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00:00No, we're in the exact spot where the stagecoach robbery occurred.
00:05He confesses that he buried it here.
00:07This is not just a legend.
00:08He said, I put some of it in the ground here.
00:12So, any way you cut it, a lot of money.
00:15There's a lot of gold out here.
00:17I called in a little reinforcement.
00:19I figure if we're looking for historic gold,
00:21who better to call than Parker Schnabel?
00:23Careful what you wish for.
00:25Oh, boy, hang on.
00:28We got something here.
00:29What is that?
00:31Yes.
00:31You got something.
00:32That's an old coin.
00:33Look at that.
00:34Wait a minute.
00:34This is a smoking gun.
00:36Oh, this could crack the whole case wide open.
00:38We're going to literally pan for gold.
00:40Yeah.
00:40Wait a minute.
00:41Is that gold?
00:42Mm-hmm.
00:42Shut up.
00:43Woo!
00:44Is that a hit?
00:45Oh, is that it?
00:46Look at that.
00:47Come on.
00:48Come on.
00:48If you've ever dreamed of moving to California, that dream started in 1848 at Sutter's Mill,
01:05where the discovery of gold led to a westward stampede that hasn't stopped since.
01:11In just five years after that first strike, over 370 tons of gold are pulled out of the mountains.
01:19That's about $40 billion worth today.
01:22Mining towns quickly spring up, which attract both prospectors looking to get rich quick,
01:27and bandits looking to get rich even quicker.
01:30Enter the brothers John and Charles Ruggles.
01:34On May 14, 1892, they rob a Wells Fargo stagecoach traveling between Weaverville and Redding, California.
01:43Its cargo, up to 200 pounds of the shiny stuff.
01:47But the heist turns into a gunfight that kills one man and leaves three others wounded.
01:53After a statewide manhunt, both John and Charles are apprehended.
01:57But before they can give up the location of the gold, a local mob delivers frontier justice at the end of a rope.
02:06The loot, now worth up to $10 million, remains buried somewhere in the mountains of Northern California.
02:15Now, an avid treasure hunter is searching in a location that has been off limits for years.
02:20And a historian has uncovered a long-lost jailhouse confession that could uncover the stolen loot.
02:28Plus, for a treasure this rich, I'm doing some recruiting of my own,
02:32and calling in a friend who knows a thing or two about finding the motherlode.
02:37Gold Rush's Parker Schnabel.
02:39So hitch up the wagons, because we're going out west,
02:43for a historic gold rush in search of missing millions.
02:48The past is all around us.
02:54Oh my God!
02:55It goes on forever!
02:57A world of mystery.
02:59Come on!
03:01Look at that!
03:02Danger.
03:03Hang on!
03:06And adventure.
03:07It's just straight down!
03:10I gotta get a new job.
03:12I travel to the far corners of the earth to uncover where legends end.
03:19I got it!
03:21Yes!
03:22And history begins.
03:23Woo-hoo!
03:24Here we go!
03:25I'm Josh Gates, and this is Expedition Unknown.
03:30This is California, but not the one the Beach Boys sang about.
03:38The sunshine and surf may be 600 miles to the south, but this area has its own appeal.
03:44If you were strolling in these parts in around 1840, you'd be surrounded by nothing but untouched wilderness.
03:51And yet, just a decade later, this had become the heart of the California Gold Rush.
03:57Welcome to the town of Weaverville.
03:59By 1890, the miners here are pulling about $35 million a year out of the rivers and hills.
04:07That boomtown money attracted a pair of bandits known as the Ruggles Brothers.
04:12And at the Jake Jackson Museum, their story comes to life, with artifacts such as the alleged shotgun used to fend off the brothers as they attempted to rob this little beauty.
04:23This remarkably preserved relic is one of the six original stages that ran the route between Weaverville and Redding.
04:31In fact, it may be the one robbed by the Ruggles Brothers, although there is no gold inside.
04:37I checked.
04:40Finding the Ruggles Gold means following their story.
04:43So I hit the road and trace the path of their last target, the Redding Stage.
04:48This narrow trail is known as Middle Creek Road, and it may not seem like much of a road at all.
04:54But over a century ago, this was the main thoroughfare for stagecoaches loaded with rich shipments of gold, including the one knocked over by the Ruggles Brothers.
05:03I'm headed to the scene of their crime to meet up with an old friend who's gearing up for a new search.
05:12And there he is.
05:13How are you, man?
05:18Hey there.
05:19What's going on?
05:19Beautiful weather.
05:20Oh, it's something else.
05:21Hi, Josh.
05:22Great to see you, buddy.
05:22Good seeing you.
05:23All right, now, last time I saw you, we were waist deep in water in a cave.
05:26Yes, we were.
05:28Troy McCormick and I last investigated together in Indiana, hunting another stolen fortune, that of the train-robbing Reno gang.
05:36Woo, I think the water level's coming up in this cave.
05:38Okay, we gotta get the hell out of here.
05:39Come on.
05:40And now we're getting soaked again.
05:41Boy, just something about these outdoor adventures.
05:43I think you're cursed, Troy.
05:44That might be it, too.
05:45Okay, so, the Ruggles Brothers.
05:47Yes.
05:48An all-new mystery here.
05:50This is the area where this legendary robbery happened.
05:53No, we're in the exact spot where the stagecoach robbery occurred.
05:57It was right here.
05:58Right here.
05:59That's so cool.
05:59Okay, so, this is one of those great Wild West stories that a lot of people have never heard of.
06:05True.
06:06So, all of this goes down in 1892.
06:09Mm-hmm.
06:09There was a lot of gold moving through Northern California at this time.
06:12Hundreds of millions of dollars.
