1 00:00:05,344 --> 00:00:10,320 What in the hell? Look at the water. 2 00:00:10,344 --> 00:00:11,838 Hey, Paul. 3 00:00:11,862 --> 00:00:14,182 Coming up a little bit, a little bit of sticks, man, 4 00:00:14,206 --> 00:00:15,517 a little bit of debris. 5 00:00:48,586 --> 00:00:50,700 Happy birthday! Happy birthday! 6 00:00:50,724 --> 00:00:52,251 Happy birthday, Fred! Happy birthday, Fred! 7 00:00:52,275 --> 00:00:54,493 75 years old. You're old. 8 00:00:56,793 --> 00:00:59,976 75 years old, still diving in Alaska? 9 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,758 That's pretty impressive. 10 00:01:14,724 --> 00:01:16,803 He started to panic down there.. 11 00:01:16,827 --> 00:01:19,286 That's how dangerous this is. 12 00:01:19,310 --> 00:01:21,355 We're going to do our first fuel drop down the mountain. 13 00:01:21,379 --> 00:01:24,344 The crazy that we do to mine in Alaska. 14 00:01:34,793 --> 00:01:36,044 We're that close to the gold. 15 00:01:36,068 --> 00:01:39,631 We're in business, boys. A little nugget. 16 00:01:44,689 --> 00:01:47,665 ...captions by vitac... www.vitac.com 17 00:01:47,689 --> 00:01:50,631 captions paid for by discovery communications 18 00:02:08,275 --> 00:02:11,182 Well, the water is not perfectly clear this morning, but... 19 00:02:11,206 --> 00:02:14,562 It's nice. It's not milky. 20 00:02:14,586 --> 00:02:18,872 All right. About a foot, foot and a half of visibility. 21 00:02:18,896 --> 00:02:23,079 The Dakota boys are 10 weeks into their mining season, 22 00:02:23,103 --> 00:02:24,976 dredging for gold in one of Alaska's 23 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,286 most remote and dangerous creeks. 24 00:02:29,310 --> 00:02:35,113 Hey, guys! Right here. 25 00:02:35,137 --> 00:02:38,700 This is our entire reason for being here, right here. 26 00:02:38,724 --> 00:02:41,010 So you know how the crack goes all the way down, 27 00:02:41,034 --> 00:02:43,355 if you were trying to build a nugget trap, 28 00:02:43,379 --> 00:02:45,527 this is what it would look like. 29 00:02:45,551 --> 00:02:48,044 I just believe it's going to be chock full of gold, 30 00:02:48,068 --> 00:02:49,700 and now we need to clean it out. 31 00:02:49,724 --> 00:02:53,527 So the hole has to go forward in order to do this. 32 00:02:53,551 --> 00:02:55,079 Well, I can't wait to get into this. 33 00:02:55,103 --> 00:02:57,724 Man, this is... it looks like a good day to dive. 34 00:02:59,551 --> 00:03:01,344 Last week... 35 00:03:04,517 --> 00:03:07,079 ...Dustin discovered a crack in the creek wall... 36 00:03:07,103 --> 00:03:08,803 Yeah! Yes, it is! 37 00:03:08,827 --> 00:03:11,148 ...that gave them their biggest cleanup yet. 38 00:03:11,172 --> 00:03:13,034 Now we're getting into gold, baby. 39 00:03:15,103 --> 00:03:18,976 Now Dustin needs his crew to dredge down through the rocks 40 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,010 and gravel to the pile of gold 41 00:03:22,034 --> 00:03:24,344 at the bottom of the bedrock crack. 42 00:03:27,689 --> 00:03:28,976 We're throwing the dice. 43 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:30,424 This is what we're going for. 44 00:03:30,448 --> 00:03:32,424 This is our focus. All right. 45 00:03:32,448 --> 00:03:34,103 Let's get to work, guys. 46 00:03:36,206 --> 00:03:39,113 So, today, we have to open the hole up more 47 00:03:39,137 --> 00:03:42,872 so we can get down to the crack. 48 00:03:42,896 --> 00:03:47,182 That promise of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, 49 00:03:47,206 --> 00:03:50,493 I think, is in every man's heart. 50 00:03:50,517 --> 00:03:51,976 That's what drives you on. 51 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,286 Some men have more of that drive than others. 52 00:03:55,310 --> 00:03:57,872 Dustin and I have got it. 53 00:03:57,896 --> 00:04:02,079 Dustin has invested $75,000 in this season. 54 00:04:02,103 --> 00:04:04,769 He needs it to pay off, or he'll lose it all, 55 00:04:04,793 --> 00:04:08,320 and none of his crew will get paid. 56 00:04:08,344 --> 00:04:11,275 I'm going to get the gold out of this hole. 57 00:04:14,827 --> 00:04:17,320 Diving alongside him is rich Webster. 