Original subtitles

Fred Holy

Dustin It is no joke right now.

We don't get them barges up, We're gonna lose them both.

All right. Let's move fred's dredge down.

Raise that front up.

We need to pick it up with The nose up a little bit on it.

We're going for it!

Coming up slightly.

Coming up.

- Whoa! - Yo!

Fred, you getting In the water today?

Yeah. Even if it gets too damn cold.

If you piss me off,

I'm gonna reach over And cut your air line.

Holy

Carlos This bear tried to get In my dang tent.

Bear!

We're in his backyard.

Carry your guns.

Everybody, be safe, Because you're being stalked.

Paul Dude, I see a little Piece of gold down here.

Sitting on a rock. We're back at it.

We're catching gold.

The deeper we go, The better it's getting.

- Whoo! - It's great!

Captions by vitac... www.Vitac.Com.

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

Dustin I've spent so much money On this place.

It needs to pay off.

In order to just Get things done,

We're gonna have To double down,

Because we're gonna Run out of time, man.

We've got us about A 6-foot hole,

But I'd like that hole to be 15 foot by the end of this week.

I know that's A lot to ask,

But we need to get down To the bottom of this.

And find out what the hell Is down there, man.

Narrator The dakota boys Are 3 weeks into their search.

For a deposit of gold that will Make them all millionaires.

They're down a man,

But they're not giving up On their treasure hunt.

So, carlos got burnt, And he's out right now.

We have to make sure That never happens again.

Last week, Carlos was severely burned.

When dustin's dredge sent Scalding water to his dive suit.

My

Dustin He got burned.

We've got to get him To the hospital.

He has no choice, But he has to go.

He got second-degree burned In about four places.

Carlos That pain was So undescribable hot.

I had white light just shooting Through my whole body.

Wes Well, right now, we've got All of our heat systems.

Taken care of.

So, we won't have any more Mishaps with that,

And I think carlos should Be back pretty soon.

We really need him back.

Fred We've been betting A lot of money on this.

I think, Working with two dredges,

I don't see any reason we can't Be right back where we were.

When we finished Our season last season.

You guys ready To get the gold?

- Yeah. - Ready to get the gold.

Narrator They're dredging In one of alaska's.

Most treacherous creeks,

Digging beneath The freezing white water.

Through 15 feet Of rocks and gravel.

To get to The bedrock gold below.

Fred, you getting In the water today?

Yeah. Even if it gets Too damn cold.

If you piss me off,

I'm gonna reach over And cut your air line.

Fred Fire it up! Let's go!

- The engines are running. - Yeah.

I feel like we're getting Ready to go to battle.

Narrator The crew's Latest recruit, casey morgan,

Has 10 years experience Gold mining in arizona.

Casey I don't want to mess up, Because you mess up.

This place will chew you up And spit you out so fast.

We have all the elements Going against us...

A current that can come up, Bears that are coming down.

And from what I'm hearing, There's already one man down.

From a serious injury.

Man Hey! Carlos!

Carlos made it! Carlos made it!

- Carlos Whoo! - Yeah, dude!

Give me the gold!

Yeah!

Welcome back, man!

That's just the way I like To see it, right here, man.

- Hey! - We definitely missed you.

Happy to be back.

Yeah.

Narrator Carlos is on Doctor's orders not to dive.

Until his Second-degree burns heal.

You guys need A hammer and wrench.

That's all I can do Right now, man.

That's it. That's all I can do.

That's a big help, man.

It's damn good To have you back.

- Yeah. - Hell yeah.

We've got to have the help. We needed the help.

Dustin Well, I thought I killed Carlos, and now he's back.

He's a big part Of this situation here.

I need his help.

Hey, hey, hey. Let's go.

- Come on. - Let's get this together.

Narrator 74-year-old fred hurt.

Is the crew's Most experienced diver.

Fred It's gonna be a long week.

I hope everybody Is prepared for it.

I want to go as hard as you can Out to the middle.

Narrator Diving alongside fred.

Is dustin's Right-hand man, paul.

Yeah. I'd say go deep.

I'd say go real deep Right here.

The bigger rocks Are gonna come, so...

- yeah, I'll have the basket. - Be on guard.

