- 13 hours ago
Gold Rush: White Water - Season 9 - Episode 01: Chasing Waterfalls
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TVTranscript
00:00:10It is beautiful up here.
00:00:15I've been at this for 14 years now.
00:00:17A lot of snow melt.
00:00:19And we're getting in it.
00:00:19Are we crazy or what?
00:00:22Pile of gold is what I'm looking for.
00:00:25We found some here and there.
00:00:27Big nugget.
00:00:28Great.
00:00:30Look what you just found, buddy.
00:00:32Oh, my God.
00:00:38You see that?
00:00:40That's the biggest nugget in Gold Rush history.
00:00:44But it's not enough.
00:00:46I've not succeeded yet.
00:00:50This has to be the year.
00:00:52I mean, another season not hitting a jackpot?
00:00:54I'm going to have to think seriously.
00:00:56What do I do with these claims?
00:00:59Then somebody else is going to come here and they'll get all those nuggets.
00:01:02We proved it down there.
00:01:05So the thing that pushes me to go into the stupid-ass snow and risk it all, we know there's
00:01:13gold.
00:01:14I'm here to hit a jackpot.
00:01:18I need to succeed at this.
00:01:21I'm getting to a weird place to where I'm ready to risk everything.
00:01:27One thing is absolutely clear that there's been a glacier over the top of all this stuff right here.
00:01:32And that glacier was stopping everyone from coming up here and digging.
00:01:38And no one has been here.
00:01:40There are a bunch of waterfalls all the way up at the top section up here.
00:01:46If we found a six-ounce nugget on somewhere that wasn't that hard to dig,
00:01:50if I go to a waterfall and the water's moving fast and there's a collection of them,
00:01:54they could have piles and piles and piles of gold.
00:01:59There's always a chance of getting hurt or dying here.
00:02:05Move, move, move, move, move!
00:02:06Oh, f**k!
00:02:08Move!
00:02:09Get up here, guys!
00:02:10Get up here!
00:02:12But you know what fear does?
00:02:14Fear stops you.
00:02:16Fear makes you quit.
00:02:17Fear makes you back down.
00:02:22Throw the dice.
00:02:24See what happens.
00:02:26We're at the risk.
00:02:27I'll let you know at the end of the season.
00:02:31On the all-new season of Gold Rush, Whitewater.
00:02:35Woo!
00:02:36Look at that, man.
00:02:38This is the most dangerous place we've ever been.
00:02:42Oh, f**k!
00:02:44This is why it just came down.
00:02:46Fierce!
00:02:47I'm the guy that keeps everybody safe.
00:02:50Whoa, whoa!
00:02:51Yeah!
00:02:51Carlos!
00:02:52I got a new plan for the guys.
00:02:54Blame on, brother!
00:02:55Woo!
00:02:56Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!
00:02:57It's getting hot!
00:02:58Three, two, one.
00:03:01Woo!
00:03:02Yeah!
00:03:03They're not gonna like it.
00:03:04I need the double dredge done today.
00:03:06What the f**k tell you?
00:03:06I have to build every f**king thing for this f**king piece of f**king dare on me.
00:03:10Big nuggets here.
00:03:11We're too incompetent to actually get to them.
00:03:14Are you f**king serious?
00:03:15Nobody's keeping you here.
00:03:16You're a world-class prick, dude.
00:03:20I invited my girlfriend to come help us.
00:03:23Hey, y'all.
00:03:24If you cross me, I will cut you loose.
00:03:27I can't believe you guys work here.
00:03:29This is absolutely crazy.
00:03:33This year's gonna be the make and a break.
00:03:34Light it up!
00:03:36Woo!
00:03:36We don't get a bunch of gold.
00:03:38Back to classic white water.
00:03:39Yeah!
00:03:40There's no way we could do this again.
00:03:43Get it!
00:03:44Daddy!
00:03:45Is it worth it?
00:03:46And when you hit it, it's like hitting a jackpot.
00:03:49Cha-ting, cha-ting.
00:03:50Daddy!
00:03:51Woo!
00:03:53Can you feel it?
00:03:55Oh, f**k!
00:03:57Woo!
00:03:57We had success!
00:04:23We had a really long winter, and I've had a lot of time to think about what we're doing.
00:04:30Picking the right dig spot is gonna be key this year.
00:04:34We're moving upstream.
00:04:36There might be a ton of gold.
00:04:41The new dive site Dustin has chosen is 30 miles from Haynes.
00:04:48And another mile up the legendary Nugget Creek.
00:04:52Where in an unmined area, threatened by falling rocks and steep valley sides, lies a waterfall.
00:05:01The deep plunge pool is a miner's dream.
00:05:05As the natural gold catch traps Nuggets carried down by the creek.
00:05:10Creating what could be a life-changing payday.
00:05:18The reason this place has not been dug is because it is too dangerous.
00:05:26Death looms into this creek.
00:05:28Where we're going is terrifying for even me.
00:05:31We have to get a jackpot of some sort.
00:05:34It has to happen.
00:05:36If we don't get a bunch of gold, there's just no way we could do this again.
00:05:41If we fail, I could lose the claim.
00:05:47Dustin has one final shot at unearthing the monster Nuggets at the claim he's invested his life savings in.
00:05:56But, it's deadly location means taking on risk like never before.
00:06:04How's it going man?
00:06:06Good seeing y'all again.
00:06:08Hell yeah.
00:06:08Welcome back to Haynes everybody.
00:06:10Yeah.
00:06:11Yeah.
00:06:11Everybody's healthy and all your fingers and toes working.
00:06:15Well, so far.
00:06:16For the most part.
00:06:16Fingers and toes.
00:06:20And I'm ready to get back at it.
00:06:21Yeah.
00:06:22We got everything set up so we can just like hit the ground running.
00:06:25Yep.
00:06:25So, it's the deal man.
00:06:27We've been making just enough gold to even barely get by.
00:06:31Yeah.
00:06:32We got to go big.
00:06:33I think we need to go upstream.
00:06:35What I'm looking for is more of a big payoff for all of us.
00:06:40Paul and I went up there and we saw the waterfall.
00:06:43Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:06:44I truly believe whatever gold is there is going to be huge.
00:06:48It's going to be huge.
00:06:49It's going to be huge.
00:06:50Hey.
00:06:51Last season.
00:06:52I love you.
00:06:53Despite the monumental loss of his father and mentor Fred Hurt.
00:06:58Fred's gone and I'm so sorry man.
00:07:01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:07:02I'm sorry.
00:07:02I'm sorry.
00:07:06Dustin proved that Nugget Creek lives up to its name.
00:07:10That's a dumb nugget.
00:07:12That's a dumb nugget.
00:07:18It just seems like they're going to be big nuggets from here on out, man.
00:07:22No.
00:07:23I hear something rumbling big up here.
00:07:26And set out to explore remote parts of his claims.
00:07:31Whoa.
00:07:31Where he discovered the waterfall he staked his season on.
00:07:36Now that's a waterfall, man.
00:07:38I hear it.
00:07:40It looks like a vertical drop, which is what you want in the plunge pool.
00:07:44It's a natural gold catch.
00:07:46This untouched plunge pool collects the heavy gold as it's washed down creek.
00:07:52And in a region that delivered more than 80,000 ounces could hold the millions in gold they've been chasing.
00:08:03There's no escape out of here.