58 00:04:17,344 --> 00:04:23,113 I'm ready to rock and roll. Start getting back to digging, 59 00:04:23,137 --> 00:04:25,793 see if we can get down to some good ole yellow gold. 60 00:05:58,206 --> 00:06:02,044 After 4 hours, Dustin and rich are 12 feet down, 61 00:06:02,068 --> 00:06:04,206 just 3 feet from bedrock. 62 00:06:55,655 --> 00:06:59,355 Whoa. Was scary. 63 00:06:59,379 --> 00:07:01,137 I was out of air, dude. 64 00:07:25,689 --> 00:07:28,251 That's the most scariest thing that's ever happened 65 00:07:28,275 --> 00:07:29,907 to me diving. Yeah, I bet. 66 00:07:29,931 --> 00:07:31,251 Thank god you were pulling me, dude, 67 00:07:31,275 --> 00:07:32,700 because I couldn't get up fast enough. 68 00:07:32,724 --> 00:07:34,148 I was yanking as hard as I could. 69 00:07:34,172 --> 00:07:37,872 That was good because I wouldn't have got out in time. 70 00:07:37,896 --> 00:07:39,769 That thing smashed against my face so hard 71 00:07:39,793 --> 00:07:41,320 when I went to take a breath. 72 00:07:41,344 --> 00:07:42,907 Panicked? 73 00:07:42,931 --> 00:07:43,976 I started to. 74 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:45,907 I know. 75 00:07:45,931 --> 00:07:48,527 Casey saved my ass. 76 00:07:48,551 --> 00:07:49,965 He saved my ass. 77 00:07:52,275 --> 00:07:55,493 Yeah, that was bad. Sorry, man. 78 00:07:55,517 --> 00:07:58,665 Glad I got you out. Thank you. Thank you. 79 00:07:58,689 --> 00:08:00,665 I know. I owe you one. 80 00:08:00,689 --> 00:08:02,413 You're all right, dude. 81 00:08:06,068 --> 00:08:07,631 That's probably one of the scariest rescues 82 00:08:07,655 --> 00:08:09,665 we've ever had to do. 83 00:08:09,689 --> 00:08:11,907 He started to panic down there. 84 00:08:11,931 --> 00:08:14,734 That's how dangerous this is. 85 00:08:14,758 --> 00:08:18,424 We got to check that pop-off valve. 86 00:08:18,448 --> 00:08:20,320 The hose clip connecting the air lines 87 00:08:20,344 --> 00:08:22,527 to the compressor has blown. 88 00:08:22,551 --> 00:08:24,562 Before anyone can dive again, 89 00:08:24,586 --> 00:08:27,665 Wes switches it out for a threaded brass coupling. 90 00:08:27,689 --> 00:08:28,907 Yeah. 91 00:08:28,931 --> 00:08:30,596 This is the lifeline to the diver right now. 92 00:08:30,620 --> 00:08:33,424 We can't afford for this hose to come off of there like that. 93 00:08:33,448 --> 00:08:36,079 I'm going to give it a shot and squeeze it down some more. 94 00:08:36,103 --> 00:08:38,734 We'll run it for a little bit and see if we can get it 95 00:08:38,758 --> 00:08:40,941 to continually run without popping up. 96 00:08:40,965 --> 00:08:44,182 Luckily, we just happen to have a tool here to crimp this stuff. 97 00:08:44,206 --> 00:08:45,838 So I think I got that crimped tight enough 98 00:08:45,862 --> 00:08:48,251 that maybe it will stay on here this time. 99 00:08:48,275 --> 00:08:50,000 I'm hoping, anyway. 100 00:08:52,068 --> 00:08:54,079 Let's see if that does the trick right there, a quick fix. 101 00:08:54,103 --> 00:08:56,275 Hopefully, that's going to take care of it. 102 00:08:59,275 --> 00:09:01,907 So, Fred, is it back working again? 103 00:09:01,931 --> 00:09:03,389 It's working fine. 104 00:09:03,413 --> 00:09:06,355 The pressure-relief valve is working perfectly. 105 00:09:06,379 --> 00:09:08,355 Did we double-hose clamp that? 106 00:09:08,379 --> 00:09:09,458 Yes. I did. 107 00:09:09,482 --> 00:09:10,562 Awesome. You're the man. 108 00:09:10,586 --> 00:09:12,527 Sorry to ask. 109 00:09:12,551 --> 00:09:15,941 It happened to me in the Mississippi river at 80 feet. 110 00:09:15,965 --> 00:09:18,803 I made it to within 5 feet of the surface before the guy says, 111 00:09:18,827 --> 00:09:21,172 "oh, okay. Here's what the problem is." 112 00:09:23,827 --> 00:09:27,631 One breath, and there was nothing. 113 00:09:27,655 --> 00:09:30,389 Believe me. I was coming up. 114 00:09:30,413 --> 00:09:33,182 I think they call them near-misses. 115 00:09:33,206 --> 00:09:34,320 So I'm going to go back down. 116 00:09:34,344 --> 00:09:35,700 I'm going to get back in the saddle. 117 00:09:35,724 --> 00:09:38,079 I don't think you should. 118 00:09:38,103 --> 00:09:41,217 You need to get your head right for this situation. 119 00:09:41,241 --> 00:09:42,838 You had an event today. 120 00:09:42,862 --> 00:09:45,182 I don't think you need to be back in the water no more today. 