06:14And this kind of wealth was irresistible to people who were willing to take a big risk for big reward.
06:20And that brings us to the Ruggles.
06:22So, these guys are just a couple of brothers who were bad news?
06:26No.
06:27Surprisingly, they were—they started out, they were okay.
06:29In fact, Charles, the younger one, he was what you would call just a really nice guy.
06:34Uh-huh.
06:35Not much is known about the Ruggles' background.
06:37We do know they came from a comfortable family and couldn't be more different from one another.
06:42Younger brother Charles lives his life on the straight and narrow, while his older brother John was bad to the bone, robbing stagecoaches, doing time, and eventually roping in Charles for what he hopes is the score of a lifetime.
06:56The robbery of a Wells Fargo stage loaded with hundreds of pounds of gold.
07:03And so that brings us to this stretch of road here.
07:07So, why here?
07:08The idea is they picked this spot, because if you look out over the valley, you can see the twisting, winding stagecoach road.
07:16And if you look from this exact spot back, you'll see this hairpin turn.
07:21He had no idea there were robbers and bandits waiting for him until he came around that corner.
07:28The stage driver rounds the corner to find Charles Ruggles standing in the road, his face masked with a red bandana and a shotgun in his hand.
07:39After the driver stops, Charles demands that the stage's passenger throw down two Wells Fargo strongboxes, containing up to 200 pounds of gold.
07:51The men comply, and soon Charles has a fortune at his feet, worth in today's value $10 million.
07:58It would seem that everything was going to plan, except for one fatal wildcard, a third man hiding in the coach with a shotgun of his own.
08:09When there was a lot of gold to be transported, the Wells Fargo company and other companies would send along an armed guard called a shotgun messenger.
08:18Who was sort of riding shotgun?
08:20That's where the phrase comes from.
08:21The man riding shotgun is named Buck Montgomery, known as a great guy and a great shot, a quality which he is about to demonstrate.
08:32He shoots Charles in the face and upper torso.
08:36Charles understandably drops to his knees and blindly fires back, hitting both the driver and passenger.
08:43So this is going terribly sideways now.
08:46It's a total, total mess.
08:48At this point, the other Ruggles brother, John, steps out with a .44 revolver and hits Buck Montgomery, fatally wounding him.
08:59Wow.
08:59So in a matter of 60 seconds, you've got this bloodbath.
09:04Four people have all just been shot.
09:06And what becomes of the stagecoach?
09:08Oh, the horses are just going crazy now with all the guns, and they bolt and tear off down the stagecoach road, leaving John and Charles Ruggles with the two strong boxes.
09:20So what do these guys do?
09:22They must know they've got limited time before the posse shows up.
09:25Charles' face is bleeding from all these holes from the buckshot.
09:29John drags Charles out of sight, then hauls him to his feet.
09:33They scramble down a nearby ravine to Middle Creek.
09:36John then goes back to grab the two strong boxes before returning to his brother.
09:42Down that way.
09:43Down that way to Middle Creek.
09:45We're about to head down the same path as the Ruggles, to the creek where Troy believes their gold may be hiding.
09:51But before we do, another 4x4 appears on the old trail.
09:56Who's this coming down?
09:57I called in a little reinforcement.
09:58We can definitely use the help.
10:00You're going to get it.
10:01Parker Schnabel, a legendary miner who, in his career, has taken more than $100 million worth of gold out of the Canadian Klondike and Alaskan wilderness.
10:14This is the perfect case for him to join.
10:17The words gold rush practically belong to him now.
10:20What's up, brother?
10:22Good to see you.
10:24Hi, I'm Troy.
10:25Troy, you probably know who this guy is.
10:26I recognize him.
10:27I figure if we're looking for historic gold, who better to call than a gold miner?
10:31Careful what you wish for.
10:33With Parker is archaeologist Eric Ritter from the Bureau of Land Management.
10:37They run this property, and Eric is here to protect it.
10:40And let's talk a little bit about rules and regulations here.
10:43Right.
10:44We're doing this project with proper permitting, and we're doing it to make sure that we're not damaging the land or damaging other historic resources in this search for part of the history that's out here.
10:56Absolutely.
10:56And if something does get found down here, then it gets turned over to your team and to the archaeologists.
11:02Yes.
11:02We ought to do this archaeologically properly.
11:04That's right.
11:05Sounds like it's going to be a little wet and wild down there.
11:07Parker, are you ready for this?
11:08This is like an average day in Alaska, isn't it?
11:10It's pretty normal.
11:11Yeah.
11:12Okay, good.
11:12Doesn't sound like it, but you can handle it.
11:14Yeah.
11:15All right, good.
11:15So at our point in the story here, John and a wounded Charles take these lockboxes, and they head where?
11:22Head down toward Middle Creek.
11:24Should we follow?
11:24I think we need to get down there to see what we can find.
11:27Okay.
11:27You ready?
11:28Yeah.
11:29Let's do it.
11:30Come on.
11:35Everybody watch your footing.
11:37It is slick in here.
11:45There's Middle Creek.
11:47There's Middle Creek, which is raging today.
11:51Okay, so this is the spot.
11:54Somewhere right along here is where the Ruggles brothers and all that gold ended up.
11:58And they were pretty shot up, weren't they?
12:00At that point, they both think that Charles is a goner.
12:03So John takes and turns his brother's head so that he can see the strongboxes.
12:07John picks up an axe that he had with him, busts open the strongboxes so that Charles can see the gold.
12:15One last moment for the two brothers to be together, they thought.
12:19Touching moment for two villains.
12:21There you go.
12:21And what was inside the strongboxes?
12:24It was kind of a combination of things.
