Original subtitles

Oh, you all, look. It's, it's almost shaped like a heart.

- It literally is. - It is.

On this episode, of Alaskan Bush People...

I think Da would be proud of the three of us out here doing this.

There's a weird emptiness, when you lose a parent.

It feels like a part of you has been ripped away.

Mom wants the flagpole to be on this ridge.

By where the Forty Day Party is actually gonna be.

Even though it's harder now, to start working on the ranch,

it's made me wanna do it even more.

Putting up the flagpole, Da.

It's kind of like, saying, "Bye, Da."

Come on, baby.

I feel like if I don't get this old processor up the mountain,

then I'm failing him.

That should do it.

It's clear. Go, go.

It looks like I have almost 20.

I only count 12.

Sorry, kid, I didn't mean to pelt you with that food.

Four weeks after their world was shattered

by the tragic loss of the family patriarch,

the Brown family struggles to pick up the pieces.

You guineas too, here.

These weeks, after Billy's passing,

have been very difficult, for all of us.

And we all mourn in a different way.

Because we miss him.

Until we go to Heaven ourselves,

we won't see him again.

- Gabe. - Yo.

You're stepping in it and... Okay, there it is.

Yeah, I stepped in it.

These past weeks, without Da, have definitely gotten increasingly harder.

A lot of people say that time heals all wounds.

And that's definitely not true.

Every day without Da is difficult.

I wanna have the get up and go to start working on the ranch.

And I want to. I want to build it up for Da.

And I wanna build it up for Mom, because that was their dream.

But, it is hard.

It's hard to wanna wake up in the morning and do anything.

In his wake,

Billy leaves behind a family determined to rebuild the ranch.

And a daughter committed to finding gold on their mountain.

Da and I really shared a love for gold.

What have I done to you? What have you done to me, Da?

By continuing this dream that we had together, it is a way to honor him.

So, I really wanna make sure that I finish it to make him proud.

We bought a big piece of mining equipment.

Okay, and?

It's really big.

Really big. Like how big?

Like, three stories high big.

Really?

In the nearby town of Loomis,

Rain seeks help hauling the recently acquired mining equipment,

twenty-five miles from the ghost town of Nighthawk,

to North Star Ranch.

- Is this it? - Oh, wow.

Sheesh.

Start taking out the window with a big heave.

Weighing over 75 tons and dating back to the 1920s,

the disassembly and transportation of the massive machinery,

requires more muscle than the Browns have on their own.

So, we were trying to take it by hand

and, uh, it's a little bit more than we bargained for.

Okay.

Bobby's a good guy to ask for help,

because he's helped us out a lot before.

Even back when we first moved up the mountain,

we've gotten a pretty good friendship going.

Uh, you know, and if he ever needed anything,

I wouldn't hesitate to help him out.

So, I know it's the same way around.

So, if you have any

idea or equipment, maybe.

See, I get all, like, stutter-y when I talk

about it, because I have gold fever.

I get... I need it, right? So, I get-- - Yeah.

- I need it. - We all do.

I'll give you guys a cut too. I'm not going to give my brothers any cut--

- I wouldn't. - ...but, I'll give you guys something.

All right.

- You got a deal, dear. - Sweet.

- All right. - Thank you.

I do think that getting the gold processor up the mountain

is kind of my way of coping.

Completing what he told me to do.

And I know it's gonna take a long time to get gold from our mountain,

but I'll do it, for Da.

Moving the equipment, I can guarantee that. Helping you find gold?

You're on your own.

Mom was saying that she wants the flagpole to be on, like,

the highest point on this ridge here. - Right.

Because, it's by Cuppy, it's by where the Forty Day Party is actually gonna be.

And you couldn't see it from the house.

I like that you could see it from the house, but...

Oh, man. I think that's solid rock.

It will be hard, yes. It is frozen rock at this point.

So, the North Star flagpole, and the flag, is something

that we've always wanted, and we've talked about,

and it's one of the last things that Da got for the ranch.