I might be able to get Right here and get me A tunnel going down.

Okay.

Let's saddle up, boys. Let's go dive.

That's cold on The feet.

Narrator Last week's hot-water Disaster cost valuable time.

Now they need a full week With both dredges.

To get back on track.

Paul Go ahead!

Narrator Dustin's plan... using Two dredges and two divers,

They'll pump out 15 feet Of rocks and gravel.

To get to a pocket of gold On the bedrock below.

Dustin Together, We're getting gold.

Narrator The 6-inch hose Sucks out all the gravel.

And any gold Up to the dredge,

But rocks bigger than 6 inches Have to be hauled out by hand.

Wes sends in The rock basket.

Dustin Got a winch over there that'll Pull over 4,000 pounds easy.

This is the strongest winch We've ever had.

We'll put it to the test When we get some huge rocks.

Yeah, we got our first basket Of rocks up.

Our new winch system seems to be Holding up pretty well.

Dustin Fred's come across A pretty big rock.

And if we can't Move these rocks,

Then, you just Can't dredge them.

Well, we're working on Getting the basket back, fred.

What's the problem here?

Rich This is awful slow, To do it like this.

We've had problems Getting our rocks out.

We've got one basket, Two crews, now.

So, we're gonna have to Come up with another idea.

Dustin Getting Stressed out!

Carlos I'm out of control, In my head, right now.

That's I tell you.

Narrator By the end of the day,

Risking their lives On the rocky creek bed,

They've dug down Less than a foot.

We're getting ahead of ourself Trying to start dredging.

Without setting our up.

If we could speed it up somehow, Then we need two types of sleds,

Two baskets Or whatever the hell it is.

What we're doing right now Is not working.

Fred What the hell?

Carlos, you've got bear paws On your tent, man.

Man There's paws right there On your wall, buddy.

Carlos What the hell?

Carlos This bear tried to get In my dang tent.

Bastard, man.

- That wasn't broke. - No. It wasn't.

Man It is now.

Wes There's bear marks up There, where he tried to get.

On the roof And get in on top.

Paul Just remember, He's the alpha predator.

Of this territory Around here.

Hopefully, he's just a little Bear that we can scare off.

If we've got A big old grizzly,

It's gonna have to be A different story.

Narrator Black bears and grizzlies.

Are southeast alaska's Top predators.

With more than one Every square mile,

They pose a constant threat To anyone in their habitat.

Paul Hey, carlos.

Dude, what is this, man?

That's our game cam.

Like a security Camera for animals?

Can see what's coming in. I hope it ain't a grizzly.

That's... I'd rather Have a black bear.

We can scare it away. A grizzly I don't know about.

This is, like, Motion detection?

Yeah. This will give us a good idea.

Of what we're gonna Have to deal with.

- Okay. - Yeah.

It's armed And ready to go.

A smart idea, brother.

Everywhere we hike, there's Bears watching us right now.

Because we're here In their backyard.

Carry your guns.

Everybody, be safe. Because you're being stalked.

Narrator In alaska, the dakota boys' Hunt for gold is on hold...

Wes This is gonna be Our new rock-haul-out basket.

While fabricator wes works On a new rock-moving system.

I'm the macgyver of the group.

I can take anything And make anything of it.

So, I went and scrounged up As much heavy steel as I could.

These two sleds, I want them strong.

I don't want them to be able To tear them up.

Narrator The divers were struggling With just one rock basket.

Now, wes is constructing A pair of oversized sleds.

Wes We're gonna pull out Tons of rocks with two of them.

This will probably hold A 400 or 500-pound rock.

If they can roll it into This thing, we can pull it out.

These are really crucial To our operation.

Everything that we can't Get out with a dredge,

We're gonna rely On these things.

They're just gonna fill them up, And we're gonna pull them out,

And it's gonna help us Find even more gold.

This is gonna speed up Our process a lot.

Man Hey, paul, you're gonna be Carrying those, right?

- Yep. - Good.

Not a problem.

I've carried heavier weight Than that.

That thing is light.

Narrator It's a mile-and-a-half trek From the camp to the dive site.

