Original subtitles

Todd and Jack Hoffman lead a crew of six rookie miners that are risking it all to find gold in Alaska.

If we strike gold, we're gonna walk out of here rich men.

After three months they are out a quarter of a million dollars and have found only two point seven ounces of gold, worth just $3500 dollars.

We're getting really tight.

We're running out of summer. We've got to get this gold.

With winter weather closing in, and the mining season running out,Todd discovers a major design flaw in their operation.

-I'm just blowing my gold right friggen down the creek. -Correct.

Tempers flare as the team has to rebuild the wash plant.

Shut the hell up. We'll be down in a friggen minute.

And flat broke, Todd is forced to take desperate measures.

I need cash. I need help.

If he can't come up with more money, they'll have to close the mine and go home empty handed.

We can't go this far,

And not finish the friggen job.

At Porcupine Creek in southeast Alaska, the Hoffman's crew continues to run it's wash plant in the hunt for millions of dollars in gold.

I got hundreds of ounces to get this summer. I don't have time to dink around.

We're gonna bring that dirt up, and run it through here, but this is an inexact science. This is tough.

For 13 weeks the crew has been digging for an estimated 15 million dollars in buried gold.

Every yard of dirt they dig is fed through these machines. The shaker, trommel, and duplex jig should extract gold at every stage.

But they are down to their last barrels of fuel, and still haven't struck it rich.

Dammit.

Todd has noticed a problem.

Hey, Thurby.

Shut it off.

There's something wrong with his wash plant.

It kind of bunches up right here. It's not working really good.

It's clogged up.

This sluice box should catch gold, but can't do it if it's clogging with dirt and stone.

You get this dirt, and run it through your machine and you got to somehow catch the gold. And I think I'm only catching part of it.

We put our sweat and blood into these stupid machines, and we're gonna make it pay.

One week ago the Hoffmans cleaned out their wash plant for the first time.

They were hoping to find $40,000 dollars to cover costs until the end of the season.

That's the total take right here.

They found just $3500 dollars worth of gold.

With their future on the line, Jimmy Dorsey fought with Greg.

I was mad. I was like Dude.

Who are you to try to talk to me like that?

And Dorsey left the claim for good.

With hardly any gold, and tensions mounting, Todd and crew face a harsh reality.

That's it.

Basically, we're broke.

Todd and Jack spent $150,000 dollars on equipment. They raised another $100,000 for running costs.

But now, all $250,000 is gone.

The Hoffmans are running on credit, and they need help to try and turn their fortunes around.

Hope this is Fred.

Their last hope is Fred Dodge, a wash plant expert that might be able to help them pull more gold out of the dirt they're running.

Uh, We had a pretty downer, uh clean-out.

A clean-out should have been 4, 5, 6000 dollars.

It's not, you know.

Basically blowing out most of our money.

I got to make sure we're catching the gold.

Well. We'll have a look at the plant and see how much gold you're losing.

The wash plant is made up of 3 machines connected by sluice boxes.

These are supposed to trap the gold at every stage. Coarse, medium, and fine.

The first area Fred inspects is the nugget trap, in the sluice box coming out of the shaker.

How does my dad's nugget trap look to you?

Not good. But definitely use this area to catch gold Todd.

Right now it's just a straight chute that material slides down.

So what we wanna do here Todd, is we wanna make a true nugget trap with riffles in it.

Riffles are metal grids used in wash plants.

Because gold is 19 times heavier than water, it drops, and gets trapped in the riffles, while dirt is washed up and away.

The Hoffmans don't have any riffles in the sluice box, and as a result may have lost nuggets worth thousands of dollars.

Remember one thing Todd. Slick plates can't catch gold.

Okay.

The sluice box coming out of the trommel, should catch gold flakes of half an inch and smaller.

But the riffles here are clogging up with dirt.

The riffles fill up. They just pack up.

If your riffles are packing up, you're losing all your of your gold recovery that's possible in the sluice box.

Riffles packed with dirt cause any gold bearing gravel to wash quickly over the top, and out the end of the sluice box.

What you're telling me is basically we're losing most of the gold.

My suggestion is get more pitch to this box, and complete riffles all the way down.

So basically, I need more angle, I need more riffles.

Correct.

I can't even believe I got 2 ounces that I got.

I can't either.

Below the duplex jig is the last sluice box.

