Original subtitles

So where are we at, Randy?

These are what I call the nugget holes.

Up here is where I've been pulling some chunky pieces.

I haven't found a lot of gold in here yet.

Look in there. Look in there.

My God.

We got a nug, nug, nuggy.

That's a nice one.

Gold is everywhere.

- My God. - Yeah.

There's an estimated $3 trillion

still undiscovered in America.

Whoo!

And I wanna help you find it.

Choose your weapon.

- Yoo-hoo! - California gold, baby.

Yeah.

All you need is basic equipment...

You can get started with $15.

And the skill to decode the land.

That's a spot right there.

Yee-haw!

I'm Dave Turin.

For the past 14 years,

I've mined millions of dollars of gold.

Yeah.

And now, I wanna show you where and how...

Seen it all now, vacuum cleaner.

Everyday people are catching it.

That's insane.

So that you could be the next one

to hit it big.

Boom, baby.

Right here in America's Backyard.

There's so much gold here in the Black Hills.

There's Mount Rushmore right ahead.

Look at that view.

Okay. That's pretty cool.

When you think of the Wild West, odds are,

you imagine the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Stretching across 5,000 square miles,

these towering spires

had been home to many legends of the West.

And it was gold that brought them here.

This is the Homestake Mine.

At one point, 10% of the total world

production of gold came right out of here.

Once known as the richest place on earth.

Gold was first discovered here in 1874

by General George Armstrong Custer,

sparking one of the greatest gold rushes

in American history.

Overnight, lawless towns like Deadwood sprung up

and thousands flock here to make their fortune,

including the infamous gunslinger,

Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.

Since then, nearly $95 billion

in today's money has come out of the Black Hills.

But, after severe drought, the gold in this area

seemed to all but dry up,

until now.

In this last year, they had a lot more rain.

They say that this stream is as high as they've

seen it in August.

So all of a sudden, a lot of water comes down.

It washes in new gold,

big energy coming down this stream.

It redeposits the gold in different places.

There's never been a better time to get on the gold.

And I want to show you

there's plenty left for the taking.

From the newly-flowing creeks and rivers

to the foothills of these iconic spires,

I'm going to show you where and how

with very little investment

you can join into Black Hills' new gold rush.

I'm outside Custer, South Dakota,

where increased rain,

this spring means getting the gold

couldn't be simpler or cheaper.

Hey, how you doin'?

Dave Turin.

Pirate Mike Penwell

has been a Black Hills gold hunter

for over a decade.

But I heard he's got an ingenious way

to take advantage of the active creeks running

through this claim, which I've gotta see.

Check that out.

This is your tarp.

- This is the... - Tarp procedure.

The old tarp.

Throw it in the water.

- I'll... - I'm gonna be honest with you.

I'll show you how simple.

Mike, I don't know what the tarp system is.

That's okay. You'll understand the concept.

Go and spend your hundreds of dollars

on all your equipment.

- You don't really need it. - Buy a $20 tarp?

16 bucks.

16 bucks.

And throw some flat rocks in there.

- That's it. - Are you happy with that?

- It's a creek. - Okay.

- With rocks in it. - Yeah, it is.

Where's your gold?

It's gonna get caught in the rocks.

Naturally, the gold sits behind the rocks...

- Yup. - In the creek.

All I'm doing is imitating the creek.

- Yeah. - It's simple.

Mike might be onto something.

For 16 bucks, he's recreated nature's sluice box,

the natural gold-catching process

of rivers and streams.

But this is only going to catch the bigger stuff.

So the key is where Mike gets his pay dirt.

Are you building a tunnel here?

- Where are you... - I am...

Where are you goin'?

Knockin' down some overburdened for you.

How are you doin' here?

That is a couple of nice chunks in there, man.

I hit that one with the shovel.

- That's pretty cool. - And really,

- the gold out here is... - Pretty catch able?

- It's nice. - Yeah.

- It's real chunky... - Yeah.

Even the small stuff.

So, where are you goin' here?

