Lost Gold of the Aztecs (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Spanish Death Trap - full transcript

Tonight
on "Lost Gold of the Aztecs"...

- Go.
- Let's go big or go home.

Right now we are on the
greatest trail that we've ever seen.

- Do you trust me?
- Not really, but...

Oh, wow. It goes way back there.

If there's something in
here, we're gonna find it.

Yeah, this is it.
Buddy, we got a hole.

Yeah!

500 years ago,
the Aztecs possessed

one of the greatest treasures
the world has ever seen.

Word of this treasure
attracted the attention



of the Spanish conquistadors,

but when they came for the gold,

it was already gone,

hidden by Emperor Montezuma

in locations throughout what
is now the American Southwest.

Now, three treasure
hunting teams,

all with different approaches,

are closing in on
what they believe

is the location of
the lost Aztec gold.

This right here, this is
definitely manmade activity.

The Dillmans are
following a trail

blazed by the research
of their grandfather.

I believe it's my destiny
to find it for the family.

The Villescas are
treasure seekers



descended from
Spanish conquistadors.

They believe the
Spanish found the gold...

All right. Here we go.

And melted it into bars

hidden throughout the
American Southwest.

If anybody's
gonna find it, it's gonna be us.

And finally, the Hoaglands.

Fire in the hole!

They believe the treasure
is hidden inside mines

along well known
Aztec trade routes.

If anything happens,
be ready to go.

Decades of searching...

That's old as hell.

Three different theories.

That's what
I do. I go find stuff.

Which one of these
teams will be proven right...

and be the first to find

the lost gold of the Aztecs?

This is do or die, eh, family?

The Dillman family, led by decades of
research conducted by Dan's late grandfather,

are exploring Cave Lakes Canyon
in search of Montezuma's gold.

We're bringing out
the big guns today.

After running a dye
test in Shadow Cave,

the family uncovered
multiple connections in the area

suggesting a
possible tunnel system.

You gotta be kidding me.

It's right here
coming out of the marsh.

The closest connection
being a small marsh

between Shadow
Cave and cave five

where they later found
an obsidian blade,

possibly one of many
used on an Aztec weapon.

It's probably... pull
up right up there.

Finding this obsidian in
the marsh gets me excited

about searching it further.

Because what it makes me believe

is that we may have had

some kind of failure
in a tunnel system

that may exist here,

that objects could've been
washed out into this marsh,

that there may be
other artifacts to find.

Back it up, TC. Back it up.

If we find something
here in the marsh,

then that's proof for me
that there's a ruptured tunnel.

And this tunnel, like
my grandfather said,

would lead us to the treasure.

A little more.

Ho!

I think you're
probably pretty good.

In order to test Dan's theory,

the family is building
a large sluice box

to search the marsh
more thoroughly.

Let's get everything together.
Let's get this thing built.

All right.

A sluice box is a tool that has been
used by gold prospectors for centuries.

This is what I call the quick man's
way to sift through dirt and mud.

Yes, sir.

Material from the marsh will be
dumped into a large container.

Water sprayed
across the material

will wash away the sediment,

leaving heavier objects like
rocks and possible artifacts

caught in the tension rods.

Make sure it's nice and
tight on those tension rods.

This one right
here might be loose.

So pull it... pull
it all the way out.

A metal grate keeps smaller objects
from being washed back into the marsh.

I think that'll work.

My grandfather taught me

that you have to really
exhaust every avenue you can

because you can easily
overlook a very important clue.

We might have to patent
this design here, guys.

So I've been blessed to be around my grandfather
and uncles since I was just a little boy,

just sitting there listening
at our kitchen table

of the stories and history.

I mean, I've got that
insight that most don't have.

It's like my grandfather
and uncles are with me

and they're guiding me as well.

Looks good. I think it'll work.

Well, we're
gonna find out today.

Let's get ahold of Bert and get
him to bring in the big machine.

- Let's do it.
- Let's do this.

Bert's a local excavator that
we've used several times in the past.

If we're gonna find something,

this is the only way to
do it in a timely manner.

If we sat there with shovels, it would take
weeks, days, hours, months, who knows?

But right now
using the excavator,

in a couple hours we're gonna
know if we got something or not.

All right, Bert, I need
you to straight up

start taking big loads of this
marsh and dumping it into our sluice

so that we can start sifting through this
and find out if we got anything to look at.

