Original subtitles

Just outside the Arctic Circle, seven down on their left minors are into their second gold mining season and this time it is make or break.

If we don't make it this summer, we're back.

Deep in debt and with no jobs back home, the Hoffman crew fights to keep their dream alive.

The big one, a lot of guys and a lot of families count on us.

They've risked everything on a new claim in the northern wilderness.

That virgin ground has never been touched.

They rebuilt a broken down washland.

That should do it.

But they still have no gold.

Now they have to make up for lost time and get mining.

The clandike way.

This is a whole not a ballgame.

And in porcupine creep, the Dakota boys also race to get mining until father and son block forms.

What the hell are you doing?

At the big nugget mine, rocket, the man in charge, 16-year-old Parker Schnelle pushes his machines to the limit well.

When this thing goes down, everything goes down.

You can get down to it, you earn it.

At the quartz creek gold claim way up north in the clandike, the Hoffman crew is already 36 days into a 150-day mining season.

And finally, they start digging for gold.

Greg Remsberg is on the D8 doser.

He must clear the vegetation off of the virgin ground east of the creek before they can actually start mining.

Right off the bat.

He's in trouble.

Holy cow.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

This is great.

Oh!

We're going to go down the pound slide sideways.

It may be summer in the clandike, but this close to the Arctic circle.

The ground is frozen year round.

It's called permafrost.

And beneath it lies the clandike gold.

Thought to have been formed around a million years ago.

This layer of frozen darts close to eight feet deep, and as hard as concrete.

Beneath the permafrost, the Hoffman's hope is a pastry.

A layer of gold-rich gravel sitting right on the bedrock.

To get to the gold, they have to remove the eight foot layer of frozen dirt.

I can't get traction.

And I'm not going to be able to push any of this dirt away.

You might get up this little hill, whoa.

Problem is, the virgin ground is on a slippery slope.

I'm telling you what, this is like nothing I've ever seen.

I have absolutely no control of this machine.

I've slideed sideways.

I can't even stop.

A Todd is not me.

I'm slipping and sliding all over this place.

It's like pushing on an ice break.

Greg throws in the towel.

I think Todd overlooked a major, major detail here.

Maybe we're doing it wrong.

You know, I don't know.

I don't have all the answers, okay?

We can't get to the gold.

It's impossible.

Or weeks ago, the Hoffman crew had to leave their old claim down in Porcupine Creek.

They relocated 600 miles north to the Klandai.

Everything from this side is virgin ground.

Found it.

We've got our way of mine.

But breakdowns.

Arguments.

What's wrong with you?

And delaying.

Cost them five precious weeks of mining.

The season's short.

We want to get going as fast we can.

Running costs average $1,000 a day.

Every day they're not finding gold puts the Hoffman crew deeper in the financial hole.

Desperate to find level ground to mine.

They survey the other side of the creek.

Got the map?

Yep.

Got it.

But most of this area was mined by a gold-dredge years ago.

Look at the size of that thing.

Between 1935 and 1950.

This roving wash plant processed 7 million cubic yards of paper.

Taking out of this valley over a billion dollars worth of gold at today's prices.

It left behind giant piles of worthless rocks.

Notice tailings.

Bad news is that, man, it got a lot of the gold.

The good news is I don't think it caught it all.

Oh, he's got to find it.

The crew has to find flat ground that the dredge never reached.

You know, unfortunately the map doesn't say fine gold here.

One way to tell is if there's big spruce on the property, then the dredge didn't get there.

Let's walk down this way just to here.

That is an old dredge tailings.

Yep.

Deeper into the brush, signs of dredge tailings disappear.

I don't think it got through here.

And Todd spots another good sign.

See now up here?

This is a very old forest.

Yeah, these are all old trees.

And there's a tree that's old.

Dude, this was not mined up here.

No.

This is all virgin ground right here.

It's all burnt.

This is a lot of ground.

The icy slope east of Courts Creek has proven too steep for the d8.

Todd now plans to min the flat ground west of the creek,

just off the path of the old dredge.

He thinks that the mature trees indicate that the dredge never mined this area.

With time running out on the season, Todd has few options.

This is all flat.

This will be a lot easier to mine.

I don't think the permorfrost is bad over here, but we'll find out.