12:25We had gold coins, we had gold dust, and we had quicksilver.
12:29Quicksilver, that's for killing werewolves, is that correct?
12:33Yeah, exactly.
12:33Okay, perfect.
12:34Big issue back in the gold rush days, werewolves.
12:36This is clearly werewolf country, obviously.
12:39What is quicksilver again?
12:40So quicksilver is mercury mixed with gold.
12:43Okay.
12:43And basically, mercury is a magnet for gold, and so it's used in the cleanup process for kind of collecting a lot of gold dust together.
12:52And then it can be separated out afterwards.
12:54Okay, but there's a lot of it, yeah?
12:56There's a lot of it.
12:56One of the strongboxes supposedly weighed up to 100 pounds.
12:59Right.
13:00And that's just one box.
13:01Yeah.
13:02So any way you cut it, a lot of money.
13:04There's a lot of gold out here.
13:06So why does he bust the boxes open here?
13:08The boxes are too heavy to carry away.
13:10He can't take all of it?
13:11He can't take it all.
13:12Charles is not going to die, though, right?
13:14No, they actually, three boys find him the next day stumbling around.
13:18Down here?
13:18Right around in this ravine area.
13:20The boys who find him take Charles to be patched up before throwing him in jail in Redding.
13:26As for John, he's captured almost six weeks later.
13:30Authorities throw him in the clink, too, eager to discover what became of the stolen loot.
13:36In an interrogation by a Wells Fargo agent, John tells him he buried some of the gold near the creek, but they'll never find it.
13:44So he confesses that he buried it here.
13:46This is not just a legend.
13:47He said, I put some of it in the ground here.
13:50This is part of the documented story.
13:52Okay.
13:52So some of that gold may still be down here.
13:55That's correct.
13:56Let's do it.
13:57Come on, fire him up, boys.
13:58We pull out our metal detectors and begin to hunt.
14:03And it turns out, we don't have to hunt long.
14:08Got a pretty good hit here.
14:17I'm digging down to what I hope is a fortune, when something else grabs my attention.
14:21Josh!
14:22Josh!
14:23You got something?
14:34What'd you find?
14:35Pickaxe.
14:36Come on!
14:37Look at that!
14:39It's legit old school pickaxe.
14:42No need to check your program guide.
14:44That really is Gold Rush's Parker Schnabel, who's prospecting in my world this week.
14:49He's joined treasure hunter Troy McCormick and me in the pouring Northern California rain to find, what else?
14:56Gold.
14:57Buried by the bandits Charles and John Ruggles after an 1892 stagecoach robbery.
15:03I mean, this is legitimately an old mining accident, right?
15:07This was like calling you from the earth?
15:08Yeah, exactly.
15:09I just need to hone in on gold now.
15:10Totally.
15:11I'm on the right industry.
15:13I mean, really, you are.
15:14But, you know, look, this is Gold Rush country, right?
15:17This was probably from old mining that was happening here.
15:20That's like a really cool find.
15:21That's amazing.
15:22Get some new wood for that.
15:23You can bring that back up to Alaska.
15:25Well, you said you were coming to work on the mine site, right?
15:28I'll bring that along, yeah.
15:29Because you're cool.
15:29Yeah, exactly.
15:30How much are you regretting answering the phone, by the way, for this trip?
15:34I need to look at a weather report before I say yes next time.
15:39Parker's gotten us started at this soggy dig, but I still have a hit of my own to unearth, and I'm hoping it's part of the Ruggles' lost loot.
15:47Really tough, tough conditions in here.
15:52Whatever it is, it's deep down.
15:55Josh, how's your quest for the center of the earth?
15:59It's here, Parker.
16:01Is this the gold?
16:02This is the gold, I'm telling you.
16:04I appreciate you coming over to roast me right in the middle of it.
16:07I was actually coming to help if you wanted.
16:11Did you bring your passport for this trip down there?
16:15Winter flight back to Alaska?
16:16Oh, here we go.
16:26Oh, there it is.
16:28Oh, please be a gold nugget.
16:30Please be a gold nugget.
16:34What is that?
16:36A buckle?
16:39It's got something written on it.
16:40Looks like it says Armstrong Brace.
16:44It's like an old suspender clip.
16:46Quick question, is mining for gold easier than this?
16:50Uh, usually.
16:51We don't spend an hour digging up a suspender clip.
16:55No.
16:57Well, we do know one thing.
17:00Somebody's pants fell down around here.
17:05Between the rain and the rushing water, it's getting difficult to hear our metal detectors go off.
17:10But we manage.
17:13Hey, Josh.
17:15I've got evidence of an old boot over here.
17:18You found a boot?
17:19He found something.
17:26What'd you say, a boot?
17:28A boot heel.
17:29Boot heel.
17:30Someone's having a bad day when they lost that.
17:32Look at that.
17:32That's old.
17:34Oh, that's got nails in it.
17:35That's what my detector picked up.
17:36Those little hobnails.
17:38So somebody's wandering around here with one boot and no pants?
17:41That's right.
17:43Sounds like me in college.
17:47Well, somebody was definitely down here.
17:48Let's see what else is in this area right here.
17:51Good idea.
17:51Come on.
17:52We spread out across the banks of what is now a raging river to find any evidence of the Ruggles.
17:58If John Ruggles did bury some of that gold down in this creek, he would have needed to bury it somewhere that he could find again.
18:05He needed a landmark.
18:06Totally.
18:08We move along the creek, searching the woods for any other distinguishing features.
18:13Look at this.
18:15We got walls all in here.
18:17And look at this flooded out up here.
18:19Look at these old stone walls.
18:21Check this out.
18:23This looks like it could be period.
18:25It does.
