Original subtitles

Last spring, seven down on their luck miners return to the frozen north.

Let's rock and roll.

To hunt for gold.

Let's head back on!

The hopman crew was heading for failure once again.

A three-blut, sweat and tears.

The crew ducked deep.

And pulled game-changing gold from the Klondike Dirt.

Holy smokes, let's get it.

And a half out of this, guys.

Now, for the first time in two long seasons,

the hopman crew has a chance to turn a real profit

and become legitimate bullsmen.

Hey, you know what? This is not a game.

The question is, can they do it?

Stop.

Right there.

The season's over.

Down south at Porcupine Creek,

the Dakota Boys just may have hit the jackpot

in the nick of time.

Just act with gold.

And across the creek,

17-year-old Parker Schnabel has one more chance

to seek the big nugget line.

There's nothing in this dirt.

I don't know what the line will do.

Up at Court's Creek in the Klondike.

It's the end of September.

The other miners have packed up for winter

and are long gone.

To turn a profit for the first time in two seasons,

the hopman crew desperately needs new painter.

But winter is tightening its grip.

Here's his frozen heart as a rock.

But I want to get to that hundred ounce mark.

Well, they're going to know until dry.

That's right.

To that or pack up and go home,

I'm not quite ready to do that yet.

With the last four months,

the hopman crew has fought to strip gold rich pay gravel

from their plane.

This is a whole nother ball game.

After clearing over 13,000 yards in Cut 1,

they stripped another 8,000 yards in Cut 2.

That's the Cut 2 right here in a pile.

The first two cuts produced 81 and a half ounces of gold

worth 130,000 dollars.

Now, Cut 3 is their only chance of hitting their 100 ounce gold.

But the ground is rock solid.

Dave, get us fricking at least two or 300 yards dirt out here.

That'll put us over the top.

You're going to give it a best try.

Leave it all on the field.

I keep it a best try.

We're going to do 300.

It's cold.

The ground is frozen.

Give me fricking 300 yards out here.

Come on.

Look at this.

I can only do what I can do.

Minutes solid.

I mean, if the gold is there, I'll do it.

I'll hit you a couple of yards.

Okay.

Okay, to push it.

You went this far.

Look at what you do with that thing.

300 more yards.

You're going to do what you can do.

I mean, I can't push it.

I don't care.

I'll push that those are doing its limit then.

You do it.

You do it.

You're equipment.

Do your best.

Okay.

Your gold mine is about pushing and, uh, overcoming.

You know, either love it or you, or you just kind of,

you want to get out of here.

Some of my guys want to get out of here.

The Hoffman crew has beaten the odds this season.

Covering their running costs.

But this year, the crew is dead set on making real money.

If they can, they will prove themselves as gold mines.

Get to 100 out of this means just as much to me as everybody else.

You might even be more to me.

Oh.

I just don't like the idea.

This little doser.

I mean, I'm just letting that track roll man.

But Todd said he wanted gravel out of here.

So I'm doing the best I can.

Still doser is designed to push.

Stir.

Ground like.

Solid eyes.

Oh.

Hey.

Man, it's done.

I knew it.

Gosh.

Dang it.

Get out of the way.

Hey, you know what?

This is not a game.

This is not a game.

I just destroyed a $60,000 piece of machinery.

I'm not playing any games.

Just back off.

But leave me alone.

We're done, Farber.

Sit.

What happened?

I told you I can't take the doser to failure like that.

It's done.

I blew a seal.

Stop right there.

Come here, buddy.

I'm not going to get to 100.

We can't get to it.

No, stop.

Hey, calm down.

Calm down, Dave.

Seal went out, Todd.

I was baby and his best I can.

We're done.

We'll figure out how to get that pay up there and run it.

And we'll just try it.

We'll see.

Whatever we get, we get.

You know what?

We get 90.

Go for it.

We get 90.

And that's what it is.

You know, I said it was done.

Good luck.

Hey.

Hey, come here.

Take the season's over.

Dave.

Get back here.

South at Porcupine Creek.

The Dakota boys are also hunting their last gold of the season.

Soon, the Alaskan winter will force them out.

You ready to go this morning?

Let's go get it done.

Let's get it fired up.

It's been one week since their last delivery of fuel.

I'm a bit empty there.