600 miles south at Porcupine Creek.

Dakota Fred is the new boss.

Well, beautiful day in the last.

Absolutely.

We're just starting brand new.

We've taken all this crap out of here.

When Fred bought the Porcupine clean,

he brought in his own crew.

Get that thing out of here.

He tore down the washplant they used to separate the gold from the dirt.

Five weeks into the short Alaskan mining season.

Fred's got no way of washing dirt.

Yet.

Today, he inspects a piece of equipment that may just buy him back the time he's lost.

This is our secret weapon.

This thing is a DRocker.

It'll handle big old rocks that other plant they had up there,

which is just too wimpy.

This is the Lamborghini of washplants.

The DRocker will replace the Hoffman's old shaker in trouble.

Gold bearing rocks and dirt will drop onto the DRockers

undulating deck.

High pressure water jets will then wash off the gold bearing material.

The gold and fine dirt will fall through gaps in the moving deck.

The washed rocks will fall off the end of the DRocker.

Leaving gold deposits in the sluice boxes.

The DRocker is designed to handle much larger rocks

and process up to four times as much dirt as the Hoffman's wash plant last year.

Excellent.

Parker and you Hoffman boys up in the Yukon?

Yep, look out.

Fred paid nearly $30,000 for the DRocker.

Three weeks ago, it was in pieces, but now it's ready to be put to the test.

I'm home.

I completely together, isn't it?

Should've hit it with a hammer or something.

Fred's already ripped out the Hoffman's old wash plant.

If he can't get the DRocker running, he'll be out of luck this season.

Yeah.

Yeah.

On the road to the big nugget claim,

another minor up to the ante.

16-year-old Parker snubble is sinking $10,000 a month into a turbocharged intercooled

825 C dump truck to make his operation far more efficient.

Half of the guys I've seen come up to Porcupine, you know, aren't there the next year

and the Hoffmans are a perfect example.

A month ago, Parker took over the big nugget mine from his 91-year-old grandfather.

Thanks, Grandpa.

He has already found 10 ounces of gold worth around $16,000.

That's not bad.

But he needs at least seven times that to keep the mine from going bust.

But first, 16-year-old Parker has to drive his new dump truck onto his mine.

No license.

I don't know if you need one.

I hope not.

Parker quickly bottoms out the $40,000 truck.

What happened?

It's a little higher than we thought, but I think everything's fine.

That's why that's there.

Hit it on stuff.

With its 50,000 pound payload, this truck could be a game changer.

With the old dump truck, you had one man working all day to all enough dirt to run the plant.

With this truck, that'll cut that time in half.

Up ahead.

Yeah, ready.

The Dakota Boy's mine season hangs in the belt.

Parker's rush for gold runs to a halt.

And the huffins get the skits.

I'm trying to put a good face on it.

I don't have much traction.

Let's be off with you.

I'm a little bit nervous right now.

Wow.

In the Klandite, the Huffman crew is already 37 days into the short mining season,

desperate to make up lost time.

They turn strips the new flat ground west of Port's Creek.

There you're getting through it over there, Dave.

But eight feet of frozen dirt stand between the Huffins and any going.

What we're doing right now is we're stripping the top layer of ground up.

You didn't see this before, keep fighting.

We're trying to get down to our playground walls.

The day's got to keep pushing this section, pushing it off, pushing it off.

They're the five-wide between the head and the head and the head.

And run it effectively.

The DA does her burns a thousand dollars of diesel a day.

The Huffman crew has no idea how long it will take to reach the pay gravel.

Or even how much gold will be in it.

My gut's tell me, we've been this area of virgin ground here.

We're going to get 200 ounces.

And I think it's going to produce down on the pay gravel somewhere out.

30 to 50 bucks a yard.

If Todd's right, he's standing on around $320,000 worth of gold.

Todd's dad, Jack Hoffman, is driving 600 miles south on his way to Port Kipain Creek.

His old mine.

The Hoffman crew left behind a generator plant when Dakota Fred took ownership of the claim.

Now Fred wants the plant off his land.

I've got a time frame that I've got to be out of there by with that jam plant.

That end right.

But that's pretty typical Fred, you know.

The first thing Jack sees when he pulls in is his old wash plant in pieces.