18:25It's hand laid.
18:26There's no mortar to it.
18:28Great place to search.
18:29Yes.
18:30Let's look in here.
18:31I got to hit in a waterfall.
18:43Let's do it.
18:45Right here.
18:45Right there?
18:45Yeah.
18:46Oh, no, it's here.
18:59Here we go.
19:00It's going to be some little piece.
19:04Oh.
19:04Troy?
19:06Troy?
19:06Troy?
19:06Troy?
19:06Oh, that's round.
19:10That's a coin or a button.
19:12That's a coin.
19:13It sure looks like it could be.
19:14That is a coin.
19:16Come on.
19:18That's an old penny.
19:20That's an old coin.
19:21Look at that.
19:22That's an Indian head penny.
19:23That is an old Indian head penny.
19:24Look at that.
19:25Come on.
19:26The so-called Indian head penny features a portrait of Lady Liberty wearing a Native American
19:32headdress.
19:33The coins were minted from 1859 to 1909.
19:37So we may be, as they say, in the money.
19:41Come on, baby.
19:42What do you got?
19:441890s.
19:45Come on.
19:45Yeah, come on.
19:46Give me something early.
19:471883.
19:48Get out of here.
19:50No, it isn't.
19:50Yeah.
19:52Dude!
19:52That's Ruggles' period right there.
19:54Nine years before the robbery.
19:57I mean, we, like, we're in the period.
19:59They could have easily had that in their pocket.
20:01That's a little Wild West treasure right there.
20:03It is.
20:04I'll take it.
20:05Man, that is so cool.
20:06Where there's one coin?
20:08There's probably more.
20:09There's probably more.
20:09Let's get rich one penny at a time.
20:12Let's do it.
20:15We slog it out in the rain until the light starts to fail.
20:19It's been an intriguing start, with remnants of the gold rush,
20:23and even a historic coin from that era.
20:26But our detectors have covered every inch of the creek below the robbery,
20:29and there's no gold to be had here.
20:40After putting a hairdryer in my boots all night, we're back on the trail.
20:44Troy wants to follow up a new lead on the Ruggles case.
20:47Meanwhile, much of what the Ruggles stole was raw gold that had been mined in this very area,
20:54leaving Parker and me to wonder if there's more where that came from.
20:58Parker, we are, like, in the heart of the gold rush here,
21:01so I feel like there's got to still be gold in them, their hills.
21:05Yeah, there's still a lot of mining in Northern California.
21:08Okay.
21:08There's, like, active mining happening every year.
21:10They produce 70,000 to 80,000 ounces a year still.
21:14So, you know, over $200 million.
21:16That's not too shabby.
21:17No.
21:17All right, so how are we going to get ourselves some of that?
21:19Like, how do they mine this stuff?
21:21So there's three main types of gold mining up here still.
21:25One is hard rock mining, where they're going into the mountainside,
21:28chasing gold and quartz veins, you know.
21:30Like mine shafts?
21:31Mine shafts.
21:32I take it we are not going to be digging a mine shaft today.
21:34No.
21:35No.
21:35Okay?
21:36I'm a surface dweller, not really the gophering type.
21:39Okay, good.
21:39I like that.
21:40And then there's hydraulic mining, which is where you have water pressure and you've
21:45probably seen it spraying the mountainside down, washing everything into, like, a sluice
21:50box or something similar to that.
21:52So are we getting some fire hoses here?
21:54No.
21:55Okay.
21:55So then the third way is to not worry about all that technology and just keep it super
22:00simple, back to the basics.
22:02Invest in Bitcoin.
22:04Even simpler than that.
22:05And when you say simple, do you mean easy?
22:08No.
22:09No.
22:10Great.
22:13Well, so much for my dry boots.
22:16Parker, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind.
22:19Well, this is where you plaster mine.
22:21Plaster mine.
22:21Okay, walk me through it.
22:22What is plaster mining again?
22:24Plaster mining is when gold's already eroded from a hard rock source and ended up in a creek
22:29bed.
22:30And the gold's really heavy, so it stays in those creek beds usually.
22:33Freezing creek bed.
22:34Yeah.
22:34It's the kind of mining that, like, every gold rush in, like, California, Alaska, the
22:38Yukon was all plaster mining.
22:40So you're guaranteeing me that we're going to hit the motherlode today?
22:44A hundred percent.
22:46That's good.
22:46I like that.
22:47Absolute guarantee.
22:48All right.
22:48Let's pan for gold.
22:49Come on.
22:52Okay, folks.
22:53Here's how to get rich.
22:54Step one, get Parker Schnabel.
22:56Step two, go to the shallows of the creek to fill your pan with sediment.
23:00Step three, listen to Parker Schnabel.
23:02So the basic idea here is that gold's heavy and wants to sink to the bottom of the pan.
23:08Check.
23:08So you give it, like, good motion and fluidity.
23:11Is that a word?
23:12Yep.
23:12Okay.
23:13Okay, here we go.
23:13So we're kneeling down in the river now.
23:16Perfect.
23:16Hi!
23:17Ha!
23:17Okay.
23:20And so you just want to get everything moving.
23:22Yeah.
23:22And all those, like, plants and whatnot will come out.
23:25This stuff?
23:26Yeah.
23:26Check it.
23:29Perfect.
23:30You're a natural.
23:32Everybody get that?
23:33I'm a natural.
23:34And just like that, we're panning.
23:36Dirty water out, clean water in.
23:38Like, you want all that stuff to move.
23:40Okay, I see.
23:41Because the gold's down, hopefully, at the bottom of the pan.
23:44You promised it's down at the bottom of the pan.
23:45Well, if you did it right, it is.
