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00:00My name's Mike Rolke, and this is my job.
00:07I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty.
00:10Man, if ever there was an understandable place to puke.
00:13Hard-working men and women who earn an honest living.
00:16Yeah, that's one of them giant worms.
00:18Doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us.
00:22Now, get ready to get dirty.
00:32Coming up on Dirty Jobs.
00:33We've got some turn, you call them chicks, chicklets.
00:36Things take a turn for the worse in a wildlife refuge in Ohio.
00:40This one is just soaking his own excrement.
00:42With a really crappy job.
00:43We're sitting in crap, aren't we?
00:44Yep, oh yeah.
00:45That has lots of complaining customers.
00:47Stop, stop, stop!
00:49Who are very icky eaters.
00:50Oh!
00:51And later.
00:52You're Ed, and this is a hole.
00:54This is a mineshaft.
00:55You could easily slip and fall into this.
00:57I get up close and personal with a mineshaft plugger in Northern California.
01:01How much room is going to be there in the very bottom of this thing?
01:04Well, we're going to get friendly.
01:05It's kind of creepy, actually.
01:06I mean, I barely met you.
01:07Gets pretty lonely out in the woods.
01:09Can we go down together?
01:10Yeah, let's go down together.
01:11It also gets dangerous.
01:12Great shot of my face.
01:13Oh!
01:14Ah!
01:15Ah!
01:18Oh, God.
01:19Today, we're rolling into a wilderness area to do a job that involves some dirty little birds and a boat.
01:38Well, our crew loves a boat ride, even when there's no water in the immediate vicinity, although that's not entirely true.
01:45Well, water is out there, and our next mission is going to be for the crew to stay in this boat while I hop out into another little boat over there.
01:54And we all follow one another somewhere off into the distance where there are terns, I believe.
02:01Terns, of course, are a bird.
02:04This whole place is about the birds.
02:07The place is the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge.
02:10It's run by the folks at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
02:14If I'm not mistaken, that's Mark and Andrea on the inside.
02:18Guys, we're going to go get some terns, right?
02:20That's right, Mike.
02:21And they're out there, right?
02:22Yes.
02:23Out in the marsh.
02:24See?
02:25I'm a font of accurate information.
02:27Mark and Andrea tell me the terns live in a very secluded spot.
02:32It's difficult to find.
02:33The area is, what, around this bend, exactly?
02:36Yep.
02:37We're going to go through that cut right there.
02:38You can't really make it out right now, but when you get up there, you'll see it.
02:41All right.
02:42And what will we see on the other side of the cut?
02:44There's going to be, we have 12, 13 platforms out there.
02:4814 platforms.
02:4914 platforms.
02:50And they're nesting platforms for the common terns.
02:53Over the last 35 years, the common tern has become an endangered species here on the western shore of Lake Erie.
03:00All right, so the common tern is, in fact, an endangered state bird.
03:04Yes.
03:05If it's endangered, why isn't it called the uncommon tern?
03:08Well, thanks.
03:13The hope is that these platforms will give the common terns a secure nesting area, away from their predators, such as the great horned owl.
03:22I mean, I don't want to overstep, but it seems to me that just in the interest of logic, an endangered thing is uncommon.
03:30Yeah, it is.
03:31All right, then.
03:32Mark, would you concur as the driver of the boat?
03:35As the driver of the boat, I would concur.
03:37Weird name for a state endangered bird, not commonly found in Ohio, however uncommonly named a common tern.
03:45That is perhaps the most uncommon response I've heard today.
03:50I think it sounds profound.
03:53Fourteen pontoon houseboats were converted into these floating islands to give the uncommon common tern an uncommon chance to survive.
04:01Oh, look at that.
04:02Little baby terns.
04:03Now, we're here to see how well the plan worked.
04:05This is a pontoon boat.
04:06Yep.
04:07Built this platform with a grid network over it to keep avian predators from getting in and getting chicks.
04:14What kind of predator does this keep out?
04:16It looks like there's a fair amount of room.
04:17The big focus is great horned owl.
04:20The great horned owl's wingspan is wider than the distance between these ropes.
04:25This deters the owls from landing on the nesting platform, which is important because the common terns lay their eggs right out in the open on the ground.
04:34Each nest here is identified by a numbered rock.
04:38Thirty-two has two.
04:40You got three for 149.
04:42Now, I see three eggs here.