00:08:05No.
00:08:06No.
00:08:07But this narrow section means the constant threat of falling rocks.
00:08:12Whoa, whoa, watch out.
00:08:13Whoa, whoa, run.
00:08:14Whoa, whoa, run.
00:08:15Get up here, guys.
00:08:16Get up here.
00:08:17Oh.
00:08:18And massive flash floods.
00:08:21That's insane.
00:08:23This is a freaking nightmare.
00:08:26Make this site the most deadly location they have ever faced.
00:08:33You're talking about further than your old dive site, right?
00:08:36Yes.
00:08:36Oh.
00:08:37It's about a half mile up past where we're at.
00:08:40Is he going upstream?
00:08:41Isn't our wrists going to get greater?
00:08:43Because those canyons are just, they're so, so tight.
00:08:46There's no way out.
00:08:48The truth is, this is going to be the most dangerous place we've ever been, ever.
00:08:53Some of the shell boulders you're going to see in the creek, well, they're bigger than this whole dance floor
00:08:56right here.
00:08:57That came off the mountain.
00:08:58That's it.
00:08:59The wrist is going to go up big time.
00:09:01Sorry, but I think this is how it's going to be, man.
00:09:04I can't keep you 100% safe.
00:09:06You have to make this decision for yourself.
00:09:09So think about it.
00:09:11Tomorrow we're going to be over at the boat launch.
00:09:14Totally understand.
00:09:15If you don't want to come out there, I got a lot invested in this, so I don't have the
00:09:21right to back out.
00:09:21But you do, you know?
00:09:24You got to stay alive, and I understand, so.
00:09:26All right?
00:09:27All right.
00:09:27All right, later.
00:09:35You know, every year, it's danger.
00:09:38More and more danger.
00:09:40That's my concern.
00:09:43It makes me nervous.
00:09:45I wouldn't want to leave behind family.
00:09:47Sometimes you've got to decide, is it worth it or not?
00:09:58For marine veteran Carlos Menor, the risk may not be worth the reward.
00:10:06Daddy!
00:10:12Show him.
00:10:13What do you have from school?
00:10:15What you got, mommies?
00:10:16Artwork!
00:10:18Oh, get artwork.
00:10:19She was so excited waiting for you just to show you.
00:10:22Oh, my gosh, lollies.
00:10:25Directed drawings.
00:10:27Wow, mommies.
00:10:29It's you and me.
00:10:31Oh, pot of gold?
00:10:33Mm-hmm.
00:10:33You got gold fever, too?
00:10:34You want to go get gold?
00:10:36No.
00:10:37Not in my lifetime, you won't.
00:10:40Talk to all the guys.
00:10:42You know, it was, uh, we're back at it again.
00:10:44You know, how was your winter?
00:10:46Blah, blah, blah.
00:10:47Oh, by the way, what we're going to do is totally different from what we've done last year.
00:10:53And it's going to be ten times as dangerous.
00:10:55Ah, that's daddy.
00:10:57Oh, daddy.
00:10:58Daddy would win.
00:11:00Why?
00:11:02He's always doing crazy stuff.
00:11:04Family always comes first for me.
00:11:06That's why I was letting the guys down.
00:11:08I feel bad about it, but in the long run, my family trumps that.
00:11:15Am I going to show up tomorrow?
00:11:18I don't know.
00:11:43I kind of thought they were going to be here already, but...
00:11:47We'll see what happens.
00:11:50I wouldn't be surprised if people backed out this year.
00:11:53I would be disappointed, but I wouldn't be surprised.
00:12:18I don't know.
00:12:24I don't know.
00:12:27commitment are you gonna come out and risk your life with me well good because you can't run us
00:12:34off not that easy you got to protect us we got to protect you that's the way it is
00:12:39no sign of carlos huh i haven't seen him anywhere i don't know he was the one i was worried
00:12:44about
00:12:45yeah well let's gear up let's get everything ready okay hopefully carlos to show up let's go
00:12:52your eggs ready for some noise now we're talking you know i thought about it i was a little bit
00:13:00nervous i don't know i just got to look at the big picture and pull up my big boy britches
00:13:07we
00:13:08finally made the decision just to go all in we do have a lot riding on all this we know
00:13:13there's good
00:13:13gold there and just to turn and walk away i don't know if i could live with that uh let's
00:13:20start
00:13:20looking for a place to launch all right because uh oh there he is all right okay that's a relief
00:13:30yeah it is okay that helps hey man i thought that was going the wrong way am i late for
00:13:38the party or
00:13:39what we were worried you weren't gonna show up man i had a lot to think about let me tell
00:13:44you man i hear
00:13:45all those freaking ghost stories you told me let's go do this all right this is the year right yeah
00:13:51this is the year this is the year i think so too man are you good to go yeah man
00:13:57all right i'm all
00:13:58ready to rock man i am so happy that everybody showed up holy cow i was worried yeah i showed
00:14:08up
00:14:09uh believe it or not it this decision wasn't really up to me me and the wife
00:14:17extensively talked about my decision of if i'm going to do the season we all got to make sure
00:14:22to get good gold life-changing gold all right you're good to go clear everybody clear
00:14:31all right all right everybody let's get in the water and see if this thing floats there you go perfect
00:14:45yeah no problem
00:14:49man it's like it's good to go
00:14:53you guys don't judge me by my first run because i'm a little rusty we got yeah
00:15:01take it off
00:15:05this journey up river is the first step in what will be the most difficult and dangerous white water
00:15:12mining they have ever attempted
00:15:14this is badass and with a season that could last just five months it's now a race to get a
00:15:22diver in
00:15:23the water whoa that's what i'm talking about to reach their remote camp the crew must travel 13 miles up
00:15:34the treacherous and unpredictable cirku river to nugget creek where they believe untouched waterfalls high in
00:15:43the mountains have trapped the piles of nuggets to make all this effort worth it
00:15:51that should look deep right there that makes it strong man
00:15:56it's under that ice
00:16:09i love this boat this boat's badass
00:16:18oh we made it boys yeah all right
00:16:25this is the most ground i've seen first thing yeah
00:16:32oh
00:16:33whoa what do you see there's a bear right there holy
00:16:37oh you see it big old blackberry man oh yeah holy he's right beside camp
00:16:43he's walking right now he's just behind those trees from where we are yeah
00:16:47yeah it's a bear
00:16:49he's huge is what he is he's huge
00:16:53oh yeah that's a big one oh no i'm gonna get my gun
00:16:58just for the bang boy scares the hell out of him
00:17:02man i just hope there's no family of them things up here
00:17:05get out of there man i really hope that freaking bear didn't destroy our camp
00:17:16that's a bear that's a big one that bear needs to get the hell out of here
00:17:22as winter's grip eases on nugget creek camp bears hungry from a winter of hibernation pose a constant
00:17:31threat hopefully mama bear is not up there i'd hate to have old family these damn things over here
00:17:38these apex predators can weigh up to 700 pounds
00:17:43and frequently target wilderness camps in search of food
00:17:48get out of there hey
00:17:53we saw that large black bear i mean just right up the hill right here behind camp so i know
00:17:58he's been
00:17:58in the camp i'm not here to kill a bear but if they come messing with us i do want
00:18:03to be able to
00:18:03defend myself and this right here does give me a peace of mind that uh nobody's gonna get mauled by
00:18:09a bear
00:18:11yeah he's moving on now but keep your eyes open
00:18:16did you see dustin's shanty freaking bear tried to get in there
00:18:21i got my gun on me if i figure if i shoot james in the leg and i can make
00:18:24a
00:18:25run for it let him deal with it
00:18:31let's go
00:18:35there we go come on come on come on
00:18:44right now we're trying to get camp set up so we can move in and then move on to get
00:18:49up the creek
00:18:51oh yeah the smell of gasoline