23:47You said 100%.
23:48I'll play the tape back if I have to.
23:50You said 100%.
23:51Okay.
23:52So?
23:53So then the final step to see if there's anything in the pan.
23:55Yeah.
23:56Go in a circle, and it'll wash the light stuff into the bottom side of the pan.
24:00Yeah.
24:00And usually leave the heavy stuff in the top.
24:04No.
24:06Is that gold?
24:06No.
24:08Is that gold?
24:09Don't do this.
24:11Is this gold?
24:12What about this?
24:13Um, so I don't see anything in there.
24:16You did everything right.
24:18Slowly, but you did it right.
24:20Which is good.
24:22No gold?
24:24No.
24:25Okay, Parker, you're up.
24:27Let's see how the pros do it.
24:29What do you got going on?
24:33Oh, so we got one right there.
24:36Wait a minute.
24:36Is that gold?
24:45Shut up.
24:45That's gold.
24:47Yeah.
24:48Why are you so excited?
24:49What do you mean?
24:50Why am I so excited?
24:51We just pulled gold out of a river?
24:54I'm hunting down the loot from the Ruggles Brothers' 1892 stagecoach robbery near Redding, California.
25:01Since much of the stolen gold was mined near this very creek, I'm leaning on the expertise of miner and Gold Rush star Parker Schnabel to see if there's even more here to recover.
25:12I cannot believe, though, that in the first pan, in the river, there's gold.
25:18This is unsurprising to you, I can see, but I am, like, shocked by this.
25:23I mean, it's not very much.
25:26Like, on our mindsight, we would consider that waste.
25:29We would throw that away.
25:30You're throwing gold away?
25:32Yeah.
25:33Yeah.
25:34Well, I don't know how it works up on Gold Rush, Parker.
25:36We're all backwards.
25:37But where I come from, if you find gold, you keep it.
25:40No, just, like, one flake in a pan.
25:42Oh, two, actually.
25:43There's another one.
25:43What?
25:44Two flakes?
25:45Two.
25:46That's it.
25:46We're retired?
25:47See you later, Discovery Channel.
25:49Yeah.
25:50What are these worth?
25:50If you can retire on, like, a penny.
25:52They're worth a penny?
25:53Probably something like that.
25:54I'm one of the Discovery Channel's most loyal employees.
25:57Back during the California Gold Rush or the Klondike Gold Rush, people found ounces of
26:01gold per pan in really rich ground.
26:04Wow.
26:05But surely this is an indicator that there's gold in this creek.
26:07100%, yeah.
26:08Okay, so we could get lucky.
26:10Yeah.
26:10Do you want to try another one?
26:12Another one?
26:13We live here now.
26:16I get back to work hoping to strike it rich.
26:19Or at least snag one of those lucrative Gold Rush spinoffs.
26:25I'll admit, it's not looking too good.
26:28Until.
26:29Oh.
26:30What is?
26:30Oh, my God.
26:31No way.
26:32Wait a minute.
26:33That's such ****.
26:34Is it?
26:35That's beginner's luck.
26:36Is it?
26:36Yeah, that is, like, actually a pretty decent show.
26:39Out of here.
26:40That is like a piece of gold, dude.
26:43Is it?
26:44Yeah.
26:45Oh, look.
26:46The student has become the teacher.
26:49Oh, my word.
26:51Are you kidding me?
26:53Oh, man.
26:54And that's a good chunk.
26:55That's a piece of gold.
26:56Yeah.
26:57Yeah.
26:57You hate this, don't you?
26:59You're boiling right now inside, aren't you?
27:02I mean.
27:03Is there another one?
27:04Oh, no.
27:05No!
27:07There's two of them.
27:09Those are both pretty good pieces of gold, too, yeah.
27:11I wouldn't quite, like...
27:12Yeah, Parker, let me tell you...
27:13I wouldn't quite call them nuggets, personally.
27:17Mini nuggets?
27:19Yeah.
27:20Fun-sized nuggets?
27:21Sure, fun-sized, yeah.
27:22Now, Parker, let me walk you through my technique here.
27:25Okay, teach you a thing or two.
27:26I have some tiny ones.
27:28You got something there.
27:29You did.
27:30Just like the Gold Rush-era miners, and, indeed, the Ruggles themselves,
27:34I'm definitely experiencing the intoxicating allure of Gold Dust Dreams.
27:39This is amazing.
27:41Now what?
27:42Well, you said 50-50.
27:45That was literally never discussed.
27:47Okay.
27:49We're not telling Troy, though, right?
27:51Of course not.
27:52Okay, good.
27:54Speaking of Troy, the third member of our treasure hunting dream team
27:58calls us up for an urgent meeting.
28:00Just up the road in Shasta, California.
28:02We convene at the former Shasta County Courthouse.
28:08Today, it serves as a museum.
28:10Inside, we meet historian Ryan McCloskey,
28:12with a new lead on a location where John Ruggles may have hidden his gold.
28:17First of all, this is an amazing museum.
28:19Yeah, it actually dates back to 1855,
28:22and we're fortunate enough to have some amazing artifacts from the robbery.
28:26Those artifacts include the Ruggles' axe,
28:29believed to have opened the strong boxes of gold.
28:31Also, we're being given White Glove access
28:34to actually examine John Ruggles' revolver.
28:38That is incredible.
28:40Which he used to end Buck Montgomery's life.
28:44This is like a Colt 44 or something.
28:46Good eye.
28:48It is.
28:48The man knows his guns.
28:50Well, Alaska.
28:50Alaska, I know, I know, exactly.
28:52Comes with the territory.
28:53Do we know how many times John shot Buck with this?
28:57We don't know for sure.