121 00:09:45,206 --> 00:09:46,931 Come on out. 122 00:09:51,034 --> 00:09:52,631 You all right, man? 123 00:09:52,655 --> 00:09:54,079 When I heard, "diver up! Diver up!" 124 00:09:54,103 --> 00:09:56,872 I just turned and started to come up the wall, 125 00:09:56,896 --> 00:09:58,113 and it was like 126 00:09:58,137 --> 00:10:01,976 That mask went to my face so hard, 127 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,596 and it's the first time that I seriously 128 00:10:04,620 --> 00:10:06,596 Started to panic. 129 00:10:06,620 --> 00:10:08,769 It is terrifying. 130 00:10:08,793 --> 00:10:13,068 The best medicine is to get back in that damn water. 131 00:10:22,551 --> 00:10:24,379 Up next... 132 00:10:27,034 --> 00:10:29,251 Nugget! That's gold, buddy. 133 00:10:29,275 --> 00:10:30,931 We're getting closer. 134 00:10:41,137 --> 00:10:45,206 The best medicine is to get back in that damn water. 135 00:10:48,862 --> 00:10:51,838 All right. I'm going. 136 00:10:51,862 --> 00:10:53,562 I'm going. 137 00:10:53,586 --> 00:10:58,182 On his last dive, rich panicked when his air supply failed. 138 00:10:58,206 --> 00:11:02,320 Now he's bucking his fears, getting back in the raging creek 139 00:11:02,344 --> 00:11:04,251 and down to the nugget trap. 140 00:11:04,275 --> 00:11:06,320 I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous, 141 00:11:06,344 --> 00:11:07,458 but I'm going to go back down. 142 00:11:07,482 --> 00:11:09,631 I'm going to get back in saddle. 143 00:11:09,655 --> 00:11:11,655 I just got to get through today. 144 00:11:24,758 --> 00:11:25,793 Richard, you're clear to go down. 145 00:11:37,517 --> 00:11:40,931 Dustin heads back into the creek with rich. 146 00:12:49,965 --> 00:12:51,665 Over thousands of years, 147 00:12:51,689 --> 00:12:54,769 gravity compresses gravel on the creek bed 148 00:12:54,793 --> 00:12:58,079 into a dense layer known as hardpack. 149 00:12:58,103 --> 00:13:02,275 This is now all that stands between them and the gold. 150 00:13:10,034 --> 00:13:13,665 The hardpack is too tough for the suction hose. 151 00:13:13,689 --> 00:13:14,793 We're coming up. 152 00:13:24,103 --> 00:13:25,665 We got the air chisel. 153 00:13:25,689 --> 00:13:27,251 We have it. It's ready. 154 00:13:27,275 --> 00:13:29,424 We should stick it down there today, actually, 155 00:13:29,448 --> 00:13:34,310 but tomorrow we're going to hit this really hard. 156 00:13:37,137 --> 00:13:38,562 Good job today, fellows. 157 00:13:38,586 --> 00:13:40,838 All right. Let's get the hell out of here. 158 00:13:40,862 --> 00:13:45,355 Tomorrow, we'll be digging through hardpack. 159 00:13:45,379 --> 00:13:47,182 I don't think that that hardpack is more 160 00:13:47,206 --> 00:13:51,010 than 2 or 3 feet deep at the most. 161 00:13:51,034 --> 00:13:52,769 We're that close to the gold. 162 00:14:12,896 --> 00:14:16,665 They mined in this area about 100 years ago, 163 00:14:16,689 --> 00:14:20,769 and it takes over 100 years to make this rock like it is, 164 00:14:20,793 --> 00:14:24,010 so we know that no one has mined here before. 165 00:14:24,034 --> 00:14:26,458 In order to make this rock this way, you have 166 00:14:26,482 --> 00:14:30,010 to have thousands of years, and that's what it took. 167 00:14:30,034 --> 00:14:32,562 A lot of people call this false bedrock. 168 00:14:32,586 --> 00:14:34,907 Right below this is where the gold is sitting. 169 00:14:34,931 --> 00:14:36,769 We just got to get through it. 170 00:14:36,793 --> 00:14:40,113 That hardpack has got that prehistoric cement. 171 00:14:40,137 --> 00:14:42,424 Caveman concrete, brother. 172 00:14:42,448 --> 00:14:44,907 To break through the hardpack, the crew will use 173 00:14:44,931 --> 00:14:47,931 a pneumatic hammer powered by an air compressor. 174 00:14:50,517 --> 00:14:53,320 Each strike delivers 150 pounds of pressure 175 00:14:53,344 --> 00:14:59,562 to the hardened steel chisel 3,000 times a minute. 176 00:15:04,758 --> 00:15:06,838 So when he gets down there, underneath the water, 177 00:15:06,862 --> 00:15:08,838 he's going to essentially get all this hardpack, 178 00:15:08,862 --> 00:15:13,010 and he's just going to try to break it up, 179 00:15:13,034 --> 00:15:15,458 pulverize it where he can suck it into the dredge. 