I thought he'd be running.

Looks more like he just kind of took it all apart.

The Hoffman sold their old working wash plant to Dakota Fred.

They spent all last season building and dialing in their plant.

And just a month ago, right before Fred took over the claim, it was finally producing good gold.

We're going to have as much out of this one cleaner as we had all season.

Fred's new DRocker has an arrived yet.

And until it does, the Dakota boys can't run dirt.

I hate to say this, but I don't think you're going to get any gold.

There she is.

Fred's already offered the Hoffman's $10,000 for the gin plant.

The way she came out.

But Jack wants more.

Well, what were you thinking?

The absolute bottom dollar is 15.

Wow.

There's no way we can go there.

I mean, that's just way out of line.

When you're taking it out, I don't know exactly for sure.

Last year, Fred worked for Jack.

Now, they're bitter rivals.

It just kind of tells me that maybe he's a cheap skate.

As Jack leaves, Fred proposes a wager.

I'm going to mind more gold in one week than you get all year.

100 bucks.

As I mind more than you do in one day.

You've got it on.

All right.

More gold in one day than I get all season.

Well, I guess if I have a stroke and die, it's possible.

Otherwise, he ain't got a snowball's chance in hell.

It's basically war.

Jack visits his old neighbor, Parker Snuggle, to see if he wants the gin plant.

Jack, how are you, Parker?

How are you, bud?

What are you doing in these lifts?

I came up to take care of some business.

And I thought I'd come down and talk to you about the gin plant.

All right.

Yeah.

So, we are interested in that.

What are you thinking about?

You have some idea.

Rather, messing around with it, I'll do that with you.

All right.

Got ourselves a deal.

Jack refused Fred's $10,000 offer, but jumps on Parker's.

So, what do you think?

What's your prediction on Fred?

If they don't get a plant and get it up, he won't be doing anything.

I hope he does okay.

Yeah, right.

I can better get back to work.

He shouldn't be worried.

You're running.

You're the only guy running.

With 10 grand in his pocket, Jack begins the 11-hour drive back up to court's creep.

Fred was offered me 10, but Fred hadn't done anything for.

Other than Stamison, the back and so on.

I just decided, you know, I'll give it to Parker for the same price.

For the savvy Parker, the gin plant is just another way to make a buck.

I'll sell it for $12,000 pocket in the two grand and take the $1500 worth of fuel.

So, that was easy.

In their heyday, gold dredges collected an average of 200 ounces of gold every day,

worth around $320,000 at today's prices.

But on one day, in 1926, a single dredge hauled in a staggering 800 ounces of gold,

worth almost $1.3 million today.

South East Alaska.

The big nugget mine, 40 days into the 150-day mining season.

Parker shnobles way ahead of the Hoffman crew and the Dakota boys.

There we go.

So far this season, his wash plant has produced 10 ounces of gold, worth around $16,000.

His new dump truck allows Parker to carry twice as much paider to the wash plan,

but to fill it.

He pushes his excavator to the limit.

Rock it.

Oops.

There goes a panel.

He's got to be hitting me.

There's hydraulic fluid flying everywhere.

I don't know what happened, but I could smell it.

Well, that's not good.

Boy, that's a long push.

When this thing goes down, and that's we have dirt at the plant, everything goes down.

Without a constant supply of peter,

the mine shuts down.

Parker needs a new hose fast.

It's too thick to be made in town.

You think we might have one laying around?

Something like that.

I don't think so.

Yeah, you're having a bad time, Parker.

I feel sympathy for you.

What are you guys doing?

Parker's under pressure to save his grandfather's mine.

He must find at least 75 ounces of gold worth around $120,000.

600 miles north.

The Hoffman crew has finally cleared trees to expose the frozen ground beneath.

Between the Hoffman's and the gold is a thick layer of rock hard permafrost.

That permafrost is pretty tough stuff.

He plans to use the dozers' ripper to penetrate the ice.

He needs to break it up.

Then push it away.

But no one knows if the DA dozer is up to the task.

Back in the offseason, Todd was outbid on a more powerful D9 dozer.

Only could find was a smaller DA.

This is a lot lighter machine.

It's got less horsepower.

This is a better ratio than the D9 inch.

Garen key.

All right, now we'll take it.

