Gold Rush: White Water (2018–…): Season 6, Episode 11 - 4-Ounce Nugget - full transcript
Well, here we go again.
Careful.
- Thanks you.
- You all right?
What the hell?
This is not good, we're
in the danger zone.
It's a landslide.
Holy crap, dude!
Look at that.
The realization of how
scary this creek actually is?
Anybody could've
been right there, man!
Yeah.
Holy, man, boulder.
We can't go this way!
Nah.
- We need to get out of here.
- - Yeah.
This is not a safe place.
Just starting.
Forget this, we need
to get the out of here.
Wes, we gotta go!
This whole mountain's
a slide right now.
This whole thing's going.
Water's definitely picking up.
She's angry today!
Can't get me!
It's impossible!
Mother nature gave us a
big box with a pink ribbon,
and the tag says, "For
miners, it's all up to you."
I want to go back
to actual gold mining.
We're gonna get done.
Damn it!
Throw the weight vest
on, throw the mask on,
and start sucking
up some of that gold.
If you stay with it,
this is what you're gonna find.
Got snow on the top of
the mountains last night.
Call that termination dust.
That's how it begins.
Freak me out, y'all.
At Nugget Creek...
How high do you think that was?
I think that peak
is, like, 6,000 feet.
The first signs
of winter looming.
At 6,000, you know
what that means?
Here it comes.
Dustin Hurthas invested
every penny to his name
on his new Nugget Creek claim
and has just weeks to dig
his way out from financial ruin.
I don't know if we
have enough time left.
We need to find gold, and
the only way you find gold
is if you're looking for it.
We're just moving rocks.
It's time to start dredging.
I don't want this to
be my last season.
Just over a week ago,
a 40-year storm
hit Nugget Creek.
This place is destroyed.
Everything we have is
underwater right now.
Get out! We gotta go!
The surgeredirected the creek,
exposing a large area of
prime real estate beneath
a 100,000-pound boulder.
Loving it.
And James proved there
is good gold to be found.
Are you kidding me?
Nice job!
James found some gold.
Everyone's always
said it's up here.
It's so hard to get
to, we know that now.
Just gotta keep working at this.
Now, they just need to clear
the rest of the overburden
down to the proven
gold-rich pay layer.
There's gotta be gold here.
Nobody's been here, I can tell.
All this stuff's locked up.
Hold on a minute.
I've got an idea.
This is what we do.
See that little
waterfall right there?
Get that water over here.
Hell yeah!
We've got a plan, we're
setting up ourdredge hose
to catch this water flow,
and we're just gonna kinda
concentrate the
gravel down a little bit.
Couldn't get these
big rocks to move.
Decided to dig
them out with water.
Calling it reverse dredging.
Dustin's plan,
use the dredge hoseto
harness the power of the creek
to break free the rocks
so they can rapidly clear
the worthless top eight feet.
Then flood the hole
so they can dredge
down to bedrock.
Normally, the hose we would use,
it's like a big vacuum, and we'll
suck up gold through the dredge.
What we're actually
trying to do right now
is just make some area
around these boulders
so we can pop them apart,
get them downstream,
and they're out of here.
Well, the reverse dredgingis
definitely digging a hole
faster than we could.
Look how weird that is on land.
I've done this 1,000
times underwater, man.
I've dug it, I've never really
got to see it sometimes.
It's just stuck.
Maybe we can get this one out.
Look at that!
The water's carved
a hole behind it.
This should fall now.
All right.
Wes, we got some
pulling to do over here.
Yeah!
Whoo-hoo!
We are kicking.
The faster we get
this done, the better.
Up creek, Kayla and her crew
are also in a race against time.
This is for the small dredge.
- I'll do that as diver one.
- Okay.
To get to bed rock
before the winter freeze,
Kayla will use two divers
to double their output.
Today we're gonna have
Scott and Justin in the water.
Hopefully they can
make a lot of progress.
We really need to see some gold,
and we need to see it soon.
Hey, how deep is it there?
Maybe three feet as
of yesterday afternoon.
I'm excited to be
dredging today.
The water looks really good.
I'll get to be
moving some rocks.
It's gonna be a good day.
I think it's time
to go full suit.
Throw the weight vest
on, throw the hood on,
throw the mask on, and get in.
And start sucking
up some of that gold.
You're gonna be on this side,
he's gonna be on the outer side.
So you want to go
ahead and go this way.
Definitely nice to be back in
the water and moving material.
Scott, look at this.
Two weeks ago... That's
clay, that'd lock in gold
like a vice, wouldn't it?
Kayla's crew were
inches from bedrock,
but the storm surge
filled their dive hole...
Tie off the dredge!
Trying!
Ain't showing any
kind of stopping,
and it's still racing.
Undoing months worth of work
in just hours.
Now Kayla will fight back
using two dredgesand two divers
to clear 10 feet of gravel
between them and the
gold nuggetson bedrock.
There's a lot of rocks,
they're wedged tight.
Can I use it to pry them open?
- Here you go.
- Yeah.
Thank you, Scott.
So now Paul's
working on the winch.
Hopefully we can get that going.
In the meantime,
I'm the only tender
for both people in
the water right now.
So I have to make
sure I'm paying attention.
One diver is usually tended
by a three person crew.
Kayla risks running vital
fuel, air, and hot water
for two divers on her own.
How you doing, Justin?
Lots of stuff going
in the nozzle.
Did something just
happen with my hot water?
What's up?
Something isn't right, I'm
getting cold water pumped in.
Cold water?
It went from warm
to cold really fast.
I thought I was
just getting flushed,
but I could feel it,
like, everywhere.
I smell burning exhaust hose.
Yeah, now I smell it, Paul.
This.
I'm calling it until
that thing's right.
I get bursts of hot water,
and last time I got
that, I almost got burned.
Something's wrong there.
- That's steam!
- Look at that!
A malfunction on
Scott's hot water system
could give him
third-degree burns.
That's so weird.
That is very weird.
I don't trust that.
There's something
clogging up the umbilical,
which is causing the water to
go back in through the system,
and since it's
recirculating itself,
it's overheating.
With having hot water issues,
someone could get
seriously injured or burned,
and I'm not gonna stand around
and watch that
happen on my watch.
Scott switches to
manhandling rocks
while diver, Justin,
soldiers on alone.
We're a man down now,
and it's kind of
my time to shine.
Today hopefully we might
be able to see some gold soon.
We're at a point in the
season where we can't quit,
we can't call it an
early day just because
one of the dredgeswasn't
working properly.
We still have to keep
going because if we don't,
we're not gonna make it
by the end of the season.
Hopefully we'll get
to bedrock really soon
and hopefully all this
effort isn't gonna be wasted,
and we're actually
gonna find gold.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
- Wait, wait.
- What? What? What?
What is that?
Did that look like gold to me.
I know, it looked like one.
Damn it!
Reverse dredginghas
helped Dustin
remove a ton of the material
blocking their path to bedrock.
So we open this up, and
we're getting to dredging, buddy.
I know.
Don't get got.
Watch your toes.
Whole pile's gonna come down.
Yeah, baby!
We found water!
Coming through.
Let's, see if we can
get rid of this rock
before this wall comes
down on us, all right?
It's gonna eat this
whole thing up, dude.
It's all gonna come down.
Whoo!
Break some, Carlos.
Don't be afraid of it.
What's the worst
that could happen?
Can't get me!
It's impossible!
Wow, that's gonna
flow out anytime too.
How about we take
control of the situation?
I think this is
useless right now.
Go open that up
and let nature do its thing
and see what happens.