28:58We just know that he had several holes in him when they got him to the doctor,
29:02so there were multiple shots fired.
29:03Gotcha.
29:04You hear these stories about robberies like the Ruggles,
29:07and it all has this air of legend.
29:09But once you put something like this in your hand, this is real.
29:11This is real history.
29:13This is a murder weapon.
29:15Oh, absolutely.
29:15You're holding a piece of the Ruggles' story right there.
29:18And as we know, it's a story that doesn't end well.
29:23Both brothers are arrested and reunited in jail.
29:26There, they become local folk heroes,
29:29drawing attention from women who offer gifts, food, even marriage proposals.
29:34But no vows would ever be exchanged.
29:37The Ruggles published their planned defense in the newspapers,
29:40and in it, they claimed that Buck Montgomery was not only not their victim,
29:45but that he was their partner in crime.
29:47And this is that moment that turns the town against them,
29:50the fulcrum point to their inevitable end.
29:53Yeah, so the town rallies behind Buck, and now they are enemies.
29:58To avenge Buck Montgomery's sterling reputation,
30:02dozens of masked vigilantes carrying weapons and torches
30:05descend upon the jail in the dead of night for a little frontier justice.
30:10And at this point, the brothers are doomed.
30:12The mob drags the boys out by force and hauls them to Redding's railroad tracks,
30:20where a pair of nooses await in a nearby tree.
30:24John pleads for his younger brother's life,
30:26bargaining with the only thing he has left,
30:29the purportedly true location where he buried the rest of the stolen gold
30:33after he left the creek.
30:34Troy thinks the intel was likely the real deal.
30:38After all, both brothers' lives were on the line.
30:41This is a huge deal.
30:43It really is.
30:43And for us, it legitimizes the fact that he buried gold
30:48because he's offering up the location.
30:50Right.
30:50He says, you spare my brother's life,
30:52I will take you to where this gold is buried.
30:54So we now know he actually did bury some of that gold.
30:58Right.
30:58And do the townspeople take him up on this offer?
31:00No, at this moment, they were more interested in justice than they were in gold.
31:05And the brothers are hanged.
31:09They are.
31:10And the problem is, we now lose the actual location where the gold is buried.
31:16Or did we?
31:19To dig deeper into the legend,
31:21we head down to the courthouse's old jail cells,
31:24where Ryan has uncovered clues that have been buried in the archives for years.
31:28Okay, so why have you dragged us down here?
31:32So what we've got is the research that Ryan and I have been finding in the old records.
31:36But I've got one here that I want you to pay attention to.
31:39Okay, and what is this?
31:40This is some material evidence to a location that has never properly been searched.
31:45I like that.
31:45This is an old news article of some kind?
31:48It is.
31:481899.
31:49These two guys claimed to have overheard John while he was in jail,
31:53talking to his brother Charles about where he buried the gold.
31:55So this says John Ruggles indicates the spot described as the scene of the buried treasure,
32:01and says that it's buried near a large rock at the foot of a bluff,
32:06a short distance beyond the old Spanish mine.
32:10Wait a minute, this is a smoking gun.
32:12Oh, this could crack the whole case wide open.
32:15This is huge.
32:15He is listing a specific location here.
32:25Yeah.
32:25In the archives of Shasta County, California,
32:28a lost 19th century newspaper article might point to the location of the stolen treasure
32:34of the infamous Ruggles brothers.
32:36Ryan pulls out a plat map from the Ruggles era,
32:39and lucky for us, we have world-class mining expert Parker Schnabel on hand to examine it.
32:45So this is an old U.S. mineral survey map with mining properties at the time.
32:50You know, different mining companies were here,
32:52White Oak Construction, Gold Leaf Construction, Arizona Construction Group.
32:56And then look over here in the lower left.
32:58Oh yeah, the old Spanish mining company.
33:00Boom, there it is in black and white.
33:01So these would have been like hard rock mines then, huh?
33:06Hard rock gold mines, yes.
33:07Underground?
33:08Underground vertical shaft, horizontal drifts.
33:11They've all been backfilled in for safety purposes when they cruise pulled out.
33:15Gotcha.
33:15But we know where this location is.
33:17We know where that mine was.
33:18We know the general location.
33:20We've got to put some boots on the ground to find the actual shaft.
33:24What about access?
33:25Because where I'm from, wandering around mining property is a good way to get shot.
33:29It is on private property, but I have connections.
33:32Okay, connections are good.
33:34I don't want to get shot.
33:35Me neither.
33:36Okay, well we're agreed on that.
33:38And easy to get to?
33:40Absolutely not.
33:41Perfect.
33:50Now Parker, I assume you know how to drive one of these?
33:53Yeah, every Alaskan gets one when they turn 10.
33:56Hey, you guys go to prom in these things, right?
33:59Oh, well I'm rolling down the highway like the red and blue and blue.
34:04I feel right at home when I'm full.
34:07Oh boy, hang on.
34:10I keep on rolling.
34:11Ha-ha!
34:12Woo!
34:13I'm playing hard, rolling rambler, and I'm tearing up this year.
34:21Good Lord!
34:24Okay, Josh, this is it.
34:34We're on foot from here.
34:35Okay, let's grab the detectors and get into it.
34:37Let's do it.
34:38It's going to dump.
34:39Here we go.
34:40Our brief patch of sunshine is quickly replaced by ominous skies as we search for the old Spanish mine,
34:46reportedly a landmark for John Ruggles when he buried the stolen gold.
34:51Okay, so in basic terms, we are looking for what?
34:55A hole in the ground that's been filled in.
34:58A hole in the ground.
34:59Okay.
35:00And how big is this mine apt to be?