Dustin These baskets Weren't easy to get here,

- But they're here now. - -thank.

Man. This thing is so awkward.

- Whoo. - Good job, fellas.

Good job, man. I got tired watching him.

Paul Man. These things are heavy.

Enough to put me Sweating pretty hard.

- Good job, man. - Yeah.

Way to push through.

My legs are On fire right now.

Dustin All right, fellas. So, we're Gonna start moving some rocks.

It's gonna be your job All day today.

We're gonna move all these Boulders out of the way.

Back to diving.

Modify, modify, modify.

- Make work. - Modify!

Fred You going down today?

Yeah. You and I Are side by side today.

Narrator Father and son Will dive side by side...

Man All right, hot rod.

As they test out Wes' new sled baskets.

Yeah, he's brave. He wants to go for it.

Expert diver carlos can't Dive again until his burns heal.

Today, he is tending Dustin's dive.

- I like it. - Yep.

Carlos Good to go. Good to go. Good to go back here.

The thing about everything Is how fast.

We can get these rocks out And get down to the bedrock.

Rich Roger. Roger, roger, roger.

Narrator Fred and dustin Have removed a 3-foot layer.

Of rocks and boulders,

Leaving just 7 feet between them And the gold-rich bedrock.

Fred's getting himself A pretty good hole down there,

Slowly getting closer To a payday, hopefully.

Fred Them rocks Will whip your butt.

We're gonna Call it a day.

Know I sure Called it a day.

I'm tired.

Rich Sometimes, you forget How old fred is.

He was in there Practically all day long.

It's pretty impressive.

I'm up.

How'd it go, fred?

That basket helped me a whole Bunch, and the little sleds.

The whole system Is a whole lot better.

Dustin You wouldn't believe How fast you could dive.

With two baskets Right now.

Well, if our dive Stays this good,

We're gonna be down To gold in no time.

Wes So, I've got to see What they got done today.

How deep is it?

Wes I got 9 foot, there, In the middle, now.

Dustin Now, we're Getting somewhere.

We've got headway This time.

It's awesome, man.

Dustin I didn't think it Was possible, but we did it.

Come out and Fixed the problem.

I think it's time To call it quits.

We're gonna fix Our equipment,

Make sure it's ready to go For early tomorrow morning.

Man Wow, the water Must really be up.

Look at it Flowing in over there.

Holy - it's moving.

Narrator Next day, The water level is up 2 feet.

Man, I don't know About this.

That is death water.

If you fall in that, You're done, man.

This stuff Will kill you.

I didn't come here To die, man.

I came here to get rich.

God, look. The water is going Over his dredge.

Carlos, hold up. Hold up. Hold up.

Y'all, shuck your gear As quick as possible!

It's getting A line on there.

Carlos, you can see if You can find a decent rope.

That would reach from here All the way across over there.

Fred The big barge, The front end is underwater.

This is a disastrous situation, Right here.

We don't get them barges up, We're gonna lose them both.

Fred Holy cow!

Dustin Holy It is no joke right now.

I'm worried about somebody Falling into this damn water.

And getting their ass Kicked and dying.

Can you imagine what would Happen if a tree came through?

Yeah, it would Wipe us out.

Narrator In the chill cap mountains,

Hot weather is sending 4,000 gallons of snowmelt.

Through the dakota boys' Mine site every second.

Fred Both dredges, Water is sinking the front down.

We've got to get That small dredge up.

Dustin Gonna want to Go down creek.

And destroy everything I have... Both dredges, everything.

We've got a winch right at The end of the dock, here.

Raise that front up.

All right. Let's move fred's dredge.

Fred We have a four-five pickup On that barge.

We need to pick it up with The nose up a little bit on it.

Carlos What we're gonna do is,

We're gonna put a pulley On this freaking support rope,

Run it down to the dredge, And just lift it up.

We're not trying to lift The dredge up all the way out.

We're just trying to lift it up Just a little bit,

Just so it's not sinking. You know what I mean?

- Coming up slightly. - Coming up.

- Ho! - Right at the edge.

Dustin Stop, stop, stop.

Fred Popped one of The weights off.

Looks like we need to Tighten up the cables.

In the back A little bit.