Yeah, I agree
because that flow
is getting bigger,
and that's the last
thing anybody needs
to be down here
working and that goes...
All right.
Because you wouldn't
get out from underneath it.
Let's wreck some!
Yeah.
Dustin's new plan,
remove the rocks
next to big ass boulder
to redirect the creek
and use the force of the current
to clear out the
remaining overburden
so they can float the dredge
and suck up all the gold-rich
graveltowards bedrock.
We're just gonna
get loco with it,
put water up above
and just let it clear it out.
Just gotta go with
the flow, amigo.
What are we doing?
Gonna open that
up the best we can.
- Yeah!
- Nice!
Perfect.
Once that opens up,
it's gonna really
start moving on you.
- Yeah.
- Don't get caught.
Come on, it's about
to go underwater, so
keep it going.
Yeah.
That a boy.
Holy.
Hey!
You can do better than that.
Let it go.
It's picking up speed now.
There it goes!
Do your thing, baby.
There she blows.
That's what I'm
looking for right there.
We'll know in the morning
whether we did
the right thing or not.
There's no danger anymore, man.
- No.
- All we gotta do is just
- dredge.
- Love it.
Up ahead...
Water's definitely picking up.
- Yeah, quickly.
- Yeah, it is.
She's angry today!
Been raining all night, gonna
go check on the dredges.
Can't go this way!
This is not a safe place.
All right, Justin, I think
you should be clear.
High upNugget Creek,
That feels awesome.
Give it a second before
you suck anything else
'cause there's tons of
rocks coming through
- that were in the way.
- I just have it turned up and open. So...
Justinis diving solo
after the water system on
the second dredge failed.
Might check out some
more of those rocks.
No gold, no dinner.
Moving them by hand
only does so much.
We won't see
bedrock any time soon.
An operationalwinch system
is the only chance
that Kayla has
to see bedrock gold this season.
Is it just me, or
there's water in here?
Are you kidding me?
Got more rocks to move.
Feeling productive.
Hopefully we can get that going.
We really need that
winch working today
because there's a
lot of bigger rocks
in the bottom of the hole
that really need to be moved
to make more progress
as far as depth goes.
Once that winch is moving,
it'll be full speed ahead.
It's clicking,
but it ain't going.
Did you put the
brushes back in it?
No.
That might help.
Now we got the motor
back on the winch,
I think all we got left to do
is Scott's gotta put the little
brushes back in the motor.
Once he does that,
hopefully we get
a winch that'll work.
Alley-oop All you.
All right, here we go.
Yeah, we're back in business.
Justin, basket,
where do you want it?
Right here.
Now that we have that
winch working again,
we'll be able to move
rocks non-stop all day long
from here on out.
I'm so happy Paul
came through today
and was able to get that
winch motor swapped out.
We don't have a
working winch system,
might as well go home.
That was the victory
that we needed today.
Right now water's come
up a pretty good amount
since we've been here today.
Six hours into his dive...
It's about probably five foot.
Got some depth going.
A little bit, yeah.
Justin'sgot them two
feet closer to bedrock gold.
But the rain keeps coming,
and Nugget Creek keeps rising.
We'll go ahead and call it.
We gotta tidy this dredge up.
Okay.
After last week's super storm...
Pull it forward and
tie it up somewhere.
Kayla's crew takes no chances.
Justin, come here, pull on this.
Go for it.
Let's get that other dredge up.
- Ready?
- Yes.
Yeah.
She's angry today!
Both winches are wrapped.
Thank you.
Water's definitely picking up.
Yeah, quickly.
Yeah, it is.
I can barely hold
on going across.
She's coming, she's coming.
Watch your leg, Paul.
- Think we should be safe with that.
- - How does that look?
I feel much better now.
We got both dredges
up and out of harm's way.
We got the winches wrapped up,
we got the dredges up.
All we can do is
just hope for the best.
Hopefully, it doesn't
get too much worse.
It's been raining all night.
We gotta go check
on the dredges.
Careful, you all right?
- It's slippery.
- - Yeah, watch out for those roots.
Ooh.
Good thing we got
everything up here high.
Right?
Won't be walking up there.
Man!
There's a landslide.
Holy crap, dude!
What the hell?
This is not good, we're
in the danger zone.
Listen to that.
You hear it?
Hear the thunder?
You see it, right?
Yeah.
Damn, dude.
That could've happened
to anybody right there.
God, really?
Holy, dude.
Yeah, we don't want to
be down there anymore.
Anybody could've
been right there, man.
Yeah.
Whoa, whoa, watch out!
A year ago... Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Run, run, run!
- Get up here, guys! Get up here!
- Go!
A land slide at McKinley Creek
nearly killed the
minersand the film crew.
Now the rain-soaked
high walls of Nugget Creek
that turned their dive
site into a death trap.
We're not hanging out down here.
This is what I was
talking about right here.
- Yeah.
- This can happen...
- And trap us.
- Anywhere anytime here.
Holy.
The realization of how
scary this creek actually is?
Holy, man, boulders.
Holy.
I need to get out there.
It's still there.
That dredge is remarkably okay.
I kinda figured.
We need to take the high road.
He wants to go on the high road.
You can't go this way.
Nah.
We need to get
out of here.- Yeah.
This is nota safe place.
Get out.
Yeah, that's some serious.
Look at that just starting.
Wes, let's go man!
Yeah, dude, forget this.
I know, we gotta go, dude!
Yeah, we need
to get out of here.
There's a waterfall starting
on the other side even,
this is crazy.
This wholemountain'sa
slide right now.
Yeah. This whole
mountain can go, dude.
Yeah.
Would've been better
taking the freaking low road.
Careful.
Somebody could've
been on top of this
or somebody could've
been in the bottom of this.
This whole thing's going.
Is getting serious.
Careful, Wes.
That going.
Dude.
My gosh. That's insane, right?
Ain't it supposed
to rain all night?
- Yep.
- Man.
Bye-bye, campsite.
They're expecting this rain
to continue for a couple days.
So I assume the,
dive site that we have
is not gonna be recognizable
by the time we get back.
I think all the walls are
gonna start to slip off,
and, we're not gonna be
there when the walls slip.
When the saturation
goes down, we can return,
but until then
we're just in a holding
pattern right now because
not gonna risk the
life of my people.
That high road is
completely gone,
slid off at one place.
It was a death zone.
I don't want to
lay down the law,
but I don't want anybody
out there anymore.
You're gonna die.
Well, we got our stuff
pretty much locked down.
We got both the dredges
pulled up and out of the water.
Both the winches are tied up.
Um, so I mean, it's
as best as we can do.
This has been the hardest
season I've ever had, man.
I agree with you.
I can't believe what's
happening here.
It's like the gold gods
don't want us here.
It. Let's get out of here.
If Dustin says that we
need to get out of here
before things get bad,
we need to go now.
The crew has only just recovered
from the last big storm.
Now once again, they're
forced to escape to town
down the raging Tsirku River.
We're gonna hop on the air boat,
and we're gonna
try to get out of here
before the Tsirku river
comes up any more.
We get stranded out here,
no telling how long
we'll be stranded out here
with no supplies or anything.
Well, that stuff's moving?
Y'all see this?
The weather is the
worst I've ever seen.
It is flooding, landslides...
Everything's dangerous
that's going on out here.
It's time to go.
Everybody on.
Everybody got their stuff?
Let's go!
- Whoo!
- , yeah.
Nugget Creek is not
like McKinley Creek.
We get floods, but
it's nothing like this.
We've been out here
working for three months,
and still no gold.
After risking his life
and all his savings
on Nugget Creek,
Dustin is in desperate
need of answers.
I thought I'd come talk
to the previous owner.