- Let's go big or go home, right?
- Yep.

All right, let's make
it happen, cap'n.

If there's something in here, we're
gonna find it with this big excavator.

The green dye has already
dissipated, so what that tells me

is that we have still got some
pressure and movement happening,

and that gives me some hope

that we may find
something in the marsh.

All right,
Derrick, let's hit it.

If we discover any
clue, any object,

any artifact, any piece of gold,

anything, that's
gonna help establish

that we're in the right place.

Might find some gold today!

We're, what, 30 miles from the
nearest highway to get off on?

It's pretty deep.

- And rough.
- And rough. Yeah, yeah.

Kevin and Chris
have been searching mines

along ancient Aztec trade routes
looking for Montezuma's gold.

Earlier, the two
borrowed a small ROV

equipped with a camera and LIDAR

to explore past a mine collapse.

They found something promising...

An underground shelf that could be
a storage chamber called a ballroom.

A ballroom is a big,
underground space that was manmade.

It would've been perfect for the
Aztec to stash their treasure in.

Unfortunately,
because of the cave-in,

the whole thing is unstable.

We've gotta find another
way into this mine.

And that's where
this bad boy comes in.

This is our smoke cannon.

- I'm getting excited.
- Oh, yeah.

Kevin and I devised
this low pressure launcher

so we don't bring the
tunnel down on our head.

Yeah, we're, uh...

We're gonna send smoke bombs

150, 200 feet past the
cave-in, where we can't go.

The plan is to trek
500 feet down to the cave-in area

to place smoke markers as
deep in the mine as possible.

If successful, the smoke
will breach the surface,

indicating another entrance.

My biggest concern underground
is that very rough area.

Anything can bring it down,

and I'm worried
if we hit anything,

if we bring the roof down,
we could be trapped or killed.

Here goes nothing.

It's such a long way.

It's getting tighter, craggier.

We've hit it.

That's a hell of a cave-in.

You know what?
I'm gonna drop gear here.

- All right.
- Holy hell.

Are you okay right there?

Awesome.

You know what?
Let's talk this through.

You're gonna pump
it up pointing up.

I'm gonna slam the cap.

As long as we get it in there.

To operate the launcher,

a compartment is filled with
starting fluid, then sealed.

A spark from an
electrical lighter

will ignite the spray's
flammable solvents,

propelling the smoke charge.

This is low pressure,
low shockwave,

but if anything
happens, be ready to go.

- You ready?
- Yep.

All right, get ready to run.

Tilt it up. Up, up, up, up, up.

- You got it?
- Lighting.

Go.

- You ready?
- Yep.

Inside the mine site...

Tilt it up.
Up, up, up, up, up.

Kevin and Chris prepare
to fill the tunnel with smoke

in hopes of finding
another entrance.

You got it?

We're gonna pump so
much smoke into this mountain

with this grenade launcher,
they're gonna see it from space.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lighting.

Go.

All right, we're all
good. Going for it.

Okay.

Now.

Okay, we gotta
go. Grab your bag.

Right there, huh? Okay, okay.

For the best shot at success,

Kevin and Chris flood the mine
with as much smoke as possible

by setting additional
charges as they exit.

Whoo.

With all of that
smoke inside the mine,

it'll just tell us instantly if
there is another entrance.

With approximately
three minutes active smoke

from the time the bombs are lit,

the duo have little time to
locate any seeping smoke.

I don't see anything over here.

Maybe down.

It's gotta be...

I don't see
nothing on the hills.

Right there! Look at that.

Oh!

That puts us in the mood.
That ain't gonna last long.

- We gotta get there before that smokes goes out.
- Yeah.

Still smoking?

Still smoking.

- Let's go.
- Watch yourself.

I think of all the mountain goat places
we've been, this is about the worst.

That smoke gave us a
second entrance into the cave,

and it's one of the
most exciting things.

Let's get down there
before we lose smoke.

Really loose right
there. Watch out.

With the smoke coming out there,

it's a real possibility
that right there

is going to be the direct
access to that shelf,

and we're very excited
that this could be our way in.

There it is.

Panting, laughing.

We found the second hole.
I don't care if it's closed in.

Kevin and
Chris believe the smoke

indicates another mine entrance

dug into the side
of the mountain.

The entrance has been
covered by several tons of rock,

either through erosion
over the centuries

or possibly
intentionally hidden.