So, before we can cement the base for the flagpole, we have to dig the hole,

which is not gonna be easy and there's a lot of snow.

You know, I'm trying to walk in your footsteps,

but I'm so much heavier, I keep falling in.

I was thinking light thoughts.

Oh.

The flag meant a lot to Da.

It symbolizes the ranch.

You know, because, if something has its own flag, it's real. It's a thing.

Mom wants to, specifically, use that flagpole

and that flag, uh, for his Forty Day.

With origins dating back over 2,000 years,

the Forty Day celebration was adopted by the Tlingit people of Alaska,

to commemorate the deceased's ascension into Heaven.

For the Browns, it's the only way to honor their father's Alaskan spirit

and pay homage to their life together in the North.

Actually, if we get this out, it might make it easier.

Da always held strong to a lot of the old traditions.

Da always said that you don't mourn for the people that leave us,

you mourn for those left behind,

that when he passes, don't mourn, instead, celebrate.

- There, see-- - There it goes.

-...see, it's going. - Get it, get it, get it, get it.

Ah, there we go .

How deep does this have to be, again?

It kind of depends on the size of the flagpole.

Uh, and I haven't actually seen the flagpole.

Before we can actually put the flagpole in, we have to find the flagpole.

It seems to be missing.

Oh, is it that really large box?

Oh, I hope so.

It's gonna make our job a lot easier.

There's so much snow and we have no clue where it is.

If we had, like, a treasure map leading to it

and we'd dig down and it's there, that'd be perfect.

But, regretfully, no such luck.

I hope this is it.

Yeah, that should be it.

Here you go.

Mom specifically said no shovels.

Choose your weapon.

I'll go wood.

That is about, what--

- We got this, Snow. - ...2.5, 3 feet of snow?

We only need the bottom edge, it's already exposed.

Oh, that's the thing.

- Right. - You can't take the bigger pieces.

But, you can do like this, like the little strides.

After everything that has happened,

it feels good to relax for a minute

and just let our minds laugh and have fun.

Now, start chipping out from the back. Chip, chip.

- Chip. - No, don't, ugh.

Ah, I'm trapped.

You must not have chipped the right place.

We need a rescue team.

This is not a flagpole.

This was supposed to be the flagpole.

So, it could be...

Anywhere.

Maybe we're standing on it.

So, you all are out here to help us out, get this stuff out of here?

Yes, we are.

Nice piece of machinery you've got here.

- Oh yeah. That's a grapple. - Perfect for grabbing stuff, eh?

Oh, it'll grab anything here.

You really deliver, Bobby.

Twenty-five miles away,

and thousands of feet lower in elevation,

Bear and Rain are in the town of Nighthawk, teaming up with three locals

to disassemble their newly acquired equipment.

So, we're probably gonna want to pick up the funnel first.

Just set it aside for now and then pick up the bottom pieces.

Because, when we're assembling it,

the first load that we're gonna pick up, we want it to be the bottom.

Does that sound good to you all?

- Sounds like a good plan. - Does it?

Okay, perfect.

The mining equipment consists of about 12 different moving pieces.

But, I have no idea of the technical terms for any of it.

I definitely think that there is still a lot to learn.

Massive in its stature,

each component of the plant is critical for the type

of ore found on the Brown's mountain.

Gold-rich rock is funneled into a series of crushers,

that pulverize them into a fine dirt,

which is then held in a silo, where it waits to be processed for gold.

All righty, here we go.

Bobby built quite the team, honestly.

He brought Mark out and then he brought

a gentlemen named Mike, and he's gonna be running the loader.

Okay, that should do it.

And, um, honestly, they seem really into the gold and optimistic about it.

Go ahead, Mike.

The processor, just is so big, we can't take it out whole.

We have to take it out piece by piece.

In order to do that, we have to disassemble it.

The harder part will be putting it back together,

but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

So, right now, it's just important

to get it taken apart into handleable pieces.