00:18:57oh yes we got to build shelters there's not as much snow as there usually is usually is over my
00:19:06head and this is awesome
00:19:09home sweet home i can't wait to get up and get these huge nugs
00:19:19don't mind me i'm just trying to set up the tent
00:19:27everybody's excited to start and this is really quick for us we've had a lot of bad starts in the
00:19:33past
00:19:33and this year it looks like we've learned from some of our mistakes which isn't you know not a common
00:19:52thing for us
00:19:52all right that's what you got
00:19:56perfect man it's actually good all the rash thank you sure
00:20:01which one do you want oh my gosh that's freaking good man smells good that smells really good one
00:20:07ah something's going down yeah they're going around yeah it's going around
00:20:13i'll never forget my first year here fred and i were panning and we had been at it for about
00:20:1812 15
00:20:18hours right and we're almost done and he's like god just one more pan and i looked down at my
00:20:24watch and
00:20:24i said fred it's 4 30 in the morning and it's just as bright as it is right now and
00:20:30he was like
00:20:31get the hell out of here fred we have to be up in two and a half hours
00:20:39definitely feels good having camp set up now man we're way ahead right now we're so far ahead
00:20:44pretty much got the place set up man yeah we do dying to know what's up that creek though
00:20:51i'm curious to see it too i've been thinking about it for an entire winter man as far along as
00:20:56we are
00:20:56now we need to go do a recon tomorrow and see what we can how far up the creek we
00:20:59can get i couldn't see
00:21:01really well down those on top but i'll know as soon as i get eyes on it i'll know exactly
00:21:08what
00:21:08we're dealing with we've got to go for it big uh it's either big or broke that's it see some
00:21:16more
00:21:16of those six ounce nuggets yeah i agree with you or maybe a half a dozen of them that would
00:21:21be even
00:21:21better yeah i agree it's a good thing it's not raining that's a good point
00:21:38well and the sun's not glaring either so yeah that's right yeah that's a bear that's a bear track
00:21:44oh my god we got a big one holy look at that sucker bigfoot
00:21:51to reach the waterfall dustin discovered last season the crew must hike a mile up nugget creek
00:21:59braving river rapids and falling rocks once there they must establish their remote mining outpost
00:22:08in the shadow of the cliffs above in the belief that this untouched site could contain a huge deposit
00:22:16of monster nuggets
00:22:21there's a drop-off point right here if i blow through just don't even come check on me you know
00:22:28just back up and locked up locked everybody if everybody even just digs heels i'm fine with that
00:22:33too i don't care just make it stop as long as we got climbing ropes and harnesses i think we'll
00:22:38get
00:22:38anybody out that falls i was i was wondering should we should we suit up harnesses rope just in case
00:22:44you go through this is where this gets dangerous yeah all right put your harnesses on if you're coming
00:22:49with me what am i with here
00:22:55all right i'm just gonna go out front run and stomp on a bunch of if i go through
00:22:59everybody anchor the rope and i'll climb up the rope all right copy that
00:23:10hey give me some space all right just in case i blow through
00:23:18back up off me the whole section goes you if both of us go down it's stupid copy that
00:23:27dude i looked in the hole right there we're like 10 feet above big ass boulder
00:23:33the snow makes access further up creek possible this is awesome but if any of
00:23:39these suspended sections give way it's a free fall into the raging white water below
00:23:46so from here down to the bottom where it's running how far is that about 25 feet
00:24:00this got soft y'all
00:24:06rock rocks
00:24:09be careful right here guys
00:24:15i'm loving this y'all this is nice i'm loving this i like this this is good news is what
00:24:22this is
00:24:22right here there's a lot less snow than we had and it from up there it looked
00:24:30way up there but it must have been a trick on the eyes because this looks good i love it
00:24:38so we're going to continue up
00:24:56is this it holy
00:25:02oh this is not what i wanted there is no waterfall right now uh oh this is not good
00:25:12this is this is what i was worried about that sucks oh yeah this is not good
00:25:18we're standing on probably 80 or 100 feet of snow right now
00:25:23last year i hear something rumbling big up here
00:25:27dustin and paul discovered the waterfall that they pinned their season on
00:25:34but now it is covered with over 80 feet of solid snow and ice
00:25:41creating a frozen barrier between them and the gold
00:25:51it's not melting anytime soon
00:25:57i mean if we have to wait four or five months for this to to melt that gives us no
00:26:03time to come in
00:26:03here and have an operation it's going to fill right back up with snow almost instantly
00:26:07y'all i just lost a whole bunch of hope man son of a bitch dude
00:26:18i just i don't know what to do my brain's telling me abandon ship your hopes and dreams are dead
00:26:25right
00:26:43here
00:26:43i just couldn't sleep last night i just didn't have it uh my brain wouldn't turn off i'm kind of
00:26:49getting
00:26:49stumped on what to do uh the snow so much bigger than i thought it was going to be
00:26:57months from now it'll be completely snowless and we can attack it then but not right now it's not a
00:27:06viable dig site right now tons of snow it's essentially it seems like yeah it almost looks
00:27:12overwhelming to get the chucks to break off and go in the water they'll dissolve yeah yeah i didn't even
00:27:17see
00:27:17any water up there though well it's underneath the snow it's still there just got to cut through the
00:27:21snow and get to it is this still flowing yeah that's true i mean it's amazing we couldn't even
00:27:28hear that waterfall it's so deep underneath there with over 80 feet blanketing dustin's waterfall dive
00:27:37site to keep the dream of uncovering nugget creek's riches alive he needs a plan b and quick
00:27:46i've been thinking about this whole situation i think i i i'm starting to come up with a plan
00:27:51i have a site in mind so james carlos let's go do an assessment on the site let's go find
00:27:58out
00:27:59what we're getting into but one thing i do need is the dredge to work perfect this year because we
00:28:07had
00:28:07a lot of problems last year i need that dredge to be reliable okay okay we're good only a plan
00:28:16should we drag it over here we could
00:28:22well let's get in and look at it and start scrounging everything we can find that's not good
00:28:28that's where our pontoons go west is going to have to do some well into this thing for sure
00:28:34kind of sucks there's so much snow but that does give us time to work on the dredge get the
00:28:39dredge
00:28:39dolled up it definitely needs it so whatever we can do now to beef it up make it stronger
00:28:48now's the perfect time to do it this dredge is our money maker without this there's
00:28:53no mining this is the most important piece of equipment that we have
00:29:01okay that's good man this thing's in sad shape isn't it
00:29:13this thing is in horrible shape man golly you ought to just build a whole new frame
00:29:25slow is getting sloppy huh it's really
00:29:32it's definitely on the melt that from yesterday that's pretty quick
00:29:42you guys what do you think you think right here i really like it i like it
00:29:50i've been looking at this spot for a long damn time every time we walk by it
00:29:54i think it'll be a better spot more accessibility less dangerous this is good news right here so here
00:30:02we're looking at about 15 20 feet of snow where i wanted to go we're not going to get through
00:30:08that
00:30:08this is hard enough we'll get through it but this will melt out long long long before that stuff's done