04:44Is there a rock?
04:45Uh, no.
04:46That could be a new nest.
04:47172.
04:48The egg inventory will give Mark and Andrea clues about the health of the colony.
04:53Twenty-six has three.
04:54Okay, I had one last time.
04:56So they don't do all three eggs at once?
04:59No.
05:00There's only like one a day.
05:01Well, like a poo.
05:03Thirty-six.
05:04It's hard to say.
05:05You got one egg kind of sitting there randomly under that platform.
05:10Yeah, and that's one, Mike, that is like a questionable one.
05:15You're going to need to go over and pick that egg up and smell it to see if it's rotten.
05:20It doesn't smell good.
05:22It doesn't smell good.
05:23I don't know what a healthy terned egg smells like.
05:26Okay.
05:27You see that crack there?
05:28Yeah.
05:29Oh.
05:30That explains the smell.
05:31It explains the smell.
05:32Just terrible.
05:33Yeah.
05:34What do you do with it?
05:35Throw it over the side along with the rock.
05:37That way we don't recount it.
05:38So that goes there.
05:40And this goes with it.
05:42Boop.
05:43Burial at sea.
05:44Burial at sea.
05:45Burial at sea.
05:46Burial at sea.
05:47Burial at sea.
05:48Your turn.
05:49Oh.
05:50All right.
05:51Mike.
05:52Hello, kids.
05:54Now it's time to round up the baby chicks so we can do a little bird banding.
05:58How much further could you go in a corner?
06:02So that's the job at hand right there.
06:05We've got some tern, what do you call them?
06:07Chicks?
06:08Chicklets?
06:09Chicks.
06:10Bird banding is a universal and indispensable technique for studying the movements, survival
06:17and behavior of birds.
06:19That doesn't keep the birds from pooing on you, of course.
06:22Now this one is just soaking his own excrement.
06:24Now I am too.
06:25Got it?
06:26Oh, the tiniest little bit of tern poo ever.
06:29So this one already has a band?
06:33Yeah.
06:34And I need you to read me the last three numbers on the band.
06:37These are very small.
06:38Oh, yeah.
06:39These are crap encrusted numbers.
06:41Stop.
06:42Stop.
06:43Stop.
06:44Stop.
06:45The last three numbers after the dash are 517.
06:49Okay.
06:50Here.
06:51We're sitting in crap, aren't we?
06:52Just for the record.
06:53Oh, yeah.
06:54Yeah.
06:55All right.
06:56So this is a tiny little chick.
06:57A man on his tiny little foot.
07:00So which platform is this?
07:02Number two.
07:03Oh, God.
07:04What happened in platform number two?
07:06Nature.
07:07I see a lot of severed heads.
07:10Yeah.
07:11Classic great horned owl predation.
07:14Even though the ropes deter most owls from landing here, some have figured out a way around
07:19this defense system.
07:21Why not make the squares smaller?
07:24It's probably going to be considered.
07:26This is just a massacre.
07:28Getting helter skelter in here.
07:30And, of course, before you toss them overboard, we're going to need to know the band number.
07:35We're going to need to know what happened to who.
07:37You got it.
07:38This common turn was number 564.
07:43513.
07:44Yeah.
07:45When did the massacre occur?
07:46Do we know?
07:47Sometime between last Wednesday and today.
07:56Imagine the horror they witnessed.
07:58People think of the owls as wise and old and...
08:01Killing machines.
08:02Killing machines.
08:03That's what they are.
08:04That's what they are.
08:05To everything.
08:06There's a turn.
08:07Turn.
08:08Turn.
08:10Okay.
08:11So another platform done.
08:12What's our tally?
08:13Everything good?
08:14We ended up here with 152 nests.
08:17356 eggs.
08:1967 chicks alive.
08:2218 chicks off to the Wild Blue Yonder.
08:26Okay.
08:27Fascinating operation.
08:28Really.
08:29Anything else we can do?
08:30Yeah, Mike.
08:31We got a problem over there.
08:33We got some strong winds out here.
08:35And we got a lot of these boats in close proximity.
08:38We got two that are too close.
08:41We need to get those anchors up out of the water.
08:43Get them untangled.
08:44Who's going in?
08:45You and I.
08:46Unless we need help.
08:47Where are those waders?
08:50Coming up.
08:51We're going to try and flush them out.