It's there to catch the finest flour gold.

Well Todd. This is a major problem right here. You're trying to use the sluice box to separate fine gold out of heavy elements.

You'll plug this sluice box up.

Basically, I'm just blowing my gold right friggen down the creek.

Correct.

So when I run for 4 hours, the first 10 minutes we're catching gold, and the rest is..

Hmm. The rest you're giving it back.

Until now, the Hoffmans have trapped just 2.7 ounces. If Fred's right, they could have blown over 95 % of their gold down the creek.

Okay.

Possibly, as much as $65,000 dollars in gold.

But the steel needed to make the upgrades could cost thousands, money the Hoffmans don't have.

I know it's a lot of money with your budget, but if you don't do it Todd, you're losing all your gold.

Yeah.

The crew spent 6 months building the wash plant. This is not the news they wanted to hear.

It's frustrating. It really is. There's a whole different set of problems.

You know, education's never free. And uh, this is another one.

We're missing the gold. Plain and simple.

The next day, Todd faces reality.

We're in good gold country. If we can make these changes I think we can start making some money.

Their $100,000 dollar operating budget is long gone.

Any modifications now will only take them deeper in debt. But with everything on the line, they have no choice.

They have to find gold before the freeze sets in, and the mining season ends.

There's probably hundreds, if not thousands of ounces and I don't want to send that down the friggen creek.

I'm gonna take as much of the advice as possible from our consultant.

We're gonna put 7 feet of riffle in here.

We're trying to figure out how much expanded metal we need. We're gonna build some riffles starting way up in there and come down, all the way down.

At least we're going in the other direction, instead of just

trying to keep everything running.

With the new measurements in hand, Todd calls the nearest supplier.

Doug, this is Todd.

I got a whole bunch of stuff to order. I need expanded metal, and uh, flat bar.

You can cut it right on the spot. Okay.

The supplier has the materials. But Todd doesn't know how much it'll end up costing to modify the wash plant. Or how he'll pay for it.

I'm gonna probably do something like a credit card. I don't know.

It'll be enough to buy the steel, I think. So,

Aw. We're getting really tight.

Todd and Jack make the costly 500 mile round trip to Canada.

Thanks bud.

I'll take this sheet of that.

Cut me two 3 footers, and a 2 footer.

Todd needs expanded steel mesh for the riffles.

Cut to just the right size.

He can't afford any mistakes.

I just think I'm, I just screwed up.

It's cut the wrong way.

Gawd. Stupid.

It's not his fault. It's my fault. Now I gotta buy another friggen sheet of

this stuff. Which is not cheap.

The trip just got a whole lot more expensive.

I think I'll be in the $1500 dollar range, before I walk out of here.

Once the cuts are done, Todd waits nervously to see if his credit card can handle the total.

I'm sure, an ounce will cover it.

Oh no. Oh.

It went through, huh?

It's a friggen miracle.

With another $1500 dollars on credit the Hoffmans are banking on gold they haven't even dug out of the ground.

Alright. Just super expensive day, today. You know. It just seems like every day's like that. We just keep pouring through money.

After the 5 hour trip back to Porcupine Creek, Todd calls the crew together.

Three ounces ain't gonna cut it. We're burning daylight. We're burning the rest of our summer. We got to get this gold. So.

If we get all this metalwork done, then we should be able to rock and roll again.

Heavenly father. We thank you for the opportunity to be mining.

Lord, we ask, that you just help us not to lose gold. Bless us rich, will ya, Amen.

Let's do it.

The Hoffmans have risked it all to strike it rich in Alaska. Now they're broke and running on credit. They need a miracle.

Up ahead.

Jack gets in too deep on the excavator.

(sharp whistle)

Hey,hey. Get out of here.

A new arrival wreaks havoc on the claim.

Nobody's communicating.

Shut the hell up. We'll be there in a friggen minute.

And Todd is forced to make a gut wrenching decision.

The party's over.

I don't know what else to do.

Todd and Jack Hoffman are back from Whitehorse Canada.

Their $100,000 dollar operating budget has run out and they've been forced to rely on credit cards to buy the steel needed to improve their wash plant.

We spent out about $1500 dollars in Whitehorse. We just gotta make it work.

The responsibility to create the parts they need falls to mechanic James Harness.

And today, he's ready for anything.

