Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Tonight, on the season two premiere

ofThe Curse of Civil War Gold...

We're looking for $140 million worth of gold.

-There's something. -That's it.

That's where we're gonna see the gold.

"It was there that the Confederate treasury

was divided."

-No way. There's a lot of missing gold. -Yeah.

We're on our tiptoes wondering what you're about to tell us.

KEVIN: We sonared this big, rectangular object.

♪

KEVIN: Well, Alex, we're really excited

to have you on board, get this project going.

Yeah, for sure. You know, I'm excited to be here.

I'm looking forward to it,

and it sounds like we got a lot of stuff to do.

We're gonna start where we left off.

NARRATOR: In Muskegon, Michigan,

treasure hunter Kevin Dykstra, his brother Al,

and Alex Lagina, the son of Oak Island treasure hunter

Marty Lagina, are on their way to Kevin's workshop.

KEVIN: To have your dad and you work with us,

it's extremely exciting to have that kind of support.

The thing that's cool about this is finding out

that the big treasure hunt that you guys have been on

leads to my backyard here in Michigan, you know.

It's-it's unbelievable is really what it is.

-It's just unbelievable. -I think so.

Yep.

I'm through the wall.

NARRATOR: For the past eight years...

It's here. I'm touching the train right now.

...Kevin Dykstra has been investigating the facts...

Let's take that map over here.

...behind a shocking deathbed confession.

The ability to keep the secret was monumental.

NARRATOR: Told more than 100 years ago,

a lighthouse keeper claimed he saw a boxcar

containing some $140 million in gold

being deliberately pushed off a ferry into Lake Michigan.

According to Kevin's research, it was during the arrest of

Confederate President Jefferson Davis,

on the morning of May 10th, 1865,

that Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Pritchard,

of the 4th Michigan Cavalry, acting under orders

from Colonel Robert H.G. Minty,

confiscated six wagons filled with gold, silver and jewels.

He then buried it nearby, where it stayed for five years

before being secretly brought by railroad

to Muskegon, Michigan, and into the waiting hands

of lumber tycoon-turned-banker Charles Hackley.

It is Kevin's belief that Charles Hackley was secretly

shipping the stolen gold out west to Utah,

where it would be laundered through his various

mining operations.

And you think you can prove all this?

-Yes, I do. -Keep going.

NARRATOR: Last year, Kevin convinced fellow Michigander

Marty Lagina to invest in his search for the sunken boxcar.

[metal detector beeping]

Okay, then we come into this area here...

NARRATOR: And it was during a dive operation

in Lake Michigan...

KEVIN: Boom. Right there.

...that Kevin and his team captured video evidence

that may prove that Kevin's years of research

were not in vain.

You see what's in the corner there?

We have what we believe is a gold bar.

MARTY: Are you saying that you didn't notice that

-until you saw the video? -Till we saw the video.

MARTY: Well, I can tell you one thing you can't do.

-You can't quit. -No, we're not gonna quit.

I looked at the video they took when diving,

and there is, by gosh, something that looks like a bar.

So, based on that, my son Alex has joined the team this year.

That footage, it is extremely intriguing.

We got to do more investigation.

I totally agree.

MARTY: Because I can't be there with Kevin,

Alex is going to be my eyes and ears.

ALEX: So, this is the workshop?

This is the workshop.

KEVIN: The fact that Marty was convinced enough

with the research

to send his son to work with us,

that speaks volumes to me.

Looking forward to meeting everybody.

Yeah, they're looking forward to meeting you.

KEVIN: I have children. I wouldn't just throw them into

something that I didn't fully believe in.

-Hey, guys. -Hey, there they are. -Hey.

Hi, guys.

-Alex. -I'm Alex. How are you?

-Frederick Monroe. -Very nice to meet you.

There's such a huge need in human beings, I think,

to want to believe fun stuff like this, you know.

-I'm Brad Richards. -Hey, Brad, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you, too. -Hey, Alex. Jeff.

-Nice to meet you. Yeah. -Hey, Jeff, nice to meet you.

MARTY: I'm excited to see Kevin and his team get back going...

-Well, this is exciting. -Yeah.

...because if Kevin actually

emerges from Lake Michigan

even with a picture of a, of a bar of gold

stamped with the Confederacy somehow,

he will have changed our version of conventional history.