08:53When a gaggle of geese has to get banded,
08:55it takes helicopters, patrol cars, and raw sloshing foot power.
08:59In terms of cardiovascular, right in the top one.
09:01But the geese put up a fight with both conventional
09:04and unconventional weaponry.
09:06That was a goose, I swear to God.
09:09You bad goose.
09:11And later, an ex-cop mind-plugger lays down the law
09:14when it comes to hanging onto your tools.
09:16Object number one, don't drop them in the hole.
09:18Then he gives me a practical example.
09:20I'm just going to break this stuff off.
09:22Oh!
09:23Are you telling me that safety Fred just threw his shovel
09:27down a 50-foot hole?
09:29At this point, do I throw mine in?
09:37It matters to me a little bit, to tell you the truth.
09:39Pull this up.
09:43Right.
09:44It's not an anchor.
09:45It's not an anchor.
09:46It's a common mistake.
09:47What am I feeling here?
09:49Here's one of the anchors right here.
09:52Oh, okay.
09:53All right?
09:54Right.
09:55Oh, yeah.
09:56There's your problem right there.
09:57That's it.
09:58Can you figure that's turtle crap?
09:59Oh, yeah.
10:00If you really want some turtle crap.
10:04Oh!
10:06Poo from a turtle.
10:07Great black swamp.
10:08No doubt.
10:09Turtle poo.
10:10There's the tangle.
10:11There's the tangle.
10:12We're just going to keep doing that.
10:13Passing them back and forth.
10:14Oh, man.
10:15How many times?
10:16This is really the simple way to do this?
10:17No, we can do it a simpler way.
10:18See?
10:19I'm thinking.
10:20It's about you, right?
10:21Oh, I prefer to see it as about us.
10:22Us.
10:23Yeah, I want to maximize the team's efficiency.
10:24That's it.
10:25for oh man how many times this is really the simple way to do this no we can do it a simpler way
10:34see it's about you right i prefer to see this about us us yeah i want to maximize the
10:42team's efficiency that's it
10:43are we good yeah we'll hook it back up here
10:59let's just uh walk them this way a short distance all right and then we'll drop at the same time
11:04right here one two three good deal good
11:09everything's good everything's good why don't we go uh why don't we go do that geese thing let's go do
11:21it that'll be good let's go ban some geese while the common turn is an endangered species today
11:28the canada goose was at risk of extinction 50 years ago now due to changes in wildlife policies
11:35the canada goose population is thriving but they still need to be carefully monitored through
11:40annual bird banding which involves of all things a helicopter well my next task is relatively simple
11:48i'm going to wrangle some geese joe the pilot is going to chase the geese with his helicopter
11:55then i'm going to somehow grab the geese put them into a net and find out what sex they are
12:05while joe searches for the geese in the air andrea and her crew rush ahead of the helicopter to set up
12:12nets at the same time my group moves into position to chase the birds on the ground
12:18well obviously our our helicopter's in the air which is ironic because our birds are on the ground
12:24the geese are too young to fly and that's what makes this whole scenario work we're going to try
12:29and flush them out at this point i'm just following yeah mark and ashley and thug and lark
12:39you're talking about basically right about where that helicopter is sitting right over top
12:43up now right below me so i think he just said the uh i don't think so we're going to put folks in
12:48the unit i think we're going to be okay choppers found the birds basically right under them
12:54i just heard him say estimate how deep this is which means we don't know how deep the swamp is
12:58which should be fascinating birds are out in the marshes over that group of cattails yeah we're
13:03going to have to cut out through here the other crew coming from the other side how deep is this
13:08well it's vegetation so it can't be too deep
13:14that waterproof boost don't do any good when you go over the top not so much
13:21up ahead of the helicopter's path andrea and her team set up the nets
13:24that will block the escape route of the geese meanwhile below the helicopter we heard geese toward
13:30the nets
13:35uh-oh flanking
13:44go for the youngsters youngsters
13:45the chicks may be too young to fly but this time of year the adults have problems flying too
13:55because their feathers are molting that's what makes banding these geese possible
13:59it's a workout huh man a lot of animals done a lot of weird things chasing a geese through a swamp
14:15not the dirtiest and not the weirdest but definitely in terms of cardiovascular right in the top one
14:21andre got a little wet today mike huh yeah i got a little moist well in a day's work i bought you
14:27a present dog all right well thank you now you know what to do with this bird i have no idea all
14:32i knew was he was trying to make a run for the border and i i snagged him out well that's good what
14:36we need to do is first things first we need to sex this bird sex the bird okay good what we're
14:41gonna need to do is flip him over here uh-huh i'll just do it like this can you hold his little