Go ahead and swing it over, Mike. We'll set it right here.

Okey dokey.

We're on our way.

Okay, which piece is next?

Conveyor.

At least you're standing on it, You were standing on it.

- This one? Gotcha. - Yup.

Hook it just like this, in the middle.

- All right. - All right, let's do this.

- Ready? - We're good to go. Yup.

Whoa.

Hold on, Mike.

Pull.

That's tight right here.

It is?

It must be pretty well stuck.

It's the bottom support that's hooking on that lip.

Can he just pick it straight up?

Yeah.

Dude, you're gonna go over, man.

- Swing left. - That way.

He's getting close.

- Forward. - Forward?

More... In more.

- Whoo! - Yeah.

- You got it. - There it is.

- Awesome job. - Yeah.

- Oh, that's pretty. - Yeah. Beautiful.

That thing's heavier than I though it was.

Bear, you have no idea how excited I am right now.

I'm trying to keep my composure,

because I'm around all these, like, tough dudes,

but inside, I wanna, like, scream and jump up and down.

But, obviously, I can't do that.

A little further.

Well, this is going to be the first trip of I don't know how many more trips.

However many we have to take, we'll take.

But, phew, job well done, I say.

- Whoo! - Yeah.

- Well done. - Yeah.

All right, first step's done, next is just to get it up our mountain.

Let's do it.

Doing all this, like, I think my Da'd be proud of getting this up here.

Yeah.

I don't know. I've talked with your Da a few times.

- Yeah. - He seemed like a cool dude.

He was.

He seemed like an old hippie to me.

Yup.

Oh, totally.

Bobby definitely does remind me of Da, a lot.

Especially with his bush attitude

and his willingness to do whatever.

You know, they're both very free-spirited people.

And I kind of think, in a way, it's Da's way

of telling me that he's gonna be taking care of me,

even if it's through other people.

Gold.

I got no idea what I'm doing, but I wanna do it anyways.

Well, I wish you luck.

Thank you.

I'll need it.

Coming up...

The arena is flooded.

Like, we have to fix this.

Increasing temperatures threaten North Star Ranch.

What're we gonna do about this mess?

You can literally hear the water coming in to it.

What do we hit next? Big blue, right?

Big blue.

How do y'all guys wanna do it?

Think we're just gonna shackle on top there.

And then, we'll use one of these steel cables

and hook to the heel of Mike's machine.

As winter comes to a close in Northern Washington,

The Browns push forward on father Billy's final wish

and continue their plans to expand North Star Ranch.

I got it.

You got it?

- Got it. - Yep.

After successfully unloading the conveyor belt,

Rain, Bear, and a team of locals are back in Nighthawk,

ready to detach and lift the next piece of mining equipment...

The crusher.

So, do we wanna put both hoop... Both ties? - Both... Both ties.

I learned all of my mining knowledge

from Mom and Da,

and from books that they gave me to read.

I think what the crusher does is the rocks go inside of it,

and it kind of pulverizes them to be smaller.

If I know anything from being a Brown,

is you don't really need to know how it works.

It just matters that it does work.

You got it. Y'all guys like that?

I think it looks good.

Just swing over there, Mike, and we'll get it started. - Okay.

This crusher could weigh maybe 30,000 pounds.

It's such an old piece of machinery that you're gonna have a very, very hard time

finding any sort of replacement for this.

There are no short cuts.

We cannot lose this piece of equipment.

Let's see what it does.

It's in pretty tight, looks like.

Can we get it out of there?

Man, you gotta be kidding me.

If it falls, it's gonna... It's gonna crack it.

Can you pick it at all?

That's it. I'm...

I'm powered out.

With the way that the crusher is breaking,

my heart is breaking a little bit.

It's kind of making me feel like this dream might be unattainable.

That's what we didn't want to happen.

No, I didn't want that to happen.

But, uh, I know Da wouldn't stop.

So, I'm not going to.