You're just going on top of these...

- So... - rocks and stuff?

There's gold all the way through this.

I mean, we hydrate, you know, like everyone.

Yup.

So, right along here,

there's a little run of funky quartz

and it run... Kind of runs and believe it...

That gold really gets caught on the edges of that.

Yeah, there's gold all over in it.

Okay. I like that.

The hills began as a huge dome-shaped granite plateau

with rich seams of gold deep within.

Over thousands of years,

ancient oceans and rivers eroded the granite

creating the Black Hills spires,

and releasing the gold into the rivers and streams.

Over time, the course of these ancient rivers changed

and the old river beds were buried

under layers of dirt called overburden,

locking in the gold, until now.

There's a big flat rock.

There's some brown sand and gravel.

An ancient river was under here,

deposited this sand and gravel.

So, if you could get down underneath there,

it should wash some gold under there.

Mike's claim is set in a prime location.

This area was once an ancient river

that deposited gold all through here.

V-shaped valleys with high benches like this

are great indicators of these old waterways.

5-gallon bucket.

- Boom. Gone. - Got it.

Throw another one on there?

You bet.

What do we have none of?

- Time, right? - Right.

And who wants to jump in the creek

and classify every scoop into a bucket and then...

- Got it. - And then spoon it

- through your sluice? - Yeah.

So, I'm skipping a bunch of steps.

- Okay. - And if you lose a spec or two...

You make up for it in volume.

And you don't really have to babysit it either.

- You just... - No.

- Go back to digging. - Yup.

And that gold's gonna get caught right there.

Right here is what you call primitive ground sluice.

We're kickin' some of the big rocks to the side.

We're just trying to get the mud broke up,

get a gold freed out of here,

and wash all the light particles out.

Hopefully, the gold stays on the tarp.

This system is as simple as it gets

and cost about the same as a large pizza.

Mike uses a $16 tarp,

but any kind of plastic sheet would work.

We have not had good rains in many, many years.

So this creek is not normally running like this and...

It will run partially during the year and then...

- Okay. - Dry up.

Really?

With the water running regularly, obviously,

that's the only way I can use the tarp.

So it's been kind of a blessing.

It is... We've had, like, record moisture this year

and we needed it.

Just like being a kid again,

playing the dirt and water.

Here we are.

Where did you come up with the nickname Pirate Mike?

I started treasure hunt when I was in the...

Where... When we lived in England.

We used to go play with our Hot Wheels cars

and a coin fell out one day

from 1400s and that's what... That's what got me started.

Copper coin from England from...

- And that... - the 1400s.

And that's kind of how you got started in all of this?

That's the exact moment.

That was pretty fast.

Five buckets.

- You ready to pull it up? - Yeah.

This is how we concentrated five buckets into this.

And you wanna try to pan in this?

Sure.

There's a piece.

- See one already? - Think so.

Heck yeah. There you go.

That, Dave, turned a piece of gold.

- Yeah. - First pan.

I got a piece of Black Hills gold.

Whoo.

Mike, I gotta say the tarp worked.

Look it right there.

- Yeah. Heck yeah. - Not bad.

And it took us maybe half an hour.

In one year, Mike's tarp and rock method

could make you $12,000.

Enough money to buy a used truck

and still have money left over for a tank of gas.

Not bad for a great location and a sheet of plastic.

It's pretty good.

You taught an old dog new tricks, man.

When you get back home, that's what you're gonna do.

You're gonna cover it into a tarp.

I'm gonna throw a tarp out there.

There you go.

I think Dave appreciates just the simplicity of it.

Like, it's so back to basics.

And I think every person kinda needs to remember,

don't make it any harder than it has to be.

You too can cash in on the new gold in the Black Hills.

And it's easier than I thought.

I learned some new things.

It worked. We found gold.

And the more you get through your sluice box

or your tarp or your pan,

the more gold you get in the end.

Next, I show you how to make bank...

It's pretty good for a couple hours.

Yeah.