00:30:15we'll be finished this hole before that snow melts by itself that's real good
00:30:24the water literally runs into a wall a big giant cliff right here that goes up
00:30:30probably about 60 70 feet and takes a 90 degree turn i think this is the best spot to dig
00:30:37the water comes through and it feels like the water just rams into this wall does a circle and shoots
00:30:44out of that little spot right there what are you thinking yeah that's that's exactly what happened
00:30:50man yeah water passes against this wall and then it just trickles them through you know what i mean
00:30:55the wall is that what you're gonna call it yeah we can call it the wall all right we're here
00:31:01at the
00:31:01wall the new dive site dustin has chosen is just 300 feet up from where they found their biggest nugget
00:31:09ever
00:31:12as the fast flowing creek slams into the huge wall of solid rock at this site the water redirects and
00:31:20slows
00:31:22causing the heavy nuggets to drop which could create monster piles on bedrock
00:31:32all right so we're digging the wall digging the wall dig the wall hell yeah where's the gold gonna be
00:31:38man come on gold's gonna be right here down this line yep right down the center it's gonna go
00:31:43kaboom right here kaboom kaboom kaboom kaboom okay we've got a plan so let's work on trying to get
00:31:50this place uh dredgeable okay this is a great spot to dig because of how wide it is hopefully it's
00:32:00not
00:32:0020 plus feet deep that's my real hope but i think we're gonna find a ton of gold right here
00:32:07where i'm
00:32:21standing
00:32:21morning nothing like laying in bed thinking about what we got to do
00:32:26so this one really really big snow bridge that's in our way got some ideas on what to do
00:32:34their new dive site the wall is still covered in 20 feet of snow but with the right tools they
00:32:42could
00:32:42be mining within a week so how far along are we with that thing it's ready completely
00:32:50so guys we got a new tool it's completely experimental on my part thought carlos you'd enjoy this quite a
00:32:58bit
00:32:59actually it's like christmas dude what is that
00:33:04what the no what is this bro it's a laser it's a flamethrower oh my god oh my god
00:33:15it's a flamethrower that's your buttons oh my god i got tingly oh my god so that how it feels
00:33:30oh my god you want to see how it works let's go give it a test run
00:33:38gonna be fun you ready for this yeah yeah yeah treat it like a gun okay treat it like a
00:33:43gun
00:33:46all right so there's no man there and he's mocking you
00:33:50oh he just said something about your mom or something
00:33:56flame on flame on nothing no i'm no i just haven't done it yet because i'm freaking i'm scared
00:34:03flame on
00:34:30i can feel the heat all the way back here
00:34:32flame off power off dude this is a little bit too wow man there is so much things we can
00:34:40do
00:34:41so you're sold yeah man i need to go to church after this dude seriously man so i don't know
00:34:49if
00:34:49it's actually gonna work worth a shot yeah i think the three of us should go try to melt some
00:34:54snow uh
00:34:55you're gonna work on the dredge for a little bit all right uh everybody know what they're doing yep
00:34:59all right let's go
00:35:04desperate to make his huge investment at nugget creek turn a profit dustin has tasked the richardson
00:35:11brothers with rebuilding their dredge so it's ready to launch as soon as their dive site is open
00:35:19first thing we gotta do start with loses and then go from there
00:35:24this thing is in bad shape man man it is
00:35:34i like that though because now that'll fit you we can get that tight tight tight you know
00:35:41we've got three other dredges we can scrounge parts off of we're always wanting to get two divers in we
00:35:46got enough parts we should see if we can make a double dredge
00:35:51wes's big idea harvest parts from their three broken dredges to combine and create a double dredge
00:36:02two sluices and two separate heating and suction systems
00:36:08means two divers can operate in the water at the same time and dredge double the gold
00:36:17let's just go scrounge up stuff and we can lay out and do some mock-up and just see what
00:36:22we can come up
00:36:22with i mean normally we've tried to do it with two dredges before but you've got to have such a
00:36:28large area
00:36:29you just can't make it work so we came up with the idea let's make a smaller dredge with two
00:36:34sluices
00:36:35four engines take up a lot less space get twice the amount of work done
00:36:42you know we got that long sluice box from the small dredge use the small motors and whoever's on
00:36:48this one could be the one moving rocks that's a good idea we might as well suit this thing up
00:36:58up at the wall dive site so right now we're going pyro on the snow carlos attempts to break through
00:37:07the 20 feet of snow keeping them from gold that's your proton pack proton pack okay let's burn some
00:37:15snow snow you guys ready flame it oh my gosh god it looks pretty bad dude you know what man
00:37:37it
00:37:38doesn't look like that's helping at all snow doesn't burn bro it just doesn't work all right we
00:37:44gotta come up with a better technique how about we make a bonfire with wood on top of the snow
00:37:52we can hold hands kumbaya each other so just find some debris yeah let's just find some wood
00:37:58i think it's gonna work better if we had something to burn okay well let's get some wood in here
00:38:02i guess
00:38:03you guys just keep going i'm gonna take a walk all the way up to the creek and find out
00:38:07if there's any
00:38:07place that the snow's melted and we can start dredging faster okay gotcha man be careful dude
00:38:14be careful
00:38:22bonfire time all right let's go get some wood man
00:38:27all right
00:38:31it's getting there hey james i think we're good bro
00:38:37all right all right all right man get your marshmallows ready we're gonna have a campfire
00:38:49flame on brother flame on
00:38:57wow wow dude yeah i make fire
00:39:05that's badass
00:39:09that should do it's job just grab some more wood
00:39:14feed it and leave it hopefully we'll come back man big old hole
00:39:40i want to walk to the top of my claims all the way up this creek i want to see
00:39:44if there's any
00:39:45melted ice where we could get a dredge in and get the dredging fast desperate to make the most of
00:39:51their short season dustin heads another mile up from their waterfall site hell of a hike we're almost
00:39:59two thousand feet up
00:40:07this is the upper limits of my claim
00:40:14wow
00:40:17look at this
00:40:24okay that goes right through that's hollow i'll go through there
00:40:38i came all the way up here i was hoping there'd be some melted snow we can get in
00:40:42but everything was completely snowed in all the way to the top
00:40:46it's probably 50 to 80 feet of snow right here i bet underneath that is another 80 feet of street
00:40:52and debris so this is absolutely impossible
00:40:59this would take months of heavy heavy equipment just to get through the top stuff
00:41:10it's dangerous
00:41:13i don't like it i don't like it if fred was still here fred would love it up here but
00:41:20he's not much of a snow hiker big old boot didn't help with that yeah he would tell me this
00:41:27is not
00:41:27worth it and i know that's exactly what he would be whispering in my ear right now
00:41:33i'm a little let down that it's not a dig site
00:41:43oh up ahead oh you can do whatever the you want i don't care why are you so upset
00:41:51you can do whatever the you want i don't care why are you so upset
00:41:54oh yeah look at that we know this gold we absolutely know this gold
00:42:03you
00:42:19is this a success well you would think fire would do a little bit more than that huh
00:42:24you would think dude