- Mm. - Hope we didn't need that.

You can weld it.

When the equipment is picking the equipment up, I think it's time to reassess.

The flagpole...

is not on the table next to the wire.

It's not under the porch.

It's not under the porch.

I know it's not on the porch.

Okay, Da was parking the car,

- and I picked it up-- - It's not inside, maybe?

...wondering what it was. No, it's not inside.

The special flag is one of the last things

that Billy contributed for the ranch,

which has our longhorn and "North Star Ranch" written on it.

Stomp your foot and we'll dig.

Between me and those planters. Try that.

So, we want to raise the flag for Billy on the Forty Day Party.

Rhain and Bird are looking for the flagpole,

and it's hard to find.

It's covered in snow and people have moved things around.

Can you tunnel under?

I know, right? I thought so.

Wait! I can get into it.

Okay, I have firewood.

Firewood?

Well, it was just a piece of bark.

That's what we need.

- I know. - A fire?

No! We need to start a fire to melt it.

I'm gonna see if we have anything flammable in there.

You know, over the past couple weeks, Mom has really stepped up

and really just... Really pushing for everything.

And she's just a go-getter.

And we've now gotten to calling her "Shotgun Ami."

Children, don't try this at home.

'Cause it just... It fits. It fits so much.

- There we go. - Whoa!

That worked, look at it.

There we go.

Awesome.

I know Mom feels like...

It's her duty to stay strong and to be there for us

because she's... She's our mother.

She's always been the rock of the family.

That's even what Da would always say.

Get the edges. Perfect. - Go down lower, too.

Better save a little bit. I don't know if that's special.

We're gonna have to get Gabe more hairspray.

Wait, I have a... Bolt!

- Oh. - Is that part of it?

Could be.

- What is it? What is it? - What is it?

Is it a pulley?

Those are weight bench pulleys.

Oh, man.

We'll find it.

Even if I have to come back with a giant can of hairspray, we can find it.

They're gonna hook up there, right here in the center.

Try to lift it up a little bit.

Then Mark, he's gonna come with his backhoe

and try to push it in same time I lift it up.

Sounds like a plan to me. - All right.

The next morning, Rain returns to Nighthawk with brother Gabe.

And after struggling to move the 30-ton crusher,

the youngest Brown sibling is hoping added muscle,

and additional machinery,

will be enough to lift the crucial component.

I hope this plan works.

Same!

I don't know if Rain's bitten off

a little more than she can chew or not.

She has a pretty big mouth.

But, uh, I... I think it's doable.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

And you look in Rain's eye, there's definitely a will.

All right, Mike, let's see what you can do.

Okay.

I'll let you get her up in the air then I'll give it a little push forward.

Come on, come on, come on.

The crusher's one of the most pivotal pieces

of the whole gold mining operation.

Just as important of a piece as it is, it's a heavy piece.

This thing is a monster.

Probably the heaviest thing we've ever tried to move.

We've moved some heavy things in the past.

We've moved cars, we've moved houses, and this thing takes the cake.

Come on, baby!

It's so heavy.

It's, like, inches away!

It's clear! Go! Go!

Oh!

The rod is through. The springs are on it.

And then, there's that last hunk.

Can that come down any more?

That box?

- The box. - Yeah.

If you're in the cab seat, go ahead and lower her down. - Go down, go down!

A part of the crusher's piston is getting stuck on the edge of the dump truck.

So, the idea is that Gabe and the dump truck

can raise the dump truck bed a little bit,

so that the piston doesn't get as stuck.

Let's just wait right there.

Wait!

I really don't wanna break Bobby's truck,

and I really don't wanna break the mining equipment.

Try pushing a little, see what it does.

Come on, come on!

Come on!

Can it go up a little bit?

- Up! - If we can.

We are so close.

God.

We're out of power on both ends Yeah.

Out of power, out of traction.

It just needs to go up, like, a centimeter more.

And then, if you just ram it, it's like a split second that it's clearing it.