Yeah, it's a little close.

Definitely a little close.

All right.

We're right at the end now.

That's probably got enough for about a day or two.

And that's about it.

I just don't have the cash to buy another tank of fuel.

We're down to the wire right now.

We're down to the wire.

Over the last three weeks, the Dakota boys have been pulling great bedrock dirt from the bottom of their 80 foot pit.

There's gold dripping off that stuff.

So don't spell a drop of it.

They found 68.2 ounces this season worth nearly $110,000.

The last clean out of gray dirt yielded almost 18 ounces.

$28,000 were in just two days of running.

The Dakota boys need to run as much of this gray dirt as possible.

Like the Hoffman, they have covered their costs.

And now they want something to show for their long hard season.

But time is not on their side.

All right.

For another day or two here, we have to try and watch that fuel real close.

See how much gold we can get out in the ground.

And let's show it time that we have.

Well, again, getting in the sub-footstop now.

I definitely great material folks.

That is definitely great material.

All right.

That's what I want to see.

Hey, dust.

Check this out.

Uh, something's a padding is changing here.

See that gray stuff?

Down at the end of the water line, way down there.

It's gone from 4 feet above that water down there to about 8 feet above that water.

So just 4 feet, that probably means that the bedrock also makes a bend right there.

My thoughts exactly.

Brett believes the gray material at Porcupine Creek sits on bedrock.

If this material is rising, so is the bedrock under the 270 excavator.

Fred could be on top of an ancient waterfall.

And potentially millions of dollars in gold trapped in the pit,

or glory hole at the bottom.

You know what, I think we might be close to that waterfall.

There you go right here.

There I say glory hole.

Last season, Jack and Todd spend five months trying to get

down to the glory hole at Porcupine Creek.

Now, Fred's seeing signs that he's very close.

This is the rock.

It's kind of a blue green looking.

When you see that, you know it's associated with gold here.

But the Dakota boys are almost out of time.

And these, to get to the glory hole goal.

I'm just going to sit here and dig the rest of this stuff tonight.

Wash it and rock, young man.

Sounds good to me.

Winter is closing in on the Alaskan Goldfields.

At the big nugget mine,

Harper Schnubbel's father Roger is digging 50 feet down in a test hole

near the top of Smith Creek Hill.

It's nice time I got here to help out.

So far, Parker is only found 34 ounces of gold worth around $55,000.

He has to find a new pastry before the season ends

to save the big nugget mine.

His 91-year-old Grand Pod John is checking on progress.

Hey boss, nice to see you up here.

I hope so.

This dirt is kind of 15 feet below the last test that we took.

This is probably the last few buckets we'll take out of Smith Creek this season.

After Grand Pod John's heart attack, Parker once again took over control of the mine.

The real priorities to find out what's at Smith Creek.

I'll find out what's up here.

He's in the same hole on Smith Creek Hill.

But struck out.

Now, he's digging even deeper in the same test hole.

If there's gold on Smith Creek, he thinks it lies close to Bitrock.

It seems like it's digging a little bit tougher than it was before.

Can you feel it?

They're growing closer.

Dad, are you starting to hit innocent boulders?

It's mostly clay, I think.

This stuff, like it's clay in rocks.

It's like there's a big rock in it.

And I don't think that we've seen any of that before.

Okay.

We're just going to throw it all away though, right?

No.

Or are you going to take this?

To the plant.

Pardon me?

I'll talk to you for a second.

Roger is part owner of the mine.

He's not impressed by Parker's plan to run clay-rich material.

Parker has lost $35,000 already this season.

His dad doesn't want to throw good money after bad.

I'm concerned because Parker's not finding any color where we're at.

You have to ask yourself, is all this for not.

Parker's spending a lot of money of yours to try to find gold.

When you start committing yourself to that kind of an expense,

you have to do it on the faith that you're going to find a pretty good chunk of gold down there.

That's pretty deep hole.

It just doesn't make sense that it's just like unending.

Right.

It just, I can't help but think that at some point we have to find the bottom.

Roger Schnubble doesn't want to dig any deeper.

Without proof there's gold on Smith Creek.

That's got me nervous.

Definitely.

About running out of money running out of time.

It's just Smith Creek's been something that we've talked about for years.

We have to figure out what's up here.