00:42:28after dustin's failed mission to find a dive site that might get them in the water faster
00:42:34their only hope is to clear the snow at the wall we tried fire trying to melt the ice trying
00:42:41to get
00:42:41into water faster but none of it's working and i think we need to go back to what we know
00:42:46with
00:42:46just two inch pumps and just get after it and stop playing with fire because this is not working
00:43:00how'd it go guys we got beat what you got man west's got a pretty good idea man well so
00:43:08i mean
00:43:08look at our big dredge that thing is so annihilated we're pretty much gonna have to completely rebuild
00:43:14the frame yeah i mean we've used the hell out of it over the years wait that's the one that
00:43:18we used
00:43:19last year yeah the snow i think did some more damage to it but so here's what we're thinking if
00:43:24we've got to build the frame we've got all of those small dredges and and we brought the small the
00:43:28small sluices out what if we put two of those sluices together and make like a double dredge say that
00:43:34again a longer sluice or a double dredge no like so like side by side on one frame instead of
00:43:41having
00:43:41two dredge frames so one dredge frame two sluices so we'll have two engines for the one dredge two
00:43:47engines for the other dredge exactly if we could do this and get two divers in we're gonna be miles
00:43:52ahead you just got me off guard i thought you were just cleaning this sucker up so give me a
00:43:56second
00:43:57give me a second goddamn man so a double sluice with four engines on it yeah that's gonna be heavy
00:44:03now
00:44:05that's heavy we'd have to double the pontoons up on the middle or something to put them in the
00:44:08middle yeah we're thinking i mean
00:44:14all right timeline wise like for full fabrication i mean we're not talking like weeks i don't have
00:44:21weeks i mean since it doesn't get dark till after midnight i mean we can put in some long hours
00:44:25that's not going to be an issue i'd like the idea of having a double sluice dredge slash one boat
00:44:32you know
00:44:35time that's what i'm looking at a week that's all we got to build it what do you think i
00:44:41don't
00:44:42see why not because as i'm working on framing stuff paul can be working on engines we'll just
00:44:46push it and get it done okay i think we can do it yeah i'm gonna hold you to that
00:44:50all right we can
00:44:56make it happen these will definitely be stronger if you get that height figured we can put a bar
00:45:02across that's what i'm thinking we should i mean this is kind of messed up but we can redo that
00:45:06we
00:45:06got this height yeah that'll be easy if we just make this where it sits here all the way across
00:45:10we've got this look at that look at that yeah i think we just chop it here and chop it
00:45:19here get
00:45:19rid of that middle section that gives you all that to weld and that gives you a brace going down
00:45:24to
00:45:24these middle pontoons so that's the first thing yeah we'll extend these first yeah and then we'll make
00:45:30the structure to make it strong yeah to hit dustin's ambitious one week deadline
00:45:39the richardson brothers work into the night and start the first stage in wes's double dredge build
00:45:47oh man that's gonna be sweet construct a new reinforced frame to support the extra weight that'll
00:45:54be easy six foot 60 63 to the inside something i like that
00:46:06a little bit of in a hurry here i'll get all these pieces fitted get them cut get them ready
00:46:12wes will weld them up and before we know it we'll have this dredge together
00:46:23check this out if we have to we can make those right there that will be strong yep i like
00:46:29that
00:46:30it's gonna be a new dredge by the time we get through with it
00:46:44quick tip if you ever gonna carry a pump on your backpack don't top it off
00:46:50my back's starting to burn i think i got gasoline so
00:46:57back at the wall dive site after they failed to melt the 20 feet of snow with fire dustin carlos
00:47:06and
00:47:06james resort to tried and tested methods fire it up
00:47:20there you go
00:47:25now we're talking the creek water is just two degrees warmer than the snow
00:47:31but it's still a highly effective cutting tool all right yeah let's go work yeah
00:47:40melt the crap out of it it's gonna get so heavy it's gonna collapse
00:47:45it's cutting real quick it's a lot of water it's a lot of water
00:47:53we're gonna start melting a ton of snow and it's time to get the dredge out here and start dredging
00:47:58i'm ready i'm actually really excited for this site
00:48:05it's getting there that's the thickest part
00:48:14try that the two inch pump is working it's working awesomely but the thing is we gotta speed up the
00:48:22process so we're gonna give it a hand by chipping away at the snow you know
00:48:28any little thing helps man we got to get the dredge in here
00:48:44i can't believe that dude three whacks of the shovel
00:48:55over the next two days boom using their water pump and the pressure washer for more precise cuts
00:49:03we need to make lines and then cut it open with this yeah look at that look at it dude
00:49:08that's
00:49:09working really good the crew starts to win their battle against the snow holy that's eating it all
00:49:15up dude oh god dang oh you all right holy moly
00:49:37yeah piece by piece
00:49:52this place is awesome dude
00:49:59hey carlos uh hey do you got a pan yeah bro okay thanks i'm gonna do a quick pan see
00:50:09if i can't find
00:50:10any gold you never know
00:50:23yeah this is a good looking material i mean uh lots of pyrite crap that's stuck in here that are
00:50:31all good
00:50:31indicators of gold
00:50:37no way oh yeah look at that
00:50:43hey guys i found some gold over there look at that oh man yeah those are pieces yeah yeah
00:50:54you got pieces out of that look at that that's like a little picker almost oh we all know there's
00:50:59gold here what is gold here there's gold we just gotta get to the bottom of it man
00:51:07well that dredge will fit now this is enough snow to get started using the snow we'll start our walkway
00:51:14and we'll start moving these rocks so you know what time it is right dredge time this looks good man
00:51:22this looks real good this is really good work
00:51:27today was a good day we made enough freaking area for the dredge it was awesome awesome freaking day
00:51:39james found some tiny little pickers and some dirt over here we know this gold we absolutely know this gold
00:51:49now we just got to go pull it up
00:52:03so i've decided we're going on an adventure um need to have lumber for walkways let's use this
00:52:09opportunity to get a couple barrels of fuel because my boat hates it a week into their mining season
00:52:15the crew have cleared enough snow at the wall and found gold but before they can move the dredge up
00:52:23to
00:52:24the site they need supplies like fuel and lumber critical to getting the operation up and running
00:52:31there was going to be a helicopter flight i was thinking about it but i looked into it and it
00:52:37was
00:52:37eleven thousand dollars to get all the stuff here that i need so we're gonna drive the five ton and
00:52:45i'm
00:52:45gonna get you to drive it froze again last night so the water's low so we're up early to really
00:52:52take
00:52:53advantage of the low water dustin's money-saving supply run is an 18-mile mission to devil's elbow and back
00:53:03the risk of sinking sands river boulders and deep water crossings litter the roof
00:53:11and it's a race against time to get down and back before the glaciers that feed the mighty
00:53:18circo river melt and wipe out the access
00:53:25the only thing we have to rescue that truck is the dozer and it does not want to make it
00:53:31that
00:53:31long distance so much can go wrong so many things can break yeah let's do it anyway
00:53:43we got a lot in this bro calm slow i know you got it man