He knows a lot about this place.
He's owned it for
a very long time
before I got a hold of it.
I need to know
what I'm looking for,
what it's supposed to look like.
See if he's got any information
and pick his brain and find out.
Maybe he can help me.
- Hey.
- Hey, Al. How's it going?
Yeah, about time. How's
the weather treating you, bud?
Awful.
Nugget Creek is not the place
I would wanna be right now.
For nearly half a century,
Al Gilliam has bravedthe
treacherous and deadly terrain
of the Chilkat Mountains.
After working as a
logger, prospector,
and professional hunting guide,
his knowledge of the
area is second to none.
The weather's beating me.
You could not have picked
a worse year to start up here.
That's what I hear.
This has been an
obscenely wet year.
It's the wettest I've seen.
How long have you been here?
I got here in spring of '76.
I've never seen
anything like this.
- In 46 years?
- No.
This is a lot of water.
I just really wanted
you guys to see
some of those big
nuggets up there this year.
I really want to
see them too, man.
Tell me, is the job gonna
be bigger than you are,
or are you gonna be
able to stay with it?
I'm... Strangely
enough, I'm hard to kill.
We got these holes
dug down right now
and just non-stop rain,
and there's nothing
I can do about it.
Destroy some of my stuff,
and I would rebuild that
and get set up again, and
by the time we're re-set-up,
it literally floods
the next day.
Well, the Old Timers, they
mined up down from below.
Don't expect to find gold
until you get down to bedrock.
- Okay.
- And when you get close to bedrock,
you're gonna find a layer.
It's usually anywhere
from that deep to that thick,
and it's just all rusted,
reddish-colored,
and it's all bound
together tight.
It actually looks
like the false bottom,
and the big nuggets are
gonna be on the bottom.
If you stay with it
this is what you're gonna find.
That weighs slightly
over four ounces.
There you are. It's
very, very good gold.
- That's awesome.
- Yeah.
Well, I'm still looking for it.
Well, it sounds to me
like if anybody's gonna make
it up there, you're going to.
The gold is there.
Best of luck to you.
Stay safe. Stay alive.
- Well, thanks for all the info.
- All right. Bye-bye.
I just hada good meeting.
Al just informed me that there's
a rust layer of false bedrock.
We haven't found that yet,
so that's probably why
we're not finding nuggets.
That's where all
the big gold is.
Gotta get out of here.
Now it's time to get to work.
The storm clouds
finally retreating...
Once again, Dustin and the crews
head back to survey the damage.
All right, let's get in
sight, see what we got.
Anybody taking bets on whether
the dredge is still there, though?
Don't go through there fast.
Landslide.
That's a lot of.
I would have
never expected this.
I figured these
walkways were safe.
Dang.
Well, you would not wanna be
walking on that when it let go.
Where did all these
big rocks come from?
- I know, they're everywhere.
- - Wow.
At Kayla's, her
crew get a first look
at the havoc Mother
Nature has wreaked.
Wow.
Holy.
It looks completely different.
We gotta start
completely over again.
We need to definitely
start moving some rocks,
'cause we have nowhere
to put the dredge.
Unbelievable.
I think that was the best
plan we could have ever done,
was prepared and get our
dredges up on dry ground,
because now, we still got two
dredges to go back into the water with.
You know, we live to
dredge another day.
Both dredgesand
winch systems survived.
But the raging river has
ripped through their dive hole
filling it with huge rocks
and smashing apart
their downstream dam.
This is the third
or fourth time now
that we're starting
over from scratch.
And it's really frustrating,
but I think we've got it
down to a system now.
We're really fast
at recuperating.
I wanna go back to actual gold
mining when I find actual gold.
That's what I wanna do.
Today, we're gonna get done.
So, this is where I
was dredging last week,
and it was roughly
just height of me.
And now, it's maybe a foot.
We've got all these large
rocks that have washed out,
either came from up high
or just cleaned out from
the kitty litter and stuff,
but it's a drastic
change to the place.
To get the dredgesback
in safe harbor,
the dam needs to be rebuilt
to raise the water.
We need to focus
on the back here,
'cause this is where
the dredges need to float.
The rest of it,
we could do later.
This will raise
the water level up.
I'm so glad our
winchesare still working.
Fast way to move a lot
of rock and pretty quickly.
Now only are we getting
rocks out of our way,
but as we build the dam
up, it's raising our water level.
So if we get the water level where
we can actually float the two dredges,
then it's back to getting those in and
seeing if we can get a diver in the water.
The winch is doing their job.
We've got some...
We've got some big
rocks here moved.
The dam's coming along
for the third time.
Maybe it's a charm.
Still a lot of work to do, so...
Hopefully, that means
good going forward.
This season, storms
have continued
to hit Nugget Creekin
quick succession.
Kayla must race to rebuild
and dredge to bedrock
before the next one strikes.
We're making pretty
good progress today.
We're getting our dam rebuilt.
We've moved a
lot of rock already.
Trying to get these last
ones moved real quick.
That's a beast of a rock.
, yeah.
Get Paul and I in the water
and move a lot of material.
Hopefully, we can make
some really good progress,
hit bedrock soon.
Yeah, yeah.
There you go.
My.
Couple of landslides came down.
Down creek, Dustin Hurt
prepares for the worst.
Watch out, it's gonna tilt.
Look at this.
- Holy crap, dude.
- Holy crap.
Holy crap.
- Wow.
- Wow.
After being hit by the second
storm in as many weeks,
Dustin Hurt assessesthe damage.
My, look up there.
Look underneath them gold gates.
Holy smokes.
- Holy.
- We got bedrocks right here, guys.
Hey, Dustin, come look at this.
The previous stormdiverted
the creek to the far side,
leaving the near side dry.
- My, look at this.
- It's amazing.
This time, the storm surge
crestedover Big Ass Boulder,
and cleared away eight
feet of rocks and gravel
from under Nugget
Creek'sbest gold trap.
- Has anybody been underneath that rock?
- I doubt it.
Hey, Dustin, what do
you think? Dredge here?
This is perfect for
the end of a season.
This is perfect.
So you're gonna dredge
underneath that giant rock?
Along with those
other rocks in there?
What happens when you dredge
underneath those other rocks?
Next year, this is gonna
be filled back in, man.
It'll be filled in, yeah.
This is the perfect time.
Did this set us up or what?
The wheels a returning in
Dustin's head for what to do.
Mother Nature freaking gave
us a big box with a pink ribbon,
and a tag says, "For
miners, it's all up to you.
It's all yours,
amigos. All yours."
The water did exactly
what I wanted it to do.
But it exposed a little bit
more than I thought it would.
What these guys wanna do is go underneath
this big, giant boulder right here.
And I'll admit, I
want to as well.
If we're gonna dig
underneath a gigantic boulder,
there's gonna be
some huge risk involved.
If we go down here
there's less danger, but
less chance of big gold.
Bigger chance of
bigger gold up here,
but higher danger.
What do you do?
Decision time.
Dustin's plan was always
to start with the safer ground
20 feet downstream
and work his way up
towards the 50-ton boulder.
This is one big
sluice box right here.
It's a no-brainer.
Just the bedrock and
follow the bedrock down.
That could be the payday
we've been looking for forever,
and Mother Nature
set us up for it.
All right.
You talked me into it.
Yeah?
We're gonna give it a go.
- I'm excited about this!
- I know, me too.
All right, you got me convinced.
I think we should bury this up,
make a little wall right there.
- We'll put the dredge in the water.
- Yep.
Start her up.
Start dredging here
and straight into there.
Dustin now plans to
mine directly beneath
what the miners have
dubbed "Big Ass Boulder."