Parker takes fresh dirt from over 50 feet deep in the test hole down to the wash plan.

The future of big nugget rests on this one final cleaner.

Up at Quartz Creek in the Klandai.

Todd and mechanic James Harness inspect the broken D8 doser that Dave Turen stranded in Cut 3.

Now crap.

He thinks the seal blew in this piston that holds the track tight.

That should be all the way out.

I know.

Will you be able to tell by looking in there?

Maybe.

Oh man, this is not good.

Everything's gone.

Internally the piston is lost the oil because the seal went out.

It's got to come apart.

This thing's wasted and there's nothing we can do.

Come on, we were right here for the winter.

Alright, thanks James.

Sorry man.

A seal has split inside the piston that tightens the doser's track,

rendering the D8 useless.

With only days left in their season,

James's diagnosis is a worst case scenario.

We may have to replace the whole undercarriage on that thing.

It's a huge job.

It's not feasible to even try.

It's done.

Dad!

Those were dead.

I'm out of material with the plant and not to.

I don't believe it.

Well, believe it.

Well, there's absolutely no more band aids.

Nothing we can do.

Oh crap.

Sorry, Dad.

You gotta have a pair of balls, you know?

That's it.

I just wanted to tell you.

Okay.

The Huffman crew wants to make a profit for the first time

and leave Courts Creek as successful gold miners.

Jack isn't ready to go home just yet.

Sometimes you have to just do it yourself.

Be quiet, you're quiet, you know, but I don't like that.

I don't accept it.

I did take that very good.

You know what?

He wants to go over there and dig me some pager.

Hey, tell if you can get it, I'll run it.

Everybody is a good keep trying.

Don't make it.

But if they quit, they can't make it.

I know where the brick and gold is.

We get a couple ounces out of this.

Push it over to the hundreds.

I can see the gold sparkling in a jack.

I hope so.

And a point road that I broke it up and passed I can.

We'll find out.

Okay, Todd, I'm coming with the first bucket off the country.

Reaching their 100 ounce gold will confirm this crew as gold miners.

Jack works hard to scrape up over 300 yards of pay grab.

Chris stockpiles it at the wash plan ready to run.

But after two hours, even Jack and his beloved 400 can dig no further.

Yeah, I think that's it.

That's too close.

We did our best.

Maybe just that little bit.

We ran out of here.

It's got our, enough balances to put us over the 100 bark.

I hope so.

Fort Gipin Creek, southeast Alaska.

After 12 hours, the Dakota boys are still running material through their deraille.

They're in a race against the Alaskan winter.

I do an air dusting.

Doing good.

It got real dark out in, isn't it?

With every scoop, Fred gets closer to the gloryhold

that a loop of Jack Huffman last season.

Woo!

Man, that's the hard part.

Yeah.

Horse graduates is trying to get one bucket of material out of there.

They've freed the pump stuff.

Pumping right now.

On the DRocker.

Just check the canal.

We probably ran out of water.

Negative.

I can see the canal.

It's full of water.

Oh, crap.

Engine is running.

Engine is running.

I'll be right there.

The pump is spewing water.

No water is making it to the wash plan.

Oh.

Looks like we've busted a seal, Fred.

Holy cow.

Look at all the palm water.

You're leaking like a seal.

Some of the f***.

I mean, that is a critical piece of equipment right there.

Well, they can't fix a seal out here.

No damn way.

You've got to separate the pump and the motor.

Come on.

We can't get any parts to fix this.

I could probably fix it, but we talking for maybe five days.

Especially out here in the field.

So you think this is the end?

I don't know what else to say.

Well, that's the end of the season.

This water looks like.

I really hate to tell you that.

Well.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but.

I'm sorry.

There's no quick fix in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness.

Fred is out of time.

Winter is about to freeze, porcupine creek.

The busted pumps signals the end.

Just as the Dakota boys were finally close to discovering porcupine creeks glory hole

and potentially millions in gold.

To shut down right now, just really is a let down.

We got into some really good stuff.

They could have been pots of gold in there.

We're going to just think about it all.

Win the law.

Less than a mile away at the big nugget mine.

Parker has stock filed the dirt.

His father Roger dug up on Smith Creek Hill.

There's just 16 yards of material to run through the wash plan.

I'm nervous. This is last task.