- So, any-- - I know, it's close.

- So close. - Yeah, we need to push it

in that split second that it's clear.

Yeah.

Then, I run out of power.

- Yeah, I-- - Then, I run out of traction.

Maybe we can try and walk it more?

We're that far off.

We're that... If it raises up that much more,

or we can time it better,

we'll have this piece of machinery in the dump truck

and we'll have it on the mountain.

But right now, we're just... We're just that far away from it.

Literally, you can tell, it's just... That's all it's hanging up by.

The rod is hanging down, here's the flat of the dump truck.

It's just that little, little bit.

But it's... It's not wanting to go.

It is so close, it's unbelievable.

- I know. - It's so close.

I want gold on the mountain.

Not only so we can maybe make a little extra cash,

and help build the ranch up to be closer to Mom's and Da's dream.

But, I also want gold because it's something that Da and I dreamed about together.

And knowing that there's this much metal in the way of that,

is kind of frustrating.

I know that Da would tell me to just not give up and keep trying things.

Um, but I'm also worried we're gonna break it.

If we... If we try too much.

- Yeah. - Yeah. Yeah.

We're gonna brainstorm a little bit.

I mean, look at that, though. It's holding up.

With this amount, it's just getting worse.

Like, we have to fix this.

The early onset of spring

has brought a sudden wave of warm temperatures to the Brown's mountain.

And as Bird contends with mudslides from the rapid snow melt...

I can't tell if it's mud or sweat dripping on my forehead.

...25 miles away in the ghost town of Nighthawk,

Rain and Bear return to the mining equipment,

seeking to dismantle the largest,

and most challenging component.

We're gonna knock it down, to where it's on the hill.

- Okay. - And then, we're gonna pull underneath it.

But, it has a lot of gravel in it.

This gravel is very important gravel.

You know what I mean?

Right, so you think there's gold in there? - Hey.

There is gold in there. - You know what gave that away?

- You have to-- No. - The gold bricks in your eyes!

There is gold in there.

Shh!

What? Someone's gonna hear me? - Don't be-- Yes.

- There's gold out here! - Shh.

No one needs to know, Bear.

What do you have on your hands?

The silo is basically a very large funnel.

So, you put all of the ore into the silo that is, then, to be processed

to the other grinders, and the other crushers, to go into the final run.

But, the problem is that it's also really big.

And has dirt in it.

Okay, let's get something to scrape that out with, hey?

- Is that cool? - Yeah, that's fine.

Make it as obvious as possible what you're doing.

Okay, here you go.

Oh, man, Bear. This is so beautiful.

Oh, man, Bear.

If you love it so much, why don't you marry it.

The chances of there being gold

in the leftover rocks in the silo is about 100%.

While we're siffling through it,

I can see little gold specks.

And so, this is very promising.

This is definitely gonna be the first tailings we siffle through.

Figure I should try to climb up that rickety ladder and...

See how much is in there?

Yeah, you wanna just take a peek?

Yeah, you think it will hold me?

Hmm. We'll find out.

It's pretty rickety.

Well, anytime that, uh, we're chasing gold, or gold in general,

just makes me feel closer to Da.

Even before Da passed away, every time I saw gold

or thought about gold,

it reminded me of Da.

Uh, yep, she's got quite a bit in her.

The very last quarter of it.

How many more bags?

Could easily be three or four more.

Continuing Da's dream of doing the mining stuff...

It's just a total way to honor Da, to honor his legacy.

And, uh, to do, like, his last wishes.

Think that pretty much emptied it out.

Yeah, we pretty much got it.

Ah!

- Watch her. - Uh-oh.

- "Uh-oh" is right. - Gah!

I know.

The arena is flooded.

As the early spring temperatures continue to rise on the mountain,

Brother Noah and his family are faced with an issue at their horse arena.

Prometheus' horse arena is kind of flooding.

He's smart, he's staying out of the watery areas,

and there's quite a bit of it that isn't flooded.