Gonna let that down Just a little bit.

We're in a pretty Good strain, there.

All right. We're holding.

We're holding. Hold it.

No. Do not come down.

Man I think it Looks okay, fred.

Coming up A little bit.

Man Easy!

Coming up.

Coming up.

- The edge looks good. - Yeah, no more!

Dustin I think We're good, right?

Actually, it's sitting Pretty damn good, actually.

Carlos Yeah. That's pretty good Right there where it's at.

- That's one. - Yo, let's move that other one!

Narrator Next up, dustin's dredge.

Dustin Come help me, paul!

Copy.

Whoa!

Narrator The hook they need To raise it.

Is fixed to a boulder right in The middle of the raging creek.

Man This is super Dangerous for us.

We're gonna Have to undo this.

They can grab maybe The front end with that.

By snatching it off the side And pick up on it a little bit.

Why would you put that Thing up loose like that?

Dustin Ever do something and While you're doing it saying,

"This is stupid. This is stupid"?

Right now, It's one of them times.

- Madmen, dude. - You've got to pull on it.

- That'll work. - Heave!

It's up!

Attaboy.

Can you bring it up A little bit?

I got it.

- Thank you. - Perfect!

Dustin All right. Let's see what we can do here.

Everybody, Out of the water!

It's too stupid now.

You're not brave anymore. You're dumb.

Up, up, up.

- That's about it. - That's it.

I think that's perfect Right there.

It looks good. It looks good.

Got the nose end up.

Dustin Thank you, guys! Leave it right there!

- Woo-hoo! - Damn!

I wonder how old I'm gonna be.

When I stop doing This stupid.

Narrator The hot summer sun is sending 500 tons of raging meltwater.

Down the creek Every minute.

The dakota boys Need the level to drop.

Before it's safe To dive again.

Fred Looks like Everything survived.

Both the dredges Are safe and sound.

It worked.

Freaking hot day Today, man.

I've never seen it so hot In alaska.

This morning, It warmed up.

It's keeping That water up.

It's melting off the ice cap Up on the mountain up there,

And the water is, again, Today, out of control.

Dustin I don't think We're diving, man.

Yeah, it just looks like The water is a little too crazy.

This is ridiculous.

How many times do we Have to start over?

When the sun comes out, The water goes up.

When it rains too much, The water goes up.

When there's a landslide, The water goes up.

Just never ends.

Wes, how deep is it?

Wes Dustin, The hole filled in.

What? You're kidding me. The whole thing filled in?

Completely.

It's totally gone.

It was 9 feet deep.

It's only 6 inches.

All the dredging we did So far just got covered up.

How many times can you just Chase and chase and chase?

The hole filled back in.

Either stupid Or just determined,

And I think I passed determined A long time ago.

Narrator Snowmelt has Carried down tons of gravel,

Rocks, and boulders, completely Filling the dive hole.

A month's work wiped out In just 24 hours.

That's what it looked like.

When the flood came through Last season,

Raging just as bad.

Dustin Every chance you get To dig a hole, you dig.

So, there's no "We have A whole summer ahead of us,".

Because we don't.

This is what happens.

We're gonna have to Start over again.

Any hole that any diver Put down there.

Is gone a long time ago.

We've heard nothing But huge rock.

We're talking 2,000- Or 3,000-pound boulders rolling.

They make, like, thunder.

When we finally get back Down to check it,

There's gonna be nothing But huge boulders.

All over that bottom.

Tomorrow, hopefully, The water is down a little bit,

And we can go diving.

Let's send them home!

Another day.

Fred Hey.

We had more than The normal visitors.

- No. - God. -Freaking bear, man.

Narrator Back at camp, More bear trouble.

Every day, I wonder,

"What kind of crazy Gonna happen today?"

You get three or four of them In here, though,

And they'll take The tents down.

They'll take Everything down.

You give that car To the game cam?

Man Cool. Let's check it out.

All right. Let's check it out.

Man See what's on it.

- There it goes. - Wow.

- Whoa. - What the hell is that?

- That's the bear. - -holy.

Man He pulled Our out.

Look at him. He's got some strength.

He isn't scared of nothing, Is he?

No.

Dustin We're in His backyard.