This afternoon, I'm going to talk to my dad and grandpa about Smith Creek.

And if there's nothing in this dirt, I don't know what the line will do.

I'm scared.

Gary Grogan fires up the wash plan.

It's the first time Parker has run clay-rich ground this season.

Gary pushes hard to keep the wash plan running smoothly.

The clay sticks together really tight.

You can see how to get the dirt filled up on the pan.

It'll probably stay like this in the whole run.

Because I was looking at the material and brought down.

It's got a lot of clay mixed in with this.

The final test of Smith Creek dirt last just 45 minutes.

We're done.

Beautiful. Gary works water into the dirt.

Only the heaviest material, including any gold, should stay in the sluice pan.

The whole future of the mine rests on this final material bearing gold.

We don't see a thing yet.

It doesn't look like there's anything at it.

If there's more than half an ounce, we probably would know by now.

It's too bad about this.

Yeah.

Depressing.

In confusing.

Yeah.

That's down 35 feet.

We haven't hit bedrock yet.

I don't know.

I don't think there would be some gold in it.

I don't know what it means.

Right.

But there's still one area of the wash plant.

Parker hasn't cleaned out.

What the f***?

Actually something right here.

This is the little suits.

It's fed out of the jig.

Wow.

There's quite a bit in here.

Gary.

That's...

Wow.

That's, like, not bad at all.

That's not bad at all.

You know, the way that clay packed into the pan and in the shoe.

That might have some to do with it.

The clay in the test material clogged up the pan.

The key gold catching area on Parker's wash plant.

This forced gold and black sand to wash over the top of the clay and down through the duplex jig.

Where it was caught in the jig's sluice box.

That's definitely a big change.

And everything was clean.

So that's how it today.

That's how it today.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well then...

Well, we've got some big news.

Yeah.

After months of failure.

Park has finally found gold on Smith Creek Hill.

There's gold out there.

And I'm willing to bet my next summer on this dig.

I mean, this could secure the future of the mine.

At Court's Creek in the Klandai, the Hoffman crew is running the 300 yards of frozen

Peter Jack Scrape from Cut 3.

It's their last chance to find 100 ounces of gold.

A gold that will prove this crew as profitable miners.

The basket is good, guys.

Coming down to the wire.

Hey, plants looking good.

Got a few iceballs coming through.

Not some two large yet.

That's tough.

Keep an eye on our butt.

Here you got it.

Safety officer Jimmy Thurber sees chunks of frozen ground in the dirt.

That could cripple the wash plant.

But Todd still has 50 yards of cup 3-pater to run.

If I pulled up, I found short on the sand.

So everything.

I got to run everything.

Iceballs, basketballs, dirt balls, they're all going in here.

I don't want to have any regrets going to go home.

Look at the size of that iceball.

That's big.

Coming up the end.

Oh, no way.

The ice chunks pass through.

With any gold, still stuck inside.

A lot of money right there in those iceball.

Yeah.

Yeah, I didn't take too many of these things to make it out.

The last bug right here.

Shut it down.

How's it look, Thurber?

Every last grain of gold this season is in the wash plant's ripples.

Hey, the beauty.

Right there.

That's gold.

Lug it up.

Wow.

Oh, the cut 3 dirt just might hold enough gold to get the crew to their 100-ounce gold.

That one's full.

That one's full.

That one's full.

That one's full.

That one's full.

That one's full.

That one.

That one.

That one.

That one.

There.

There.

All of there.

There's gold in that one.

Real heavy.

I would say that this far down.

That's the best we've seen so far.

The Hoffman's need 18.5 ounces from this final cleanup.

If they can get enough gold to actually make money,

these men will have finally proved themselves as gold miners.

I'd really like to say 100 ounces.

Ballinate everything that we've done here.

I could hold my head high when I go home.

Down in Alaska.

The big nugget mine is shut down.

Three generations of shnubbles meet to decide the future of the mine.

This is what we got off the pan this morning.

It almost was.

And then I went down below the jig.

And that's what we got out of a little slew.

That's pretty nice.

That's what you dug out in the hole.

Yeah, a 45 minute test out of Smith Creek.

That's really encouraging.

Smith Creek will have bigger gold left.

I'll be done.

It's pretty impressive.

They found the half ounce of gold.

Worth nearly $1,000.