14:46legs for me sure i'll show you one time and then i've seen this routine i know that's a boy
14:51what makes you think that's a boy i had a 50 50 shot he had a 50 50 shot well there isn't anything
14:56there to say that that's a boy what's a sad boy where's the bands we're gonna band you little girl
15:06what's your name bob sorry bob i'm good yeah holy smokes yep what's the sharp thing that's
15:14slid through my pancreas you gotta be a little aggressive look i have a bird pinned between
15:20my thighs and i've nearly got my thumb in his bottom how much more aggressive do you want me
15:23to be yeah actually see that oh dear bring me big bird i've been dying to see what makes that thing tick
15:29that was uh that was a goose i swear to god you bad goose darn it oh the humiliation
15:41i want some baby to go home okay anybody want to let go of a bird
15:55well as trips go this has been one for the books i've been pooed on i've been peed on i've been
15:59thrown up on i've made some good friends with some endangered species and i've labeled them for the rest
16:04of their adult lives now i'm going to let them go but not until i say thank you to all my friends at the
16:09ohio department of wildlife thanks guys you were great i should also thank you you've been great
16:15thanks for not pecking my eyes out go be with your friends be free go go it's good advice i'm going
16:30coming up you ever repelled before i've been repelling people for years when you're dangling
16:34precariously over a 50-foot hole there's just this terrible foreshadowing you need short footing
16:40that's killer that's death and a positive attitude good god man we're never getting out of this hole
16:55it's a beautiful day in northern california and you're strolling through the forest taking in the
17:00wonder of it all the air is warm and clean in the distance the sound of a whippoorwill babbling brook
17:08you're alone with your thoughts and you haven't to care in the world then you fall in a hole
17:15in 1848 when gold was first discovered near the mountain town of auburn california miners burrowed
17:21beneath the ground to grab all the gold they could but they left behind an estimated 47 000
17:28shafts and tunnels a serious hazard throughout the california back country
17:34that's why the state hires independent contractors like ed winchester
17:38a former cop who now plugs minds to keep people and wildlife safe hey mike welcome to our lovely little
17:46shaft here you gotta love a guy that greets you with a phrase like that you're ed i am and this is
17:51a hole this is a mine shaft right in the middle of the woods right in the middle of the woods 20 feet
17:56off the trail you could easily slip and fall into this and uh just like we could fall in there
18:01small creatures could fall in there you know mice snakes uh hopefully no bats what is your
18:07business exactly you got bats right on your shirt yes sir my business is closing old mine shafts
18:13what i do is make bat friendly closures that keep people out but let the bats continue to use the sites
18:19how much room is going to be there in the very bottom of this thing well we're going to get friendly
18:22it's kind of creepy actually i mean i barely met you you seem like a nice fella i can't see your
18:26eyes god i mean you know you're going to go 50 feet down a hole with a strange man it's a big day for
18:31everyone
18:36if we can get the rest of the guys up here to help us tear this fence down guys come on up here
18:39would you help us tear this fence down now have you worked with these guys before oh i work with
18:44these guys all the time the state of california has what's called the office of mine reclamation and
18:50they are part of a subunit called the abandoned mine lines unit great so they find a hole they call
18:54you exactly you come up and you plug it right to start working on the mine we've got to remove this
19:04old temporary safety fence i mean look at this dude it looks like a piece of kleenex
19:09object number one don't drop them in the hole what's the official name to this those are fencing pliers
19:28i gotta say these these gloves have definitely uh definitely seen better days
19:33you'd probably complain if you're hung with a new rope wouldn't you
19:36it depends would i be well hung with a new rope
19:52so there's a bunch of ways that we can deal with these old mines all right and um the technique
19:56today that we're using is um the polyurethane foam we're going to pour a base plate of foam that
20:03we're going to eventually lower into the hole but we want to let it go ahead and start cooking
20:07so we're going to lay out a piece of plastic and we're going to pour some foam closing a mine in the
20:12backcountry presents a problem in that you can't just bring in a dump truck full of gravel
20:19this foam has been used for about 30 years closing old mines it's a two-part resin it's perfectly inert when
20:25it's done go ahead and set it down in the middle here now we've got these two chemicals mixing and
20:35what i'd like you to do is grab opposite corners come into the middle like you're doing that disco