180 00:15:15,482 --> 00:15:17,424 There's a lot of golf mixed into that hardpack, 181 00:15:17,448 --> 00:15:19,769 and there's a whole lot of gold underneath the hardpack, 182 00:15:19,793 --> 00:15:21,137 which is what we're after. 183 00:15:23,344 --> 00:15:27,389 Diving with Carlos today is 74-year-old Fred. 184 00:15:27,413 --> 00:15:29,493 He's going to use the air chipper. 185 00:15:29,517 --> 00:15:33,562 As he chips, I'll be sucking up the debris on the bottom, 186 00:15:33,586 --> 00:15:36,010 and we're going to get after that thing. 187 00:15:36,034 --> 00:15:38,000 Ready? Let's dive! 188 00:15:52,931 --> 00:15:54,068 We're in business, kids. 189 00:16:02,413 --> 00:16:03,527 Right there. Yep. 190 00:16:03,551 --> 00:16:05,482 Okay. Here it comes, brother. Let's do this. 191 00:16:10,827 --> 00:16:12,862 Bright orange hose. 192 00:16:20,310 --> 00:16:22,320 Perfect. All right. 193 00:16:22,344 --> 00:16:23,517 Let's see how he does. 194 00:16:34,862 --> 00:16:36,000 Wow. 195 00:17:33,310 --> 00:17:35,355 We're getting desperate for fuel. 196 00:17:35,379 --> 00:17:37,965 I think we need to check all these fuel barrels. 197 00:17:58,931 --> 00:18:01,838 Oh, my. We ran out of fuel. 198 00:18:01,862 --> 00:18:04,631 I have no idea what we're going to do. 199 00:18:04,655 --> 00:18:07,700 Ah! 200 00:18:07,724 --> 00:18:11,655 Oh, Dustin, man. It was a rookie mistake. 201 00:18:14,034 --> 00:18:15,286 We're in trouble. 202 00:18:15,310 --> 00:18:17,320 We don't have a single barrel left of fuel, 203 00:18:17,344 --> 00:18:20,527 and I don't know how I missed this, but I missed it. 204 00:18:20,551 --> 00:18:23,320 I think I'm going through about a barrel and a half 205 00:18:23,344 --> 00:18:28,551 per week right now, maybe two barrels. 206 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:40,665 Between the engines on each dredge, 207 00:18:40,689 --> 00:18:44,596 generators, and the compressor for the air hammer, fuel costs 208 00:18:44,620 --> 00:18:49,631 Dustin $1,500 a week. 209 00:18:49,655 --> 00:18:53,803 Without any fuel, these things don't run. 210 00:18:53,827 --> 00:18:56,838 It's just that simple. We need fuel, 211 00:18:56,862 --> 00:19:00,448 otherwise everybody take a big long vacation. 212 00:19:02,758 --> 00:19:04,137 No fuel, no gold. 213 00:19:16,103 --> 00:19:17,734 In the back country, 214 00:19:17,758 --> 00:19:20,320 35 miles north of Haines, Alaska, 215 00:19:20,344 --> 00:19:23,493 the Dakota boys are shut down. 216 00:19:23,517 --> 00:19:26,310 No fuel means no gold mining. 217 00:19:30,103 --> 00:19:35,182 Getting fuel to where I need it is really hard. 218 00:19:35,206 --> 00:19:37,217 The helicopters kind of jacked up their price 219 00:19:37,241 --> 00:19:39,286 a little bit on us, 220 00:19:39,310 --> 00:19:42,458 which I don't have the money to start throwing at fuel 221 00:19:42,482 --> 00:19:44,769 like I used to. 222 00:19:44,793 --> 00:19:50,320 To avoid a $2,000 heli lift, Dustin risks a bush resupply. 223 00:19:50,344 --> 00:19:53,769 How about we hook it up and then run a zipper across it? 224 00:19:53,793 --> 00:19:56,424 We can do that. 225 00:19:56,448 --> 00:19:59,148 What I'm trying to do is get this 55-gallon drum 226 00:19:59,172 --> 00:20:03,113 400 feet across this ravine that's about 300-feet deep, 227 00:20:03,137 --> 00:20:05,344 and we don't want to drop it. 228 00:20:07,310 --> 00:20:08,344 Watch your fingers. 229 00:20:10,655 --> 00:20:19,493 That's going to have to be enough. 230 00:20:19,517 --> 00:20:22,700 All right. If that rope gets stuck, it will untie itself, 231 00:20:22,724 --> 00:20:24,769 so I didn't think that through. 232 00:20:29,862 --> 00:20:31,551 Come on, baby. 233 00:20:42,172 --> 00:20:43,827 Is that where you want it right there? 234 00:20:54,965 --> 00:20:58,379 Dustin helied in the ATV at the start of the season... 235 00:21:01,551 --> 00:21:03,665 But when the dirt road dead-ends, 236 00:21:03,689 --> 00:21:06,976 there's no way to lower the 380-pound barrels 237 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,896 safely down the canyon to the mine site. 238 00:21:15,137 --> 00:21:18,320 Now, we want to build this long, long pipe 239 00:21:18,344 --> 00:21:20,320 down to another barrel. 