Where we left off last fall,

the footage that we got-- or that Jeff got--

was a godsend to this whole project.

-It is. -Yeah.

-Yeah. -ALEX: Can we take a look again?

Sure. I think we got it right here.

Okay, here we go.

There it is right there.

Just laying there, waiting to be discovered.

JEFF: What was so frustrating about getting this footage

when we did in the season, was that it was so late,

the weather just did not allow us to go back and verify

that that actually is what it looks like.

We need to be able to get back down to that site again.

Right. We have to see if that's what you think it is.

Yep.

ALEX: It's quite clear there's something there.

Then you want to get eyes on it.

And on that note,

my dad managed to obtain about a 40-foot boat.

It's perfect for diving.

Wow.

-Nice. -Wow.

-Marty's really paying off. -[laughter]

-Seriously, we are so grateful. -Absolutely.

That's a really big deal, and I appreciate that, too.

FRED: Well, gold gets people excited.

-It does. -[laughter] -Yes.

So, to be honest, I think the diving part of it

-is significant. -Yep.

It isn't like you can just go to that point on a map,

go down, and it's there.

-Right. -You can get to that general area,

but with the shifting sands at the bottom of the lake,

that-that could be totally buried.

It could look totally different.

Now, one thing we got to really think about is

the legalities of what we're doing here are huge.

The state of Michigan says

we can take photographs, and lightly hand fanning is fine,

as long as we don't disturb and move any artifacts.

And they did say that if we use a probe,

we can probe gently down into the sand

and see if we hit something.

-Mm-hmm. -But we're gonna step into some troubled waters

if we go too far, if we try to touch it or move it.

ALEX: Out on Oak Island, it's been our approach

that, working with regulations especially,

having somebody who has the experience

lends some credibility to the state.

So I have been able to arrange for Dr. Mark Holley,

who's, uh, Northwestern Michigan College--

he's an underwater archaeologist-- to join us.

-Oh. -Mm.

-That's good. -Yeah.

ALEX: So, he can bring a sonar,

various other remote sensing equipment.

So we've got tools, and we've got a place to dive from.

Perfect.

There's more than just the footage, though.

You know, another reason that I'm interested,

another reason that we're interested, is all the research

-that led you to this point. -Sure.

What's the agenda this year in terms of that?

KEVIN: Well, people are approaching us,

reaching out to us.

You've had some people reach out to you

with some pretty interesting things.

Yeah.

So, the game plan is we're gonna split up.

Brad and Jeff are gonna head out and follow some of those leads

-that people have approached us with. -Great.

Being a history teacher, the treasure for me

is where this story originated,

and I'm just really excited to chase down other leads

about where the Confederate gold went,

because there's more stories about Civil War gold

than just the part at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

-Really? -So, yep, that's where the research is heading right now,

and I believe that there's a lot more out there.

-Keep following the money trail. -[laughter]

So I think we all kind of have our marching orders

-on what we need to do here. -Yep.

You ready to get in the water?

-Mm-hmm. -So am I.

Let's get out there.

Get that dive boat over top of that gold.

We'll-we'll get diving, we'll see what's down there,

and then see if we can find it.

-Agreed. -JEFF: Yeah, I agree.

There's nothing like treasure hunting.

-[chuckles] -I like this guy.

[laughter]

NARRATOR: One day after their exciting meeting

with Alex Lagina,

Kevin Dykstra and his brother Al

arrive at the harbor in Frankfort.

-Gentlemen. -MARK: Hey.

NARRATOR: Joining them is Frederick J. Monroe...

-Good to meet you, sir. -Kevin Dykstra.

...as well as underwater archaeologist

Dr. Mark Holley.

-Let's load up. -Let's get this underway.

NARRATOR: In addition to teaching at

Northwestern Michigan College,

Dr. Mark Holley has spent over 20 years

studying and exploring the Great Lakes.

In 2007, he made headlines after helping to discover

a mysterious rock formation some 40 feet deep

in Lake Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay.

Whoa!

FRED: This is how it's done.

KEVIN: This is a big boat.

This is nice.

AL: This will work.

KEVIN: To get this project underway

and start diving this year is huge.

This is sweet.

The new boat that Marty and Alex provided

is just perfect for what we're doing right now.

-Alex and Marty hooked us up this time. -Yes, they did.

Look at the dive platform.

KEVIN: The dive platform is a lot easier to dive off from.