Great good.

Now the crew finds out if the $37,000 DA can do the job.

Dude, she's ripping it good.

We've got gold penetrations with my ripper.

That's good.

I got good traction.

But Todd's slipping on top of it, that was good.

That is a big freaking chunk of ice.

The ripper works.

But no one knows for sure if there is any gold under the ice.

I think there's gold under there, to matter how much.

All through this valley, it looks like all the miners are finding gold,

so hopefully we're sitting on the right spot.

Day 41.

At Parkipine Creek, the Dakota Boys face their own moment of truth.

The long time coming is seem like forever.

We'll be mining by the end of next week.

Dakota Fred dropped almost $30,000 on this DRock.

All right, through there.

Are the secret weapons here now, and we're going to put it in the action?

The DRocker is replacing the Huffman's old wash plan.

What do with those half inch chains together?

If, father and son can safely get it off the trailer.

We're just going to try to drag it off the end and set it down.

Turn around, pick up the other end and drive out from underneath it.

Hopefully this works.

But the trailer is only an inch wider than the base of the DRocker.

Yeah, it looks good.

The biggest problem may be that it might shift off of the trailer

and fall to the left or right.

Dustin has to rig the chains just right.

Oh, why are we pulling on that?

But Fred is in the driver's seat.

What?

Where would you pull from, Fred?

Those eyes on the side.

You know you can't lift on that direction, right?

You can't lift it off.

You're going to pick it up?

A little.

You can't do that with those shackles at that angle.

We're not pulling up on them.

You're not going to lift it up at all.

At the angle, those who are out.

We're pulling straight.

Fred's the boss, and I'm just a lackey, but at the same time,

I got just as much time invested in this thing as he does.

The DRocker weighs around 35,000 pounds.

It's white, what the excavator is designed to lift.

Dustin, get back with it.

Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know if I could be able to pick it up.

Yeah, nice and slow.

I just about to give up on it when it lands loose.

It's starting to come now.

Reset your fenders.

One small slip now, and the Dakota boys will not just be out $30,000.

Their mining season will be over before it begins.

The Huffman crew has spent four days ripping Permafrost and pushing dirt.

Eight feet below the surface.

They hope to find hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gold.

Right now, about four feet deep, we've got to get down to the gravels.

That's where the gold should start.

Jack Hoffman returns from seeing Dakota Fred in Porcupine Creek.

Yeah, I don't know where the Fred's got a screw loose or what.

He says, here's the deal.

I'm going to get more gold in one week than you get in all season.

I'm leaving it up to you.

Fred gets more than 30 or 40 ounces of summer.

I'll be surprised.

You know what?

We will have a clean out.

In one day, there'll be more than Fred gets for this whole season.

I'll guarantee that.

Back in southeast Alaska.

Fred's crew has a chance to pull ahead of the Huffmans,

if they can safely unload their DRock.

Oh, I cannot lift that thing.

I'll try it, but we're ready.

Hurry in right there.

I'm going to pick up and check the weight off the front end.

Paul is going to drive out from under it.

I think.

Well, I got to do it.

You're told in a little weight.

I just don't want that changing card on the trailer.

How's that?

Easy.

Good.

I got a hole in it.

The DRockers in place.

The Dakota boys are finally close to mining.

I think it was necessary for Jack to know what kind of equipment we were working with.

We had a couple of particles of gold falling in that little magic box

and they're transformed and something in my pocket.

It's all crazy.

We're all crazy.

Across the creek at the big nugget mine,

Parker's still waiting on the new hose he's ordered for his excavator.

I got to figure out something to do.

There's not much I can do without an excavator.

I can't believe it.

Ten ounces.

Ten ounces of gold is worth around $16,000.

Parker needs at least 75 ounces this season

for the mine to turn a profit.

Back over at Porcupine Creek,

Dakota Fred pushes Dustin to dial in the sluice boxes on their new wash plan.

It's laid down.

Good job, Fred.

Get out of the way.

All right.

These sluice boxes are basically the thing what catches our gold.

You can wash rocks all day,

but you don't have your trap set properly.

The gold just goes right back out with the material.

From the DRocker, the fine material containing the gold

will wash out into the sluice boxes below.

If the angle of the sluice boxes is set correctly,

the heavy gold is trapped by the ripples.