First, he'll build
a damwith rocks,
then flood the area so
he can float a dredge.
The diver can then
get beneath the boulder
and dredge down to bedrock
and a season-saving payday.
- All right, Carlos.
- Yes, sir.
Make me a wall right here.
Wall right here, I got it.
Originally, we were
gonna dig right here.
Now, this is where we're
gonna set the dredge
and dig up there.
This is our last effort.
If there's no gold right here, we're
not gonna get any gold this season.
We're putting all of our
eggs in one basket right now.
It better be a damn good basket.
- We need to get these dredges floating.
- - All right.
And then once we get those in,
- I'll change into my suit.
- All right.
The downstreamdam repaired.
Kayla's crew have raised
the water levels high enough
to get their
dredgesback in the creek.
I'm gonna get in the water,
starting up by the bedrock wall.
Then Paul's gonna
get in the water as well.
That way, we can both be
in, moving lots of material
and hopefully make
lots of progress.
Let's go.
So far, so good.
Got two dredges floating again.
Nice to see two dredges
back in the water.
We just gotta get set up
quickly and get the divers in
so we can maybe see
a little color, little gold.
I'd like to see some eventually.
Current is strong.
That should be good.
- Right there?
- Yeah.
So where are we at now?
I think we're just about
ready to fire all the dredges up.
Last dive, the heating system on
one of the dredges malfunctioned.
To make sure nobody gets burned,
they need to test their repair.
So, I just swapped the fittings.
I put the intake on the
front, the outtake on the back.
It seems to be going
pretty good now. Yep.
Try to get it in, see
if we can get some
more rock and
boulders out of our way.
See if we can get
some depth going
so we can actually do
some good dredging.
Before this storm
set Kayla's crew back,
they were five feet down,
halfway to bedrock gold.
Starting a new
haul always sucks.
It does.
We were pulling the
first basket of rocks.
Damn it! I'm done.
On Nugget Creek...
That water took out
a lot of stuff for us.
Yeah, it did.
Gold fever has set in.
This is how deep
the material was.
You could see the
water level right here,
'cause the moss
stops right there.
And then you can see it
underneath that big boulder.
The moss level stops there.
That is gonna have gold, dude.
Yeah, it is. There
is no way it's not.
This particular creek
is known for large gold.
Because it's such
a steep terrain,
we know there's huge nuggets,
so that's what we're
after at this site right here.
This is where we get gold.
Starting a new
haul always sucks.
It does.
We're pulling the
first batch of the rocks.
Damn it! I'm done.
Line broke.
It's not a good thing.
Hell did you do
to break the rope?
That rope shouldn't break.
At Kayla's, a broken winch
rope could set them back hours.
It just needs a
regular figure eight.
- You wanna go fix it?
- I'm gonna have to.
Slip that through there.
We good? Okay.
Hopefully, hopefully,
this is the last of it.
Hopefully, this just
works from here.
Got it!
We got the winch
lines working again.
We'll live to dredgeanother day.
All right, crank it up!
If we have any hope
of hitting bedrock at all
and actually getting some gold,
we don't need any more hang-ups.
We don't need any more setbacks.
We gotta have everything
working every day.
But you know what?
This winch line will
get us to bedrock.
This winch line
will get us to gold.
That's a decent-size rock.
Current's definitely
picked up on us.
It has.
Yeah, you're laying down
there getting a massage
from that current.
The current is that strong.
It's starting to get deep.
We got some depth going.
After four hours
battling the current...
- I'm done.
- Me too.
Paul calls it.
Today went good.
We got one nice
hole going right now.
We're probably five feet deep.
So we're right back to where
we were at before the flood.
I don't expect to see
any gold right now.
This is the first day
starting a new haul.
But it never hurts to check.
Nothing.
Hopefully, within
the next couple days,
we can hit some bedrock
and see a lot of gold.
James got her going
good right there. Holy.
That looks nice.
- I think the dredge should go in.
- Let's do it.
Withtheir dam complete...
It's time to put the dredge in.
Float the boat!
Dustin is one step closer to
getting a diver back in the water.
All right, tie off the pulley
to where it's up high.
I gotcha.
And you're gonna drag
the forward momentum.
So yeah, as soon as
he lets us get slack there,
- we'll pull this off and put it over here.
- Please.
It's a 20-foot haulto get
the dredge to the pool.
All right, is that enough?
One winch?
Let's see if we can get a
little forward momentum.
There it goes.
Yeah.
- Whoo-hoo! It's working.
- I know.
- That'll work.
- Just keep going. Hold on, hold on.
Let me get ahead.
Now we're gonna just
ease it into our freaking pool.
Hold up!
- Boo.
- That sucks. It's dragging that rock.
Now would be the
time to use the skyline.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Disconnect, go hook it back
up, bring me a headache ball.
Right now, we're
trying to drag rocks.
We don't want it to do that, 'cause
we'll disturb the wheel we just made.
So I think we can pick the
other side of the dredge up,
get it level and just kinda just
snake it right in there real easy-like.
She's gonna move,
like, really move, so...
James, I need you to
come along just in case.
- Right.
- Perfect.
It's perfect, man.
Go upstream a little bit more.
It's perfect!
All stop.
James, disconnect.
We got it!
You gotta go upstream.
- Yes!
- Let it down.
That'll do it.
Just barely long
enough though, man.
What do you mean? It's perfect.
Well, we didn't get
much play room.
Holy cow.
Dredge is in the water, Carlos!
Dredge is back in the water.
The dredge is in and,
it's a little tight there.
But it's working.
Now it's time to start it up
and see what's in this rock.
Well, if there's no gold there,
this is our last season here.
These are decisions that echo
through everybody's lives here.
I make the wrong decision
everybody goes home broke.
- Come on! Let's go.
- Fire it up.
James, get in the dredge, man!
This is where we get going, bro.
This is where we get going.
Come on, baby.
Gotta get the flap
completely underwater.
There's a hole right there.
That's what you're
doing. It's right there.
Damn it.
God!
Man handling the
hose has caused a crack
right beside the dredge nozzle.
- Argh!
- Hey, Wes! Where's that cellophane at?
I ran out of tape, so what we
have is this stretchy wrap stuff.
And if I can't seal off this hose,
it's probably gonna suck it right in.
But I don't have anything
else, so we're gonna try it.
There you go.
Nozzle up.
This is a first, man.
- That is a first.
- Holy crap.
We're desperate
to get a hold of...
Well, let's see if
that works, man.
Yeah, see if it works.
There it is! We got it!
Man.
- Seriously?
- We got it!
- We're dredging!
- The cellophane worked.
Try to get this over here, too.
I can't believe that worked.
I'm pretty happy with the
way everything got set up now.
Got the dredge
back in the water,
got enough boulders moved,
got enough water flow
to make our dredge work.
Game on, now.
I couldn't be happier.
It's a weird way,
what we're doing.
I didn't expect this
to happen this way.
But underneath this
big, giant boulder,
I got a feeling that
there's a lot of gold
and this could change our lives.
On the next Gold Rush:
White Water..., let's go!
Scott, I have to have
you communicate.
We aren't quitters.
We're not gonna give up.
Hopefully, we see
some really good gold.
We're not gonna have
a hole again in a minute.
We can't catch a freaking break!
Why can't we dredge
in the Bahamas?
Somewhere nice and warm.
I am tired of your attitude.
I work my into the dirt for her,
- Is she firing me? Yep.
- She said that?
We need to regroup, 'cause we're
on a steady path to destruction here.
Whoa!
When the water bleeds,
you are so close to gold.