This boat is the cat's meow.

Oh, look at this.

Wow, this is nice.

AL: Oh, man. Two bedrooms.

KEVIN: Air-conditioned, bathroom, kitchen.

AL: Everything.

KEVIN: Boy, those guys hooked us up.

So we'll thank them by putting gold in Marty's hands.

-[laughs]: Yeah. -How's that?

That-That'd be a good thank you.

We're as prepared as we can possibly be

for-for getting back into the water.

-We good to go? -We are good.

-All right. -All set?

-Yeah, we're all set. -Okay.

KEVIN: All right, here we go.

There's no going back. We're only going forward.

We know that gold is down there, and we can't wait

to get back down there to see it.

FRED: Let's follow the money trail, gentlemen.

[laughter]

-AL: Let the games begin. -KEVIN: Let the games begin.

NARRATOR: Near the coast of Frankfurt, Michigan,

Kevin Dykstra, along with members of his team

and underwater archaeologist Dr. Mark Holley,

are searching the waters of Lake Michigan

for what they believe to be the remains

of a 19th century boxcar

and more than $100 million worth of lost Confederate gold.

KEVIN: You know, we burned a lot of air up

trying to locate this site.

We've done a good job, but it's taken longer

-than it should have. -Uh, yeah.

MARK: You're gonna burn a lot more air

when you're working in the water.

So, here's what I think you should do.

I think we should go out with a side-scan sonar sweep,

GPS position exactly where that target is,

and then we have an ROV we can put down on the site

and film exactly what's down there.

-You've got an ROV? -Yep.

NARRATOR: An ROV, or remotely operated vehicle,

is a remote-controlled device,

usually connected by means of a cable,

used for scanning or mapping underwater areas.

What we'll do is we'll film everything

that's down there so we can put the divers

exactly on the spot that you think

-you're going down on. -I like that idea.

We burned up so much air trying to find it the last time.

-It's much, much safer. -Yeah.

-I mean, we're looking for $140 million worth of gold. -Yeah.

And if we could stay down there an extra five minutes,

-that could be huge. -Oh, that's everything.

NARRATOR: Last year, Kevin, Al and the team

located what they believed to be a debris field.

Using specialized metal detectors,

they obtained readings which indicated

the presence of precious metal buried beneath layers

of sand and algae.

After checking their footage,

they noticed something strange and rectangular,

something which looked exactly like a bar of gold.

We could be just one or two dives away

from seeing gold on the bottom of Lake Michigan.

We can't wait to get back down there and confirm it.

NARRATOR: With thick fog blanketing the calm waters

of Lake Michigan, Dr. Mark Holley begins running

side-scan sonar to once again locate

the underwater debris field.

KEVIN: We're gonna be coming up to it in a few hundred feet.

-Is that it? -That's not it.

-There's a bunch of debris around. -Okay.

KEVIN: It's not as easy as just hitting a pinpoint,

dropping an anchor and going down to the site.

It's very difficult to get to the location

and get back to the site that's so far below you.

NARRATOR: Although Kevin Dykstra is relying

on the same GPS coordinates he obtained

in the area last year,

the conditions of the lake bottom have changed

due to strong currents and increased algae growth.

Just keep going the way we're going.

It should start showing up here anytime.

Well, there's something.

AL: I know. I was just looking at that.

Couple big boulders. That's us rocking.

-KEVIN: Yeah, yeah. -Mm-hmm.

Oh, we got a big debris field there.

KEVIN: That's something; there's a bunch of debris around.

MARK: Okay.

NARRATOR: A debris field?

Could the team have once again located the site

where a possible fortune in lost Civil War gold

has laid hidden for more than a century?

KEVIN: When we get back in the water,

I'm gonna see some familiar sites.

When I see those sites from last fall,

I know that that gold is right there.

-There it is, right there. Look at that. -That's it?

-That's it right there. -You think that's it?

-AL: That's a 90-degree angle right there. -MARK: Yeah.

-That's the boxcar, right there. -Okay.

Oh, that's the car?

KEVIN: But do you see the size of that thing?

MARK: Yeah.

NARRATOR: A possible boxcar?

Could it be the same one that Kevin thought he saw

during his search in this area last year?

Look at this stuff showing up.

-Wow. -Look at that.

-Shoot, nice. -[laughs]: Oh, my gosh.

That is not natural. That is man-made.