- We gotta get in there.
- We have to get into this.

We're gonna need some
help opening this up.

Chris and I have got a
lot of work cut out for us,

and opening this mine is not just about
pulling the rock out in front of this thing.

We're gonna have to
get an excavator up here,

which means that Chris is
going to have to build a road

with his excavator.

We can get it up here.

Dig a road in here,
just tear this up.

- Let's do it.
- Okay.

That shelf could be right
on the other side of that hole.

Let's take a look up here and
see if we see any remnants

- of any activity.
- Mm-hmm.

Gabriel Villescas
and his father Ramon,

direct decedents
of the conquistadors,

are continuing
their lifelong hunt

for the Aztec gold that they
believe was stolen by the Spanish

and buried in Cuba, New Mexico.

Their theory is supported
by old Spanish maps...

Well, this route the
Spaniards came from.

Yep. Rio Puerco.

And stories about a location

where local treasure
hunter Johnny Segura

dug up a gold bar.

My goodness. Look at this.

This looks crazy to me.

Altogether, this information
has led them to an area

called the Fire Pits.

Now they are investigating
new information

about a coal mine that
was used as shelter.

There's the fire pits there.

Whomever dug this pit must've
known something was here.

I mean, they put an awful
lot of effort into digging.

We don't know if
that was Johnny's.

Right now we don't have
enough evidence to go all in,

but if this mine was
shelter for Johnny Segura

and there's evidence
of that inside,

that might be enough to convince
me that we're in the right spot.

Well, you can see the
whole entire layer of sediment

or whatever sagged in there.

It just kinda came
down, you know?

Look back there.

To the left there's gray
stuff right there. See it?

Huh.

To the right seems to be
a hole or another entrance.

Oh, yeah.

Is it like a mine or...

Yeah, that's... -
an entrance or something.

- It needs to be explored.
- Yeah.

Gotta get out there.

- Jerome.
- Yo.

Take a look.

We need to search this old cave

in the side of the mountain

because we really need
to be able to pinpoint

exactly where Johnny was,

exactly where he was digging.

That way we can
hone in our search

and concentrate all our efforts.

See anything?

Yeah, there's a piece of wood
right here with an opening.

Take a look.

- Oh, yeah.
- Did you find it?

That looks pretty sketchy.

Some of this stuff collapsed.

Oh, yeah. Boy,
that's a tiny opening, huh?

I mean, if somebody
was using this for shelter,

this is the spot, because you
could see everything, you know?

- Like..
- Yeah.

You're kind of hiding.

And I think this was
the roof at one time.

So maybe all this just
filled in through erosion.

Oh, yeah, look
at all that collapse.

If Johnny used this for shelter,
this was, you know, '60s, '70s.

Well, it makes sense, you know?

I mean, it's right
next to the fire pits.

I mean, this is exactly
what Mr. Padilla described.

Oh.

I don't know about
going in there, buddy.

- I wouldn't.
- It looks a little scary.

First couple of timbers that
were holding up the ceiling part of it

looked like they
broke and collapsed.

We gotta figure out a way to
get in there and see what's inside.

If we find something
in this mine

that proves to Gabe, you know,

that somebody was
actually staying here,

then it's more believable

that this is the spot
that we're looking for.

- Yeah.
- Pretty deep. You got a light?

- Oh, wow. It goes way back there.
- It keeps going, huh?

I can see 30,
40 feet back there at least.

It's got a pretty large
room back there.

It opens up
almost like a cavern.

This mine
is falling in on itself.

You can see some of the
old beams are still there

supporting the roof in the back,

but the way the rubble has collapsed
in the front, I can't see the floor.

We've gotta figure out a way to
see if this really was Johnny's shelter.

I ain't crawling in there,
because all this right here

- looks shady to me.
- Yeah.

And obviously it collapsed
already once, so...

You know, we gotta figure out
a way to look inside there safely.

Well, I'm curious to see
what we pull up out of here.

The Dillman family
continue excavating the marsh

in hopes of finding artifacts
that could indicate both

a connection to Shadow
Cave and an Aztec presence.

- You know they'd hide something down in here, huh?
- We'll find out shortly.

Further evidence
could encourage Dan

to focus his resources here.

If not, Dan will
return to cave five

where the green
dye first appeared.

