Original subtitles

I'm in the water today.

It's always a challenge, Brother.

Always a challenge.

I'm a diver man.

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. Tons of gold, man.

That's what I'm thinking. You know.

Gold, brother.

Feel it up!

I got a family to support.

I got a family to Go home to so,

It makes me wanna stay More alive than usual.

You know what I mean?

It makes me wanna Fight for my life.

Keep that mask Dry, dry, dry man.

Dry, dry, dry.

This is the only skill I know what to do.

Dive and provide for my family.

We're tired of letting Mother nature win.

It's time to fight back.

Whoa, fred, stop!

Yeah, I see what's going on.

Come on, now, give me a break.

Mike, keep it out of the water.

I'd love to pull up A bucket of gold.

I'd love to just hit it big.

Always big.

Now we're getting Into gold, baby!

- Wow. - Man.

This is a good sign.

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

Captions paid for by Discovery communications.

Wow, that is A lot of damn water.

Man.

Whoo, it looks Horrible right now.

High in alaska's Chilkat mountains,

The dakota boys are on The hunt for a gold deposit.

That will change their lives.

This is a fight With mother nature.

Sun came out on top Of the mountains.

And this is all snow melt.

Just about as bad as This water can get.

Outside of being a flood.

Mother nature's trying To get rid of that ice.

This is the result right here.

Glacial melt has Swollen the creek.

To a flow of 1,000 tons Of water a minute.

That will pummel their Bodies as they dive.

So I picked the worst Spot in the world.

To dig for gold.

When the sun comes out, The water goes up.

This is what It's like digging out here.

Almost halfway Through the season,

They've found just one Ounce of gold worth $1,200.

I know there's gold.

Just out of reach right now, But I'm-a get to it.

The alaskan mining Season is so short,

They can't afford to wait For the water to calm down.

I am in a hurry.

I'm $75,000 in debt.

And if I don't get Down there to gold,

The mckinley dream is over.

I am in such a position To where I'm just.

Hemorrhaging money on this.

It's taken, In my opinion, forever.

Professional diver carlos minor.

Is diving today.

I'm in the water today. That's bad news.

Alongside New guy, rich webster.

There's so much Current right now.

So we gotta really be On our game today.

Carlos, we're going to The freaking gut of that beast.

Yeah, brother.

You and I are gonna be Tearing this up in here.

This is what we're Made out of, man.

You can make a better Life for yourself,

Why wouldn't it be worth it?

This is how I get a paycheck.

This is not recreational For me, man.

I mean this is my job.

Ooh, doggy.

What could be down there, It could be life changing.

For all of us.

To where none of us Ever have to work again.

You two are going down if you're Comfortable with this water.

If you're not, I'll do it for you.

- No, no. - What a challenge, man.

I'm gonna be on comms today.

Let's really communicate.

I think everything's As safe as we can make it.

Don't let your Slack go underneath.

So when he gets Up and walks back,

You have to say, "I'm coming up."

You're just gonna Have to be on point. Get it?

If you hear diver up, Everybody's up and out.

Well, let's see What happens, man.

The flow of the water is about Twice as fast as normal.

Bad news.

Well, good luck guys.

So everybody be safe, All right?

You have to go cowboy in Alaska, man, you know,

'cause it doesn't Play by your rules.

Bad medicine if you Get too crazy here.

I've got full Respect for mckinley.

It's gonna be some white Water cowboy today.

To avoid the center Of the creek's deadly current,

Dustin's divers will Work on the outer limits.

Right now our goal is to Get all of the hard pack.

We can find exposed.

The crew has already Cleared 12 feet.

Worth of rocks And gravel from one area.

But now they're Attacking from both sides.

So they can reach The compacted material.

Above the bedrock gold.

I want you to stay On the right side

'cause you're all the way Down on the hard packed.

On the left side.

That's all you're gonna Have to go through.

To get to the gold, I think.

I believe that. I really, really believe that.

It's cold today.

Keep that mask Dry, dry, dry, man.

Dry, dry, dry.

- Be real careful man. - I will.

Got a lot of water.

He's gonna be working with Some heavy, heavy water today.

But it's time to really Get this cleaned out.

Seal it up.

All right.

Yeah.

Right down here He can hang onto rocks.

And everything else.

Long as he can get Underneath that current.

He'll be all right.

You're on this Side of the bridge,

About one foot Away from the wall.