240 00:21:20,344 --> 00:21:21,758 Super simple, right? 241 00:21:23,689 --> 00:21:27,734 They've already taken the barrel over the zip wire from the camp, 242 00:21:27,758 --> 00:21:33,355 along the ATV trail to the top of the canyon. 243 00:21:33,379 --> 00:21:37,286 Now, they'll connect 4510-foot steel pipes 244 00:21:37,310 --> 00:21:41,907 to get the fuel down the 450-foot drop to McKinley creek 245 00:21:41,931 --> 00:21:45,251 and directly into an empty barrel at the bottom. 246 00:21:52,103 --> 00:21:54,838 Yeah, I've got to put sealant on this... these, 247 00:21:54,862 --> 00:21:56,493 before I put them together. 248 00:21:56,517 --> 00:21:58,044 I can't have gas leaking out of any of it 249 00:21:58,068 --> 00:21:59,493 because it's gonna have a lot of pressure by the time 250 00:21:59,517 --> 00:22:01,355 it gets to the bottom, so all these joints have got to 251 00:22:01,379 --> 00:22:05,251 have some kind of compound on them so they won't leak. 252 00:22:05,275 --> 00:22:06,769 Now the trick is going to be, 253 00:22:06,793 --> 00:22:09,182 "can we put them together going down the hill?" 254 00:22:09,206 --> 00:22:11,700 Yeah. We definitely can. 255 00:22:11,724 --> 00:22:13,389 Ready? 256 00:22:22,827 --> 00:22:24,448 Okay. Right there, it's good. 257 00:22:26,103 --> 00:22:27,286 We decided to go with the metal pipe 258 00:22:27,310 --> 00:22:29,113 because of the bears and all the porcupines. 259 00:22:29,137 --> 00:22:31,424 They love to chew up anything that's plastic, 260 00:22:31,448 --> 00:22:36,010 so the only way to keep them from poking holes in our pipe, 261 00:22:36,034 --> 00:22:37,148 we had to go with metal. 262 00:22:37,172 --> 00:22:38,907 All right. Ready to go again. 263 00:22:38,931 --> 00:22:39,941 Standby. 264 00:22:39,965 --> 00:22:41,631 Copy. 265 00:22:52,517 --> 00:22:56,044 Here it comes, Paul. Copy that. 266 00:22:56,068 --> 00:22:57,734 So far, so good. 267 00:22:57,758 --> 00:22:59,827 We're about a foot from the edge. 268 00:23:02,931 --> 00:23:06,838 Paul! Can you send me down a piece? 269 00:23:12,896 --> 00:23:16,769 It's going. We got this. 270 00:23:16,793 --> 00:23:19,941 We're on a roll. 271 00:23:19,965 --> 00:23:21,355 Talk about relaxing today. 272 00:23:21,379 --> 00:23:24,355 It was a pretty chill day, though, right? 273 00:23:24,379 --> 00:23:25,389 Come on. Not bad. 274 00:23:25,413 --> 00:23:27,389 Not bad at all. Pretty chill. 275 00:23:27,413 --> 00:23:29,206 Hanging from the side of a mountain. 276 00:23:32,620 --> 00:23:35,182 The crazy that we do to mine in Alaska. 277 00:23:59,793 --> 00:24:01,172 We got our pipe in. 278 00:24:04,931 --> 00:24:08,803 Well, this is the last connection that I've got to do, 279 00:24:08,827 --> 00:24:11,769 and we're going to do our first fuel drop down the mountain. 280 00:24:11,793 --> 00:24:14,010 So like this, now we have a barrel at the top. 281 00:24:14,034 --> 00:24:16,631 We'll have a barrel down at the bottom. 282 00:24:16,655 --> 00:24:18,838 All we've got to do is open our valve, 283 00:24:18,862 --> 00:24:22,424 and it should fill our barrel down up here with fuel. 284 00:24:22,448 --> 00:24:24,010 Once we have this barrel with fuel, then we can carry it 285 00:24:24,034 --> 00:24:26,700 back and forth to the dredge site real easy. 286 00:24:26,724 --> 00:24:29,976 This is going to be a lifesaver right here. 287 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,182 Dustin, you have a copy? Yeah, I got you, man. 288 00:24:33,206 --> 00:24:35,010 What's up? 289 00:24:35,034 --> 00:24:36,458 Okay. I'm ready on my end. 290 00:24:36,482 --> 00:24:39,769 Are you ready to receive a little bit of fuel? 291 00:24:39,793 --> 00:24:41,517 Yeah. Give me a little trickle. 292 00:24:43,655 --> 00:24:44,872 Just let me know when you see 293 00:24:44,896 --> 00:24:46,251 a little bit of fuel out of the bottom. 294 00:24:46,275 --> 00:24:49,217 I am not going to let very much through to start. 295 00:24:49,241 --> 00:24:50,803 Copy that. 296 00:24:50,827 --> 00:24:53,344 I'll let you know when something happens, but nothing yet. 297 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,148 You should have a good flow coming down. 298 00:24:59,172 --> 00:25:02,838 Still nothing, man. Still nothing. 