There's no doubt about it.

That to me looks like a boxcar.

This is the perfect shot of it.

You see the shadows

-on the north side of it? -MARK: Yep.

-That give you an idea? -Yep.

And that's a large-- Look at how long that is.

MARK: Oh, yeah.

NARRATOR: Could Kevin have found the exact same location

where he and his partners photographed what they believe

might have been one of the missing bars

of Confederate gold?

-Okay. Let's mark it. -Right there.

-This is our reference point. -MARK: Okay.

Right there is where we want to be.

And then that point, if we drop the ROV down there,

-that's where we're gonna see the gold. -Okay.

That's the kind of thing

that makes me really excited. [chuckles]

NARRATOR: Before they attempt to dive

into the frigid waters of Lake Michigan,

Dr. Mark Holley will deploy a remotely-operated,

high-definition camera.

This will enable them to obtain

a visual of the mysterious object.

KEVIN: Once we put that mask on,

we descend towards the bottom,

we only have a limited amount of time.

And quite often, your time is being used up searching.

-Yeah, you're good? -Okay.

-How's that look? -Thank you, guys.

-Good? -Yep.

And let me grab it right by the--

-Right here. I got it. Yep. -Yeah.

-KEVIN: You good? -Perfect. Got it.

Ready?

KEVIN: Nice. All right.

MARK: Run it down to bottom.

You're going straight down, so you're doing good.

KEVIN: I'm gonna bump it forward a little bit.

Oh.

MARK: You see bottom yet?

-Um, just barely. -You're fine.

KEVIN: The last time we were out,

the visibility was very bad.

But this time, the visibility is very good

and we stand a very good chance of finding that location again.

I'm gonna bring her down a bit more.

-What do you got there? -We're coming up to debris right now.

-AL: That's-that's that frame! -Whoa.

-KEVIN: That's it. That's it. -That's that frame that we've seen.

-We're on it right now. -So what's this?

-KEVIN: That's what I think is the boxcar. -AL: That-- Yeah.

Look at that.

MARK: You've got crossbeams going across it.

KEVIN: This is definitely man-made.

AL: Absolutely, it is.

KEVIN: You can see the spacing on them.

You can see what look like rivets all along it.

NARRATOR: Between the early 19th to the mid 20th centuries,

steel rivets were the primary means

of fastening metal structures together

in the railway industry,

especially in the construction of boxcars.

All right, pull it up. Let's get out the dive gear.

We need to get diving on this right now.

-Yep. -Okay, let's get in the water.

-Excited. -Let's grab our kit.

KEVIN: We know that a boxcar is approximately

35 foot long and approximately seven to eight feet wide.

But we need to get down there onto that target

and see what the exact size of that is

to make sure that it is either a boxcar

or possibly something else.

NARRATOR: During the dive operation,

Kevin and Mark will both be equipped

with high-definition cameras.

Kevin's brother Al will be operating

an underwater metal detector

capable of discriminating between

ferrous metals such as iron

and non-ferrous metals such as gold.

Frederick J. Monroe, a certified divemaster,

will remain on the boat with Captain Larry Ring,

monitoring the divers' oxygen levels

and maintaining constant radio communication with them.

MARK: Okay.

You want some cold water on your hair?

[grunts]

[panting]

KEVIN: Air's on?

FRED: Yes, air's on.

[sighs]

NARRATOR: Just as the team's

dive operation is getting underway,

Kevin Dykstra's brother Al indicates

that something has gone terribly wrong.

KEVIN: Are you okay?

[coughing]

Grab ahold.

Wait a minute. Just grab ahold.

It's okay.

-[clears throat] -[coughing]

Okay. You okay?

-Yeah. -Okay.

Yeah, you got too hot.

I can tell that right now.

KEVIN: We're done.

When Al was trying to get into the water,

he knew I was in the water using up oxygen.

So, with Al getting into the water

in such a hurry like he was, he was overheating.

I could tell he was sweating really bad trying to get ready.

How's your breathing?

-It's-it's doing okay. -Okay?

Yeah.

NARRATOR: Among the many dangers

that divers face, overheating is one of the most threatening.

[groans]

It can be caused by a number of factors,

such as thick wetsuits,

which are designed to keep divers warm

while descending into deep, frigidly cold waters.

If worn too long out of water, the suit can cause potentially

deadly conditions, such as heatstroke.