- Who knows what's washed up into this marsh?
- For sure.

Safety's important.

Could be rocks
and all kinds of stuff.

So that we're not in the
way when he's dropping stuff,

we wait till he fills it up.

And then we need to
start washing it down.

Start from out here.

From a really young age,

I was brought right into
the whole treasure hunting,

looking for
Montezuma's treasure.

I was told about the expeditions

that my great-grandfather
and my uncles all did.

- Pretty big rocks in here.
- Yep.

Helping carry on this journey,

it really brings
it all together,

and just being here with family.

Go ahead and wash this.

Yeah, I'm trying to hit it all.

So my dad and I, we're
alike in many ways,

but, you know, my dad,
he's very, very spiritual.

He's a visionary. I
became more analytical.

So we see things a
lot of times kind of on

opposite sides of the spectrum.

Definitely hit that hard, son,

and get all that stuff to
go through our fencing.

But at the same time, even
though we're different in that way,

it helps because it helps him see
things that, you know, the logical can't.

We end up meeting in
the middle, really always,

and we get it done.

Let's see what we find.

All right, let's
shut off the hose!

- All right.
- Let's get in here and look.

Gina, turn off that pump.
Let's see what we got in here.

Don't discount the fact
that it might be tiny or small.

It may look like a rock.

You guys finding anything else?

Well, we're definitely
finding interesting rocks.

Rocks, but rocks is not
what we're looking for.

Not this kind anyway, huh?

That big rock
looks a little interesting.

It almost looks like...

There might be
some mortar on it.

- Yeah. You see?
- Yeah.

Definitely it doesn't
come off easy.

- Nope. Not at all.
- At all.

And look, it even has little
rocks in there like it was...

This rock is almost
a crystal actually.

You see, that's what I was
thinking. That's what caught my eye.

Definitely put that in the
pile to investigate later.

There's clearly nothing standing
out. Gina, what are you finding?

Looks like just a lot of rocks.

We might want to get
another load in here.

Let's do
it. All right, Bert.

Right now we're
keeping hope alive.

We're gonna figure out
if this is a credible spot

to continue
investigating and working

or if we just need to put
a wrap at this location.

So what have you got here?

Well, I got an idea to get
us a look inside that old mine.

The Villescas
team discovered a coal mine

that might've been used as
a shelter by Johnny Segura,

but the mine is too
unstable to enter.

Not wanting to endanger
himself or his team,

Gabriel has an idea.

- Remember we saw that timber in the back of the mine?
- Yeah.

So I got a crossbow here,

and what I'd like to do
is shoot this into the mine

- into one of those vertical supports.
- Yeah.

- And then we can send a camera in there.
- Cool.

We'll attach one of these tips to
the end of the bolt right in here.

We'll take this line and this
will fasten to the front of that bolt.

And hopefully, if
our aim is good,

we'll get it to stick
in that timber like so.

Once the dart
is shot into a secure spot,

Gabe will mount a remote-controlled
camera onto the line.

So we'll feed the
line in through here.

This is a little motor
drive right in here

that's controlled with
this remote control.

We'll send it down the way,

and we should be able
to see it with this camera.

This mine is very unsafe.

I mean, you can see that
part of it is already collapsed.

We need to be
able to go in there

very safely and effectively

and look around the corner

'cause there's a large stone
that's blocking our view.

Let's see if this thing works.

All right, wish me
luck. Here we go.

That thing's got some
power behind it, huh?

Oh, yeah.

When I looked in
the back of that mine,

I noticed that there
was a few beams,

you know, vertical beams
holding the ceiling up.

And I think I can shoot that
crossbow bolt right up into one,

and then we can
get the line taut

and send that camera
right through there.

You're gonna
shoot this thing in here?

You trust me?

Not really, but...

- Bam.
- Look at that.

The camera will ride
all the way down the line

and it'll be able to
look around in real time.

And with that, we
should be able to see

if there's evidence that
somebody resided in this cave.

You know, they call
him Deadeye Gabe.

Deadeye Gabe, huh?

I turned it on.

All right. Here it goes.

- This is how we're gonna do this.
- Whoa.

- Look at that.
- Yeah.

Does it go by itself?

No, no. It's
got a remote control.

That'll allow us to look
around. We can back it up.

We can go forward again.

We can just change
the angle of the head.

- But look at that.
- Damn.