In the waterways of South Dakota.

You have potential here.

I think you could make some money at it.

I'm excited to be up here in South Dakota.

You know, the Black Hills has such rich history.

There's been a lot of gold taken out of the hills.

The end of a historic drought

has created a golden opportunity for prospectors.

But to get to this new gold...

You ain't getting my money or my life.

Aw!

You gotta get past these guys first.

I'm in Deadwood,

a town built on the Black Hills Gold Rush.

This town had a reputation.

Back then, gold was life or death.

One hundred and fifty years ago,

these mean streets were home to prospectors

and the likes of Wild Bill Hickok,

all hoping to get the $4 million of gold

that was found here.

But there's plenty left.

There's still gold in the creeks.

There's still people panning gold

out of the streams right here.

And in this town,

you don't have to go far to get it.

Just a mile outside of town is Whitewood Creek,

where the Black Hills Gold Rush started

and it's still running with gold.

- Nice to meet you, Dave. - Hey, Tanner.

- Nice little spot here. - Yeah.

This spot is so close to town,

locals just like Tanner Hull

are known to come here

and prospect under lunch break.

Can you find in some gold?

Let's see what I got in two hours.

Pretty good for a couple hours.

Yeah.

What are the rules here?

I mean, it's fair game.

- Is it? - Yeah.

Newly-active streams

with exposed river beds like this one

are the perfect place

to try your hand at prospecting.

But make sure to do your research.

Trespassing is illegal and in the wrong place,

just like Deadwood 150 years ago,

could be life-threatening.

I've noticed that the best gold is in this,

like, rusty-lookin' material down here.

I see that. And it's down at that level?

I found it, like, through here about this level.

As soon as I start getting into the water,

- it's not as much gold. - No?

Yeah. You'd think that if you dug down further,

there'd be more gold, but I haven't had that happen.

What gold you're findin' is probably was a big

wash, moves gold.

So he's really findin' recent gold that's washed in.

I would call it flood gold.

Following the end of South Dakota's recent drought,

the rivers and creeks here are flowing again

and carrying new gold down from the source in the hills.

Just trying to find the easy pickens.

Trying to find a spot under a big rock.

As it travels down into current,

gold gets trapped behind big rocks,

which are exposed when water levels drop in summer,

making them a great place to target.

And how long have your family lived here in Deadwood?

My family goes back to the gold rush of 1876 days.

No kidding.

My great-great-great grandmother came here

during the gold rush.

She knew there was a lot of opportunity here

in the Black Hills, so she came here

and opened up a diner

and sold prospecting tools.

She must have been one tough lady.

Yeah. Back in those days, being a female

and comin' out here on her own...

- My gosh. - I can't imagine.

Yeah.

How'd you get started doing this?

Well, it was my grandpa.

- My dad was into it and... - Cool.

And they kinda showed me how to do it.

My grandpa was telling me about the gold spots

- that he used to go. - Yeah?

And I've had luck in every single one of those spots.

Hey, that's a pretty good pan.

It's probably good for just the very first pan.

That's about 10 bucks of gold in an hour.

Do that for a day, and you'd probably

make enough money to pay for a tank of gas.

That's not bad.

- Very good. - Yup.

- Who would've thought? - Pretty cool.

The best... One of the best spots

- I know. - Is just right in town.

Well, Tanner, I've enjoyed this.

Thanks for showing me this spot.

Actually, I'd love to take you to a spot

that my grandfather showed me.

Nice.

He drew me a treasure map for it.

- Really? - Yeah. Well...

My grandpa didn't even tell me about this spot

until he couldn't get down there himself,

- that's how secretive he was... - No kidding.

- Wow. - About his spots, even his own blood.

- And you're gonna take me? - Yeah.

- Thanks, Tanner. - Yeah.

My grandpa, he was told that Homestake

was trying to acquire this land out here.

- Okay. - So he figured that

there would be pretty good gold here.

- Okay. - Let's go check it out.