MARK: We got perfect conditions.

We got plenty of time. Let's go back, regroup,

catch our breath, and we'll try it again.

AL: Yeah. Sounds good.

-Yeah? -KEVIN: Yup. Let's go.

KEVIN: It's very disappointing.

I know I'm right above what I think is that boxcar,

but I also know

when we go to the boxcar, we want it to be safe.

We want it to be under the right conditions.

So, regroup, make it safe, then we'll go down.

We've waited eight years. We may as well...

I know. You can wait another hour.

AL: Yup.

NARRATOR: While Kevin and the team

wait to attempt another dive,

some eight miles away, in the town of Benzonia,

team members Brad Richards and Jeff Zehr

arrive at the Benzie Area Historical Museum.

-Well, here we are. -Yeah.

-This is a cool-looking building. -Yeah.

It is home to a large collection

of nautical artifacts and historical documents

from Michigan's northern region.

BRAD: You're gonna like Bob.

-Super excited about Civil War research. -Yeah?

-So, that's right up our alley. -All right. Yeah.

They have come here to meet with someone

who claims to have information

that corroborates Kevin Dykstra's theory

about what occurred the morning of Jefferson Davis' arrest

by Union soldiers in 1865.

-Hey, Mr. Strawhorn. -Hey there, Bob.

-Yes, sir. -In addition to being

a Civil War historian, Bob Strawhorn

is the great-grandson of a Confederate soldier.

-Pleased to meet you. -Well, I understand

you've got a lot to show us here today.

Yeah, I do. And this is only a small amount of what I've got.

He has traveled some 450 miles

from his home in Ontario, Canada,

in order to share with Brad and Jeff

what he believes to be some important information.

This collection of books came down

through a very prominent Confederate family.

Wound up being refugees in London, Ontario.

I don't know their family history.

Whoever sold the books to the antique dealer

that I got them from wanted to remain anonymous.

-Oh. -Okay. -Yeah.

Well, what are all these books?

Well, they started in 1893,

printing a magazine called the Confederate Veteran.

NARRATOR: Published from 1893 to 1932,

theConfederate Veteran was a periodical composed

of personal testimonies and letters

written by former Confederate soldiers

recounting the events of the Civil War,

accounts that often differed from the official war records.

So, Bob, did you find anything in here about

-the capture of Jefferson Davis? -Mm-hmm.

Is there anything you have that might be in reference to gold?

Here I have a letter...

Bob has located a firsthand account

of Jefferson Davis' arrest

written by Confederate veteran Captain Andrew Sea

from the November 1913 issue.

"General Dibrell's

"command finally reached Charlotte, North Carolina,

"and was ordered to escort President Davis and Cabinet.

"We had with our command Mr. Davis and his wife.

"We also had the Confederate treasury in nail kegs,

-"ammunition boxes, etcetera..." -Yeah. Mm-hmm.

"...hauled in wagons."

This is awesome.

This is a primary account

from a soldier, a Confederate soldier,

-with gold and silver, who was there. -Who was there.

Oh, yeah.

NARRATOR: For more than 150 years,

historians have long denied numerous claims

that Jefferson Davis was in possession

of millions of dollars in gold and silver

when he was arrested in 1865.

But does this firsthand account

buried in the pages of theConfederate Veteran

undermine this widely held assertion?

I believe the evidence that Bob Strawhorn gave us

really verifies Kevin's theory.

Here we have corroborating evidence

about gold and silver traveling with Jefferson Davis.

Well, and even when Kevin first started telling us

the story in the beginning, he talked about kegs

and ammo boxes being used in order to-to transport this.

Yeah, I mean, primary document

-showing gold and silver... -Mm.

...in powder kegs and ammo boxes.

-Doesn't get any better than that. -Hang on.

There's one more thing.

What's that?

Here I have a letter written in by

a John T. Moore from Washington, D.C.,

and he's telling about his experiences in the war.

"They returned with President Davis to Charlotte.

"The next day... some member of the Cabinet told us

"we could all consider ourselves honorably discharged,

"but if any of us wished to accompany President Davis

"to Mexico we could do so.

"So I fell in line to seek refuge in Mexico.

"The next day we crossed the Savannah River,

"arriving at Washington, Georgia.

"It was there that the Confederate treasury

was divided."

-Wow. -Oh, yeah.