299 00:25:02,862 --> 00:25:04,286 What are you thinking, man? 300 00:25:04,310 --> 00:25:06,931 I got my valve all the way open, and there's nothing happening. 301 00:25:09,896 --> 00:25:11,389 I have all of my valves open, too. 302 00:25:11,413 --> 00:25:13,803 That don't make sense. 303 00:25:13,827 --> 00:25:16,665 Let's try something else then, huh? 304 00:25:16,689 --> 00:25:18,872 We do have that gas-powered compressor down there 305 00:25:18,896 --> 00:25:20,665 that will put out 120 pounds 306 00:25:20,689 --> 00:25:22,424 if we can hook a line to it 307 00:25:22,448 --> 00:25:24,137 and just blow this right out. 308 00:25:27,241 --> 00:25:33,700 The compressor will fire a jet of air down the 450-foot line. 309 00:25:33,724 --> 00:25:36,310 Whatever is in the line, we're going to push it out. 310 00:25:40,068 --> 00:25:41,527 All right. I'm going to fire this thing up, 311 00:25:41,551 --> 00:25:43,734 and let's see if we can get a flow through here. 312 00:25:54,758 --> 00:25:56,217 Okay, I'm going to send you some air. 313 00:25:56,241 --> 00:25:59,182 I have about 90 pounds of pressure on the compressor. 314 00:25:59,206 --> 00:26:00,941 Let's see what that will do. 315 00:26:20,931 --> 00:26:24,044 Well, I'll find out shortly. 316 00:26:24,068 --> 00:26:25,527 Okay. Keep your fingers crossed 317 00:26:25,551 --> 00:26:26,872 that this is going to come down this time. 318 00:26:26,896 --> 00:26:28,286 I've got everything hooked up, 319 00:26:28,310 --> 00:26:29,827 and I'm going to try to send you fuel again. 320 00:26:32,551 --> 00:26:34,241 Copy that. Here we go. 321 00:26:44,517 --> 00:26:46,458 Yeah, got fuel. I got fuel. 322 00:26:46,482 --> 00:26:48,320 That is amazing. 323 00:26:48,344 --> 00:26:51,803 This will save us a lot of money. 324 00:26:51,827 --> 00:26:53,044 It's a great afternoon. 325 00:26:53,068 --> 00:26:55,907 We got it cleared, got fuel going down. 326 00:26:55,931 --> 00:26:59,286 Now we can just concentrate on getting past the hardpack. 327 00:26:59,310 --> 00:27:01,527 It's all about finding the gold now. 328 00:27:01,551 --> 00:27:03,482 I like it when a plan comes together. 329 00:27:05,310 --> 00:27:11,148 Dustin's new system will save $500 on every barrel of fuel. 330 00:27:11,172 --> 00:27:13,286 Now we can get fuel, get it up there. 331 00:27:13,310 --> 00:27:16,113 This is so much cheaper, and we're done with it. 332 00:27:16,137 --> 00:27:17,803 We got it. 333 00:27:23,172 --> 00:27:26,286 And it's got the Dakota boys back smashing 334 00:27:26,310 --> 00:27:28,655 through hardpack to the bedrock gold. 335 00:28:14,413 --> 00:28:16,689 We're getting deep finally, finally. 336 00:28:41,551 --> 00:28:45,838 The crew is just 2 1/2 feet from bedrock. 337 00:28:45,862 --> 00:28:47,838 We're finally getting our depth that we need. 338 00:28:47,862 --> 00:28:49,079 Once we get through that hardpack, 339 00:28:49,103 --> 00:28:51,896 it should be gold city from there. 340 00:29:06,965 --> 00:29:08,113 Tomorrow should be the day. 341 00:29:08,137 --> 00:29:10,389 We should be able to get through that hardpack. 342 00:29:10,413 --> 00:29:11,931 Hell, yeah. 343 00:29:34,241 --> 00:29:38,355 It rained like hell last night. I didn't sleep a wink, 344 00:29:38,379 --> 00:29:40,424 so I've been thinking about it all night. 345 00:29:40,448 --> 00:29:43,044 So the guys made it down there, 346 00:29:43,068 --> 00:29:46,976 and I wanted to know what happened. 347 00:29:54,448 --> 00:29:58,148 That rain is something else. 348 00:29:58,172 --> 00:30:01,734 Overnight rainfall high in the Chilkat mountains 349 00:30:01,758 --> 00:30:06,700 has raised the water level in McKinley creek by 3 feet. 350 00:30:06,724 --> 00:30:09,217 Getting pretty serious down there right now, 351 00:30:09,241 --> 00:30:13,655 but mother nature never counted on guys like Dustin and I. 352 00:30:15,724 --> 00:30:17,044 It could pick up even more today. 353 00:30:17,068 --> 00:30:18,113 That's what I think it's going to do 354 00:30:18,137 --> 00:30:19,631 because that big rock is our marker. 