We're at, like, 10 feet.
Narrator With two dredges
And monster boulders removed,
They're close
To hitting bedrock.
We managed to get
A fairly good dive yesterday.
We got a lot of boulders out,
And nothing filled in overnight.
So we're gonna
Make headway today.
Narrator Dustin's invested
Every last cent in this season.
He needs to make a return.
Or they all go home
With nothing.
All right.
I'm really tired today.
I know I'm the youngest guy
Here, but I feel old right now.
Happen in your mid-40s,
At least, it did for me.
- He's becoming his father.
- No!
If you mean tired and beat up
After strenuous activities...
Whoo!
All right. Let's get to it.
So right here we've dug
This trench down,
And I think we're really
Close to hardpack right now.
Before they hit bedrock gold,
They'll encounter a layer.
Of compacted material
Known as hardpack.
Well, we know last year
We hit it about 12 feet.
Right there, around that area
Right there.
That's where we were
Last season.
Over thousands of years,
Pressure compresses
Sedimentary sand and gravel.
Into a rock layer
Called hardpack.
Sandwiched between the hardpack
And the bedrock.
Is the gold deposit that could
Make the dakota boys rich.
We're almost there.
I think another couple of feet.
We've got to figure out
How to get through it.
Maybe use a chipper
Or something,
And then right
Underneath it on the bedrock
I think there's gonna
Be a lot of gold.
We're going to find some gold.
A lot of it.
I hope you're right, man.
Ready?
Diving today... Rich webster...
Well, so far this morning
The conditions are really nice.
If I can stay warm,
It'll be good.
And paul richardson.
- Am I good to go?
- Yep, you're good to go.
Carlos All right, gentlemen.
You know the drill, As always.
Yeah.
Yeah!
Everything is going perfect
Right now.
Nobody's yelling at each other.
We're digging a hole together.
This is digging in perfect
Harmony, right here.
- Ready?
- Ready.
They're doing a good job!
You think you got down to it?
Look at that.
- Yeah!
- Right?
- Yeah.
- Yeah!
Yeah.
Carlos Dang right,
Paul. You're the freaking man.
Did you see it? Good job.
Hey, fred, we hit
That hardpack, man.
Sounds like that good stuff,
Man!
That's good! Finally!
It's been creeping in my dreams
For an entire year now.
I need to find out.
Where the gold's at
Below that hardpack.
We're right back on track.
We're down to that hardpack,
So now we've just got to be.
Within a couple of feet
Of being on bedrock.
We all know what's gonna be
Running down.
Right at the bottom of a glacier
In a nice little v-formation.
The heaviest stuff... gold.
From this day forward,
We should get really good gold.
There's just no excuse for it.
We're at least 12 feet deep
Right now.
That's a long way down.
I've had so many damn problems
That it has taken me.
A lot longer than
I thought it was gonna take.
But we're only halfway
Through the season,
And we're exactly
Where we ended last season.
So I need to find
A gold streak in here.
And follow it wherever the hell
It goes and line my pockets.
With that beautiful,
Beautiful, sweet gold.
I'm tired of letting
Mother nature win!
It's time to fight back!
Still ahead this season...
- Yeah!
- , that's beautiful.
That's where the gold is at.
That's where we're going next.
- Look out below!
- Landslide! Landslide!
Diver two, up! Get him up.
There's some perfect
Nuggets here.
Yeah!
My.
What is that!