That's where I want you to dig, From there forward.

All right.

Down, down, down.

Super dangerous.

Both divers are down And it's really coming at us.

Expert diver carlos Is moving rocks on one side.

Okay.

Greenhorn rich is Dredging gravel on the other.

I don't know what He sucked up in here.

Gonna be one big rock Holding everything.

This Is kicking our ass.

- Right, it let go. - Can you reach it?

I can feel it right here. Right here.

Rich can't get back to dredging.

Until paul and casey Clear the blockage.

This thing needs to be About five foot longer.

This ought to do it.

We're gonna try it With a drill bit,

A narrow point And hopefully,

That'll hit the point to break This thing loose.

See how that works.

Well, here we go, paul.

Here it comes.

Hooray! And we're in business.

Paul, thanks, man.

Good job, good job, man.

Yeah, buddy!

Carlos finds a rock Too big for the sled.

There's so many rocks We gotta get out.

To get down to that gold.

The more rocks we get out The easier it is to dredge.

We need to get more out. We're wasting time.

Plan b.

Call in the big guns.

Time to try the giant claw.

I think that's Carlos's favorite tool.

He's down there hooking It up right now.

We'll see how we make out.

Hey!

Come on, baby.

Looks like the claw came loose.

They're gonna check It and find out.

What happened down there.

Okay.

Carlos will have to Enter the danger zone,

The center current, to get The boulder into the claw.

We're tired of letting Mother nature win.

It's time to fight back.

Diver carlos minor is Trapped beneath his dredge.

Pinned down by over A quarter million.

Gallons of water pounding Down the creek every minute.

My. What just happened?

Whoo-hoo! Yeah, man, I got Roped in that claw, dude.

I got tangled up in it.

You just started rolling in That section right there.

You just rolled, You rolled, you rolled you.

Paul got you, man.

He was on top of you Like that.

You can't hardly stand here.

It's good luck Out there, dude.

You see all that, All that mess?

That's what it's Like down there.

We're calling it.

Let's just cut it.

Diver up. Diver's coming up.

It kept freaking Rolling me in the claw.

Right underneath The freaking dredge, man.

That's always one of my fears Is being pinned down there.

And not being able to Get out of the water.

It's insane up there.

Dustin has decided to Call it for the day.

I think that was a smart move.

It's right dangerous.

It just got a little Too out of hand.

Carlos got rolled.

That's a good time for us to Shut off and cut out of here.

Just trying to keep Everybody safe.

That water's bad, bad Medicine right now.

Way too dangerous.

Both divers are alive.

If my wife was right here.

And she seen that Dive right there,

She would insisted Of me quitting.

Guarantee it.

Whoo, home sweet home.

Thank you for the ride.

Being trapped Underneath the water.

Like that is no fun.

Hell, yeah, I saw it.

There was just no way He could stand up.

Okay, stand up. I'm like I can't stand up!

That's gonna be the last Time that happens.

It's just scary as hell.

The next day...

We're gonna put the gold on hold.

Until it's safe Enough for the guys.

Not to get hurt.

Dustin has a plan to calm.

The raging dive site.

It's starting to get A little too dangerous.

So what we're gonna do Is just stack some rocks.

And hopefully it's gonna Slow down the water.

In front of it And make this big pool.

To where it'll be safer.

Today the goal is to slow The water down a little bit.

In the back.

The rocks have to come out.

We'll get them stacked Right to where it'll make.

Kind of a pool back there.

The more rocks you get, The deeper the water gets.

So less current you get.

That's what we're gonna Be focused on today.

All right?

Dustin's plan, Take rocks from the dive site.

And drag them 20 yards downstream.

To build a dam which will Raise the water level.

The deeper water will Create a calm pool.

For the divers to Dredge for gold.

Dustin and rich Will dive for rocks, not gold,

Until the safety dam is built.

So today dustin wants Us to stack rocks.

And not dredge.

It might be a risky move, You know?

We have a short season. We need to be dredging.

But he thinks that we can Get this water tamed down.

And I just down know if This creek can be tamed.

You see that sled Full of rocks?

That came from two Outstanding divers.

In this most craziest river To get that accomplished.

Look at that.

Those are huge freaking rocks.

Come on. Almost there.

A very real big rock fell out,

So now the medium-sized Rock is stuck in that basket.

And they just cannot Get it out of there.

It's wedged between Side to side.