But, something definitely needs to be done.

Well, how's his hooves looking?

Worse for wear.

Yeah.

I've been gone too long.

If a horse's hooves stay in water for too long,

they can get what's called hoof rot.

It can actually be very bad.

Like, very bad.

So, once we have him all brushed out,

what're we gonna do about this mess?

You can literally hear the water coming into it.

Well, I think the best option would be make a canal.

In the middle?

The outside of it.

Of the fence.

Where the snow bank is needs to be dug down into a trough.

It's important to save the arena.

The horses are kind of the soul of the ranch.

Horses are very important to my dad.

Get him, get him, get him!

Ain't he gorgeous?

He's beautiful.

It's been his dream forever to,

just one at a time, teach everyone how to ride.

Whoa. Whoa.

I'm going to continue it.

It's what Da would have wanted.

Oh.

Do you wanna give Dad a hug?

No.

Okay.

Sorry, Dad.

Okay, flagpole.

The only place that you could possibly be is this pile.

With the snow melting so fast,

it's not good for the roads, it's not good for the trailer,

but it is good for finding the flagpole.

Because if there's no snow, ideally, we can just...

Boom. There's the flagpole.

Well, as the sun's coming out more and more,

luckily, for me, the porch is one of the first places that's actually melting.

So, I'm hoping that the flagpole is under here.

But I've actually lost count of how many times we've looked for the flagpole.

Rhain and I talked about getting another one.

But, like, I know we can't.

You know, it has to be the flagpole Da bought.

Oh man, I might as well...

Wait a minute.

Well, they said it was silver.

This... Is this it, though?

I thought this was a part of the weight bench.

Pulleys.

I found pulleys!

This has to be the flagpole. It's literally a flag! Yes!

And I'm so excited to actually be holding the flagpole.

It's not the kettle I thought it was.

Now, that we have it in our possession

not let it out of my sight until it's up.

The next step is I'm gonna take it to Mom.

And the next, I'm putting it together.

I can't believe all that searching, and it was on the porch.

Coming up...

Come on, baby, lift her.

The team takes another crack at lifting the crusher.

- Come on! Come on! Come on!

I've put a lot of pressure on myself.

If we don't get this crusher lifted,

getting gold on our mountain might be unattainable.

Come on, lift, Kenny!

I mean, I think it's deep enough, right?

Stick your pole in there, missy.

- How's that? - That's good.

I like the hole. Thank you, Da. It's a good sign.

Yep.

On North Star Ranch Ami, Bird, and Rain work together

on an important task that was left for them

by deceased patriarch Billy Brown.

Did y'all read all this?

Two quarts clean water for each 60-pound bag of concrete mixer--

You eyeball it until it looks like mud.

That's what Da always taught me.

Well, after being with Billy so long,

and this is roll that he would normally be doing with the kids.

But it feels good to be able to do it.

And to know that I have watched him enough that I know how to do it.

Okay, we're gonna poor six inches of dry concrete in there.

Okay.

Six inches of dry, and you just leave it dry?

Are we not mixing that with water? - Not the dry part.

That's what it said, said put it in dry.

This is different concrete than I've ever used.

How is that gonna set?

Hey, I don't know. I've read the bag.

I'm gonna tell you something. Not all instructions know everything.

- I mean... - Whatever.

When you make a cake, if you use a box, you read the package.

Then we put the post in, and then we put the wet, right?

Isn't that what it said?

Come here, concrete baby.

I think this baby needs to quit eating.

Okay, poke it!

- Poke it quick, Mom! - I just poke it with my knife.

It feels really good to be working with Mom.

She's helping us mix the concrete

And she's, you know, just getting very hands on.

I think this is almost perfect. Don't y'all?

I think so.

I think Da'd be proud of the three of us out here doin' this.

I think he would.

I think he is.

You know, now that Da has passed,

it's really important for Rain and I

to spend this quality time with Mom.

We always try to not take anything for granted.