Set the angle to steep,

and the gold washes right out.

But the pressure to get mining.

Move it big rock down here you through.

To is taking its toll.

I'm getting hungry.

Back breaking labor without any sign of gold

is pushing Dustin over the edge.

My finite situation is not looking good.

I'm tapped out completely,

and I need to see some gold in order to keep my bills running.

Just to be able to pay my bills.

This isn't like a nine to five job.

I've been working 10 to 12 hours a day,

and I haven't seen a pen here for over a month.

And it just simply hasn't paid a single dime.

So we have two spots to pick up the tailings.

It's not going to work any other way.

That sounds ridiculous to me.

I just paid the last 45 minutes half hour level

and it's out for it to go in there,

and still don't think I know where it goes.

That's some funny shit.

The closer they get to the gold,

the harder Fred pushes his son.

Dustin, talk, I can walk in here.

Just **** up. That's **** up.

Dustin snaps.

I'm just exhausted.

I've been pushed.

Dude is kind of stuff.

Work with Fred.

And you're going to go a little nons.

Fred doesn't mean it,

but where he is can just piss a person off sometimes.

I love him the death.

Sometimes he can get to you.

When you ask me a question, you go,

what the hell you're doing?

That **** starts **** wearing on me.

You need to stop that ****.

But you're pissed off about everything I say.

You get all been out of shape before I say a word.

I am not being condescending.

I apologize if it sounds like it is.

What the hell you're doing?

That does not sound like condescending bull **** to you?

What the ****?

You would like me to talk to you like that all the time.

Just hours from running dirt.

Dustin walks off the claim.

At Porcupine Creek in Southeast Alaska,

it's now day 42 of the 150 day mining season.

Work on the claim has come to a standstill.

After a fight with his father,

Dustin left the mine and headed to Haynes,

30 miles away.

Following morning, he's back.

I did a lot of thinking last night.

I had time to myself.

I had clean sheets for the first time in a long time.

I had a shower in a bathtub.

Came a lot of time to think.

Their new DRocker is nearly ready,

but Fred can't run it alone.

After four weeks in the wilderness together,

Dustin confronts his father.

So, I'm sorry about yesterday, friend.

Why?

I snapped.

I'm sorry for that.

You didn't deserve that.

I wish I could take it back.

I'll be a bit more careful now.

Well, it's not even that high.

I should have handled it better.

So, I love you.

I love you too.

We got a big, big project out here.

Yeah, I know.

It's getting me too.

Good to see you back.

Good to be back.

The Dakota boys are united in their search for gold.

For now.

Thirty miles away at Haynes Airport.

Parker meets an important flight out of Juno, Alaska.

I'm waiting for the hose.

That's supposed to be honest, plan.

I don't see it.

But it's here.

It's gotta be here.

There we go.

Come on.

With a new hose for his crippled excavator,

he races to make up for lost time.

I'm the digson dirt.

Oh, that rock out of here.

The big nugget mine is back in operation.

North in the clondike, the Hoffman's worked a land near an old gold dredge.

They've cleared an area the size of a football field,

and with nearly a third of the mining season already over,

they're hoping they're finally just inches from Paderd.

This is where our gold's going to start showing up as in.

Just below that,

should be in this sandy stuff.

The claim owner's father, Marlon McNeil, arrives on the claim.

Tell us what have you been doing here.

McNeil has seen millions made from mining in this valley,

and knows where to dig, and where not to.

I wanted to take a look.

I just a little bit concerned about that.

Last week Todd scoped out flat ground,

he was sure the dredge missed 60 years ago.

This was not mined up here.

This is all virgin ground right there.

This whole section right here.

He spent five precious days of the short mining season,

and thousands in fuel clearing the land he thinks is rich in gold.

My guts tell me, within this area virgin ground here,

we're going to get 200 ounces.

But Marlon McNeil is about to blow a hole up Todd's theory.

What do you say?

No, that's been dredged.

They did go across it. The evidence is here.

McNeil is clear. The old dredge did work this section west of the creek.

There's precious little gold left in the ground.

They've worked so hard to clear.

There was big trees growing out of it.

That's the reason we...

Well, that had plenty of time for trees to grow out of it

long after the dredge.