20:41dancing you like and then go opposite corners until you have one color you've got a lot of inaccurate
20:47information on me but okay so this is a chemical reaction it's a chemical reaction and give it to
20:55me you're gonna you're gonna get in trouble here because if you let it get way too hot it's gonna
20:59it's gonna go off prematurely well it could go off prematurely but the problem is is that it could also
21:05set itself on fire so we make a little really yes okay you've done now stand up don't be stingy with
21:13the fascinating information yeah okay so you see it's already coming out on its own oh yeah look at
21:20that all right now grab it like that and make a big pad of it there's too much in that spot so it's
21:28like making a pancake here we're making a giant pancake now don't get that try not to get it on you
21:34because it's going to make a mess i don't want this stuff on me it's pretty much when you if you get it
21:39on your hands forget it take flesh with it really see this is we're gonna let this hard we're gonna
21:46let it harden before we stick it home that's what we call a tease okay hang on you step through
21:55first step through yeah hang on hang on as if the mere descent into a five-story pit of mystery wasn't
22:02dangerous enough rocks and vegetation at the top of the shaft need to be cleared so they don't fall on us
22:08while we're down in the mine you ever repelled before i mean besides people repelling people for
22:14years all right leather gloves leather gloves poison oak shovel is right over there and while you're
22:22doing this you're going to be a special man that is called a mcleod i'm a cloud mm-hmm like the
22:27investigator on the pony exactly then you are dennis weaver today so you're going to take that mcleod
22:33and we're just going to break this stuff off so that we can oh are you telling me that that safety
22:43fred just threw his shovel down a 50-foot hole at this point do i throw mine in or
22:52i prefer you didn't yeah well what do you want to do you want to get the shovel first i mean i've only
22:57got the one tool now why don't we just me and me and mcleod you and mcleod um get on your horse and
23:02kind of knock down that stuff for me there's just this terrible foreshadowing
23:17now is this poison oak i think the one next to it is yeah
23:21aren't we knocking all the poisonous stuff down to the area where we're going to be standing well um
23:25unfortunately would you rather have raked it up with your hands and set it off to the side
23:31i'm looking for a world with more choices
23:40all right now you're doing great there you're breaking off little rocks
23:43uh-huh that are gonna that can come down on top of us
23:45that's a killer that's death yeah that's bad rock
24:02look at that the harness works harness works good
24:08okay so from here we're gonna go down there shortly ourselves all right good
24:13probably get a look at my shovel yeah sticking out of the head of bambi at this point no doubt
24:18well if bambi's down there she's had a bad day anyway bambi just got thumpered
24:25coming up people die in mines like this all the time when you descend into the bowels of the earth
24:31now we just came across something that is really dangerous it might not come back out in that water
24:36it can release dangerous gases that are trapped by the tension on the surface of the water all right
24:41let's get out of here
24:58and again the plan is to go down make sure nothing alive is there look around yep say some smart
25:03things to each other exactly and then ascend right and then go about the business of applying foam
25:08exactly all right right hand's the brake left hand is your knot
25:17can we go down together yeah let's go down together
25:24i apologize about my ass
25:28oh wow hey um come on down a little bit more yeah and look to your right to my oh cool
25:33hey you know what that's cool enough to shoot hang on a second got some cool little cave critters
25:39here i want to try and get a get a shot of them there's uh what are these toads frogs what are we
25:44looking at here i'm not sure i would guess they're um frogs of some sort but well they're all over the
25:49place there's one here and there's one here maybe we're about to have a plague
25:54huh ready to keep going down yep come on down big guy
26:06good god man we're never getting out of this hole
26:10a heads up a lot of loose rocks here yeah
26:16this is not where i wanted to be was between your legs
26:18oh so can i get you to come down on the other side of me yeah well my testicles are not where i
26:26left them oh this is it i'm with mike in the bottom of the hole oh what the hell who's doing that
26:39that's troy i'm coming down you're coming down yeah really
26:43okay we're in the uh we're in the bottom of this thing it's hot and here's what uh here's what that
26:52looks like oh god ah ah ah oh are you okay
27:02you really know how to spread the misery around troy i swear all right so you're all still hooked up
27:09right i am but um there's a big room here man look how your shovel's stuck in the ground that was
27:15awesome look at this thing i mean underneath the rock and everything that really that's a one in a