I'm excited that you're diving.
I'm more excited that I
think you're gonna get gold.
Careful.
- Thanks you.
- You all right?
What the hell?
This is not good, we're
in the danger zone.
It's a landslide.
Holy crap, dude!
Look at that.
The realization of how
scary this creek actually is?
Anybody could've
been right there, man!
Yeah.
Holy, man, boulder.
We can't go this way!
Nah.
- We need to get out of here.
- - Yeah.
This is not a safe place.
Just starting.
Forget this, we need
to get the out of here.
Wes, we gotta go!
This whole mountain's
a slide right now.
This whole thing's going.
Water's definitely picking up.
She's angry today!
Can't get me!
It's impossible!
Mother nature gave us a
big box with a pink ribbon,
and the tag says, "For
miners, it's all up to you."
I want to go back
to actual gold mining.
We're gonna get done.
Damn it!
Throw the weight vest
on, throw the mask on,
and start sucking
up some of that gold.
If you stay with it,
this is what you're gonna find.
Got snow on the top of
the mountains last night.
Call that termination dust.
That's how it begins.
Freak me out, y'all.
At Nugget Creek...
How high do you think that was?
I think that peak
is, like, 6,000 feet.
The first signs
of winter looming.
At 6,000, you know
what that means?
Here it comes.
Dustin Hurthas invested
every penny to his name
on his new Nugget Creek claim
and has just weeks to dig
his way out from financial ruin.
I don't know if we
have enough time left.
We need to find gold, and
the only way you find gold
is if you're looking for it.
We're just moving rocks.
It's time to start dredging.
I don't want this to
be my last season.
Just over a week ago,
a 40-year storm
hit Nugget Creek.
This place is destroyed.
Everything we have is
underwater right now.
Get out! We gotta go!
The surgeredirected the creek,
exposing a large area of
prime real estate beneath
a 100,000-pound boulder.
Loving it.
And James proved there
is good gold to be found.
Are you kidding me?
Nice job!
James found some gold.
Everyone's always
said it's up here.
It's so hard to get
to, we know that now.
Just gotta keep working at this.
Now, they just need to clear
the rest of the overburden
down to the proven
gold-rich pay layer.
There's gotta be gold here.
Nobody's been here, I can tell.
All this stuff's locked up.
Hold on a minute.
I've got an idea.
This is what we do.
See that little
waterfall right there?
Get that water over here.
Hell yeah!
We've got a plan, we're
setting up ourdredge hose
to catch this water flow,
and we're just gonna kinda
concentrate the
gravel down a little bit.
Couldn't get these
big rocks to move.
Decided to dig
them out with water.
Calling it reverse dredging.
Dustin's plan,
use the dredge hoseto
harness the power of the creek
to break free the rocks
so they can rapidly clear
the worthless top eight feet.
Then flood the hole
so they can dredge
down to bedrock.
Normally, the hose we would use,
it's like a big vacuum, and we'll
suck up gold through the dredge.
What we're actually
trying to do right now
is just make some area
around these boulders
so we can pop them apart,
get them downstream,
and they're out of here.
Well, the reverse dredgingis
definitely digging a hole
faster than we could.
Look how weird that is on land.
I've done this 1,000
times underwater, man.
I've dug it, I've never really
got to see it sometimes.
It's just stuck.
Maybe we can get this one out.
Look at that!
The water's carved
a hole behind it.
This should fall now.
All right.
Wes, we got some
pulling to do over here.
Yeah!
Whoo-hoo!
We are kicking.
The faster we get
this done, the better.
Up creek, Kayla and her crew
are also in a race against time.
This is for the small dredge.
- I'll do that as diver one.
- Okay.
To get to bed rock
before the winter freeze,
Kayla will use two divers
to double their output.
Today we're gonna have
Scott and Justin in the water.
Hopefully they can
make a lot of progress.
We really need to see some gold,
and we need to see it soon.
Hey, how deep is it there?
Maybe three feet as
of yesterday afternoon.
I'm excited to be
dredging today.
The water looks really good.
I'll get to be
moving some rocks.
It's gonna be a good day.
I think it's time
to go full suit.
Throw the weight vest
on, throw the hood on,
throw the mask on, and get in.
And start sucking
up some of that gold.
You're gonna be on this side,
he's gonna be on the outer side.
So you want to go
ahead and go this way.
Definitely nice to be back in
the water and moving material.
Scott, look at this.
Two weeks ago... That's
clay, that'd lock in gold
like a vice, wouldn't it?
Kayla's crew were
inches from bedrock,
but the storm surge
filled their dive hole...
Tie off the dredge!
Trying!
Ain't showing any
kind of stopping,
and it's still racing.
Undoing months worth of work
in just hours.
Now Kayla will fight back
using two dredgesand two divers
to clear 10 feet of gravel
between them and the
gold nuggetson bedrock.
There's a lot of rocks,
they're wedged tight.
Can I use it to pry them open?
- Here you go.
- Yeah.
Thank you, Scott.
So now Paul's
working on the winch.
Hopefully we can get that going.
In the meantime,
I'm the only tender
for both people in
the water right now.
So I have to make
sure I'm paying attention.
One diver is usually tended
by a three person crew.
Kayla risks running vital
fuel, air, and hot water
for two divers on her own.
How you doing, Justin?
Lots of stuff going
in the nozzle.
Did something just
happen with my hot water?
What's up?
Something isn't right, I'm
getting cold water pumped in.
Cold water?
It went from warm
to cold really fast.
I thought I was
just getting flushed,
but I could feel it,
like, everywhere.
I smell burning exhaust hose.
Yeah, now I smell it, Paul.
This.
I'm calling it until
that thing's right.
I get bursts of hot water,
and last time I got
that, I almost got burned.
Something's wrong there.
- That's steam!
- Look at that!
A malfunction on
Scott's hot water system
could give him
third-degree burns.
That's so weird.
That is very weird.
I don't trust that.
There's something
clogging up the umbilical,
which is causing the water to
go back in through the system,
and since it's
recirculating itself,
it's overheating.
With having hot water issues,
someone could get
seriously injured or burned,
and I'm not gonna stand around
and watch that
happen on my watch.
Scott switches to
manhandling rocks
while diver, Justin,
soldiers on alone.
We're a man down now,
and it's kind of
my time to shine.
Today hopefully we might
be able to see some gold soon.
We're at a point in the
season where we can't quit,
we can't call it an
early day just because
one of the dredgeswasn't
working properly.
We still have to keep
going because if we don't,
we're not gonna make it
by the end of the season.
Hopefully we'll get
to bedrock really soon
and hopefully all this
effort isn't gonna be wasted,
and we're actually
gonna find gold.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
- Wait, wait.
- What? What? What?
What is that?
Did that look like gold to me.
I know, it looked like one.
Damn it!
Reverse dredginghas
helped Dustin
remove a ton of the material
blocking their path to bedrock.
So we open this up, and
we're getting to dredging, buddy.
I know.
Don't get got.
Watch your toes.
Whole pile's gonna come down.
Yeah, baby!
We found water!
Coming through.
Let's, see if we can
get rid of this rock
before this wall comes
down on us, all right?
It's gonna eat this
whole thing up, dude.
It's all gonna come down.
Whoo!
Break some, Carlos.
Don't be afraid of it.
What's the worst
that could happen?
Can't get me!
It's impossible!
Wow, that's gonna
flow out anytime too.
How about we take
control of the situation?
I think this is
useless right now.
Go open that up
and let nature do its thing
and see what happens.
Yeah, I agree
because that flow
is getting bigger,
and that's the last
thing anybody needs
to be down here
working and that goes...