Following a gold-producing river upstream

will get you close to the source

and often get better gold.

This is Whitewood Creek,

there's a bridge,

so it was X marks the spot?

- Yeah. Yeah. - Okay.

And that's exactly where Tanner's secret spot is.

That pile, like... Looks to me like it was moved,

maybe for overburden?

- Yeah, maybe. - And then...

'Cause you can kinda see that looks like the level

but then, that... There...

- That's higher. - Yeah.

It wouldn't necessarily be natural.

I start to see some open gravels down there.

Well, if it was me and I was your granddad,

I would pick a spot that I would believe

is virgin ground, like right across the creek.

Looks to me like a logical spot.

What I always like to look for, too,

is a cut, open cut face.

- You can read the levels. - Yeah.

See right there? We got kind of an open face,

whether that was man-made or the river made it,

but we can still see the levels

and the layers that are in there.

- Yeah. - So let's go over there.

- Yeah. Let's go check it out. - You good with that?

- Yeah. Let's go check it out. - Okay.

Virgin ground is land that has never been mined.

Meaning, the gold potential could be as good as it gets.

Well, you can see that this really hasn't

been classified by men.

So this top 3 or 4 feet,

I wouldn't expect that they have gold,

but at this level where it gets pretty tight and solid,

you know, in here, you know,

this is a good spot to kinda...

- Okay. - Check out

and see if we find any gold.

- Yeah. - But yeah,

let's pull a sample there.

When you're on the hunt for virgin ground,

look out for established tree growth,

undisturbed vegetation,

and tightly packed river gravels,

which should hold gold.

I'm just seeing what the river's given us here.

Looking behind these big rocks,

that's where the gold kinda falls,

and so it'll move with these big rocks

and get trapped behind the big rocks

or in front of the big rocks.

See that's a good sign?

You got quartz with mineralization.

Good Lord, that's a good pan.

Okay. That... That's a really good pan.

I would like to set up a wash plant here.

I mean, it's pretty darn good.

There's a lot of fine gold.

And that's just half a pan under a rock.

So, he's got a pretty good spot, you know?

- Find some gold? - I did.

- How about you? - Yeah, but just dust.

Mine's fine, but it's...

There's actually quite a bit of gold in it,

but it's all through there.

Okay.

Hey, that's a pretty good pan.

I think if you could set up a...

- You know, a river sluice... - Yeah.

Shovel in, find some of those big rocks,

you have a potential here.

I would look into, maybe possibly trying

to claim this area up or talk to the landowner.

I think you could make some money at it.

Hey, I'll have to do that, then?

- You will? - Yeah.

I think your grandpa steered you in the right direction.

Yeah. Yeah.

I'm definitely gonna be coming back

and I'm gonna hit that hard.

I do it as a hobby, but I would love to do it,

you know, for a living.

Tanner's got a good spot here.

That was a decent pan.

So, with the river sluice in a day,

he could probably come up with a couple

100 bucks worth of gold,

maybe $300 worth of gold, if he...

If he works at it.

So, yeah, the gold's here.

For a $200 investment

on a basic river sluice,

Tanner could be making an easy $20,000 a year

just mining here on the weekends.

It doesn't get much better than that.

- Thanks... - Yeah.

- For showing me this spot. - Yeah. Yeah.

- No problem. - It's beautiful here.

Coming up,

I show you how a weekend hobby...

That's pretty much consumed me.

- It did? - Yeah.

Can help pay the bills.

Are you kidding me?

Dang. I didn't expect that much.

- Holy cow. - That's nice.

Needle's Eye Tunnel, if I scratch this truck.

This is my little baby.

Hoo!

It's tight.

You could see the walls right here.

My goodness.

This is the narrow end.

Woo!

Made it.

Boy, that feels good.

I'm in South Dakota's backyard,

the Black Hills,

where new rains had ended a recent drought

and created a new opportunity for gold hunters.

There's modern day prospectors still finding gold up here.

And I wanna show you all the places

and ways to get some for yourself.