35:03I mean, if it's an old hand shaft, it should be, I don't know, 10, 15 feet in diameter.
35:07It should have a big pile of rocks around it.
35:09It should be a pretty big area of disturbance around it.
35:12All right, well, let's fan out a bit and start working this ridge and see if we can find it.
35:15That'll work.
35:16All right, come on, guys.
35:16Let's do it.
35:19We split up and scour the hillside, hopeful that Parker's expertise can lead us to the former mine shaft.
35:25And it doesn't take long for him to spot a possible clue.
35:32Well, we might be getting close.
35:33Here's some quarks.
35:34Yeah, there's some here, too.
35:35So that's a good indicator that we might be close to the mine?
35:37Yeah, like most of these hard rock mines would be following quartz veins that have gold in them.
35:42Got it.
35:42So where there's quartz, maybe there's gold?
35:44Normally, where there's gold, there's quartz.
35:46Not always the other way around.
35:48Got it.
35:48Okay.
35:49Well, a good clue.
35:50Let's keep moving.
35:52The presence of quartz on the surface indicates that somebody may have been mining for gold nearby.
35:58Parker and I try to follow its trail to see where it leads.
36:05Here's an old hole-looking thing.
36:07Oh, look at this.
36:09That is definitely a big depression in the ground.
36:12What do you think?
36:13Could that be our mine?
36:15I don't think so.
36:16Yeah, I would have expected it to be bigger and have, like, some, you know, like, supports around it and a bit more infrastructure.
36:22So maybe we're on the trail here.
36:23Hey, hey, Ryan, Troy.
36:25Yes.
36:26Guys, come on over.
36:30First thing we've seen that really seems like man-made.
36:32I mean, there's definitely a big depression here.
36:34We're not sure this is the main mine shaft, but it looks like it might be mining-related.
36:38Yeah, it could have been a secondary people coming in after the main mine was closed down.
36:42Totally.
36:42Let's see what's above this, like, back in here.
36:45Okay.
36:45Yeah?
36:46Sure.
36:46Ryan, you want to lead the way for us?
36:47We slowly trudge up the steep, rocky slope to higher ground.
36:54Somewhere beneath our feet is a literal gold mine.
36:59Oh, we've got something here.
37:00What is that?
37:02You see that?
37:03Oh, look at all the white rock up there.
37:06We've got quartz everywhere up here, guys.
37:08Look at this!
37:09Oh, my word.
37:11That is a mine!
37:14Woo!
37:14That's the hole in the ground we've been looking for.
37:16Look at the size of these quartz blocks!
37:19This site is exactly the kind of place that Parker described.
37:23Okay, so, Old Spanish Mine?
37:26Looks like it to me.
37:27This is almost certainly the entrance to the Old Spanish Mine that was mentioned in the 1899 article about John Ruggles' jailhouse confession.
37:36And since no one has searched this area before, we may be closer than anyone has ever been to finding the treasure.
37:43Ryan, according to the story, John Ruggles says the gold is where?
37:47Beyond the Old Spanish Mine, at the bottom of a bluff, near a big boulder.
37:52Well, that's a bluff.
37:53It is, and I'm sure there's boulders.
37:55Let's find it.
37:56Old Spanish Mine.
37:57Let's do it.
37:58Come on.
38:01As the weather turns ever more miserable, we hurry to run our metal detectors around the entrance for any sign of the Ruggles' gold.
38:13So far, nothing.
38:17It is quiet.
38:19Oh, spoke too soon.
38:22Solid hit here.
38:24You got something?
38:25Yeah, I got a hit over here.
38:26It's got to be right in here somewhere.
38:35That was a solid signal.
38:37Oh, here we go.
38:42There it is.
38:44What is that?
38:46Is that lead?
38:47That's a bullet.
38:47That's a bullet.
38:48Look at that.
38:49That's a bullet.
38:50I think that's old, too.
38:52I think that's hand cast.
38:53Look at that.
38:56You see that seam?
38:57Yeah.
38:58That's old.
38:59I don't think they make bullets like that now.
39:01No, no, no.
39:01They're machined out now.
39:02It's totally differently.
39:03Hey, Troy!
39:04What'd you guys find over here?
39:07What do you think?
39:08Ooh.
39:09Definitely a bullet.
39:12With all that seeming on there, you think what?
39:14Somewhere turn of the century?
39:16More than likely.
39:16Yeah.
39:17So, I don't know if it's from the Ruggles, but we're not far off, time-wise.
39:21It's close.
39:22It's real close.
39:23That's super cool.
39:25You know, if you're looking for gold from a couple of bandits, finding period bullets is a great start.
39:31It's a good start.
39:31All right, we got lead.
39:33Now we need gold.
39:34That's your specialty, Parker.
39:35We're working on it.
39:36We're working on it.
39:37Here we go.
39:37Come on.
39:39We are wet, but undeterred, as we press on, trying to scan the entire bluff above the old Spanish mine.
39:50Oh, Josh, I got a nice strong signal over here.
39:53Okay, here we go.
39:54Now we're talking.
39:58Oh, here we go.
39:59Right there.
40:00What is that?
40:08Panning for gold with Parker Schnabel is like going one-on-one with LeBron James.
40:12And I did, well, about as well as I do against LeBron.
40:15Yeah, you're not washing any of the stuff out.
40:17I don't want to lose the gold.
40:19Playing with it a little bit.
40:21No, no, no, no, no, no.
40:22You don't look through it.
40:25Sorry.
40:26Heaven forbid.
40:27Yeah.
40:27I got gold fever.
40:28So the number one mistake that beginners make is doing this in the first place.
40:33Tilt, tilt, tilt, tilt, tilt.