All right.
Because you wouldn't
get out from underneath it.
Let's wreck some!
Yeah.
Dustin's new plan,
remove the rocks
next to big ass boulder
to redirect the creek
and use the force of the current
to clear out the
remaining overburden
so they can float the dredge
and suck up all the gold-rich
graveltowards bedrock.
We're just gonna
get loco with it,
put water up above
and just let it clear it out.
Just gotta go with
the flow, amigo.
What are we doing?
Gonna open that
up the best we can.
- Yeah!
- Nice!
Perfect.
Once that opens up,
it's gonna really
start moving on you.
- Yeah.
- Don't get caught.
Come on, it's about
to go underwater, so
keep it going.
Yeah.
That a boy.
Holy.
Hey!
You can do better than that.
Let it go.
It's picking up speed now.
There it goes!
Do your thing, baby.
There she blows.
That's what I'm
looking for right there.
We'll know in the morning
whether we did
the right thing or not.
There's no danger anymore, man.
- No.
- All we gotta do is just
- dredge.
- Love it.
Up ahead...
Water's definitely picking up.
- Yeah, quickly.
- Yeah, it is.
She's angry today!
Been raining all night, gonna
go check on the dredges.
Can't go this way!
This is not a safe place.
All right, Justin, I think
you should be clear.
High upNugget Creek,
That feels awesome.
Give it a second before
you suck anything else
'cause there's tons of
rocks coming through
- that were in the way.
- I just have it turned up and open. So...
Justinis diving solo
after the water system on
the second dredge failed.
Might check out some
more of those rocks.
No gold, no dinner.
Moving them by hand
only does so much.
We won't see
bedrock any time soon.
An operationalwinch system
is the only chance
that Kayla has
to see bedrock gold this season.
Is it just me, or
there's water in here?
Are you kidding me?
Got more rocks to move.
Feeling productive.
Hopefully we can get that going.
We really need that
winch working today
because there's a
lot of bigger rocks
in the bottom of the hole
that really need to be moved
to make more progress
as far as depth goes.
Once that winch is moving,
it'll be full speed ahead.
It's clicking,
but it ain't going.
Did you put the
brushes back in it?
No.
That might help.
Now we got the motor
back on the winch,
I think all we got left to do
is Scott's gotta put the little
brushes back in the motor.
Once he does that,
hopefully we get
a winch that'll work.
Alley-oop All you.
All right, here we go.
Yeah, we're back in business.
Justin, basket,
where do you want it?
Right here.
Now that we have that
winch working again,
we'll be able to move
rocks non-stop all day long
from here on out.
I'm so happy Paul
came through today
and was able to get that
winch motor swapped out.
We don't have a
working winch system,
might as well go home.
That was the victory
that we needed today.
Right now water's come
up a pretty good amount
since we've been here today.
Six hours into his dive...
It's about probably five foot.
Got some depth going.
A little bit, yeah.
Justin'sgot them two
feet closer to bedrock gold.
But the rain keeps coming,
and Nugget Creek keeps rising.
We'll go ahead and call it.
We gotta tidy this dredge up.
Okay.
After last week's super storm...
Pull it forward and
tie it up somewhere.
Kayla's crew takes no chances.
Justin, come here, pull on this.
Go for it.
Let's get that other dredge up.
- Ready?
- Yes.
Yeah.
She's angry today!
Both winches are wrapped.
Thank you.
Water's definitely picking up.
Yeah, quickly.
Yeah, it is.
I can barely hold
on going across.
She's coming, she's coming.
Watch your leg, Paul.
- Think we should be safe with that.
- - How does that look?
I feel much better now.
We got both dredges
up and out of harm's way.
We got the winches wrapped up,
we got the dredges up.
All we can do is
just hope for the best.
Hopefully, it doesn't
get too much worse.
It's been raining all night.
We gotta go check
on the dredges.
Careful, you all right?
- It's slippery.
- - Yeah, watch out for those roots.
Ooh.
Good thing we got
everything up here high.
Right?
Won't be walking up there.
Man!
There's a landslide.
Holy crap, dude!
What the hell?
This is not good, we're
in the danger zone.
Listen to that.
You hear it?
Hear the thunder?
You see it, right?
Yeah.
Damn, dude.
That could've happened
to anybody right there.
God, really?
Holy, dude.
Yeah, we don't want to
be down there anymore.
Anybody could've
been right there, man.
Yeah.
Whoa, whoa, watch out!
A year ago... Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Run, run, run!
- Get up here, guys! Get up here!
- Go!
A land slide at McKinley Creek
nearly killed the
minersand the film crew.
Now the rain-soaked
high walls of Nugget Creek
that turned their dive
site into a death trap.
We're not hanging out down here.
This is what I was
talking about right here.
- Yeah.
- This can happen...
- And trap us.
- Anywhere anytime here.
Holy.
The realization of how
scary this creek actually is?
Holy, man, boulders.
Holy.
I need to get out there.
It's still there.
That dredge is remarkably okay.
I kinda figured.
We need to take the high road.
He wants to go on the high road.
You can't go this way.
Nah.
We need to get
out of here.- Yeah.
This is nota safe place.
Get out.
Yeah, that's some serious.
Look at that just starting.
Wes, let's go man!
Yeah, dude, forget this.
I know, we gotta go, dude!
Yeah, we need
to get out of here.
There's a waterfall starting
on the other side even,
this is crazy.
This wholemountain'sa
slide right now.
Yeah. This whole
mountain can go, dude.
Yeah.
Would've been better
taking the freaking low road.
Careful.
Somebody could've
been on top of this
or somebody could've
been in the bottom of this.
This whole thing's going.
Is getting serious.
Careful, Wes.
That going.
Dude.
My gosh. That's insane, right?
Ain't it supposed
to rain all night?
- Yep.
- Man.
Bye-bye, campsite.
They're expecting this rain
to continue for a couple days.
So I assume the,
dive site that we have
is not gonna be recognizable
by the time we get back.
I think all the walls are
gonna start to slip off,
and, we're not gonna be
there when the walls slip.
When the saturation
goes down, we can return,
but until then
we're just in a holding
pattern right now because
not gonna risk the
life of my people.
That high road is
completely gone,
slid off at one place.
It was a death zone.
I don't want to
lay down the law,
but I don't want anybody
out there anymore.
You're gonna die.
Well, we got our stuff
pretty much locked down.
We got both the dredges
pulled up and out of the water.
Both the winches are tied up.
Um, so I mean, it's
as best as we can do.
This has been the hardest
season I've ever had, man.
I agree with you.
I can't believe what's
happening here.
It's like the gold gods
don't want us here.
It. Let's get out of here.
If Dustin says that we
need to get out of here
before things get bad,
we need to go now.
The crew has only just recovered
from the last big storm.
Now once again, they're
forced to escape to town
down the raging Tsirku River.
We're gonna hop on the air boat,
and we're gonna
try to get out of here
before the Tsirku river
comes up any more.
We get stranded out here,
no telling how long
we'll be stranded out here
with no supplies or anything.
Well, that stuff's moving?
Y'all see this?
The weather is the
worst I've ever seen.
It is flooding, landslides...
Everything's dangerous
that's going on out here.
It's time to go.
Everybody on.
Everybody got their stuff?
Let's go!
- Whoo!
- , yeah.
Nugget Creek is not
like McKinley Creek.
We get floods, but
it's nothing like this.
We've been out here
working for three months,
and still no gold.
After risking his life
and all his savings
on Nugget Creek,
Dustin is in desperate
need of answers.
I thought I'd come talk
to the previous owner.
He knows a lot about this place.