55 feet down in Parker's test hole.

To get at the gold at deep, Parker will have to excavate thousands of yards of dirt on Smith Creek Hill.

And he'll need a lot of money.

Something Parker doesn't have.

I think that if he's going to mind Smith Creek,

I would think that he needs at least front money,

a minute of a hundred, preferably 150,000 bucks.

Do we want to invest the money to get down even to that elevation?

To me, I do.

I see two bigger risks, a two small reward.

I understand your position.

Do you have an opinion about that?

Well, I don't care about the money,

because I can't take it with me.

Might as well spend it while I'm here.

Are you saying you want to fund the mine next year?

Well, really to give it a try.

I'll fund it for 50% of the gold.

We get all of it.

I'll take it.

It's been an uphill battle,

but Parker has proved there's gold at Smith Creek Hill.

Now he has his grandfather's support to continue hunting for the pastry,

with just days remaining in his first season as the boss.

Parker managed to keep the big nugget mine in business.

The U.S. federal government has a stock pile of over 8,000 tons of gold,

worth more than $450 billion.

That is just under one ounce of gold for every man, woman, and child in America.

At Porky Pine Creek in Southeast Alaska,

the Dakota boys run their clean-out trommel one last time.

With their pump broken and de-rockers shut down,

they load the last process dirt of the year.

Here we go.

Down, almost the last bucket.

Hey, just run it down.

Don't work lean out.

Don't work trommel.

Don't want to lose boxes.

I asked in.

Before their pump busted a seal,

the Dakota boys were convinced they were close to the Porky Pine Creek glory hole,

and millions in gold.

That's really good.

Really good.

Hey Fred.

What do you think?

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Very nice there, doesn't.

Just packed with gold.

He's digging it right spot at the very end.

The great material from the bottom of the pit is full of gold,

but the question is how much?

Fred desperately needs to turn a real profit.

Three months ago, he lost his home in North Dakota to floods.

Well, I'm spending most of my savings on this operation.

After about 50 pounds,

basically we broke even this year.

By a wind up with 75 ounces,

I'd be happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy.

Now, here it goes.

Gold folks.

After four hours of panic,

they are finally ready to add the gold to their season's total.

Are we ready for the mall in a crew?

Right.

Wow.

80.4 ounces.

Feel that.

That's a lot of gold.

Man.

The final cleanup is 12.2 ounces.

The Dakota Boys Season Total is now 80.4 ounces,

or 128,000 dollars.

After their running costs,

they clear 30 ounces or 48,000 dollars.

I really pushed myself to make sure that we did this right.

Well, I appreciate it.

I always have, maybe sometimes some days,

I didn't say it.

But I guarantee that I always felt it.

Eight ounces of gold.

Dustin gets 10% of the take.

There you go.

Thank you, Fred.

All right.

Hopefully we're told enough of this.

And I appreciate it.

Thank you.

After a year plagued by breakdowns,

the Dakota Boys managed to turn a profit

in their first mining season at Porcupine Creek.

In the final days,

they found their richest ground.

When you feed a yellow stuff coming out of that ground,

that's the proof in the puddle.

It's a...

Forty-bond Great.

600 miles north at Porcupine Creek.

Todd and Jack Hoffman are deep into their final clean-out of the season.

Reaching their goal of 100 ounces,

will mean this cruise first real payday.

To do it, they'll need their largest clean-out ever,

18 and a half ounces.

This is better concentrate than what we've had in the past.

It's a lot better.

Right there.

Yeah, it's about 25% roll.

Oh, pretty thick band of gold.

But I don't know if it had 18 and a half-thousand...

Gosh, getting them come down to the wire.

While Todd and Jack run the last scoops of concentrate

through the gold table,

the crew gathers ice blocks,

the wash plant couldn't break down.

Jim Thurber has a plan to extract every last flick of gold

from the cut-three pay gravel.

It's a little crazy trying to melt it,

but it's about the only way we're going to be able to tell.

Stand back to it.

All right.

Woo!

Hi!

It's a great idea, sir.

Definitely worth a couple hours of time

to go through this, hopefully.

It's going to help the total.

That's why I didn't do that.

It's really hot, steamy rock.

It looks like getting the cereal.

I mean, you think there'd be some in there.