Well, it's the last line of defense for flies. They are in the thousands per square foot around here.

What's up with all the nets, man. You don't like flies?

You guys look like you're about ready to get married.

James first job is to build extra large riffles, to replace the nugget trap in the sluice box below the shaker.

Gold expert Fred Dodge has given them a design to allow them to get up to 90% more gold.

-The water flow and the material is coming this way, okay. -Yeah.

The material's gonna come over the top, drops down into this riffle, and gets caught right down in here because of it's weight. It's heavier.

There will be another one here, of course.

Each riffle needs to set at just the right angle. If they're off, they'll lose gold again.

Basically we have to have the angles right to make the water do, what we want it to.

When you're talking small particles, it's gotta be precise.

As James makes quick work of the large riffles, Todd and Greg adjust the pitch of the sluice box leaving the trommel.

Here they will add grids of expanded metal.

This type of riffle will catch medium sized gold if they can get the angle right.

We have to have these riffles at a certain degree to work properly.

If it's too high, your material packs up like we had. If it's too steep, material goes over your riffles and doesn't get caught.

There is little margin for error.

Probably an eighth of an inch here and there, Which is not much for this big of a sluice box.

The only way to adjust the pitch is to lift the sluice box, then remove the rocks and soil underneath.

Get the angles wrong now, and their last chance to catch gold will be lost.

What do you think Greg? How's it looking?

It's alright.

-That looks pretty cool. -Pretty good.

Looks really good.

Jack isn't helping on the modifications. He's dead set on finding gold rich dirt to put in the wash plant once it's back up and running.

-I want to get it. -Yeah.

I'm tired of messing around.

Yeah. I know. I can see that.

Following the unsuccessful clear-out, Jack has made the executive decision to break new ground.

We thought we had a really good hole. But in 3 months we've only made three grand.

One year ago, Jack and Todd leased a claim from miner Earl Foster.

They were told that on the claim there is a buried ancient waterfall, known as a Glory Hole that could contain huge deposits of gold.

They've been looking for it ever since.

Where did you get your 400 ounces of gold.

-Right about in this area. -Right about here.

Jack believes he's now digging above Earl's glory hole.

Earl claims that 30 years ago, it yielded 400 ounces of gold, worth a staggering 500,000 dollars.

Back then, Earl didn't have the equipment to dig deep enough to reach even larger deposits.

The Hoffman's have the key to getting down further, a 400 excavator capable of going down twice as far as Earl did.

If this is it, then we're only about 20 feet from hitting really good gold.

I absolutely, totally believe it.

Jack is convinced he is in the right spot. The ground he is digging now is soft and full of tailings.

The fine material is from an old mining operation. He may have found Earl's ancient waterfall.

It's just going down real easy. It's all been dug before.

Jack makes the most of the 400's reach. He digs down under the tracks of the excavator.

But he doesn't know water from the river is seeping into the hole.

Making the soft ground under the excavator, collapse.

Jack can't see the danger.

Jack.

(sharp whistle)

But site foreman Greg Remsburg, does.

Hey hey. Get outta here.

Oh, there's a lot of water there. You got ten times that amount coming right below your track. Coming pretty quick.

Okay. Okay.

I'll get out of here right now.

With Jack and the 400 stopped in their tracks, Todd spots the underlying problem.

His dad's been digging down vertically too quickly.

You have to, make levels, you know. You gotta work your way down and make a bench, you know. Then you gotta

Get your machine down to this bench and work down and make another bench and work your way down to that bench.

I don't see any benches over here. I just see him kinda doing his thing.

The crew has an even more immediate concern.

At Porcupine Creek, an important visitor is coming to check up on the Hoffmans.

I got a phone call. Earl's coming.

Earl Foster is the owner of this mine. This is super important for us.

Earl Foster claims to have pulled a half a million dollars out of the ground at Porcupine Creek.

But Earl reckons there's a lot more here.

There's probably 15 million dollars still in the ground on Porcupine property.

And as the claim owner, he's entitled to twenty percent of any gold the Hoffman's find.

We owe him a percentage you know. And right now we've only got uh, a small little jar of gold.

-How you doing? -Hey.

Unexpectedly, Earl brings two experienced miners with him.

Hey Fred. I'm Todd.

Known as the Dakota Boys, Fred Hurt and Paul Bean worked this claim five years ago.

You guys been moving some material.