He's owned it for
a very long time
before I got a hold of it.
I need to know
what I'm looking for,
what it's supposed to look like.
See if he's got any information
and pick his brain and find out.
Maybe he can help me.
- Hey.
- Hey, Al. How's it going?
Yeah, about time. How's
the weather treating you, bud?
Awful.
Nugget Creek is not the place
I would wanna be right now.
For nearly half a century,
Al Gilliam has bravedthe
treacherous and deadly terrain
of the Chilkat Mountains.
After working as a
logger, prospector,
and professional hunting guide,
his knowledge of the
area is second to none.
The weather's beating me.
You could not have picked
a worse year to start up here.
That's what I hear.
This has been an
obscenely wet year.
It's the wettest I've seen.
How long have you been here?
I got here in spring of '76.
I've never seen
anything like this.
- In 46 years?
- No.
This is a lot of water.
I just really wanted
you guys to see
some of those big
nuggets up there this year.
I really want to
see them too, man.
Tell me, is the job gonna
be bigger than you are,
or are you gonna be
able to stay with it?
I'm... Strangely
enough, I'm hard to kill.
We got these holes
dug down right now
and just non-stop rain,
and there's nothing
I can do about it.
Destroy some of my stuff,
and I would rebuild that
and get set up again, and
by the time we're re-set-up,
it literally floods
the next day.
Well, the Old Timers, they
mined up down from below.
Don't expect to find gold
until you get down to bedrock.
- Okay.
- And when you get close to bedrock,
you're gonna find a layer.
It's usually anywhere
from that deep to that thick,
and it's just all rusted,
reddish-colored,
and it's all bound
together tight.
It actually looks
like the false bottom,
and the big nuggets are
gonna be on the bottom.
If you stay with it
this is what you're gonna find.
That weighs slightly
over four ounces.
There you are. It's
very, very good gold.
- That's awesome.
- Yeah.
Well, I'm still looking for it.
Well, it sounds to me
like if anybody's gonna make
it up there, you're going to.
The gold is there.
Best of luck to you.
Stay safe. Stay alive.
- Well, thanks for all the info.
- All right. Bye-bye.
I just hada good meeting.
Al just informed me that there's
a rust layer of false bedrock.
We haven't found that yet,
so that's probably why
we're not finding nuggets.
That's where all
the big gold is.
Gotta get out of here.
Now it's time to get to work.
The storm clouds
finally retreating...
Once again, Dustin and the crews
head back to survey the damage.
All right, let's get in
sight, see what we got.
Anybody taking bets on whether
the dredge is still there, though?
Don't go through there fast.
Landslide.
That's a lot of.
I would have
never expected this.
I figured these
walkways were safe.
Dang.
Well, you would not wanna be
walking on that when it let go.
Where did all these
big rocks come from?
- I know, they're everywhere.
- - Wow.
At Kayla's, her
crew get a first look
at the havoc Mother
Nature has wreaked.
Wow.
Holy.
It looks completely different.
We gotta start
completely over again.
We need to definitely
start moving some rocks,
'cause we have nowhere
to put the dredge.
Unbelievable.
I think that was the best
plan we could have ever done,
was prepared and get our
dredges up on dry ground,
because now, we still got two
dredges to go back into the water with.
You know, we live to
dredge another day.
Both dredgesand
winch systems survived.
But the raging river has
ripped through their dive hole
filling it with huge rocks
and smashing apart
their downstream dam.
This is the third
or fourth time now
that we're starting
over from scratch.
And it's really frustrating,
but I think we've got it
down to a system now.
We're really fast
at recuperating.
I wanna go back to actual gold
mining when I find actual gold.
That's what I wanna do.
Today, we're gonna get done.
So, this is where I
was dredging last week,
and it was roughly
just height of me.
And now, it's maybe a foot.
We've got all these large
rocks that have washed out,
either came from up high
or just cleaned out from
the kitty litter and stuff,
but it's a drastic
change to the place.
To get the dredgesback
in safe harbor,
the dam needs to be rebuilt
to raise the water.
We need to focus
on the back here,
'cause this is where
the dredges need to float.
The rest of it,
we could do later.
This will raise
the water level up.
I'm so glad our
winchesare still working.
Fast way to move a lot
of rock and pretty quickly.
Now only are we getting
rocks out of our way,
but as we build the dam
up, it's raising our water level.
So if we get the water level where
we can actually float the two dredges,
then it's back to getting those in and
seeing if we can get a diver in the water.
The winch is doing their job.
We've got some...
We've got some big
rocks here moved.
The dam's coming along
for the third time.
Maybe it's a charm.
Still a lot of work to do, so...
Hopefully, that means
good going forward.
This season, storms
have continued
to hit Nugget Creekin
quick succession.
Kayla must race to rebuild
and dredge to bedrock
before the next one strikes.
We're making pretty
good progress today.
We're getting our dam rebuilt.
We've moved a
lot of rock already.
Trying to get these last
ones moved real quick.
That's a beast of a rock.
, yeah.
Get Paul and I in the water
and move a lot of material.
Hopefully, we can make
some really good progress,
hit bedrock soon.
Yeah, yeah.
There you go.
My.
Couple of landslides came down.
Down creek, Dustin Hurt
prepares for the worst.
Watch out, it's gonna tilt.
Look at this.
- Holy crap, dude.
- Holy crap.
Holy crap.
- Wow.
- Wow.
After being hit by the second
storm in as many weeks,
Dustin Hurt assessesthe damage.
My, look up there.
Look underneath them gold gates.
Holy smokes.
- Holy.
- We got bedrocks right here, guys.
Hey, Dustin, come look at this.
The previous stormdiverted
the creek to the far side,
leaving the near side dry.
- My, look at this.
- It's amazing.
This time, the storm surge
crestedover Big Ass Boulder,
and cleared away eight
feet of rocks and gravel
from under Nugget
Creek'sbest gold trap.
- Has anybody been underneath that rock?
- I doubt it.
Hey, Dustin, what do
you think? Dredge here?
This is perfect for
the end of a season.
This is perfect.
So you're gonna dredge
underneath that giant rock?
Along with those
other rocks in there?
What happens when you dredge
underneath those other rocks?
Next year, this is gonna
be filled back in, man.
It'll be filled in, yeah.
This is the perfect time.
Did this set us up or what?
The wheels a returning in
Dustin's head for what to do.
Mother Nature freaking gave
us a big box with a pink ribbon,
and a tag says, "For
miners, it's all up to you.
It's all yours,
amigos. All yours."
The water did exactly
what I wanted it to do.
But it exposed a little bit
more than I thought it would.
What these guys wanna do is go underneath
this big, giant boulder right here.
And I'll admit, I
want to as well.
If we're gonna dig
underneath a gigantic boulder,
there's gonna be
some huge risk involved.
If we go down here
there's less danger, but
less chance of big gold.
Bigger chance of
bigger gold up here,
but higher danger.
What do you do?
Decision time.
Dustin's plan was always
to start with the safer ground
20 feet downstream
and work his way up
towards the 50-ton boulder.
This is one big
sluice box right here.
It's a no-brainer.
Just the bedrock and
follow the bedrock down.
That could be the payday
we've been looking for forever,
and Mother Nature
set us up for it.
All right.
You talked me into it.
Yeah?
We're gonna give it a go.
- I'm excited about this!
- I know, me too.
All right, you got me convinced.
I think we should bury this up,
make a little wall right there.
- We'll put the dredge in the water.
- Yep.
Start her up.
Start dredging here
and straight into there.
Dustin now plans to
mine directly beneath
what the miners have
dubbed "Big Ass Boulder."