355 00:30:19,655 --> 00:30:22,493 That marker right there always tells me where we're at. 356 00:30:22,517 --> 00:30:24,079 Another foot high, 357 00:30:24,103 --> 00:30:26,251 the boulders are going to start rolling into my hole. 358 00:30:26,275 --> 00:30:29,148 As soon as you start hearing big boulders, I'm out. 359 00:30:29,172 --> 00:30:30,458 That's it. We're done. 360 00:30:30,482 --> 00:30:31,803 That's how it works. I mean, you get crushed 361 00:30:31,827 --> 00:30:33,665 at the bottom of this thing. Right. 362 00:30:33,689 --> 00:30:35,976 Conditions have gone from dangerous 363 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,665 to potentially lethal down in the dive hole 364 00:30:38,689 --> 00:30:40,976 Dustin and Casey are about to enter. 365 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,044 Casey, how about you don't go down? 366 00:30:43,068 --> 00:30:44,527 I'll go down. 367 00:30:44,551 --> 00:30:48,251 I have so much experience in this stuff right here. 368 00:30:48,275 --> 00:30:50,251 I just don't want you to get hurt. 369 00:30:50,275 --> 00:30:52,734 I have the most to gain or lose from this, 370 00:30:52,758 --> 00:30:53,769 and I'll be down there. 371 00:30:53,793 --> 00:30:55,458 It will be me. 372 00:31:06,068 --> 00:31:09,079 Aw, that would have been pretty bad. 373 00:31:09,103 --> 00:31:10,275 All right. 374 00:32:16,689 --> 00:32:20,976 Carlos acts as a lookout upstream. 375 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,079 Looking pretty, pretty hairy, brother. 376 00:32:23,103 --> 00:32:24,838 Pretty hairy. 377 00:32:24,862 --> 00:32:29,182 His safety zone is about as big as this right here right now. 378 00:32:29,206 --> 00:32:30,389 That's why I'm looking, man. 379 00:32:30,413 --> 00:32:31,424 I'm looking for any kind of debris, 380 00:32:31,448 --> 00:32:34,458 like branches, logs, anything. 381 00:32:34,482 --> 00:32:36,251 If you see that, that means there's been 382 00:32:36,275 --> 00:32:37,907 a landslide up above. 383 00:32:37,931 --> 00:32:40,148 If we start hearing that McKinley thunder, 384 00:32:40,172 --> 00:32:41,803 what I mean by McKinley thunder, 385 00:32:41,827 --> 00:32:44,562 those rocks roaring down. 386 00:32:44,586 --> 00:32:46,838 You can hear it. It sounds like thunder. 387 00:32:46,862 --> 00:32:50,355 The rocks hitting each other, rolling down, 388 00:32:50,379 --> 00:32:52,527 got to come up, man. 389 00:32:52,551 --> 00:32:54,241 Game over on that one. 390 00:33:24,448 --> 00:33:26,217 Well, I'm going to get some measurements down here. 391 00:33:26,241 --> 00:33:30,286 The guys seem to think they keep going down all the way. 392 00:33:30,310 --> 00:33:33,493 Let's see how deep they've actually got this. 393 00:33:33,517 --> 00:33:35,275 14 feet right there. 394 00:33:38,689 --> 00:33:42,286 At 14 feet, Dustin is just inches away 395 00:33:42,310 --> 00:33:44,724 from where they hit gold last season. 396 00:34:33,517 --> 00:34:35,689 Oh, my. 397 00:34:39,793 --> 00:34:41,241 Whoa. 398 00:34:46,103 --> 00:34:49,010 Hey, guys. Hey. Guess what. 399 00:34:49,034 --> 00:34:51,389 What? We got gold. 400 00:34:51,413 --> 00:34:53,724 Little nugget! Look at that. 401 00:34:56,206 --> 00:34:59,596 Laying right at the freaking head of the box. 402 00:34:59,620 --> 00:35:01,700 I'll be damned. Oh, yeah. 403 00:35:01,724 --> 00:35:02,941 There you go, dude. That's nice. 404 00:35:02,965 --> 00:35:05,010 Look at that. It's starting to happen. 405 00:35:05,034 --> 00:35:06,389 We're in business, boys. 406 00:35:06,413 --> 00:35:08,079 Oh, yeah. 407 00:35:08,103 --> 00:35:12,424 We're getting closer. Hot damn. 408 00:35:12,448 --> 00:35:14,631 I almost want to dance, but not yet. 409 00:35:14,655 --> 00:35:16,458 Not yet. 410 00:35:16,482 --> 00:35:18,206 Yeah! 411 00:35:20,586 --> 00:35:22,355 That's such a good sign. 412 00:35:22,379 --> 00:35:25,251 It's letting us know that we're going in the right direction. 413 00:35:25,275 --> 00:35:28,068 That's gold, buddy. We're getting closer. 414 00:35:35,103 --> 00:35:36,562 When Fred hurt was born, 415 00:35:36,586 --> 00:35:40,734 the United States was at war with Germany and Japan. 416 00:35:40,758 --> 00:35:43,148 Hey, Fred. Hey, Fred. Happy birthday! 417 00:35:43,172 --> 00:35:45,113 Happy birthday! Happy birthday! 418 00:35:45,137 --> 00:35:47,320 Happy birthday, Fred! Happy birthday, Fred. 419 00:35:47,344 --> 00:35:50,044 Lord, have mercy. Happy birthday! 