27:18million so so you want to go down in this room
27:28need a bit
27:34okay so mike we got down to the bottom of the hole here
27:37right and what we have is um we have a drift off in two different directions actually pretty
27:47well developed we're getting so much airflow down here that i suspect this connects to another working
27:52that i haven't found yet yeah no i can feel it moving that's good yeah so we're going to take a
27:56step or two down this way documents regarding these northern california mines indicate that this
28:03particular tunnel was part of a network of about a dozen different shafts an old beer can or three
28:20okay now we just came across something that is really dangerous what's that and we're stopping see
28:26this water here you can see that it goes way out there oh yeah man that goes way back yeah that's
28:34so clear right we're actually looking at the bottom there aren't we yeah but is it 50 feet or is it or is
28:41it 10 feet right while water was once vital to the gold mining process above ground subterranean water
28:48from years of rain and seepage represent a major abandoned mine hazard in in that water if you were to go in
28:55it there's a couple things that could happen it could release dangerous gases that are trapped
28:59by the tension on the surface of the water but also if you disturb that silt the only way you can
29:04tell up from down because you'll be instantly disoriented is to feel bubbles go across your face
29:10so imagine trying to be that calm when you just went to zero visibility it's kind of like an avalanche
29:15and that dark people die in mines like this all the time two kids down in orange county in 2003 right
29:23went underwater in a mine came up in an air pocket that was three percent oxygen so as they say they
29:30were drt dead right there dead right there so we have no idea how deep that is no idea and i have
29:37no desire to find out coming up this is going to be ugly going down the hole was the easy part
29:45that one hurt but once you're out it's no picnic either okay bounce test it whoa
29:53it ends right there back about four feet now back behind you to the to your far left here are two
30:18other workings that go back up that way so this is this is much bigger than you thought oh this is
30:25horrendously bigger uh the nice thing is we're able to clear it except for the stuff that's underwater
30:30right and um you know i haven't seen any bats or any other major wildlife so um what i suggest is
30:38we head on out i think we've seen pretty much here everything here and i mean like you know what it's
30:44it's really pretty amazing if you think of it in terms of this might be 150 years old this was
30:51obviously blown out chiseled out what they were mining you don't see them crushing rock you see the
30:56rock intact and that they were going after this you know the powder between the rocks thinking for dust
31:02you can sell in the local saloon exactly so that you can buy yourself a a bath and a whore
31:08brown was going to be nice about it all right let's get out of here
31:31getting started is going to take a second but once you get on the clear portion of the rope
31:35just keep climbing it like you climb a ladder you ready try to take big steps there you go
31:41you're okay this is going to be ugly oh sorry maybe we're going an inch at a time
31:54it just doesn't make any sense what we're doing here hold on hold on
32:00all right seriously how do we get out of here keep stepping this is how it's going to go it's
32:07going to be like this the whole way
32:12does that hurt yeah it's going to get worse i'm begging you get out save yourself
32:21rock that don't hurt you do this for fun you lunatic
32:26this is where i would die if i were free climbing this is it how close are you mike
32:33i'm about 10 feet why don't you guys hold me up
32:38rock rock rock okay here we go one two three
32:46one two three
32:47don't ever try that don't even don't don't i'm telling you don't if you do it
33:10and something bad happens i'll grieve you but i will still show up at your funeral to say i told
33:16you so because i'm telling you now don't do that don't try it don't fall in a well try and walk
33:20up the fancy road hey guys
33:35okay so here we are back at this uh piece that we've poured harder than chinese math look at that
33:41thing okay now what i'd like you to do is reach down grab the edge now that the foam is cured
33:48we can cut a disc out of it that's approximately the same diameter as the mine shaft this will
33:54become the base plate of the mine plug why don't you grab your tape measure out of your secret pocket
34:02it kind of looks like the country except for florida it's jello jacked up
34:06from here to there is a four three yeah that's about right so right through wisconsin
34:19man i think i stink
34:24uh-oh oh dear eastern seaboard just fell on troy
34:28this is science what we're doing right here absolute
34:43that's a perfect circle
34:46okay the three of us are going to lower this thing into the hole
34:59i would like to go deeper so what i need you to do