See the dredge shut down here in the early 50s.

Oh, was it?

Well, there were some spruce trees in there.

They grow fast.

They grow pretty fast.

Those could be 60-year-old trees.

But you're saying don't even bother with that.

Yeah.

Todd stumbles on an old dredge cable.

Confirming the terrible truth.

Here is a great big football field.

It's all stripped and ready to go with no goal.

I'm trying to put a good face on it.

But to be honest with you, I'm a little bit nervous right now.

With almost a third of their maker-break season behind them,

the Hoffman crew has not found a single flick of gold.

At court's creek, a Hoffman crew is six weeks into their second mining season.

They just wasted five days clearing ground that was dredged 60 years ago.

Now, they've no choice but to return to the icy hillside east of the creek.

There's the hammer cross.

Open dead kick by fire.

Just a week ago, Greg Remsberg got a wild ride on the DA.

Holy cow, as he tried to clear the vegetation from this slippery slope.

This time, the crew's most experienced operator, Dave Turret, is in the driver's seat.

We've practiced that side.

I don't like practicing. I like playing in the real game.

It's really tricky over here.

Do you see that thing spin right there?

Yeah, sitting on top of that permafrost.

It's like dang ice skating right there.

Dave needs to remove eight feet of dirt to reach the pay gravels.

If he can't get a grip on the virgin ground,

the huffman crew may just be out of options.

600 miles south at Porcupine Creek.

The Dakota boys are much closer to finding gold.

They're ready to test their new wash plant, the DRocker.

To power the water through the plant, Fred spent $20,000 on a six inch pump,

capable of propelling 1200 gallons a minute.

Battery hook rack.

Fuel. Oil.

Let's see what you got.

We got water, Fred.

Looks good from out here.

Oh man, that's a lot of damn water.

Wow.

Damn, Fred, is this supposed to have this much water in it?

All right.

Getting their new DRocker up and running,

nearly pushed father and son to breaking point.

But now, 43 days in, they're finally ready to mind gold.

I'm dirty, I'm tired, I've been working for 14 hours,

and I couldn't feel better.

All right.

We did good. We got it working.

Yeah, go on.

I fell in it nice.

Neighbor Parker Schnaubner stops by to check out the DRocker in action.

It's worth it.

He's the only miner to have found gold so far this season.

He already has 10 ounces.

He's ahead, but the Dakota boys are right behind it.

Yeah, I guess now the race is really on.

That's time to get serious.

Looks like Niagara Falls.

There you go.

It's a material in that way.

Come on.

At court's creek, up in the Klandai, Dave Turin fights for grip on the icy slope.

I'm on the firmer cross now.

See the way it starts slight.

I don't have much traction.

See there.

Figure it calling it a day or what?

If Dave can't find a way to clear this virgin ground,

the Hoffman dream dies here.

Can you drive through there?

I'll keep trying.

We've got to have somewhat of a plan.

Yeah, we do.

Dave improvises.

I think the key to run an ad-deate on this firmer frost is to rip it first.

But ripping here on this icy slope is high-risk.

Because of the angle of the slick slope,

the D8 has no traction.

Dave decides to first use the ripper to break the permafrost into chunks.

Then he will attempt to get a grip on the broken surface.

But he has to penetrate the ground with the ripper

without toppling the 84,000 pound dozer.

Big challenge.

Huge.

I'm up for it.

I've overcome bigger obstacles than that.

We're going to kick ourselves in the butt and take it up another level.

This is not an easy game.

The Hoffman crew's gold mining season rests on Dave's ability to maneuver the D8 dozer.

Go, here we go.

Good luck, Dave.

Good luck.

Thank you, Bob.

Dave punches the ripper into the dirt.

A medium that he's in trouble.

I've got a ripper just to make sure I keep the traction.

Otherwise, it's just like I'm skating.

I just sit there and spin.

This is a whole nother ball game.

I've got something that I can get some traction on.

He seems to be able to really dig in it.

You can see it break and jump.

Dave has the D8 firing on all cylinders.

The Hoffman crew now has a chance to turn their season around.

You earn it, man.

If you get down to it, you earn it.

But they still don't know if this ground is rich and gold.

Go, go, go, go.

For now, they can only rip, strip and pull.