420 00:35:50,068 --> 00:35:53,389 Hello. Whoo-hoo-hoo! 421 00:35:53,413 --> 00:35:56,113 Whoo-hoo-hoo. My old goat. 422 00:35:56,137 --> 00:35:58,700 75 years old. You're old. 423 00:35:58,724 --> 00:36:00,389 I can handle it. 424 00:36:00,413 --> 00:36:03,217 Probably have to rest a little bit more than the young ones do. 425 00:36:03,241 --> 00:36:04,286 That's all right. 426 00:36:04,310 --> 00:36:08,862 Holy cow! It is. Oh! 427 00:36:09,586 --> 00:36:14,286 75 years old, still diving and hiking in Alaska. 428 00:36:14,310 --> 00:36:16,562 Oh, man. That's pretty impressive. 429 00:36:16,586 --> 00:36:18,113 If he wasn't working with us, 430 00:36:18,137 --> 00:36:20,320 I'm pretty sure he'd be close to the grave right now, 431 00:36:20,344 --> 00:36:23,976 but instead, we're keeping his ass in shape. 432 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:28,838 Let's see, I think I'll plan for about another 20, 25 years. 433 00:36:49,931 --> 00:36:53,079 Bad, bad medicine, brother. Bad, bad medicine, man. 434 00:36:53,103 --> 00:36:56,148 She looks really hairy today. 435 00:36:56,172 --> 00:36:59,769 So the water came up a whole bunch overnight. 436 00:36:59,793 --> 00:37:01,596 The floods are here. 437 00:37:01,620 --> 00:37:03,769 Have we been talking about it? 438 00:37:03,793 --> 00:37:06,596 It's happening. 439 00:37:06,620 --> 00:37:07,941 I can take this just fine. 440 00:37:07,965 --> 00:37:09,596 It's as muddy as the Mississippi. 441 00:37:09,620 --> 00:37:11,044 I just hope a bunch of that 442 00:37:11,068 --> 00:37:12,907 Didn't wash back into our hole. 443 00:37:12,931 --> 00:37:16,113 Heavy downpour tonight means this hole is gone like 444 00:37:16,137 --> 00:37:17,907 we never did anything. 445 00:37:17,931 --> 00:37:19,562 With water levels rising, 446 00:37:19,586 --> 00:37:23,217 Dustin's in a race against time to get through the hardpack. 447 00:37:23,241 --> 00:37:27,286 He's inches away from a payday 2 years in the making. 448 00:37:27,310 --> 00:37:30,527 It's been raining for a day and a half, 2 days, 449 00:37:30,551 --> 00:37:33,044 getting pretty serious down there right now. 450 00:37:33,068 --> 00:37:34,838 Weather like this, I'd be more worried about a Boulder 451 00:37:34,862 --> 00:37:36,527 rolling down on my head than anything else 452 00:37:36,551 --> 00:37:38,976 because the water is already up high. 453 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:40,389 It comes up anymore, and it could... 454 00:37:40,413 --> 00:37:41,355 Anything that we have up here... 455 00:37:41,379 --> 00:37:42,631 Right there. 456 00:37:42,655 --> 00:37:44,010 ...it could wash it right down on top of us, 457 00:37:44,034 --> 00:37:47,286 and we're just asking for trouble if we do that. 458 00:37:47,310 --> 00:37:51,320 All right, guys. We are so close right now. 459 00:37:51,344 --> 00:37:53,137 I just got to get back down to it. 460 00:38:53,103 --> 00:38:54,976 The storm, high in the mountains, 461 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,631 is sending 500 tons of water crashing down 462 00:38:58,655 --> 00:39:02,251 above Dustin's head every minute. 463 00:39:02,275 --> 00:39:04,493 Hey, Paul, it's coming up a little bit, 464 00:39:04,517 --> 00:39:06,862 a little bit of sticks, man, a little bit of debris. 465 00:39:29,896 --> 00:39:32,665 The water is getting high. It's getting dirty. 466 00:39:32,689 --> 00:39:36,655 Getting Dustin out in time, that's what I'm worried about. 467 00:39:39,827 --> 00:39:42,217 I can't believe Dustin is down in this. 468 00:39:42,241 --> 00:39:43,482 I really can't. 469 00:40:17,724 --> 00:40:19,631 What in the hell? 470 00:40:19,655 --> 00:40:23,320 Look at the water. 471 00:40:23,344 --> 00:40:27,458 My anticipation is that it had some sort of landslide 472 00:40:27,482 --> 00:40:29,113 came up the side of the mountain, 473 00:40:29,137 --> 00:40:31,769 probably built up a little bit of water behind it, 474 00:40:31,793 --> 00:40:34,527 and finally just let loose. 475 00:40:34,551 --> 00:40:36,655 This is the result. 476 00:41:09,517 --> 00:41:11,517 Dustin! Can you hear me? 477 00:41:14,724 --> 00:41:19,527 I lost comm. Dustin. 478 00:41:19,551 --> 00:41:21,941 Dustin! 479 00:41:28,793 --> 00:41:30,251 Oh, my.