So I'm headed to Lead,

where the Northern Hills Prospectors Club

are proving anyone can take advantage

of this new gold.

You got a tiny one there.

It's a good way to start them.

Wow. Way to go, Mom.

This 20-acre claim is a real treasure trove,

teeming with ancient waterways

and recently replenished streams and rivers.

Members can mine anywhere on these claims

and take home all the gold they find.

Hey, how you doin'?

You Daniel?

Dave.

Got a little stream sluice going?

Yeah.

Were you the pulling the dirt?

Right now, we have bedrock opened up right there.

That looks like an old stream bed

- that came right through there. - Yeah.

Kinda just fanned out right here.

That whole thing should have some gold in it.

It looks like this spot

could be a dried out waterfall,

a natural honey trap for gold.

I wouldn't mind just looking in there.

As water flows over the falls' edge at high force,

anything heavy within the water,

like gold or gravel is forced to the bottom,

and it gets trapped around rocks and boulders.

See, this is kinda what I'm looking at.

See right under this rock right here?

- Yup. - I would think

that it's that water's coming down pretty fast,

it's got a place to land.

And you know how gold is heavy,

it wants to settle out under that rock right there.

- Okay. - Let's pull a pan.

Sure.

Let's try that.

Yeah, see what happens.

All right. Let's do it.

This little sluice is the upgraded version

of Pirate Mike's tarp.

Here, as the dirt and gold

is carried in the natural flow of the river water,

the heavy gold drops

and gets caught in the grooves.

A little bit more.

A little bit more pitch?

Yeah, it could go down just a little bit.

Too much water sometimes can wash your gold.

Too little water and the gold will just do like a ski slope

and just bounce over the top.

So it's just trial and error.

- Are you a local around here? - I am.

Yup. I was born here and raised here.

I started prospecting with my grandfather

- when I was really young, you know. - -Cool.

Now, it's pretty much consumed me.

- It did? - Yeah.

All right. Looks like there's a few pieces down there?

- Yeah. - Right there.

And right there.

Well, maybe we should pan her up?

- Look at that. - Yeah.

- Woo-hoo. - Wow.

They're bigger flakes than I expected, too?

Nice gold.

And I bet there's plenty more

where that came from.

If Daniel works at this spot,

it could put an extra $6,000 a year in his pocket.

So look around and read the signs,

you never know what you might find.

Black Hills gold.

It's pretty awesome, man.

Up top of where Daniel's mining

is a hive of activity.

- Brad, nice to meet you. - Brad.

And club vice president Brad Trautmann

is taking me to his favorite spot.

Here, let me grab my crevicing tool.

This is a really good area.

One time, there was water flowing through here,

so as the water is washing down here,

it's depositing gold

into these little crevices like this.

See right here,

gold falls out

in these really weird spots.

And you get down in there and, you know,

break some of this out, there might some gold.

So how many members are in your club?

We've got 150, 200.

We don't actually charge for a membership.

We just ask that you show up and participate.

If you wanna go prospecting

and don't know where to start,

clubs like these are a great way to try the basics.

Learn from experienced miners

and put some good money in your pocket.

Great way to spend some time.

Yeah.

I mean, any time we get out into the wilderness

is time well spent.

Yeah, I grew up

in and around the Black Hills hiking, fishing.

- So you're a local? - Yup. Yup.

I'm Lakota.

The Lakota people originate from the Dakotas

and the Black Hills have been their sacred land

for centuries.

It was life, it was the mother,

it was the heart of

what they considered everything, and it

I mean, no matter what, you had shelter,

you had food, you had anything you could need,

you could find right here.

Once the Gold Rush hit,

there's so many people that moved in.

When gold was discovered here in 1874,

10,000 prospectors rushed to stake their claims

with little regard for the Sioux territory.

The war over the Black Hills was bloody.

And within just three years,

the Lakota Sioux had lost their land

and were moved onto reservations.

And I mean, even now,

mining in the Black Hills is still a big thing

with the Lakota people.