So we're gonna be able
to feed this into the mine

and watch it in real
time on a monitor.

If Johnny Segura
was in that mine,

we're gonna see it with this.

Well, we can just do
this one bucket at a time.

Let's go ahead and get the
pumped primed, up and running,

and let's wash this, and see
if there's anything in this load.

A few hundred
yards from Shadow Cave,

the Dillman family continue
excavating the marsh

in hopes of finding more artifacts that
could indicate a past Aztec presence.

- There we go. Here it is.
- Oh, here we go.

Yeah, wash with that stream,
'cause that's gonna wash it quick.

However after several
hours of dredging,

the Dillmans are
coming up empty.

Start breaking
down this corner too.

All right, hey, let's cut the
water. Gina, hit the pump again.

Some stuff in there.

We're not
finding anything specific.

It's really just a lot of rocks

and mud that we're
pulling out at this time.

But it's not gonna
get our spirits down

because this is
part of the journey.

Look for any little shards maybe
that may look even just like a thin rock,

but it could be a thin
piece of arrowhead.

It's got a little bit
of grooves in it.

You know, I think
this is just sandstone.

With this excavator, if
there's big objects in there,

- we should be finding them.
- Yeah.

What do you guys say? Get
another couple of buckets?

- I'm good with another scoop.
- Okay, all right. Let's get it.

You know, I'm trying to
remain cautiously optimistic,

but right now we're
not finding much.

A whole lot of mud,
a whole lot of dirt,

a whole lot of rocks.

But I'm the ever optimist,

so I'm not willing to quit yet.

All right. Let's do this.

- Hit it, brother.
- Let's see what we got.

It's definitely
a little perplexing.

You know, I don't know if we've
got multiple tunnel systems.

Is it coming from Shadow Cave?

Is it coming from cave five?

There could be something tangible
that's washed out into this marsh now.

- All right.
- All right, let's check it out.

Let's get in there
and see what we got.

You guys seeing anything yet?

- More rocks.
- More rocks.

A lot of rocks.

A whole lot of nothing.

Nope. Sandstone. Sorry.

It's not looking very promising.

It doesn't look like we got.

If there was
something big to find,

we should have found it.

What we found warranted us
to do this and spend more time,

but it didn't wash a
bunch of the artifacts

out of the cavern, clearly.

We'd be finding
way more evidence.

I say it's time to pull the
plug on this spot right now.

You know, if we don't find
anything, it wouldn't be the first time.

That's what this is all about.

This has been a 55
year journey for my family.

Hey, Bert!

It's a wrap, man!
We're done for the day!

We don't always find
what we're looking for,

but we keep going.

We make sure that we never
quit, and we keep searching.

Hey, that's a great road!

Took a little bit of
work, but here she is.

Look right there.

After spotting what
they hope is a mine entrance,

Kevin and Chris
brought in the big guns.

Oh, hey!

And a little gun.

- Did she help out?
- Oh, yes, she did.

- She's running the sticks?
- Great road.

Yes.

Chris called his nephew Russell

to come up and
jump on the excavator

and start cutting a road in.

Digging for
over 14 hours straight,

Russell has built
nearly 400 feet of road.

Well, we'll take it from
here. Thank you very much.

Of course, guys.

Now with the excavator in place,

it's up to Kevin and
Chris to uncover the mine.

- Oh, man.
- You think you can guide me from that side?

Chris and I will take
over the equipment.

Chris will run the excavator.

We've got a lot of time and
money invested to this point.

I'm really hoping that
this is a mineshaft.

Okay, good to go?

Hey, man, let's dig some holes.

We don't know
what's behind this rock,

and if is a mineshaft

and we have a bucket
accident where it hits something,

we could knock everything
down into the mine site.

Am I right up against
that base, Kevin?

Little bit more reach.
A little further out.

You're good. Straight
down, straight down.

- Okay.
- Go in about another foot.

I want you to get
right on the edge.

Right there.

This is one unstable.

Kevin's gonna
be my eyes up there

right at the bucket so
we don't knock this in

with that big excavator.

Go ahead and sink it.

That's a good move.

Still seeing a lot of rock face.

A lot of rock face.

Okay, I'm looking
at a rock on the left side.

I don't wanna break it.

Chris is getting in there.
He's getting the buckets down.

He's getting them
pulled out right.

Pull it up, level it out.