Well, you know, we're kinda just

Actually, just getting set up.

It's Earl's first visit to the mine this year. He wants to see what his twenty percent share is after 3 months of mining.

This is our accumulative amount of gold right now.

I'm not real proud of the amount.

Yeah.

Oh, I thought I'd show Earl.

That's what we got.

That represents 3 months.

With your twenty percent Earl, you're only up about 500 bucks.

There's not enough here to pay for the beans, and there's not enough to pay for the fuel, so there's not going to be any split.

We're not happy with it, but uh

That's half a days work.

You only have 40 days left.

And pretty soon one morning you go out there and all your pumps are frozen.. and you've messed up.

Aha ha.

It's not a good start to Earl's visit. As the claim owner he has the right not to renew their lease at the end of the season.

I did not realize what was going on until actually I got down here.

You know I don't know this crew that well.

I might ask them to leave. You know that's all a possibility.

Legendary mine owner Earl Foster is visiting his claim at Porcupine Creek. He's just found out how little gold the crew has mined in 3 months.

You know, I don't know this crew that well. I might ask them to leave.

You know that's all a possibility.

Jack Hoffman can't handle more disappointment. The operation is running on credit.

And their only chance is to find Earl's old glory hole. But only Earl knows if Jack is on the gold.

Earl. Could it possibly be right over here.

Earl claims to have found 400 ounces in the glory hole that Jack is hunting.

Primitive equipment, and flooding forced Earl to stop mining before he could get down to the bedrock, that he is sure holds huge deposits of gold.

Do you remember, was it to the right, or to the left.

I got a funny feeling it's just right over here.

Well, I see tailings. We've moved all these tailings out.

Wherever you're finding a lot of tailings,

Yeah.

That's where the glory hole was because the flood filled it up with, with fine material.

Absolutely. So okay. Then I, then I found it over here.

Yeah.

He just confirmed my suspicions that I was in the glory hole.

So. I'm in the right spot.

Next

Earl takes a look at the Hoffman's wash plant.

And it doesn't take him long to find a problem.

Where does your grizzly bar that they wash off the rocks?

We're washing only what comes through.

That's no good.

Steel rods called grizzly bars prevent rocks over six inches wide from entering the wash plant.

These larger rocks are currently discarded, and any gold that's stuck to them is also thrown away.

What do you think Earl?

-Got some changes to make. -Okay.

The gold sticks to those rocks.

Yeah, yeah.

If you don't wash them off, you're gonna miss.

The big rocks are taken off.

Wash them at that point.

-Yeah. -So you're washing off your rocks.

-Get, get it -When the rocks hit the grizzly they're fairly clean.

The Hoffmans have no more money to invest in the operation.

They cannot afford to find another way to wash the bigger rocks before they are thrown away.

Apart from Jack, none of the crew has mined before.

The grizzly bar mistake, and resulting lack of gold has left Earl unhappy.

I thought they were more knowledgeable about the mining industry.

They got a lot of work to do in order to get the equipment tuned up.

I'm a little uh, skeptical whether they can complete that or not.

Earl calls an emergency meeting behind closed doors, without cameras.

He has some things to talk to us about, uh. And I don't know what they are.

Out of the meeting comes a major development for the mine.

Earl wants Dakota boy Fred Hurt to become his man on the ground till the end of the season.

Earl and Fred mined together at Little Squaw Lake, in Northern Alaska.

Where Fred claims they found around 600 ounces of gold.

Earl has every reason to trust Fred.

He is somewhat disappointed.

He said "Well Fred you could probably uh,

Well, to put it politely, kinda keep a little eye on the operation.

If I decide to stay, I wouldn't say we would double our take, but nearly.

Earl leaves with Fred for the time being, but the Hoffmans will soon have a new uninvited miner at Porcupine Creek.

If he's gonna come, he's gonna be Earl's man.

I'm a little uneasy about having somebody that's not really from our inner core team.

Uh, You know. We just have to watch what we do and what we say. You know, loose lips sink ships.

With Earl gone, the crew quickly returns to work.

Todd and Greg fit the large riffles to the sluice box leaving the shaker.

The rock and everything is gonna come running over here.

And these are gonna be our riffles and we're gonna catch our gold right here.

And right here, we're gonna extend a piece of plate over Jack's nugget trap.