- And it's... - What's your opinion on that?

- 'Cause you're part Native American. - -Yeah.

But you're out here doing it

with the family and everything.

Yes.

I don't see a problem with it,

as long as it's done respectfully.

I'm the same way.

If we continue to do it the right way...

- Yes. - We can pass this on

- to the next generation... - Generation, yeah.

Which is here.

Yes.

Definitely got gold.

Pretty fine.

You got gold there.

Yeah.

What I always love about families

in this environment, in the creeks,

finding gold, doing it for fun,

they're really passionate about it.

Are you kidding me?

That's all through there.

Yeah.

You got a lot of gold in two buckets.

I didn't expect that much.

You're gonna be impressed when you see it in...

- Dang, yeah. - Holy moly.

- Holy cow. - That's nice.

These guys are proof

that with some simple tools

and a little know-how...

What do you think nugget?

- Pretty nice? - She lives today.

Your weekend hobby could help pay the bills.

It's really a tightknit community and a family,

and it's pretty neat.

Coming up,

I'll show you a drought-proof system...

It's a self-circulating system.

It'll basically run all day long.

That works whatever the weather.

Look at that. Found some gold.

Yeah.

I'm a rock guy.

I'm kind of in love with this place.

I'm in the mighty Black Hills of South Dakota

where severe drought in the region has ended.

And increased rainfall

has sparked endless golden opportunities

throughout the hills.

I love the mountains

and the Black Hills are

one of the most unique places I've ever seen.

Pretty crazy.

I tracked down mother and son duo,

Sandi and Mike McLain

who have taken hobby mining to the next level.

- Hi. - Hi, Dave.

- Sandi. - How are you doing?

- Nice to meet you. - Good to meet you.

The McLains are not taking any chances

and have created a drought-proof system

ensuring that gold will always be found

no matter what Mother Nature throws at them.

- Good morning. - Morning.

- How's it going? - Hi, Mike.

- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.

There's a lot of work done here.

Mike and Sandi have developed

an innovative system that uses water economically.

This is an incredible way

of making sure they are sluicing non-stop.

So how are you guys getting power up here?

This is an electric pump,

were you recirculating the water?

Yup. We're using an electric generator.

- Okay. - -Solar-powered generator.

It'll basically run about 14 hours.

How do you get the water up here?

We just take the pump, put it in the creek,

and then we pump it up here.

Using some good old backyard ingenuity,

Mike and Sandi have created a setup

ideal for areas with limited water.

Powered by their solar generator,

a pump draws water from the stream

and fills the first container.

As the water overflows, filling the remaining tubs,

an underground pump recirculates the water,

filtering it back through the tubs again.

This system repeats and the water is reused.

- I'm impressed. - Yeah.

All right. Show me where we're gonna get the dirt.

- All righty. - All righty.

Mike and Sandi are digging into a bench

where an ancient river once passed through.

Depositing the gold here as it traveled.

Down here, this looks original to me.

You got a small pay zone right here.

Yeah, but see, we're right on bedrock here.

A lot of times those little nuggets and gold

will fall in these crack...

Cracks and crevices.

Let's go, sluice it.

See if this pays off.

There you go, Mom.

However you'd like.

Okay.

This is a pretty neat system.

Recirculating the water

is a great way to process dirt,

especially in areas where water permits

prohibit discharging material back into rivers and streams.

The moment of truth, right?

How's yours look?

Not a whole lot.

I think I got all the gold.

I've got a pretty good pan here.

- Look at that. - Yeah.

- Found some gold. - Yeah.

With the right location

and a setup like Mike and Sandi's,

pans like this can be raking in 20,000 a year,

rain or shine.

I've got a lot of respect for somebody that is creative.

They came up with a very unique solution.

Now I've been told time and time again

that the Black Hills are unique.

These rock formations are just amazing.

Big slabs of granite just everywhere.

And before I go any further,

I wanna learn how the gold is ending up in places

where you can find it.