[Brad laughs]

NARRATOR: For Brad Richards,

this firsthand account

from Confederate veteran

John T. Moore

is hugely significant.

Not only does it validate

Kevin's theory that Jefferson Davis

was fleeing with gold from the Confederate treasury,

but also that Davis' intended destination

was very likely Mexico,

further proof that Davis was planning to use

what remained of the treasury to set up

a new slave-based nation under the leadership

of members of the KGC,

or the Knights of the Golden Circle.

-Can I interrupt you for one quick second? -Mm.

Mm-hmm.

So, those six wagons that were Davis,

that wasn't the only bit of gold.

That's correct.

-[laughs] -Well.

Mm-hmm.

BOB: "It was there that the Confederate treasury

was divided."

NARRATOR: In Benzonia, Michigan,

Civil War historian Bob Strawhorn

has just revealed a stunning letter

to Brad Richards and Jeff Zehr, a letter

containing eyewitness testimony from a Confederate soldier

which claimed that, at the end of the Civil War,

the Southern treasury was not only much larger

than previously reported

but, in addition to the gold taken by Jefferson Davis,

another large portion of it had been taken by someone else.

"After the division

"a lieutenant was ordered to select five men

"and take three wagons loaded with bullion

and deliver it to the Georgia state authorities."

-Oh, my gosh! -[chuckles]

BRAD: Primary document

showing gold and silver

being moved at this time.

Oh, yeah.

Now, what happened to the bullion?

To all that gold.

Yeah.

-Mm-hmm. -BRAD: I can believe

that there are so many different caches of gold

moving about the country at this time

that was not recorded in the history books.

So I think that Kevin's original theory

is being validated on a grand scale.

But I also think

this story is exploding

way past the original story.

This is a compelling piece of evidence

that the "official document" that's quoted

-by the college professors... -Mm-hmm.

-...and the historians... -Mm-hmm. Yeah, right.

...wasn't what happened.

-Mm-mm. -Well done, Bob.

BRAD: The three wagons going west,

in addition to the six that we

already knew about, it just makes you wonder:

where did all this gold and silver go?

There was a lot more gold and silver out there

than just these original six wagons

that were traveling with Jefferson Davis.

Well, Bob, thank you so much for meeting with us.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah, much appreciated.

BOB: My pleasure.

NARRATOR: Back on the waters of Lake Michigan,

just outside of Frankfort,

Kevin Dykstra, his brother Al

and underwater archaeologist Dr. Mark Holley are now ready

to once again attempt a dive, in an effort to confirm

if they have found the legendary boxcar

reported to contain some $140 million

in lost Civil War gold.

Clear.

KEVIN [over radio]: All right, I'm descending.

AL: The visibility is great.

Typically, the visibility in Lake Michigan, I'd say,

on average is, you know, if you get 25 feet, you're lucky.

If you get 75 feet,

that never happens.

So to have 75-foot visibility

cuts our search time down to nothing.

Everything looks calm. Is it?

AL: Not bad.

NARRATOR: Within minutes of entering the water,

Kevin, Al and Mark see the structure.

KEVIN: What I'm looking at is something unlike

any other shipwrecks that we've found.

It does not look like a shipwreck at all.

Doesn't look like any portion of a ship.

Heavy wooden timbers that I would expect to see

in a railcar, very prevalent.

KEVIN: I would not expect to see a full standing boxcar

at the bottom of the lake after this many years.

I would expect to see basically what we see.

The walls are gone.

The roof is gone.

What we're seeing down here is what I believe to be

the floor structure of the boxcar.

NARRATOR: Could the structure that Kevin and the team

have found be the remains of the elusive boxcar?

KEVIN: I wanted to just get down to that object

and clear all that stuff away and see what this is.

But I have Dr. Holley with me, and he cautioned me.

You can't touch anything.

KEVIN: So I have Al

with the metal detector,

and he's going alongside of this object.

My thoughts are: If that's the floor of the boxcar,

whatever containers held the gold

have probably long been smashed or long rotted away.

So the gold could be laying anywhere,

but there's a high likelihood that it's buried

in the sand, and we might not be able to see it.

[beeping]

it.

NARRATOR: ...Kevin Dykstra's younger brother, Al,

has just detected the presence

of possible precious metal beneath the lake bed

next to an object that could be part of a boxcar

believed to contain a fortune in stolen Civil War gold.