The new riffles replacing the nugget trap are designed to capture the coarsest gold.

If nuggets are over half an inch, this is the place in the wash plant that should catch them.

Now we have a chance to pay for some costs and hopefully get ahead.

While the crew continues with wash plant modifications, Jack gets ready to dig again, but their fuel supply is dangerously low.

I'd like to get this filled up.

When we run out of this, we have enough for one more tank. So, uh.

You have to expect the worst, and that's what I'm doing right now.

The crew's almost out of fuel. And although they've improved the wash plant, they still need to rebuild their grizzly bars.

But the Hoffmans have blown through $250,000 dollars, and their credit cards are all maxed out.

Now we're in trouble.

I may have to go down south and try to borrow some money.

I'm trying to think of what else I own, to get rid of, you know.

I got some guns and stuff like that.

In about 6 weeks, winter will shut down the Alaskan mining season. Todd has no choice but to leave the claim to raise funds.

It takes around a thousand bucks a day give or take to run the mine.

I had enough money but you know, all these different things popped up.

Heading down south. We gotta

Try to get some uh, some more money, some more funding, to keep us rolling.

He's on his way home to Oregon, to beg for cash.

Without it, he'll have to shut down the mine, and send everybody home within a week.

Here.

Todd's mission has a single focus.

He needs to persuade his little sister Alicia to give him thousands of dollars to keep the operation going.

Alicia and her brother might not have the best relationship.

I just don't know if Alicia's gonna lend him anything you know or not.

My little sister's tough, but I don't know what else to do.

You can't go this far, and experience what I've experienced this much, and not finish the friggen job.

If my little sister comes through, we're gonna make it all the way to the end.

If not, the party's over.

Todd Hoffman has left the mine at Porcupine Creek to travel home to Oregon.

(horn) Honk honk. Honk honk.

He needs to come up with thousands of dollars to keep mining for gold in Alaska.

This is the first time he's seen his wife Shawna and daughter Olivia in six long weeks.

Ooh.

It's great to be here. I've got a lot of stuff to do though.

I got to get some money from Alicia, but, at least we got a little bit of time here.

Back at the claim, the crew works on the sluice box that comes out of the trommel.

Each of these men has put everything on the line this season.

None of them will get paid, unless they find a lot of gold soon. Their only hope now lies in making key modifications.

This is we're where we're gonna catch a lot of our gold. We got to get this thing back in operation.

But if Todd doesn't get any cash, their work is in vain. And they'll be going home at the end of the week.

I can't imagine what I would do if the hope of finding gold has gone.

With the expanded metal riffles installed and ready to catch gold, the crew stays positive.

We've come up with a way to capture just about every little bit and every single part, so I think we're gonna do really well.

All we need to do is get the ground that's got the gold in it and we got it made.

100 yards from the wash plant, Jack digs benches in the glory hole so the 400 can get deeper, one step at a time.

I have to be able to get down about 20 feet, then I've got to get 20 more feet.

But I can't do anything stupid.

Jack's quest to find the glory hole could be short lived.

The 400 is running on it's last tank of fuel.

I'm going to get this hole done. If I run out of fuel, I run out of fuel.

But I gotta keep going on this thing because hopefully Todd will come up with the money. He's asking my daughter.

He didn't treat her the best when they were growing up so..

She might hold that over him. I don't know.

2000 miles south in Oregon, Todd Hoffman's big moment has arrived.

He's about to ask his sister Alicia for a lot of money. Enough to save their mining season.

Basically, this is our last chance.

If my little sister doesn't loan me the money I'm, we're probably, uh, gonna finish up this week, try to weatherize everything and we're basically done.

(Knock knock knock)

-Hey -Hey.

Ahh.

I think you know why I'm here.

Yeah. I kinda figured when I saw you at the door. I was like, yeah.

-Crap. -Crap.

That's all the gold we've gotten.

It's really, that

That's it?

So like all the mining you've been doing. Like, it's just been for nothing? It's all

Normally, I'd pack it all in, and just say hey you know.

Let's try somewhere else but we're there. We're on the gold.

Thing is, is that, it cost a lot more money than I thought to make this happen so we are actually

-It always does. -We need a bridge.

-Yeah. -It always does.

We need about $40,000 bucks, or whatever you can give us to push us at least farther.

Ah, Todd Todd. You make me

-What about, like -It makes me barf.