Great job. Keep on climbing.

Covering over a million acres,

the Black Hills are filled with immense granite spires.

Almost there.

- Whoo! - Good job.

Yeah.

Looks pretty high from where I'm standing.

Gives you a lot of respect for the people

that came out here to find gold.

It's just massive.

So we're in the core

of the Black Hills uplift right now.

All this rock ended up as alluvial stream deposits.

Those are your sands and gravels

that you guys are looking for.

It's,

just a long series of erosion.

Got it.

So there's been a lot of gold taken out of the Black Hills.

Is there much left?

I think there's a ton of gold left here.

But to strike it big,

you have to take a targeted approach

and the ancient waterways that eroded these hills

and release the gold is key.

So I found a guy outside of Rockerville

in the foothills of these gigantic spires

where the gold should be more concentrated.

All right.

Dozer Dave.

Rattlesnake Randy.

How are you doing? It's a pleasure to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

What's this little guy's name?

This is Tango.

He's the Gold Bandit.

The Gold Bandit.

Yeah. Hide your gold or he'll steal it.

- Yeah. - He's a little monster.

Rattlesnake Randy

has bought up 200 acres of claims

where he believes there's an undiscovered mother lode

hiding in these hills.

I got the Rattlesnake Gulch mine.

I got the Rattlesnake Venom mine, Rattlesnake pit.

And then I have one for my lady Rattlesnake

called the "Dan Yells a Lot."

- Her name's Danielle. - Okay.

So she yells a lot at me.

- I like it. - I deserve it though.

I like it.

So you ready to go?

I'm ready to go.

This whole Rockerville area was a very rich area.

I mean, the gold rush started in 1876.

By 1880 they pulled out over

$3 million to $4 million worth of gold.

Wow. Four years?

- Yup. - Wow.

Where did you come up

with the nickname Rattlesnake Randy?

I was standing by the creek out in California.

One time this one snuck up behind me and bit...

- Is that right? - Me in the back of the leg.

- You really got bit by... - So I turned around

and bit him back, 10 minutes later the snake was dead.

Man.

Been getting some nice chunky stuff here.

Nothing crazy, you know,

but I could say half gram to gram nuggets.

Look at there.

Very nice.

Some nice pieces in there.

Yeah.

Randy's finding good-sized nuggets here,

but there's potential for a mother lode.

And to find that, we've gotta go up higher

where the source is most likely to be.

Are you ready to do

some mining on my

- check things out? - Ready to check it out.

Careful going through the tall grass for rattlesnakes.

Coming up...

My God.

We got a nug, nug, nuggy.

Do you know what this piece of equipment is?

The Black Hills of South Dakota

are the number one place

gold hunters have struck it rich.

But here at the Big Thunder Gold Mine,

it's all about number two.

That's where the miners had to go poop.

One of the guys' job was to go through

all the stuff that was in there

because they would swallow the gold.

So they had to poop it out before they left.

So the rookie guy on the crew gets to sort through all that?

That's terrible.

Somebody get me the 1870 newspaper, please.

It's fascinating here.

To me, this is just a huge playground

to just try to figure this stuff out.

I'm in the Black Hills of South Dakota

with gold prospector, Rattlesnake Randy.

Just all these boulders are conglomerate.

- Right. - They're huge.

They're massive.

Randy's chasing ancient waterways

on his 200 acres of claims

in search of a new Black Hills mother lode.

One big clue to look for is conglomerate rocks,

minerals that have been compressed together

through erosion over millions of years.

Wow.

Definitely conglomerate,

old riverbed that was ancient, ancient, ancient.

These rocks have been washed with water.

So they've been...

They've been carried down a mountain

and as they roll and tumble,

they release gold.

But then it was compressed back

into a really tight conglomerate,

so all these rocks

end up being in a solid formation.

And then over time again,

water erodes them and breaks 'em up.

Then that gold can be re-concentrated in the streams.

But somebody dug a hole here, just testing,

just trying to figure out where the gold is.