After torching, every ice block they can find,

Thurber pans the steaming ground.

Oh, my word.

I can't believe what I'm looking at.

That's dropped dead, fantastic.

Back in the gold tin, Jack shuts down the machine.

Yeah, I want to see this one.

There's a kip it up.

And the gold from the torched ice blocks pays off.

Well, there's about an ounce in here.

And I'm going to need it, I think.

Thurber's plan could have netted another $1,600.

Jack and Todd gathered a total up their gold one last time.

You ready?

Yep.

If their last clean out is 18 and a half ounces or better,

they'll reach their goal.

With a hundred ounces of clandite gold,

these men can finally call themselves gold miners

after two long seasons.

Jack, seven, nine.

This is our final total.

I'll see you later.

Right now, seven, eight, eight, eight, three, eight, four, eight, five.

Court's Creek, the clandite.

Todd and Jack Hoffman are about to reveal their gold total to their crew.

To make real money this season,

they need 18 and a half ounces from the last clean out

to hit their 100 ounce gold.

It wasn't like we thought about 12 ounces.

That was it.

12 ounces?

Yeah.

Brings is up to 93.

You know, so we pulled up short.

But it's not going to be a shame to have.

We aren't going home with our hands hanging or anything like that.

You know, you could be proud of yourselves.

I'm real happy with that.

It represents a lot.

You know, I know.

I know we set that goal.

The Huffman crew didn't hit their 100 ounce gold,

but they have only failed by the standards they set themselves.

Turning a profit of $40,000 in just their second season

should still earn them the respect of the clandite gold miners.

I'm happy with it, Jack.

I'm proud of what we did.

93 ounces.

That's a lot of gold.

I never thought I'd seen 93 ounces.

I think we did good.

That's awesome.

A little bit of an increase over last year.

Things could have been different.

Things could have changed.

Those were could have lasted one more day,

but we gave it our best shot.

But I wanted to get 100 ounces for you, Dad,

but it's a ball best we could do right now.

I want to think.

I'm happy with it.

You know, you guys are best friends.

Anybody can watch.

Thank you.

You know, there's nothing else to say.

In only their second season money,

the Huffman crew has found $150,000 in gold.

Seven times more than their rookie season.

At dawn the next day, Jack gives each man

his share of the gold.

Hey, I have some things for you, guys.

Little jars are really clean.

Five ounce jars.

It comes up to right today at about $8,000.

Yeah.

They.

Games.

Grig.

Briss.

Thanks, sir.

I like to make it 10 to 15 times what that is.

Next season.

You deserve a whole lot more.

Good luck.

Thanks.

Travel safe, huh?

Very good.

The Huffman crew has battled the clondike for five months.

They're going home with five ounces or $8,000.

It's the first real payday for these men in two long seasons.

They're no longer rookie miners.

They're gold miners.

This is my gold.

What I worked in Toilver.

And we've overcome a lot.

Hey, we got a roll, man.

King.

They get some gold from Jack.

They give this hold.

They'll maybe next season we hit it big.

Well, we felt short of a gold that we set.

But I don't feel any shame in our 93 and a half ounces.

With things freezing up, we could have done a lot worse.

We could have been 40 ounces short compared to a few.

Ready?

There you go.

We've gained some respect.

We used some guys around here.

That when we came in, they thought, you know, here comes the clowns.

And we showed them that we can learn how to do things right.

We're almost full time miners now.

We now have gold.

These guys are fighting a financial fight.

But they actually are going home with enough

that they can make their payments at home.

Nick here.

We're win.

We're going to win.

Good job, guys.

We take some serious bot this year.

Next year, we're going to do a big time.

Prone of everybody.

We'll be back.

I'm happy.

Very happy.

Of what we did and how we did it.

If I need to go home and prepare straight, kick, ass next to you.

Because I'm going to get 1,000 ounces from season three.

Okay.

Let me about 1.3 to 1.5 million dollars.

I'm going to freaking show you like that.

I'm Christopher Doyle, Executive Producer of Gold Rush.

This time on the Gold Rush After Show,

they have some Facebook questions.

What music do you guys like?

The old air supply music.

I like that.

Oh, you did.

I don't care.

It can love out enough in it all, though.

Watch the Gold Rush After Show at discovery.com slash Gold Rush After Show.