35:04and i'm going back in the hole you're going back in the hole and you're going to trim right off of that
35:09side
35:15yeah go
35:20mike you see the biggest cracks around the edges yes sam is going to start throwing you
35:25pieces of bag and foam to stuff in the edges hey that sounds great sam there you go look at that
35:33oh yeah oh look at that you are the man
35:38all right i think we're good okay we're gonna have to mix and pour about 10 cubic yards of foam
35:45in order to plug this mine
35:46okay start pouring now control the flow don't put it all in one spot there you go
35:55okay now we're gonna have to wait about five minutes sure because the um we need that stuff
36:06to start hardening up just a little bit before we pour the new stuff on top of it
36:13grab one of the little rocks beside your knee there and uh just kind of drop it on on it to see what
36:20happens in the middle sure perfect wow mix this another bag please sir look at that that's a
36:28scientific test my friend
36:33you want to kind of just splash it over to the side there you go
36:37so that if it does go through the crack oh see you're doing great
36:43and if you now you can take a break for a second
36:45yeah i got a rhythm i like what i'm seeing everything's coming together for us nothing
36:50can go wrong did he really just say that what could possibly go wrong now what i'm suspended by
36:57a quarter inch rope over a bottomless pit with a quarter inch of foam between me and oblivion
37:03i've never felt better how's my butt look in these good good i'm not quite ready not quite ready to
37:11bounce we can't just put another one right on top of this we have to let each one
37:15dry well the problem is uh surface temperature we we don't want it to build up too much heat
37:22okay bounce tested
37:29all right i think we're ready for another bag
37:33coming up put things in there like excalibur
37:38a dug-in post nearly breaks me
37:41this post is kicking my ass here but jumping on a foam mind plug
37:45could kill me should we hop on this test it
37:55it's gonna take hours well a couple
38:01waiting for each layer to cure gives us time to finish clearing the job site
38:04this stuff comes out yep
38:10probably trick to it in there i would use a shovel would you
38:14good pull it up arthur yeah man i think put things in there like excalibur
38:28all right right line slot hold on two three
38:41okay that's really in there we should pour another bag
38:55how long were you a cop yeah about seven years were you an officer were you a yeah had a had a canine
39:01first six years and so you quit being a cop to do this or you found this later um to do this
39:09started out as a hobby and it's been a full-time
39:13devotion ever since no post hole diggers huh i don't think a post hole digger would be the right
39:18right tool here mike hey dynamite c4
39:27post is kicking my ass this is nothing but rock here
39:34one two three
39:50and uh
39:50all i need is my lucky hand
39:53oh i will lie to you it's it's way beyond personal now
39:56this thing's become a challenge to my whole my whole sense of self my world view everything
40:05ridiculous
40:08be surprised how philosophical you can get with a shovel in your hand
40:11actually i wouldn't i believe you do you find you tend toward the metaphysical the existential the
40:17logical
40:18all right bud you ready for one last bag
40:30so mike the nice thing is is at the end of the day
40:34the scope of the work is horrendous but you got one done out of 47 000
40:40we're stuck we're stuck on that that second bar bin i can see it i can see the problem right there
40:52so i think it's out
40:58oh you pulled excalibur out i was gonna do that
41:04you thoughtless son of a gun
41:06now should we hop on this test it
41:15come on down the water's fine
41:20so let's review 45 47 000 mines open around the state of california just disasters waiting to happen
41:30absolutely former cop off the force now dedicating his life to plug in these holes
41:36you got a dirty job dude i love it thanks for having us out thanks for coming
41:40i can't say it was fun but i'll never forget it gentlemen
41:57that's how you plug a mic
41:58well now let's see on a scale of one to ten i'd have to say today's dirty jobs
42:08kick my bass and that's no carp but unless you want to see me cast off my perch
42:13i need your help seriously drop me a line discovery.com forward slash dirty jobs and
42:20suggest a brand new dirty jobs idea i'd be grateful i'm not baiting you seriously hurry don't fillet
42:27i'll see you you'll see she me i know that was terrible because if it was what they call stoke from
42:34underneath um there would be no telltale dump poe i believe yeah but did he get descartes before
42:41the horse or actually it was descartes before the source because i believe descartes who said ergo
42:47kajito sum was arguing the existence of an alternative universe aside from god but
42:53really what he was saying was dubito ergo sum i doubt therefore i am but he's been misquoted
42:58for centuries and i believe he's still pissed about it
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