00:53:48you're the best technical driver out here for us so all right you got it yep be confident
00:53:55don't take two bigger chances do it wish me luck
00:54:04all right
00:54:07you can do it james
00:54:10it will take all of james's 25 years experience in off-road driving
00:54:16to get this 50 year old piece of military history down the river and back
00:54:24let the journey begin
00:54:28yeah buddy big rigs big
00:54:45i mean to start off right now take that right there but we've got that whole busted tent that we
00:54:51had
00:54:51last year we've got plenty of material we've got tons of this stuff
00:54:56at the start of last season huh that's destroyed oh
00:55:03the crew arrived to find their camp completely crushed by heavy snow
00:55:09this was supposed to be snow proof
00:55:13now to avoid falling behind on the build
00:55:16west plans on using their old tent for bush built supports for their dredge frame
00:55:23check this out even with these curve pieces they'll still work just like this
00:55:34this is so strong yeah i like your curve pieces for making the bridge across the top
00:55:39what i'm thinking about this is this thing always wanted to do this that other dredge before
00:55:44if we got them going there passing here and we could do a couple of legs right here
00:55:48fasten here and there and one's on the bottom and the thing of it is once we get it set
00:55:53up
00:55:54and bridged across it's going to be strong enough like you said you'll be able to step
00:55:57just right across yeah one person can take care of two dredges like it was one yeah i'll
00:56:03finish scrounging some parts see if we can't get enough stuff to make this work
00:56:16all right all right all right all right all right all right all right all right all right here we
00:56:20go
00:56:23monster truck this thing it's got balls come on baby
00:56:32okay that's not too bad
00:56:45oh wow
00:56:49dustbin wants a line it's a bumpy ride
00:56:58how close are you with the dredge married to this dredge i understand how close are they how's that
00:57:04how's that close yeah because i mean if i didn't have issues i would be already be finished all right
00:57:09here's my question can we start carrying stuff out after today yeah should be able to we can
00:57:14so we take the floats and just start reset like slow let's start with the engine so i'd start taking
00:57:20all off the top so because well if you need to work on the engines you can keep those till
00:57:24last is what
00:57:24i'm getting at no what i need is all that off there so i can do a few last links
00:57:28to the frame
00:57:32i want it done by today there's no reason why we can't get that done today unless we break something
00:57:37so let's not break anything um yeah well i'll get done everything i can today and we'll still start
00:57:43hauling it i mean i can only i can only get so much done you know wes is almost a
00:57:48week into his build of
00:57:50the new double dredge and the desperation to get a diver in the water is getting to dustin you're
00:57:56not working on the whole thing still right now are you the entire thing just little bits and pieces
00:58:02of it yes like the entire thing yeah great paul you want to just stay down here and you guys
00:58:09can have
00:58:09another couple weeks we just we'll just wait no that's what you want we'll make sure it's perfect
00:58:15and we can we can take as long as you like man i'm just telling you what i had in
00:58:21my head i mean
00:58:22you can do whatever the you want i don't care i'll take all off and i'll get the frame ready
00:58:26and y'all can take the frame why are you so upset i'm not upset there's just some
00:58:31all right well it's fine it'll all work out just fine
00:58:38you just don't appreciate the engineering in this
00:58:41you think i've done a pretty good job in a pretty decent amount of time for not having any thing
00:58:46to
00:58:46work with as long as it floats things have gotten really weird i have to build every thing for this
00:58:57dredge it better be worth it in the end because it's taking too long to build and it looks too
00:59:04heavy
00:59:04i don't even think the damn thing will float while wes races to meet dustin's new deadline
00:59:11the rest of the crew load up to support james on his mission
00:59:16all systems go all right let's head down to devil's elbows
00:59:30if it starts the rain that truck will never make you back up here
00:59:36time to go a little bumpy hold on their butts four miles down the mighty sirku river that looks pretty
00:59:46deep james has completed eight miles of his journey but his toughest obstacle is dead ahead
00:59:57not gonna lie this makes me a little nervous this is the deepest right here
01:00:02if i could just stay to that side it might be shallow enough
01:00:08oh boy here we go
01:00:13no guts no glory right
01:00:18all right
01:00:25come on baby
01:00:31whoa
01:00:38oh
01:00:39oh
01:00:50Oh, boy, here we go.
01:00:58Whoa.
01:01:01Holy f***.
01:01:04Oh!
01:01:14Holy f***, that's f***in' deep.
01:01:24f*** me running.
01:01:27That was the deepest spot I've ever gone through.
01:01:31Holy f***.
01:01:34This thing's a tank, dude.
01:01:39I think I got about a half a mile or so,
01:01:41and then I might be able to get a glimpse of Devil's Elbow.
01:01:47There's Dustin.
01:02:02I was about the smoothest I've ever driven.
01:02:05That was good.
01:02:13That was a hell of a drive.
01:02:15Hell yeah, man.
01:02:16You made it.
01:02:17How was that?
01:02:18Oh, it was rough, dude.
01:02:20Damn good job.
01:02:21Oh, hell yeah.
01:02:23I'm sore from that.
01:02:25That thing's a beast, ain't it?
01:02:27Yeah.
01:02:27Good job, man.
01:02:30Long journey back.
01:02:33We all talked about the weather possibly coming in,
01:02:36and it looks like it's sneaking over here.
01:02:38So, time to shift gears and get loaded and get out of here.
01:02:46It's a race against the weather to get their supplies back to camp as the approaching rain threatens their only
01:02:54way back.
01:02:59I feel like I'm bobble heading here.
01:03:03I think I'm going to take a new route.
01:03:05I'm going to give her hell.
01:03:15It's too bad.
01:03:18Here we go.
01:03:28Monsters.
01:03:30Love this truck, dude.
01:03:37America!
01:03:38Yeah!
01:03:47Man.
01:03:48I guarantee he's going to be ready for an adult beverage when he gets here, though.
01:03:51I got him one ready.
01:03:53I mean, he definitely deserves it.
01:03:55He deserves it, man.
01:03:55That's for sure.
01:03:56It's nerve wrecking.
01:04:01He's right there!
01:04:03There he is!
01:04:05Good job, James!
01:04:07Yeah!
01:04:08This is a real celebration.
01:04:10Man.
01:04:10For real.
01:04:11That's amazing.
01:04:13Woo!
01:04:16Yeah!
01:04:20Loose again.
01:04:20Oh, man.
01:04:21I loosened up already, huh?
01:04:23Hell yeah, brother.
01:04:24Give me a hug.
01:04:25Get in there, .
01:04:26Good job, James.
01:04:27You deserve it, dude.
01:04:28Oh, thank you.
01:04:29I can't tell you how happy I am to have made it here, but that was stressful.
01:04:35I can't believe it made it.
01:04:37We can start building the walkway, and now we've got the supplies to do it.
01:04:40Got to get that dredge in the water.
01:04:52Now we've got some boards.
01:04:54Let's go finish that walkway, huh?
01:04:55Let's do it.
01:04:56All right.
01:04:57Let's do it.
01:04:59Let's do it.
01:05:05This right here is hard.
01:05:12Let's see what we can do.
01:05:17We need the walkway as our emergency escape, and the only way it's going to be an emergency
01:05:21escape is to have it higher than we've ever had it before.
01:05:26I believe is ready for a pipe.
01:05:29You can see what happened to our last one.
01:05:32Two years ago...
01:05:34It came up!
01:05:35It just came up right now!
01:05:38Heavy storms caused a massive flood that annihilated everything in its path.
01:05:44We're almost trapped.
01:05:45Man, it's going over the boardwalk right now.
01:05:47We lost everything, and everything's over.
01:05:54We're like another 10, 12 feet higher.