You've got to believe that He's just on the outskirts,

Knowing what we're doing, Listening or smelling for us.

Or whatever he's doing.

And then, as soon as we leave, He comes in the camp.

He's watching us more Than we're watching him.

If it's not the water Trying to get us or the floods,

It's the damn bears coming out And destroying my gear.

We ordered up A bear fence.

Yeah, it's a lightweight Electric fence.

That we're gonna set up.

It gives the bear a little bit Of a shock.

When it messes with it.

I don't want to kill him, So, this is a good way.

To keep him out, man.

This way, we don't have to Shoot him, and I love it, man.

- All right, guys. - We're gonna have to be aware,

And keep an eye out For this bear.

Man Stay alert. Stay alive.

So, we got hammered Again, guys.

The hole got filled in,

And it's heartbreaking What happened.

It filled in.

But I don't see Any other choice.

But to go right back down To where we were.

You think about All the weeks and weeks.

And weeks That we dug that thing.

Narrator Dustin hurt gambled $75,000.

On his search for gold At mckinley creek.

But almost a month Into the season,

Their mine site was filled in By a flash flood.

Man Our biggest thing Is gonna be mother nature.

We've got to Beat mother nature.

Dustin Hopefully, the water Is done, and we can go diving.

Let's go Check it out, guys.

We have to get gold This year.

Man How's it looking Down there?

Man Yeah! Looks good to me.

Fred That's more like it!

The water is looking great.

This is good Diving water.

I'm hoping we can Get back on track.

I hope within The end of the week,

I'm down to 7 feet.

We're back on. Looks happy again.

Back to work.

She's playing nice today, Very nice.

We're behind schedule now, So we need to really step up.

And really Dig this hole.

We need to get back down All the way to the bottom.

Paul Gonna try to get A good long dive in today.

Narrator Paul takes the lead, Starting from zero,

To get down to The bedrock gold

15 feet below The creek bed.

Dustin Yeah.

Paul is a great dredger,

And I'm hoping That he does at least.

What I can do Down there today.

Paul

This is a large.

Well, put it on, And see what happens.

Rich So, Today is my first day.

They'll soon find out that I'm not much of a greenhorn.

Once I get on That dredge nozzle.

I just want to Get to dredging.

I want to get To finding gold.

Rich has been begging To get in the water.

I disappointed him last week And didn't let him get in.

I'll give him his wish.

Narrator Six weeks after leaving behind His computer-repair business,

Rich will dive the white waters Of mckinley creek.

For the first time.

You the man On that thing out there.

Rich I'm gonna tear it up.

This is gonna Kick your ass today.

You're gonna get Your butt kicked.

Well, I wanted to dive.

Always keep your Feet downstream,

And try to keep the nozzle Out ahead of you.

- Don't panic. - I won't.

As soon as you panic, You can't breathe down there.

This is the best it's gonna Be for you, right here.

Here we go.

How do you feel? Feel good?

You feel good? Okay.

Rich is in probably the calmest Water we have here, so...

Looks like he's a little tangled Up in everything, though.

Welcome to alaska.

Narrator Battling against The 12,000 gallons of water.

That flow down the creek Every minute,

Rookie miner rich Struggles to make progress.

Tell him, Get a rock ready!

He needs to Get a rock.

He can put it Inside that.

Narrator After barely 2 hours.

Wrestling the current, Rich calls it.

Nothing here is just Straightforward,

Easy, goes as planned, Goes the way it's supposed to.

Fred He was having a little...

Let's just say a "Learning-curve moment"...

Something about The visibility.

And, I mean, hey, visibility Is a bonus out here.

Rich, I don't know what That was all about,

About the visibility.

Keep that basket Right next to you.

Rich All right.

Just pull the thing up there Where you're gonna work.

Just fill it up.

Everything right now Is going to.

I got to change these at least In the morning and at night.

These things get infected.

It's no one's fault Other than my own.

The better I Take care of it,

The quicker I can Get back in the water.

I always think about the Malfunction of the hot water,

Of losing hot water,

And going through hypothermia, You know?

But it didn't happen That way.

Never did I ever thought Of the reverse effect,

Of being freaking boiled up.