They're having a hell of a time.

Fingers.

You're gonna break the shovel. We need the rock bar.

They got a crowbar and a shovel.

In there at the same time.

Watch your feet when That thing falls.

- Almost! - Whoo-hoo!

Outstanding, man!

Diver one, mckinley zero.

We've been trying to get this Thing built up back here.

As you can see, There's hardly any current.

You see where wes is standing.

The water is about Five feet higher.

Than it is behind these rocks.

It looks like a backyard pool.

Like a backyard tropical pool.

All right, you are disconnected From the umbilical.

That was awesome.

You made me proud, dude.

Good job, rich.

Raising the water.

Has reduced the flow On the riverbed by 80%.

That's amazing.

We've moved all These rocks by hand.

We crushed it.

We never, ever Stopped moving rock.

It was pretty incredible.

This is how this is Supposed to feel.

I feel like a little Jazzed off of it.

You know, like this is it.

This is why I do this.

I love it.

It was so much Rapid white water.

We couldn't work in it.

And stacking all these rocks up,

It slows the water down.

I think it's good.

Our current is just Perfect right now.

Yeah, let's get out of here, Man. I'm exhausted.

I still gotta hike Out of here.

You're right.

Up ahead...

Every miner's looking For that giant payday.

Bucket of gold. That's what I'm looking for.

More gold than I could Ever spend in my lifetime.

This is my thing, This is my dream.

Could you believe how Calm this thing is now?

- Looks good to me. - I love it.

That look good to you? It looks good to me.

Hell, yeah, I'll take it.

Hey, remember how this Thing rolled me, man?

Look at it now, dude.

Calm and serene.

It's an oasis, dude.

Lot of people would pay For something like that.

To have in their backyard.

Whoo, clear water, man. I see three feet.

It's gonna be a good day.

Dustin's dam has Created a safe pool.

For the divers.

This is as good As it gets for us.

This is phenomenal.

Now we can get back to work.

Paul and casey can now get back.

To dredging down to The bedrock gold.

Basically I'm gonna Go down there today.

We're gonna be diving around 11 to 15 feet in spots.

Casey is moving Six yards an hour.

With fred's old dredge.

Paul will speed up The hunt for gold.

By dredging 12 yards an hour.

With dustin's high tech machine.

Dustin! Dustin!

Wes designed a heating system.

On dustin's $17,000 dredge.

If we can't keep the diver Warm underneath the water,

You know, they just can't Stay in and keep performing.

So it's kicking our ass.

There goes dustin's Dredge again.

Having some maintenance Problems again.

Tink, tink, tink, tink, Tink, tink, tink, tink, tink.

- No hot water. - This thing is.

I probably could go over And give some advice.

How to fix it But I am not saying a word.

We got something going on With the hot water unit.

It goes ice cold on me.

Without hot water, 30 minutes,

You get hypothermia.

Any time that dredge is down,

We're not looking for the gold With their dredge.

Casey continues mining With fred's old dredge.

Hopefully, they're Gonna have their system fixed.

Ready to go.

Open up your hot water Valves wide open.

Let's see if we can control It with our cold water.

I'm used to a single heater.

But once we went to twins,

It threw another kink Into the situation.

Rich wants to totally Replumb wes's heating system.

These need to be combined.

So one valve controls both.

- I bet $100 bill. - I'll take that bet.

You take the two outputs, You go to one valve.

One valve slows Or speeds up the water.

At both heaters At the same time.

You can put them Both together.

But it don't change that Where it's getting clogged up.

It ain't gonna matter.

We've never changed the filters.

And I think that's The root of our problem.

Is not having Clean enough water.

Okay.

Somebody's a little sensitive About their heater system.

No. Don't give me advice.

Unsolicited advice is not Appreciated around here.

Now you know how I feel.

We've gotta get this fixed.

We've gotta get both machines In full production.

We've gotta get to this gold.

And the clock's a ticking.

I don't care Who's wrong or right.

I just want it to work.

I'm starting to lose My mind over it.

I think we're Getting too much silt.

And it makes it where It's really hard.

To get it adjusted to exactly The temperature that they want.

I don't actually Know how this works.

We're taking The whole thing apart.

Wes here is flushing Every system.

I just need this Stuff to work, man.

Gravel is not our friend.

Clogged filters are Stopping the flow.

Of hot water to the diver.

We're having trouble Because of this stuff.