This has been a gift to our father, is what it is.

Pulling out the sentimental part.

Right. He's your dad too. Not just my dad.

I know, but you know what? I could..

Hey, I put friggen everything I got in to this thing.

Everything.

Todd. If you're at my house, you don't need to be grumpy with me.

It's my job to continue to dream for everybody, and everybody's

Basically looking at me. And that weight's on my shoulders.

They're my, they're my friends too.

You and dad go do these adventures and stuff and these other people like, catch your dream and then I feel

responsible just by being associated with you. And I don't

You know, I don't want to be the one who doesn't give them the money to finish off.

I, I. It's not really your. It's not your fault.

Whatever. I need a Kleenex.

-I'll be back. -Dear lord.

You're a jerk.

Ah!

Honestly, it makes me nervous.

Tomorrow, I'll give you my answer.

Okay.

The future of the mine hangs in the balance.

It's out of my hands now. I did everything that I, that I can do.

And that's all I can do. Is just do my best.

From the remote Alaskan gold claim, Porcupine Creek, Greg Remsburg calls Todd Hoffman to get an update on his attempt to borrow thousands of dollars from his sister.

I will find out soon here if uh, if we get it or not.

We're getting anxious to go up here.

If I can get the cash, we're just gonna be rolling.

He sounds good. Um. But, you know. It's not up to him.

Greg's not the only one who's nervous. Their fuel has finally run out.

With no money, all mining has come to an abrupt halt.

If he doesn't come back with the money, we're pretty much, uh , up the creek without a paddle.

I'm definitely stuck up here. Uh. We don't have any money to get home.

We're in limbo at the moment. It's a little stressful, And a little bit frustrating to uh, to get this far and not be able to just

go that much further.

24 hours ago,Todd asked his sister Alicia, for forty thousand dollars.

The future of the mine, now depends on her answer.

Uh.

Hey, Listen.

Got something for you.

Twenty five thousand.

Cool. That's huge.

Yeah. Here you go.

Don't try to cash it before midnight.

Ha ha ha,That's awesome.

Give it a good shot.

That's a lot of money.

I really appreciate it. This money. Thank you.

Alicia's decision is a big win for the rookie miners. Todd was after 40,000 dollars, but with 25, he's more than satisfied.

That's 25 days of running.

Ah. That's gonna do it. That's gonna do it. I believe that's gonna do it.

With his back against the wall, Todd has come through.

At an operating cost of about one thousand dollars per day, the Hoffmans can now cover another 25 days mining, which could keep them going to the end of the season.

I know Alicia, and if she gave Todd 25,

Holy crap. You know, I mean, that's awesome.

The crew now has the cash, but they are still one man down ever since Jimmy Dorsey stormed off the mine.

He hit him first, and we're going to the police first.

To get the gold before the end of the season, the Hoffmans are going to need all of the manpower they can get.

Chris Doumitt came to Porcupine Creek for 3 weeks to build Greg's house.

Since then, he's become essential to the team, helping clean-out the wash plant.

I think with what this thing holds, it could take you for a ride, you know.

Now the Hoffmans want him to stay till Alaska's winter forces them home.

You know. These guys are investing everything they have.

But I think they're pursuing the great American dream that we've lost sight of.

Maybe that's why I'm so excited to be here with them.

The next day, Todd calls his new team together.

Should I go get Thurb?

Yeah. Get Thurb. Let's have a big meeting.

Just when it seemed like all the crew's issues were behind them.

The Dakota boy called me, Fred, and he wants to come up.

-Really? -Yeah.

When's that gonna happen.

I actually think by time I got off the phone he was packing his bags.

Really?

Dakota Fred is returning to the claim to look after the interests of owner Earl Foster.

I want to do what's right for the owner, Earl. He wants to see this thing a real success.

If it does not begin to work, they're gonna have to listen a little bit. I didn't get all this white hair for nothing.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha

With years of mining experience and the authority of Earl Foster behind him, the crew has no say in the matter.

Hey guys. This is the new member of our team. Welcome aboard.

They'll have to deal with an outsider for the remainder of the season.

He's Earl's guy. So, we just have to watch what we do. We gotta listen to what he says.

Nice little pleasant room in here.

You know, he's gotta come in, walk softly, and quietly make suggestions.

He can't just show up and now you're the boss. It doesn't work that way.