I ain't never thought About that.

It never came into My head once.

I don't want this pause In our output of work.

You can't keep me Out of the water. No.

Hell no. That's my job, man.

That's what I do. That's who I am.

That's... I live in the water.

That's my main job. I'm a diver, man.

I'm their diver, so...

I freaking missed them, man. I missed them.

I felt like a... What you call it...

A long-lost dog being reunited With their owners after 3 years.

You know what I mean?

Paul Looks like I'm gonna have A good dive today.

It's all nice and clear.

I can see the bottom, Means it's time.

To get in the water And find the gold.

Narrator Three days ago, A flash flood.

Filled in their hole.

Paul got through 3 feet yesterday.

There's another 12 feet to go To get to bedrock gold.

We're diving.

All right, brother.

The water's looking good. We've got a diver down.

Paul, I'm hoping that he's gonna Really get this cleaned out.

- You nervous? - Yeah.

- Yeah, hang in there. - I'd be lying if I said no.

Narrator Yesterday, Rich aborted his dive.

Now fred gives him a second Chance to prove himself.

So... We're gonna get back Down there and get after it.

Dustin Everybody is Working together,

Is gonna get me that much closer To gold that much faster.

You've got to Feel your way around.

Rich Arf, arf.

Narrator Rich has dredged 3 feet of rocks and gravel...

And proved he can handle Mckinley creek.

Carlos Rich, what's this 3-hour man?

What the Is that?

I'm just getting Started, carlos.

Fred He got right back in that water After being thrown off a horse.

With time, he will be A top-notch diver.

I'm proud of rich.

One more time.

Narrator Mckinley veteran paul Shows no sign of stopping.

Dustin Wow. Fred, you know he's Standing up right there, right?

Paul Whoo! Yeah, baby.

Apparently, paul can stand up Underneath the current.

About 6 or 7 feet.

- You can see gold. - -yeah!

He's chasing gold. It's great!

Narrator Paul racks up the Longest dive of the season...

6 1/2 hours in the water.

Great dive, there, paul!

Dustin That's a lot of Damn dredging you did.

That was a lot Of.

Look what he did, man. Yeah, I know.

What was cool was seeing that Gold laying on them rocks, man.

Everything else was Going in the nozzle,

And it just stayed Right there.

Until I'd stick The nozzle right on it.

Then, it'd suck them up but... that's awesome, man.

That's some crazy endurance You've got there, buddy.

Crazy endurance, man.

I heard them all excited Over there.

They might have got A little gold in the tray.

Dustin We got quite a bit Of gold in here.

Good dive. We got gold, brother.

Quite a bit packed up Beneath those ripples.

- Hell yeah! - Got some more in the middle.

Catching gold. We're catching gold, bro.

The deeper we go, The better it's getting.

I like it. Yeah!

Dustin So, we're gonna Do a cleanup.

Paul is an animal.

He did the most dredging We've done all year.

7 feet is a damn good start.

Paul I'm extremely Happy today.

It doesn't get Any better than that.

We're back at it.

For reals, man? Did you really just stand up,

Man, on the bottom of that hole, Man, and held your hand up?

Shoot, it was about, what, However deep that is, at least.

Pretty deep, man.

6, a little over 6, 7 feet.

Wes Check this out, guys.

We got half as much gold as we Got the whole last season, dude.

- What? - Check that out.

We're in a perfect area Right now.

- Yeah! - Okay.

- You're rich. - I like that.

We were 15 feet deep last year Before we got this much gold.

- Okay. - -we didn't get like that.

- Beautiful, man. - We're still digging.

That's some fine gold, Isn't it?

- Hell yeah. - When we get down,

There's no telling how much We're gonna get out of there.

You don't know really get The big stuff.

Till you hit the bedrock.

Dustin Well, I'll tell you.

Because we're gonna be Down there real soon.

- Up ahead... - come on, fred.

We're out here to find Some gold... lots of it.

Watch out, fred. They're Bringing a real heavy load up.

Definition of courage... being Afraid and doing it anyway.

Man Feeling good.

From this day forward, We should get really good gold.

- Look at that. This is amazing! - That's where the Gold is gonna be.