NARRATOR: Although the team is not permitted

to dig on the lake bottom,

underwater archaeologist Dr. Mark Holley

is able to fan the sand away in order to see

if something of importance might lie buried

just beneath the surface.

Ferrous or nonferrous hit?

It's making the metal detector go nuts.

AL: A metal detector doesn't lie.

I was getting non-ferrous hits there,

but whatever is there is deeper

than what we can get to by hand-fanning.

That's where the frustration lies for all of us.

NARRATOR: Despite the possibility of precious metals

lying just beneath the surface of the lake bottom,

Kevin and the team will need more compelling evidence,

like pictures or video, in order to apply

for the permits necessary to legally dig down and confirm

if they have actually made an important discovery.

KEVIN: So I'm trying to hold the camera

and get as much data as I can,

but really, I'm looking all around the outside

just to see if I can see a gold bar.

Give me a pressure check.

500 pounds or less, it's time to come up.

All right, guys, I think this is our time.

NARRATOR: With their air supply running low,

Kevin, Al and Mark must now end

their dive operation.

KEVIN: As we made our ascent back up,

I wanted to somehow talk to Alex and Marty

from the bottom of the lake and say,

"You guys aren't gonna believe what we found."

NARRATOR: For Kevin Dykstra and his team,

they may be one major step closer

to making a life-changing discovery:

a fortune in missing Confederate gold.

I think it's a boxcar.

I do, too. I have no doubt in my mind.

Part of it, like it got sheared in half.

Absolutely.

Those timbers were so big and I seen the needle

on your metal detector going off.

-It was going crazy. -I know it.

Those huge timbers, I think the frame was just below it.

Did you see the platform underneath it?

Yeah! Yeah, that's what I mean. The frame was just under it.

Yup.

I think that boxcar had really deteriorated over the years.

So, the gold could be laying anywhere,

but there's a high likelihood that it's buried in the sand.

What'd you think?

I've never seen anything like that.

I have no idea what it is.

-Have you dove on a boxcar before? -No.

Those were some mammoth timbers down there, weren't they?

Yeah.

They were about that thick, okay?

-It's two layers of timbers... -KEVIN: Yeah.

-...across each other. -AL: Plus the bottom.

And then there's six big beams that go across it.

It measures 16 foot by 15 foot, so it's almost a rectangle.

KEVIN: I feel like we're leaving no stone unturned

when it comes to trying to document,

as best we can, what this is.

Is it in fact a boxcar? Could it be something else?

With Doc Holley's measurements,

we're gonna have the best chance we have

to figure out what this is.

You guys see any gold down there?

You got a big hit on that little round item there.

I don't know, I don't know what that is

'cause it was-- there was so many zebra mussels on it.

If you guys are interested in investigating that,

rather than spending a lot of diver time on the bottom

measuring everything up and drawing it, we can bring in

the sector scan sonar,

which will give us a really high definition sonar picture of it

and fully document that part of your site for you.

-That sounds like a plan. -Sounds good.

NARRATOR: Unlike more conventional

side-scanning sonar, a sector scanning sonar device

can be rigged to a tripod

and literally stand on the lake bottom

generating a three-dimensional map of the environment

and any near-surface buried objects

not visible to the naked eye.

Data from the device may help Kevin and his team

not only acquire a permit to dig at this site,

but also help them locate the debris field

where Kevin obtained possible video evidence

of a gold bar last year.

As far as what we do next, I think that sector scan

is probably the best idea that we have.

I think we need to meet back at my shop

and go over all this stuff.

-That sound like a plan? -That sounds like a good plan.

Yeah, it's a good one.

KEVIN: I know Marty's gonna want to know what we found here.

[laptop ringing]

NARRATOR: The next day...

-Hey, guys. -Hello.

How are you guys doing?

NARRATOR: ...Kevin Dykstra and his team

have gathered in the workshop

to update Marty and Alex Lagina, via video conference,

on their potential breakthrough discovery

at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Well, we're eager. We're on our tiptoes

wondering what you're about to tell us.

Well, I don't hardly know where to start.

KEVIN: So, get this, we're heading out to the site

where we believe that we found a gold bar,

and as we're heading out there,

we sonar this big rectangular object on the sea bottom.

We were able to put the ROV in the water

and this big massive frame showed up.

This thing was made to carry a lot of weight.