Hang on that bucket.
Stop, stop, stop, stop.

That's looking sexy.

I can't
see! Is it a hole?

Swing your bucket, baby.

Buddy, we got a hole.

No kidding?

Yeah!

Drink that beer, yeah!

Whoo!

- Yeah! Aw, no kidding?
- Yeah.

Take a look, man.

Put your hardhat on because
we're kind of over a face here.

Yeah, we're over
a hell of a face.

It's tough for me to think
that this is anything but a mine.

This is a horizontal shaft,

and it's cut directly into the
bedrock and into the side.

Everything points that it
is going to be a mineshaft.

It's like we thought,
a full tunnel.

It's not a vent.
It's not an air vent.

There's no... this
is not a stove.

This is an entrance.

- That's amazing.
- All right, let's get this hole opened up.

- Beautiful. Okay.
- Let's make a hole.

As a miner, opening
up a mineshaft

is like opening up a vault.

You just don't know

what's going to be on
the other side of the rock.

Anything, anything
could be in there.

- Oh, man.
- Let's get this un-dug.

Let's get some hole opened up.

Excellent.

With the second
tunnel entrance open,

Kevin and Chris are
taking a precaution.

Earlier while exploring the
mine with the cave rover...

Let's just get a full
environmental right now.

They detected poisonous gas.

Right now everything's in red.

So now they let the tunnel
ventilate until it's safe.

I'm hoping with
these two entries

that the air's moving
through most of the mine.

No matter what, it's gonna be
well vented before we walk in there.

- It's a little slippery.
- You could slow down.

Gabriel, Ramon, and Jerome

are on their way
back to the coal mine

that they suspect was once
a shelter for Johnny Segura,

a man locals say found
a bar of Spanish gold.

If they can confirm that
Johnny used this mine,

it would be the
evidence Gabe needs

to bring heavy
equipment into the fire pits.

That was a little
bit of a climb.

I hope you can shoot this thing
as good as you did in my garage.

Well, I hope so too.
Let's see what we can do.

Man, that is gonna
be one hell of a shot.

You know, it's pretty
tight. There we go.

I'm gonna give it a shot

and see if I can't land one
of these bolts in that beam

and send a wire down in there

so we can get a
camera to follow it.

Well, you only got
this shot and two more,

so you better make it count.

- No pressure.
- Yeah, exactly.

All right.

- Okay, guys.
- All right, buddy, you good?

- Good luck.
- It's a small view that he has to shoot into,

and it's 40 feet
inside of a mine.

But Gabe hit the
2x4 in my garage.

I'm glad he did, because if
he had put a hole in my wall,

I'd have been pretty pissed off.

Okay, watch out.
We're going live.

Come on, Gabe.

- Get it?
- Pull the cord and see if we landed it.

- Didn't land it, huh?
- Nope. Here comes the arrow back.

Well, let's reset
and do it again.

This mine is pitch black.

I can't see where
these bolts are going.

That was a no-gooder.

- Nope.
- I think you stuck it in the dirt.

You did a lot better in the
garage than you did here.

- All right, new arrow.
- Nail it.

- You guys ready?
- Ready.

Look alive. Watch your arms.

- Booyah, that one stuck.
- You got it?

- Man, told you.
- Told you.

- What do you mean, "I told you?"
- I told you.

It took us a little while,
and it worked just as designed.

Now we're gonna feed
this camera in there

and see what evidence we find.

How are we gonna...
You want me to just hold it

right here with
the camera on it?

If that's all we got,
that's all we got.

We can't see the floor
of the actual mine itself.

The evidence we're looking for

might just be on the other
side of that rubble pile,

so this cable cam will be
able to give us a good overview

of what the mine
looks like in the back.

And, you know, if there's any evidence, we're
gonna see it on the screen here in real time.

- Ready?
- Yeah.

I'll watch the monitor here
and see what we're doing.

Gabe is looking for
any signs of human habitation.

- All right, here we go, Jerome.
- Be careful of the beam.

The camera barely fits,

so the only way to look
at it is for me to lay down

and hold that string
and guide it up and down.

There's no way
for Gabe to look at it

and look at the monitor
and run the remote,

so that's the only
way I could do it.

Here we go, here we go.

Easy. Are we gonna
clear that beam, Jerome?

- Yeah.
- Okay, I'm gonna go a little bit forward.

Okay, well, it's
working like a champ.