Not, here.

Now, with 25,000 dollars in their pocket, Jack Hoffman has the fuel he needs to fire up the 400 excavator.

Now got more days. I just hope that it's enough so we can finish off the season.

Jack may have just enough time to get to the bottom of the glory hole.

I would say that 20 feet, and we're gonna hit gold. Right in that hole.

I want to be able to pay everything back.

And, he'll pay all these guys.

I want then to go home with the biggest jar of gold that they could possibly take.

While Jack gets back on his 400 excavator, Todd returns with a vital piece of equipment purchased with his sister's cash.

-What do you think? -Ha ha ha. This is cool.

An old set of wet grizzly bars that Earl Foster suggested for the shaker. The last modification needed in the wash plant.

This is a good find.

Earl pointed out that a lot of our gold is stuck to big rocks. Basically, they're going to roll down here and we'll be able to hit 'em with water.

The crew immediately modifies the new wet grizzly bars. They remove unwanted parts.

Then install the perforated pipes needed to spray water on the boulders.

One inch hose is gonna feed this 2 inch bar, and out of these holes is gonna spray the water. Be kind of like a shower.

With the fixes complete, Todd wastes no time getting the modified grizzlies into place.

This isn't easy man. This is tough stuff.

It's the first time everyone has worked together.

I'm really excited. I am ready to rock and roll.

They have their way of doing things. And they're used to doing it their way. I only give my opinion.

Dakota Fred's opinion matters. But for this task, site foreman Greg Remsburg is in charge.

We got some old rusty chains, and anything could happen. It could break. It could fall.

Coming up.

Lifting the grizzly bars takes a steady hand.

Scary. Very scary.

Todd needs to slot them carefully into brackets where bolts will hold them in place.

Okay hold.

Any wrong move, and 1500 lbs. of steel will crash into the shaker, the most important piece of equipment on the claim.

-Coming down -Okay. Hold it.

Whoa whoa. Yeah.

-Hold on. You're in one. -Got it.

One side is in, but the other is jammed.

It's stuck.

-Greg. You want to step in here. -Okay.

-A tight fit? -Yeah. Really tight.

Greg plans to widen the gap of the bracket with a crow bar, so the grizzly bar can drop into place. But it's not budging.

-Yup. -What's going on Greg? -What's happened?

Greg, Greg.

Can I try something Greg.

Experienced miner Fred is getting impatient.

-Greg, -Yes.

All you have to do is put your bucket down, and push the thing down in there.

Use the back of your bucket.

Fred suggests using the bucket of the 270 excavator to force the grizzly bars down into place.

-Hold it now. -Maybe if you shut the hell up.

I need the boom down.

Ain't nobody's communicating. Hey Greg.

Shut the hell up. We'll be there in a friggen minute.

He's not in the lead on this. And he's yelling stuff.

You don't do that.

-Where's the bigger hammer. -Hang on.

Where are you going?

Hurry up. Let's go.

When Greg doesn't listen, Fred goes directly to Todd.

Todd.

Put the back of your bucket on there.

It is not going anywhere.

Bang, bang, bang.

I know what you're saying Fred. But if I bend those things up with the back of the bucket, you're not gonna like me too much.

I'm gonna bend off those hooks and chains.

No you're not.

If they would make a little direction. They don't want to listen. Let them work away at it.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

!5 minutes of hitting the bracket doesn't work.

Todd has no option but to go with Dakota Fred's plan.

Coming down.

It's going.

The 270's bucket applies hundreds of pounds of pressure to the grizzly bars.

Easy, easy.

The intense downward force could snap off the bracket.

-So we get it.. -Whoa. Hey, Hold.

Okay.

Okay, coming down.

-Hup. Here it is. -Here it is.

Dakota Fred is proved right. This isn't the last time he'll seize control.

Todd's got his ideas.

I got my ideas.

Sometimes they gotta listen to somebody that's been there and done that.

But now, with the new improved wash plant and Jack on the gold.

We're in the hole. Now we're rocking and rolling.

Todd's convinced things are looking up for the rookie miners.

You know. It's cost us obviously more money than we thought. But hopefully now we're capturing somewhere in the 80 to 90 percent.

And that's where we need to be.

Fire it up.

If it can hold it together we can just run it all the way out till the snow comes and hopefully we'll put some money in our pockets.

Subs by Jack T