Is that what you sent me a photo of, Kevin?

This one here, just to make sure?

Yup, yup. That's it.

Al got some real heavy hits on the metal detector,

um, showing that there was significant metal

on this object down there.

This thing sticking up,

isn't just a frame, like a bed frame then,

it goes down into the sand?

KEVIN: We believe it does, Marty,

but according to Dr. Holley, we couldn't move any sand,

we couldn't do anything.

How far from the bar we thought was a gold bar that,

you know, jangled us in our chairs last year?

How far away is this from that?

We're talking just a couple of hundred feet.

In a lake that's as large as Lake Michigan,

a couple hundred feet is, like, right next to it.

Oh, I agree. A couple hundred feet is spot on.

I mean, you know, when it... once it hit the water,

it would kind of have disintegrated,

probably, over time.

I think if that's a boxcar,

then you've probably found your boxcar.

Yeah, I would agree.

MARTY: If there's one word

that eventually produces success,

it's perseverance.

That's what he needs to do at this time,

-and it won't be hard for Kevin... -This is great.

...because he's got that innate drive.

If he pulls a gold brick off of Lake Michigan

with a Confederate stamp on it,

he has already rewritten history.

You know, Marty, um, a big part of this story

has been the historical research

to where this gold in Lake Michigan

-would have come from. -Right.

And so Jeff and I were actually able to meet

with an old Canadian guy named Bob Strawhorn,

and, believe it or not,

we've got firsthand testimony from Confederate soldiers.

So let me pull these up.

So, this first one here is from a Confederate veteran

that was traveling with Jefferson Davis

at Washington, Georgia.

Three wagons head a different direction,

full of gold.

It says, "Five men took three wagons

loaded with bullion."

-Wow. -BRAD: Off they went.

Where'd they go?

It wasn't just the six wagons full of the gold

that was traveling with Jefferson Davis.

There was multiple caches of gold

being moved quickly away from the northern troops.

-AL: And all in different directions? -BRAD: Yeah.

Going in different directions.

You guys are all starting to sound like my brother.

[laughter]

KEVIN: I think Jefferson Davis was carrying

a portion of the gold, but I think other people

were carrying gold, as well.

But they split it off, and I think they did that

to kind of hedge their chances of success

with getting this gold further to the South.

Are you gonna be able to come up

-on this next dive next week? -ALEX: I want to be there.

I'd like him to be there. I'dlike to be there,

but I don't think I'm gonna be able to.

In the meantime, get out there

and verify it, go on that dive,

and let's see what happens.

Hopefully we get enough data to go to the state of Michigan

and ask for a salvage permit.

Well, we'll work towards that happening.

-Good deal. -KEVIN: All right. Thanks, guys. -See you guys soon.

MARTY: Bye.

Let's get back at it.

-All right. -Yeah. Let's go.

NARRATOR: For Kevin Dykstra and his team,

the potential discovery

of a boxcar is not just exciting,

but if they can find what they believe

to be its lost cargo of stolen Civil War gold,

they may soon be on the threshold

of rewriting American history.

But as their search widens

to include more gold

than they ever thought possible,

what else will they discover?

Perhaps evidence of an even bigger conspiracy?

One that involved

not only the theft of millions in gold,

but the creation of a new government

and a bloody plot that would claim the life

of a beloved American president?

This season on The Curse of Civil War Gold...

KEVIN: This thing is a lot bigger

-than what I originally thought. -What is that?

KEVIN: We've just begun the search.

-We found something. -KEVIN: There was gold

in many different places during the time

of Jefferson Davis's capture.

-Look at all this. -Wow, look at them all.

Wow. That is gold.

So, just how big is this conspiracy?

MAN: The Knights of the Golden Circle

was the most powerful, subversive organization ever.

They wanted to take the power from New York.

MAN 2: This was orchestrated much higher up.

John Wilkes Booth was not killed at the barn.

He was killed by Jesse James.

-Whoa. -Oh, wow. -KEVIN: That's a compass.

-The all-seeing eye. -That could be a vault down there.

MAN: They gave me a key to the vault,

and that's when they pulled the bags up.

-Bags of what? -Gold.

There's treasure underneath the Pritchard house.

-That's it. -[laughs] It's a coin!

KEVIN: We could be an inch away

from millions of dollars' worth of gold.

-No way! -Unbelievable!

That actually knocks my socks off.

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