40:35And wash.
40:35You're like fighting me.
40:36Stop.
40:38I'm trying.
40:40Have you thought about a cooking show?
40:43It's so frustrating trying to teach somebody how to pan.
40:47Why?
40:47It's like I used to do this at my grandpa's mine site when I was like 10.
40:52All right, I have the skills of a 10-year-old.
40:54Is that what you're saying?
40:55No, no.
40:56Not even?
40:56It's worse than that.
40:57Come on.
41:02Is that iron?
41:04It is iron.
41:05Digging near a Gold Rush era mine in search of the Ruggles Brothers' lost treasure,
41:10we've just gotten a big hit on the metal detector.
41:13That might be for, like, for a key slot or something.
41:16Look at that.
41:16What?
41:17It does look like that.
41:19Maybe for a strong box?
41:20This appears to be the escutcheon plate off a chest.
41:23It would likely have framed some kind of locking mechanism.
41:27Yeah, like two bolts in the top and bottom.
41:29Totally, right?
41:30And you can imagine a key fitting right in there.
41:32Yeah, into a Wells Fargo strong box.
41:35Into a Wells Fargo strong box.
41:36How about that?
41:37If there was a box attached to this, what was in it?
41:41We just have to keep looking to find out.
41:43This, this is intriguing.
41:46The confession that led us here mentioned a boulder beneath a bluff at the Old Spanish
41:51mine as a landmark.
41:53Mine, check.
41:55Bluff, check.
41:57Now, we just need to find the boulder.
42:02The only signs I've seen of any larger rocks are kind of up this ravine,
42:07which is, it's kind of at the base of the, the short bluff here.
42:12It really is.
42:12I mean, there's, there's a couple of big rocks there.
42:14I don't know about boulders, but let's, let's look up that way.
42:16Yeah.
42:20You know, that one up there looks more like a boulder.
42:23Where?
42:24Oh, that.
42:24That's the biggest one we've seen today.
42:26I think that qualifies as a boulder.
42:28Okay, let's check there.
42:31We furiously metal detect the area.
42:33But in the end, the guy who gets the strongest hit is exactly who you'd expect.
42:43Is that a hit?
42:44That sounds like it.
42:45Maybe that's the treasure.
42:47That's like under the boulder.
42:49You're going to hit right there?
42:50The boulder.
42:52Wait, what is that?
42:53It's 500 ounces of gold.
42:55Come on, Parker, be right.
42:59I mean, we are at the base of a boulder, at the bluff, at the old Spanish mine.
43:04Come on.
43:06Oh, is that it?
43:07What is that?
43:08Is it heavy?
43:09Not a bar of gold, is it?
43:11I don't think so, no.
43:13Doesn't look shiny enough.
43:14Head of a hammer?
43:15Oh, I think that's exactly what it is.
43:17Look at that.
43:19Old mining hammer?
43:20Well, it's like a ball-peen hammer, but that would have been for driving a chisel into rock.
43:24Wow.
43:25Old mining hammer, look at that.
43:27You can even see wood still broken off in the handle, rotted out in there.
43:31I love stuff like this because somebody held this.
43:34Yeah.
43:34You know, somebody worked with this.
43:36Probably down underground.
43:38Yeah.
43:39Chiseling out the white quartz looking for gold.
43:42This is another reminder that, I mean, you know, look, gold mining's plenty hard today,
43:48but this was like...
43:50Imagine those guys swinging that hammer for 12 hours a day for probably not even a dollar
43:55or nothing at all if they're mining and not finding any gold.
43:58Right.
43:59A tough life for sure.
44:01But these guys were literally the pioneers.
44:03These guys literally broke the earth wide open and started this whole industry.
44:07Yeah.
44:07That's something.
44:08So we got a lost mine.
44:10We got evidence of those early miners.
44:13No Ruggles gold yet, though.
44:15Not yet.
44:16But, uh, I don't know.
44:17We got a few hours till the sun goes down.
44:18That's true, and it's not like I'm going to get any wetter.
44:20No, we're soaked through.
44:21Yeah.
44:22Should we keep at it?
44:23We might as well.
44:24Yeah.
44:24Yeah?
44:25You know, there's still gold out there.
44:26That's what they say.
44:27Let's find it.
44:28Come on.
44:29Woo!
44:35We search and we search.
44:37But the Ruggles gold stays hidden, at least for today.
44:45The California Gold Rush was an explosion of unbridled ambition at its most pure, and sometimes
44:53its most predatory.
44:55For every gritty prospector and stalwart stagecoach driver, there were schemers and bandits seeking
45:01to prey on their success.
45:03The story of the Ruggles is undoubtedly a classic tale of greed and the inevitable cost of material
45:11obsession.
45:12But if I'm being honest, I too felt bit by the bug in the hills of Northern California
45:17and experienced firsthand a case of gold fever.
45:21Why are you so excited?
45:22What do you mean, why am I so excited?
45:24We just pulled gold out of a river?
45:26Over one unceasingly rainy week, I spent every waking, soggy minute dreaming of striking it
45:35rich.
45:36I hardly cared that I was soaked to the bone in frigid temperatures, because I felt the
45:41warmth of that starry-eyed affliction, of that what-if feeling with every hit on the
45:47metal detector.
45:48I was also basking in the determination and good-humored camaraderie of some of the best
45:54company a treasure hunter could hope for.
45:56That's a little Wild West treasure right there.
45:59As our fellowship parts ways, I'm heartened by the fact that while the California Gold Rush
46:04is behind us, its legacy lives on in modern-day pioneers and prospectors.
46:10And in the knowledge that somewhere just beneath our feet, a $10 million payday is patiently
46:16waiting.
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