But I think recently we've discovered

that people are more... more mortal than some of us might've thought.

Oh, that looks really good, y'all.

Oh, y'all, look. It's almost shaped like a heart.

Oh, my gosh! -

It literally is!

It's, like, Billy's everywhere I look.

So we took little pink rocks, and I put a "B" plus "A" for Billy plus Ami.

And then the girls put a "B" and "R" for Bird and Rain.

So we kinda left our mark on the heart-shaped hole for the flagpole.

Ah, look at it.

- I like it! - It looks really good. Now, we wait.

I had fun. Did y'all have fun?

- I had so much fun! - I did, yeah.

Let's crawl in, knock down the high spots.

And the water should start flowing through here.

Noah and I are trying to build the trenches

to get all the water out of the corral.

Da specially built the arena to teach us how to ride horses in.

So I just want to keep the arena as original as possible

'cause he's not gonna build another one.

It is going, just slowly.

So I'm gonna follow it down all the way

and try to open it up to give it a place to go.

Yeah.

Like a swamp!

- Bird! - What?

Are you taking your boots off?

I don't need my boots muddy.

And you can stay nice and dry right there, boots.

I do prefer to work barefoot.

Any chance I can, I take my shoes off.

It's just better.

The mud is also good for the skin,

uh, not so much the manure, probably.

I'm not sure. Maybe it is.

But the mud... The mud is definitely good for the skin.

Still runnin' through.

I know. I see it.

We just need to build up the sides.

Use rocks and sticks as well.

Since Da is gone, people would think

that it means that we will lose sight of the dream.

You can't lose sight of something

that's part of you.

Da left his stamp on us all.

Now, the dream will continue.

It's just a little less dreamlike without Da.

Hey, Noah, I think I patched all the holes here.

Okay.

Look at it flow, Noah!

- Workin'. - It is.

I think it looks good.

I think the trailer is definitely safe.

I think, now, we just need time for the arena to dry.

Agreed.

All in all, I think we've saved it.

Hi, Gabe. Hi, Rain.

- Hey. - Hello.

Ah, ya got it, huh?

- We got it. - Awesome.

With the addition of a third tractor, Gabe and Rain reunite

with their team of locals for one final attempt at lifting the 30-ton crusher.

This crusher is the most important piece of anything.

Without getting the ore into smaller pieces, it can't be processed.

It is hard to stay positive.

But without the crusher, the whole thing is useless.

It looks a little bit closer.

Them get a lot bit closer here in a minute.

Gettin' closer all the time.

We should have her for you this time for you guys.

- Good. Good. - Okay.

If you guys'll help us rig up, we'll get movin' forward.

- Gotcha. - Sounds like a plan.

Gettin' you guys closer to being gold miners.

We'll take it!

It is very hard not having Da around for his guidance.

But I think that I know Da well enough

that I know what he would tell me.

All righty, time to rock 'n' roll.

We've accomplished a lot.

And I don't think that this is gonna be any different.

Good!

He would tell me to just go for it.

Full-fledged, go for it!

Any way you can, anyhow, get that thing up in the mountain.

Come on, baby, lift her.

Yeah!

Now... Come on, baby!

Come on! Come on!

This is definitely a do-or-die situation.

If we don't get this crusher lifted,

Da's dream of getting gold in our mountain might be unattainable.

Come on!

- Come on! - Come on, lift, Kenny!

Prometheus, check out this that I'm doin'.

You know, Prometheus, I was wondering.

Do you even understand what I'm saying?

'Cause being Noah's horse, there's no telling

what language he talks to you in.

Prometheus!

Prometheus.

No, nothing? I'll do Morse Code.

You've turned around for Morse Code?

Come on, lift, Kenny!

Ah!

I think Kenny's got a plan.

I'm gonna try and pick that with a blade.

All right!

In the town of Nighthawk, Gabe, Rain, and their crew take

one last attempt at lifting the heaviest piece of their mining equipment.

Come on! Come on!