First, he'll build
a damwith rocks,
then flood the area so
he can float a dredge.
The diver can then
get beneath the boulder
and dredge down to bedrock
and a season-saving payday.
- All right, Carlos.
- Yes, sir.
Make me a wall right here.
Wall right here, I got it.
Originally, we were
gonna dig right here.
Now, this is where we're
gonna set the dredge
and dig up there.
This is our last effort.
If there's no gold right here, we're
not gonna get any gold this season.
We're putting all of our
eggs in one basket right now.
It better be a damn good basket.
- We need to get these dredges floating.
- - All right.
And then once we get those in,
- I'll change into my suit.
- All right.
The downstreamdam repaired.
Kayla's crew have raised
the water levels high enough
to get their
dredgesback in the creek.
I'm gonna get in the water,
starting up by the bedrock wall.
Then Paul's gonna
get in the water as well.
That way, we can both be
in, moving lots of material
and hopefully make
lots of progress.
Let's go.
So far, so good.
Got two dredges floating again.
Nice to see two dredges
back in the water.
We just gotta get set up
quickly and get the divers in
so we can maybe see
a little color, little gold.
I'd like to see some eventually.
Current is strong.
That should be good.
- Right there?
- Yeah.
So where are we at now?
I think we're just about
ready to fire all the dredges up.
Last dive, the heating system on
one of the dredges malfunctioned.
To make sure nobody gets burned,
they need to test their repair.
So, I just swapped the fittings.
I put the intake on the
front, the outtake on the back.
It seems to be going
pretty good now. Yep.
Try to get it in, see
if we can get some
more rock and
boulders out of our way.
See if we can get
some depth going
so we can actually do
some good dredging.
Before this storm
set Kayla's crew back,
they were five feet down,
halfway to bedrock gold.
Starting a new
haul always sucks.
It does.
We were pulling the
first basket of rocks.
Damn it! I'm done.
On Nugget Creek...
That water took out
a lot of stuff for us.
Yeah, it did.
Gold fever has set in.
This is how deep
the material was.
You could see the
water level right here,
'cause the moss
stops right there.
And then you can see it
underneath that big boulder.
The moss level stops there.
That is gonna have gold, dude.
Yeah, it is. There
is no way it's not.
This particular creek
is known for large gold.
Because it's such
a steep terrain,
we know there's huge nuggets,
so that's what we're
after at this site right here.
This is where we get gold.
Starting a new
haul always sucks.
It does.
We're pulling the
first batch of the rocks.
Damn it! I'm done.
Line broke.
It's not a good thing.
Hell did you do
to break the rope?
That rope shouldn't break.
At Kayla's, a broken winch
rope could set them back hours.
It just needs a
regular figure eight.
- You wanna go fix it?
- I'm gonna have to.
Slip that through there.
We good? Okay.
Hopefully, hopefully,
this is the last of it.
Hopefully, this just
works from here.
Got it!
We got the winch
lines working again.
We'll live to dredgeanother day.
All right, crank it up!
If we have any hope
of hitting bedrock at all
and actually getting some gold,
we don't need any more hang-ups.
We don't need any more setbacks.
We gotta have everything
working every day.
But you know what?
This winch line will
get us to bedrock.
This winch line
will get us to gold.
That's a decent-size rock.
Current's definitely
picked up on us.
It has.
Yeah, you're laying down
there getting a massage
from that current.
The current is that strong.
It's starting to get deep.
We got some depth going.
After four hours
battling the current...
- I'm done.
- Me too.
Paul calls it.
Today went good.
We got one nice
hole going right now.
We're probably five feet deep.
So we're right back to where
we were at before the flood.
I don't expect to see
any gold right now.
This is the first day
starting a new haul.
But it never hurts to check.
Nothing.
Hopefully, within
the next couple days,
we can hit some bedrock
and see a lot of gold.
James got her going
good right there. Holy.
That looks nice.
- I think the dredge should go in.
- Let's do it.
Withtheir dam complete...
It's time to put the dredge in.
Float the boat!
Dustin is one step closer to
getting a diver back in the water.
All right, tie off the pulley
to where it's up high.
I gotcha.
And you're gonna drag
the forward momentum.
So yeah, as soon as
he lets us get slack there,
- we'll pull this off and put it over here.
- Please.
It's a 20-foot haulto get
the dredge to the pool.
All right, is that enough?
One winch?
Let's see if we can get a
little forward momentum.
There it goes.
Yeah.
- Whoo-hoo! It's working.
- I know.
- That'll work.
- Just keep going. Hold on, hold on.
Let me get ahead.
Now we're gonna just
ease it into our freaking pool.
Hold up!
- Boo.
- That sucks. It's dragging that rock.
Now would be the
time to use the skyline.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Disconnect, go hook it back
up, bring me a headache ball.
Right now, we're
trying to drag rocks.
We don't want it to do that, 'cause
we'll disturb the wheel we just made.
So I think we can pick the
other side of the dredge up,
get it level and just kinda just
snake it right in there real easy-like.
She's gonna move,
like, really move, so...
James, I need you to
come along just in case.
- Right.
- Perfect.
It's perfect, man.
Go upstream a little bit more.
It's perfect!
All stop.
James, disconnect.
We got it!
You gotta go upstream.
- Yes!
- Let it down.
That'll do it.
Just barely long
enough though, man.
What do you mean? It's perfect.
Well, we didn't get
much play room.
Holy cow.
Dredge is in the water, Carlos!
Dredge is back in the water.
The dredge is in and,
it's a little tight there.
But it's working.
Now it's time to start it up
and see what's in this rock.
Well, if there's no gold there,
this is our last season here.
These are decisions that echo
through everybody's lives here.
I make the wrong decision
everybody goes home broke.
- Come on! Let's go.
- Fire it up.
James, get in the dredge, man!
This is where we get going, bro.
This is where we get going.
Come on, baby.
Gotta get the flap
completely underwater.
There's a hole right there.
That's what you're
doing. It's right there.
Damn it.
God!
Man handling the
hose has caused a crack
right beside the dredge nozzle.
- Argh!
- Hey, Wes! Where's that cellophane at?
I ran out of tape, so what we
have is this stretchy wrap stuff.
And if I can't seal off this hose,
it's probably gonna suck it right in.
But I don't have anything
else, so we're gonna try it.
There you go.
Nozzle up.
This is a first, man.
- That is a first.
- Holy crap.
We're desperate
to get a hold of...
Well, let's see if
that works, man.
Yeah, see if it works.
There it is! We got it!
Man.
- Seriously?
- We got it!
- We're dredging!
- The cellophane worked.
Try to get this over here, too.
I can't believe that worked.
I'm pretty happy with the
way everything got set up now.
Got the dredge
back in the water,
got enough boulders moved,
got enough water flow
to make our dredge work.
Game on, now.
I couldn't be happier.
It's a weird way,
what we're doing.
I didn't expect this
to happen this way.
But underneath this
big, giant boulder,
I got a feeling that
there's a lot of gold
and this could change our lives.
On the next Gold Rush:
White Water..., let's go!
Scott, I have to have
you communicate.
We aren't quitters.
We're not gonna give up.
Hopefully, we see
some really good gold.
We're not gonna have
a hole again in a minute.
We can't catch a freaking break!
Why can't we dredge
in the Bahamas?
Somewhere nice and warm.
I am tired of your attitude.
I work my into the dirt for her,
- Is she firing me? Yep.
- She said that?
We need to regroup, 'cause we're
on a steady path to destruction here.
Whoa!
When the water bleeds,
you are so close to gold.
I'm excited that you're diving.
I'm more excited that I
think you're gonna get gold.