01:06:00So, I don't think the flood's going to touch that.
01:06:03This walkway will be their lifeline when the inevitable floods rip through Nugget Creek.
01:06:14What happened?
01:06:15That one looks a little bent.
01:06:16Yeah, well.
01:06:23Like it?
01:06:24I like that.
01:06:34So, I'm going to get this engine back on.
01:06:39Found I had issues with the engine after I already had it on, so I had to pull it off
01:06:42and change the parts.
01:06:45What I had to do today is set me back a little bit with this engine debacle.
01:06:50But other than that, this thing is getting pretty close.
01:06:52I'll get back to where I was at and get this heater on, and then I'll start plumbing all this.
01:07:00I mean, it's going to be pretty soon, and it's going to be ready to go out there.
01:07:03I am really ready to see what this thing does, because we're fixing to get into some big nuggets where
01:07:08we're going.
01:07:14A little bit far in the middle one, come on back.
01:07:16Over the next three days.
01:07:19All right, let's slide that board.
01:07:21While Wes brings his Frankenstein dredge to life.
01:07:24A little bit more.
01:07:25That's plenty.
01:07:26I like it.
01:07:27The crew bring in over 80 feet of boards.
01:07:31It's like doing a tight rope.
01:07:33Walking a tight rope without a net.
01:07:35And managed to anchor them 20 feet above the creek, all the way to the wall.
01:07:43This is one hell of a boardwalk, dude.
01:07:45It is now.
01:07:46We're just about finished this walkway, so we're going to walk all of the dredge.
01:07:52Gigantic, probably 2,500-pound dredge.
01:07:55Piece by piece, we're going to walk it up over this walkway.
01:08:00No problem.
01:08:05Oh, look at that.
01:08:09That's much better.
01:08:11So for the most part, the Deuce Sluice is finished, except for just a few knick-knack things.
01:08:16The engines are on, the pumps are on, the plumbing's all done.
01:08:22What I did with this new Sluice is the way I put the components together,
01:08:25there's no way we can take it up there in one piece.
01:08:29I'm going to have to take it apart here to get it up to the site.
01:08:32And once we get up there, it should be really easy to put back together.
01:08:38What I'm waiting for is to see gold in both Sluice boxes.
01:08:41That is the ultimate right there.
01:08:43This year, we're doubling up on everything.
01:08:52This is a lot of walking, guys.
01:08:54Holy cow.
01:08:56All right.
01:08:59This is the first thing that has to be down there, because the pontoon's the foundation of the Deuce Sluice.
01:09:05We're taking the boardwalk, and you've got to stay focused, because one misstep, especially carrying this weight on our backs,
01:09:12that's a long drop down.
01:09:17I made a bad choice.
01:09:22The crew will rely on manpower alone to get their 2,500-pound dredge components along the narrow boardwalk 20
01:09:32feet above the creek.
01:09:35I've done more. I don't know why. It's so hard for me right now.
01:09:40A fall from this height could be fatal.
01:09:42Holy .
01:09:43That's a wobbly over here.
01:09:48Woo!
01:09:50That kicked my ass.
01:09:58Holy cow. That just about killed me.
01:10:01Dude, I got hung on every tree down that trail.
01:10:04I'm never doing that again.
01:10:06Holy .
01:10:07It got dangerous with two of them bitches. I promise.
01:10:11All right, Wes, we're gonna go get the engines. I don't know how heavy they are, so we'll see.
01:10:15Okay.
01:10:16I'll start putting this together, and then we'll go from there.
01:10:20Out of heavy stuff.
01:10:22Walk up here with these engines on my back.
01:10:24You gotta earn your keep sometimes.
01:10:28Let's do this!
01:10:30I designed this thing, and I forgot how it goes together.
01:10:34Should've taken pictures of it.
01:10:36I think I got the big pontines turned around backwards.
01:10:39I don't know. I've got two.
01:10:41Oh, no. They're up the front.
01:10:43Yeah, I got this backwards.
01:10:53All right, let's see what we got.
01:10:58Struggling like crazy.
01:11:01Feels like we're about to pass the hell out.
01:11:05That valve sticking out that far out the back?
01:11:08That hurts.
01:11:10Holy .
01:11:22I just about passed out.
01:11:27That last section right there, I started to get a little hazy.
01:11:33This is a whole damn day, man.
01:11:39I'm kind of a bitch, James.
01:11:42Ugh.
01:11:42Fuck.
01:11:46Ugh.
01:11:49Oh, .
01:11:52It's so heavy.
01:11:56I just don't want to pass the out.
01:12:03Dustin!
01:12:22You all right?
01:12:28Yeah, you got to do more than that.
01:12:31Ready.
01:12:32You want to just take it off?
01:12:34Yeah, let's do that.
01:12:36My right heel.
01:12:37Let go.
01:12:38Look at it.
01:12:40Full eye slip.
01:12:41Yep.
01:12:42It's all good.
01:12:44At the wall dive site, the crew have finally completed the last of 50 trips to bring in the 2
01:12:51,500 pound Deuce Sluice.
01:12:55I am whooped.
01:13:00Holy crap.
01:13:02Dude, it's cooking out here.
01:13:04I did not see this coming.
01:13:07Good job, guys, today.
01:13:09Everybody did wonderful.
01:13:11This is what I needed.
01:13:13I needed this.
01:13:15Can you believe we hiked the entire dredge here?
01:13:17I'm just happy to see it here.
01:13:19Me too.
01:13:19Yeah, holy crap, dude.
01:13:21Yeah, it's starting to look like a dredge already.
01:13:23I love this.
01:13:24Let's reconvene on this in the morning.
01:13:27I don't have much left in me, y'all.
01:13:29Damn good day.
01:13:30Hell yeah.
01:13:30Finally got the dredge out here.
01:13:32As soon as this dredge gets built, then we have everything together.
01:13:36We can go diving and find some gold.
01:13:40We had a hard day, but it was great.
01:13:43We got the dredge out.
01:13:45We got a ton of work done.
01:13:59All right.
01:14:00Let's lay some boards down.
01:14:02Maybe a cross and some boards.
01:14:04I don't know.
01:14:07It's taken nearly two weeks, but Wes has assembled the Deuce Sluice.
01:14:13Now, they must wrestle this 12-foot-long, one-and-a-quarter-ton double dredge into the water.
01:14:21You might be able to just drag it right on through there.
01:14:23All right.
01:14:23See, here's my issue, guys.
01:14:25What I need is control of this thing so it doesn't rub against the wall and break off of Wes's
01:14:30hard work.
01:14:31All right.
01:14:31All right?
01:14:33So we're going to try to protect the sides of this thing in a big way.
01:14:38Okay?
01:14:39Now, this is a great moment right here.
01:14:42I'm pretty happy to see the Deuce Sluice going in.
01:14:45This is a big day for us.
01:14:46I mean, if everything works out like it's supposed to, twice the dredging, twice the gold, like giving birth to
01:14:52a child.
01:14:55This is going to be an awesome frickin' goddamn dredge, man.
01:14:58All right.
01:14:58First things first, let's see if we can budge this thing.
01:15:01I need it to slide straight and then turn, not turn and go down.
01:15:07Just head straight first, then we're going to turn it if we can.
01:15:11Absolutely.
01:15:12Let's see if we can move this thing, guys.