A little more.

Got it!

Yeah!

Whoo!

- All right! - All righty.

Whoo!

I'd never seen a more gorgeous hunk a iron in my life.

I cannot believe that we actually got the crusher in the dump truck.

I definitely think that Da would be proud of me right now.

It makes me wish he were here to see it.

But, uh, it means a lot to me to be completing this dream

that him and I shared.

Great job, guys.

You guys ready to head up the mountain?

I think so. Let's do it!

See ya up there. All right!

It definitely feels good. It makes the whole dream of having gold feasible.

I think this is gotta be

the heaviest piece of machinery we're trying to get up there.

So if we can get up there, that means the rest should be a walk in the park.

Parlay!

- We got it! - Whoo!

Whoo! That's what I'm talkin' about.

It means a lot to me that Bobby and the guys are putting so much into this.

I definitely think that Da is doin' some tweaking up there.

I think he's put a couple people in our life for a reason.

- Should we get one more? - Yeah.

Hopefully, this is the heaviest one.

It is.

It... You think it is? Good.

- It is. - Well, then, hard part's over, guys.

Hard part is over.

Watching the equipment go up the mountain is definitely a relief to me

because I know I'm one step closer to living the dream

that Da and I had talked about.

But it is a reminder that, um, he isn't here to live that dream with me.

There we go!

I think a part of me was hoping that maybe I could fill the void

left by him with gold

and getting this equipment up the mountain,

and it's a little bit of a reminder that that's not gonna happen.

There's a weird emptiness when you lose a parent that's very hard to describe.

Feels like a part of you has been ripped away.

So I'm hoping that maybe I can find peace in here again.

Let's put up the flagpole. - All right.

Puttin' up the flagpole, Da.

What we're gonna do with the flag, y'all, is take it all the way up,

and then we're gonna lower it down to half mast

for Da's passing.

Okay.

Start walkin' it up.

Raising Billy's flag, it means a lot to me

because from our bedroom upstairs

and our little balcony he had made for us

we'd be able to sit there and look out over... The flag would be flowing in the air.

It's kinda like saying, "Bye, Da."

Elijah's gonna help me raise the flag.

Okay, honey bun, help Grammy.

Come on, pull!

Do I let go? - Yeah.

Pull, baby. Pull, baby.

Pull. Pull. This one. This one. - Good job. Good job.

Honor of the flag was very important to Da.

He designed it himself.

The yellow is of Alaska,

and the black is a pirate flag.

And then Brutus is the longhorn.

So it really signifies this is us, this is who we are, this is our mountain.

Isn't she beautiful?

It is.

Come on, everyone.

It's even more of a symbol to raise the flag

now that Da has passed because it now is honoring Da.

It represents not only the ranch

but the family itself, the Wolfpack.

It's like the tall point to a North Star.

So anytime we howl, Bam actually doesn't howl with us.

- He never has.

And when we howled for Da when we raised the flagpole, Bam howled.

Da planned for the future.

And that dream won't stop with him.

We'll just keep goin' from generation to generation.

That's what North Star Ranch is about.

It's a place that you can dream and be free.

How 'bout a group hug?

- Rounding in. - I love, y'all.

- I love you too! - Love you.

Please don't pat my shoulder.

On the next episode of Alaskan Bush People.

Hee haw!

Ready to build a barn?

It looks a bit wobbly, guys.

I'm gonna be blunt. I'm not sure about this stucco barn.

Eventually, it will decompose.

What's important is that you take your time

and get the horse trusting you.

Da was always supposed to teach us how to ride horses.

That's what we'll do. We'll get ya ridin'.

Thank you, Grandpa.

I'm determined to learn how to ride for Da.

- Whoa! Whoa!

- Whoa! Hey!

You want to get motors working that've probably been seized up since 1948!

If this doesn't work, I've wasted not only my time but everybody else's time.

Uh-oh, she's diggin' into the mud now.

I know, raise it up!

That's not good!