Following where the old miners have dug

is a great way to start your search.

And that's exactly what Randy is doing.

I haven't found a lot of gold in here yet.

I'd like you to take a look at

what you think about these, layers

down in the gravel.

Here's a little hole here that they dug.

My goodness.

Holy cow.

Wow. I've never seen that.

That is wild.

Interesting?

Where that tan layer is,

that looks like it could be

an ancient riverbed.

Is that where you've been finding

a little bit of gold in that...

- Exactly. - That tan and kind of...

Yup. That's what I've been digging is

that down below there.

Without mechanized equipment,

the old miners would've worked this hole by hand.

And to dig something this big,

they must've been onto something.

So I just strung up this little cable across here

and I run a bucket.

And we're just pulling stuff out there,

doing some testing.

Little primitive, but it works.

Costing him around 100 bucks,

a zip line system like Randy's

can feed an empty pay dirt single-handedly.

We're starting to get some rocks

that have a little bit of wash on it.

So it could've been, you know,

a river or something re-concentrated this.

I think the reason they came here

is because they're looking for the source of the gold

- that's in the creek. - Exactly.

When golden quartz makes its way to the surface,

rain erodes it and pushes it down the mountain.

If Randy's claim is close to the source,

then the gold potential could be huge.

What if you find a bunch of gold in here,

then what's the next plan?

Just keep digging.

I'm just enjoying life.

This is gonna be a one whole

I've had five back surgeries.

I've had an aortobifemoral bypass surgery.

They told me I should've been dead already.

- Wow. - So it just gave me

a wake-up call on what's important in life.

And then now I'm running around.

I can... I can hike around five to ten miles.

Good for you. You're an inspiration.

Well, thank you.

All right, Randy.

That's it.

- All right. That's it? - Let me see how

your zip line, bucket hauler works, okay?

Sounds good.

Coming through you.

Got it.

Hey, that works pretty good, Randy.

We got our sample.

To test the sample,

Randy's using a simple high banker

that will separate the gold from the worthless dirt.

All righty. Fire it up.

Hey, this is slick, Dave.

It looks good.

- -Look in there. - Look in there.

- My God. - My God.

There we go.

That's what we're looking for.

We got a nug, nug, nuggy.

That's a nice one.

That's where it's at.

Let's, get a weight on that baby?

I say 0.4. What do you say?

0.5.

- 0.6. - 0.6.

That's a good one, buddy.

A little over half a gram.

If Randy keeps finding nuggets like this,

he could be earning 500 bucks a day,

but following the source

and pinpointing the ancient streams on his claim

could put him onto an even bigger payday

and maybe uncover that mother lode.

I thought we ran a good solid test

with the high banker,

but doing this by hand

in the heat of the day,

pretty tough.

But he's finding the nuggets.

That's pretty damn good.

Very good.

It's a real rich area.

You just gotta work for it.

It's been an experience.

Lot of over burden, but...

And now I can safely say I met Rattlesnake Randy.

And I met Dozer Dave.

It's a pleasure. Thank you, sir.

Have a great day. Thanks for coming.

Come back. I got more claims to check out.

My journey in South Dakota

shows you that there is still gold to be found

in them thar hills.

The tarp worked.

All over the Black Hills,

prospectors are using innovative ways

to capitalize on this new opportunity for gold

with some simple equipment

and a lot of passion...

My God.

My God.

You can too.

Since I last saw them

I found quite a few

really rich deposits here in the Black Hills.

Daniel's river sluice

has got him $230 in gold.

First up, I have some pickers

we've pulled out this summer

and here's a little bit of the flower gold.

Tanner's secret spot

is still full of treasure.

This summer, I found 4 grams of gold

and I went right where Dave told me to dig.

One of the pieces was the largest

I found all summer long.

That's 240 bucks.

And Rattlesnake Randy's search for the mother lode

has brought in nearly 1,000 bucks in nuggets.

That's what I'm talking about.

Living the dream.

Now I'm off to another backyard near you.