In, in, in.

Oh, whoa, whoa.
Did you see that?

There was a can right there.

Let me back up a
little bit and see that.

Oh, there's another can
right there. Look at that.

Yeah?

I start to see there's a
couple of cans, like, food cans.

It's good evidence somebody
actually took shelter in here.

They used this place to eat.

Let's go a little
bit further in.

Look. Look right there.
There's a broken lantern.

- You see it?
- There we go.

- Sure enough.
- Look at that.

Oh, definitely there's some
goodies in there, Jerome.

- Gold. Do you see any gold?
- No gold yet.

There's a piece of burlap
in there. Do you see that?

Like a blanket or what?

No, like a
sack. Like a burlap sack.

Does that
sack look like it's full?

No, no, it's all deteriorated.

It looks somebody was
definitely in there before.

Somebody used this as a shelter.

We don't know if
this is Johnny's site,

but it sure does match exactly
what Junior Padilla told us.

Sitting next to the fire pits
just as described by him,

- my gut is telling me that, you know...
- Grab that sumbitch.

We just need to get
in here and start digging.

- All right, you're going first.
- Yep.

It's pretty tight. I'm gonna
have to hand you this stuff.

Yeah, you're gonna have
to hand the bags over to me.

After finding a
second entrance to the mine,

and giving it some
time to ventilate...

Kevin and Chris are heading in

to inspect the shelf that
they saw with the cave rover.

All right, hand
me down the packs.

- All right, here's yours.
- The bags.

Fortunately, we know that
there's air coming through that tunnel.

That will help us
with air quality.

- Hand me the ladder.
- Coming down.

All right,
man. Come on in.

Oh, yeah. Whoa!

I've opened up a lot
of old mines over the years.

Okay.

But when we're looking at this
from the aspect of treasure...

anything could be in there.

Yeah, really loose.

That's a lot of this
makeup through here too.

Due to the relative
instability of this mine system,

Kevin and Chris inspect every
inch, testing for loose rocks.

We got a lot of
decomposing granite here.

Let's watch out for
this one for a headache.

'Cause it's really
loose on that backside.

How are you feeling?

I'm fine if I just
quit hitting my head.

I'm not trusting this at all.

This is a massive shelf
that's getting ready to go.

That's a huge fracture.

I don't even
want to touch any of this.

Look at this. All the way down.

Man, this is really
shaky. Chris, look at this.

And this goes way back.

This is really loose in here.

It's getting a little tight.

With the entrance
reopened by the excavator...

Oxygen's great. No CO.

The increase in airflow

is enough to vent any poison gas

in this section of the mine.

Opening up that hole, that
made a huge difference.

I think this might be the
intersection where the rover got to,

and I'm betting that's where
Chris turned the rover around.

Which means... let me
get my bearings straight.

- The fox should be right there.
- That's a shelf.

Uh, look at that.
That is a shelf.

It's why we brought this.

That's a perfect place
to hide a treasure.

Above that shelf, we've
got a nice-sized chamber.

- Ballroom.
- Maybe.

- You got it?
- Got it.

- Got it. I can't see.
- Wow.

God, this is beautiful up here.

And that is... holy.

All sorts of stuff up here.

I'm not even
sure what it all is.

It almost looks
metallic in a way.

You know, like
the old lead oxide?

- Is that blood on your hand?
- I don't think I cut myself.

Look at that. Both
hands are just solid red.

That gray material that I was
telling you looked like lead oxide,

everywhere I put my
hands, it's just turning red.

Whatever this is on
the shelf, that's what it is.

It's like pigment,
and I don't get it.

It's not metallic
like I thought.

Chris, I have seen
something like this before,

and it worries me.

Oh, what is it?

Spanish death trap.

Where they would
grind up fire ants

and all sorts of other bugs

and just lay it out in a powder

on the floor of the mine.

And when you walked through it,

it would be a dust
that would come up

and get into your
lungs really, really quick.

I want to figure out
what this stuff is.

We gotta get some help.

Next on
"Lost Gold of the Aztecs"...

There we go.

We need to build a shaker box.

That way we can move
a lot more material.

Whoa, whoa!

Whoa! What do we got here?

This hole could be
a tunnel entrance.

Oh, man.

I did not expect...

There's so much more
to this mine.

This goes down.

Yeah, there's a tunnel
down here.