01:15:14You guys ready?
01:15:14Yep.
01:15:15Go!
01:15:17God damn, that's heavy.
01:15:21That's heavy.
01:15:22Oh, my God.
01:15:23I can't believe how heavy that is.
01:15:26For Wes's sake, I really sure hope it floats.
01:15:31Whew.
01:15:31Ready?
01:15:32Move.
01:15:34All right, a little bit at a time, a little bit at a time.
01:15:36She's not going to go easy, but it moves.
01:15:38All right, ready?
01:15:39Head.
01:15:43God damn.
01:15:44Are we there yet?
01:15:45Let's go all the way, almost the way he's standing, straight, and then try to pivot it.
01:15:50All right.
01:15:50Once it's pivoted, we'll use the skyline to drag it out.
01:15:53All right.
01:15:55And go.
01:15:57Yeah.
01:15:58Want me to push your way?
01:15:59We got one more like that, just like that, just like that.
01:16:02Ready?
01:16:03Yeah.
01:16:03One, two, three.
01:16:06They manhandle the deuce loose.
01:16:08That's just about it, right?
01:16:10Yep.
01:16:11Close enough to hand over to the skyline winches for the final 10 feet.
01:16:16When you start pulling the back of it over, we might be able to push on the front, too.
01:16:20Maybe it'll come over a little bit.
01:16:22All right.
01:16:23Everybody beware.
01:16:23When I pull on this, this bolt can shoot out of the wall at any moment.
01:16:27Watch your eyes.
01:16:36Another two feet.
01:16:37Hang on a second.
01:16:38Let me see if we can get that board underneath it.
01:16:41This is good.
01:16:42We're on the, we're on this, but it's against that log right there.
01:16:47There we go.
01:16:49Yeah, there you go.
01:16:49Got it.
01:16:58Yeah.
01:17:01Yeah.
01:17:02Yeah.
01:17:04Yeah.
01:17:06Yeah.
01:17:06Yeah.
01:17:07Yeah.
01:17:09She floats.
01:17:12Dredges in the water.
01:17:13Scooted right over.
01:17:14It went really well for us.
01:17:16The deuce loose looks like a damn houseboat to me.
01:17:19It better live up to its name because we got a lot of ride doing this right now.
01:17:25We got the deuce loose floating.
01:17:27We just have to put the foot valves on now, primer up, and see if it'll suck up some material.
01:17:44So this is our new sluice for this year, the deuce loose.
01:17:46Wes' deuce loose is finally in the water.
01:17:50And this feat of bush engineering is the most advanced dredge they've ever had.
01:17:56I've got a bilge pump out of a boat.
01:17:58That pumps water into the foot valves.
01:18:00Once I get one foot valve filled up, it'll prime the other three in the time it would normally take
01:18:05us to get one running.
01:18:06And we have a reserve tank up at the top, so for some reason the compressor quit.
01:18:11They still have air.
01:18:12Having this dredge built like this gives us two divers in the water.
01:18:15So we're only able to spend five hours dredging in one day.
01:18:19That's ten hours of dredge time all combined together.
01:18:22We've got two of everything, so it means at least twice as much gold this year.
01:18:36Hell yeah!
01:18:37Love it!
01:18:38Woo!
01:18:39At the wall dive site, the deuce loose is finally ready to start dredging for gold.
01:18:47That went pretty all right, you know.
01:18:50Dredge is in the water.
01:18:51From here on out, it's dredge, dredge, dredge.
01:18:56Finally time to start dredging and get gold.
01:18:59We know there's going to be large nuggets here.
01:19:01We've got a six ounce nugget downstream last year.
01:19:04This year, we're in an area that I'm 99% that nobody has messed with.
01:19:10As soon as we can get two divers in the water, I think we're going to find larger nuggets
01:19:14and way more gold than we've ever found before.
01:19:18But to move the deuce loose into the best position for dredging,
01:19:23they must be able to maneuver it using the skyline.
01:19:27Tie that rope onto me.
01:19:29Want to hang that big stupid thing off of here or something?
01:19:33Going up.
01:19:38Their new dredge is almost twice the weight of their old one,
01:19:42and the skyline winches don't have the power to lift it straight up.
01:19:48The simple solution?
01:19:50Double the pulleys to cut the force required to lift it by half.
01:19:58Trying to set up this pulley system, but it's real, real heavy.
01:20:04Wes came up with this, and all it is is more police.
01:20:09This right here is a two to one.
01:20:12We're trying to make a four to one.
01:20:14We'll see if it works.
01:20:18Come on.
01:20:22Come on.
01:20:24Come on.
01:20:27Come on.
01:20:28God .
01:20:33I think I broke something in my hands.
01:20:36Ouch.
01:20:39Yep, something happened.
01:20:46Oh, that was something.
01:20:50Ow!
01:20:51Trying to tie knots with my hand not working.
01:20:55Ow!
01:20:56It all hurts.
01:20:58It hurts so bad.
01:21:01God damn!
01:21:06I got hurt.
01:21:10What?
01:21:12See, watch the knuckle.
01:21:15And it goes to the left instead of straight down.
01:21:19How'd you do that?
01:21:20I don't even know how that's possible.
01:21:22That hurts like hell.
01:21:24It's like I broke it or something.
01:21:25I don't know.
01:21:28Kind of feels like a disaster.
01:21:37I couldn't even tell you what I did.
01:21:39But one of my tendons has slipped over on one of my knuckles.
01:21:42And it hurts like hell.
01:21:44I can't bend my finger without a lot of pain right now.
01:21:55Every year I do this stupid , man.
01:21:58Look, it won't even open.
01:22:00What is happening?
01:22:07Look at that.
01:22:08You see it?
01:22:09Yeah, it's going sideways.
01:22:10It's just...
01:22:14I hate this.
01:22:19So right now we have no idea what happened to Dustin's hand.
01:22:22If it's that injured, that can ruin his season for the entire freaking year, man.
01:22:28We have no idea how this is going to turn out, amigo.
01:22:39Let's get ready to dive!
01:22:43Yeah!
01:22:44On the all-new season...
01:22:46We're diving!
01:22:46...of Gold Rush, Whitewater.
01:22:48Woo-hoo!
01:22:49Back to classic Whitewater.
01:22:51We're going to be the first people to dig here.
01:22:53This could be it.
01:22:54Dude.
01:22:55That's going to be a permanent grave site.
01:22:57I'm not going to dive here.
01:22:59Absolutely not.
01:23:00Are you going to get over here?
01:23:00Are you over this or not?
01:23:01Are you serious?
01:23:02Nobody's keeping you here.
01:23:04You're a world-class prick, dude.
01:23:06If you cross me, I will cut you loose.
01:23:08That is it.
01:23:09I could lose everything.
01:23:14I'm bringing my loved one out.
01:23:16Hey, y'all.
01:23:17And I'm putting her in the most dangerous situation you could put a human.
01:23:20I don't like it.
01:23:21I can't breathe.
01:23:22I'm freaking out.
01:23:23Can't find no goddamn gold.
01:23:24Nothing in the box yet.
01:23:27I need this to pay off, and I need it to pay off soon.
01:23:29We're on borrowed time.
01:23:31Grab me up!
01:23:32Grab me up!
01:23:32Grab me up!
01:23:34We're failing in a big way.
01:23:36At some point, the money starts to run out.
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