Look at all that junk.

We're not running clean Enough water to it.

So it let's that Stop up.

When this stops up,

It kind of makes our Heating system go to hell.

That's where my hot water went.

With that filter plugged up,

I didn't get the water flow I needed to stay warm.

That's the problem right there.

That was it right there?

Yeah, that's gonna take Care of it right there.

Let's run it after We get these back together.

Start it up.

Let's just let it shoot For a little while.

Dustin takes the next dive.

To see if the filter Cleaning has worked.

I think we're ready to Get dustin in the water.

Hot water.

Freaking nailed it, brother.

Now we're getting somewhere.

Casey and dustin can get back.

To dredging towards The bedrock gold.

These rocks probably weigh Maybe 1,000 pounds.

Whatever it is, The divers can't move them.

The boulder standing between.

Them and the gold is The biggest they've faced yet.

The size of a four wheeler,

But 10 times the weight.

A massive boulder Weighing over 6,000 pounds.

Is blocking their Way to bedrock gold.

Fred came up with The idea that we could.

Extend the drill bit And drill from the top.

So they're gonna have to come up.

And take the drill Bit and guide it.

Because I don't have a clue Where the hell they're at.

Feels like it's going down.

Rocks are so hard, they're Rigged up under the water.

This is gonna save us A lot of time.

If we can get these Rocks drilled.

With fred mentioning These drill bits,

Putting these bolts under water,

It's really upped our game.

I brought casey a goodie bag That's got some bolts,

A hammer and a wrench So he can set it in there.

And then we can pull it.

We're getting our Big winch, big blue.

If we're using big blue That means big rocks,

Big rocks means big danger.

If that anchor busts loose On that side or on this side.

You've got steel Cable coming to whip somebody,

Cut somebody in half So we gotta keep clear.

Aah!

Casey's dislodged one Of the surrounding rocks.

Dustin's hand got Smashed pretty bad.

I think I might've Broke his finger.

So I feel pretty bad right now.

It smashed his Finger pretty good,

It's a little bit swollen But he's trying to tough it out,

He's back down there He doesn't wanna come out yet.

Dustin returns for A final attempt.

To shift the massive boulder.

Aah.

We'll see how we make Out with this rock.

It's obviously something Bigger than they can handle.

Ho!

- Yeah, man. - -yeah, man.

I'm glad they finally Got that rock out.

That's one rock you do not Want to have come down on you

'cause that would've ended Somebody's life right there.

There'd have been no saving 'em.

What do you do for a living?

I go under white Water and I roll boulders.

I bet you anything there's some Gold underneath that.

- Yep. - I guarantee it.

Big rock big gold.

We know it's there So we just gotta get to it.

That's all there is to it.

Dustin and casey Can finally get back.

To dredging towards the gold.

Removing the boulder Has revealed a fault.

In the vertical Wall of the creek.

If this crack continues Across the creek bed.

Any nuggets flowing Downstream would drop into it,

Forming a nugget trap that Could contain millions in gold.

That's gonna be The ultimate gold catch.

It's probably never Been touched then,

Nobody's ever gotten into it.

Hopefully that goes all The way across the bottom.

And we're gonna be set.

The formation that comes Down this wall right here.

It creates a huge crack.

So you see how it's all Broken up right there?

- Yep. - It goes to a point.

And it's about two to Three inches wide.

Wow, an area that's kind of Just full of gold.

Chock full of gold.

I've never been In this situation,

This is the most significant Digging we've ever done.

This is why I do this, This feeling right now.

This is going to be the pay off, Just, just right there.

This is a crazy job.

And I've got a family To support.

I've got a family To go home to so,

It makes me want to stay more Alive than usual,

You know what I mean?

It makes me want to fight For my life.

The gold is gonna ensure My family is taken care of.

If we find gold, That's my daughter's freaking.

College education, right there.

Now unfortunately, I didn't Graduate from harvard.

This is a skill I possessed to dive, you know?

This is the only skill I know what to do.

Dive and provide for My family, you know.

That's what I do.

This is gonna be The pay off, right there.

It's time to dredge, I have to get back down.

And just line My pockets with gold.

What they got down there Sounds really, really good.

That's got everybody So pumped up right now.

Dustin and casey have Discovered a crack.

In the creek wall that could Form a perfect nugget trap.

Right now they are trying To follow this little wall,

Right here and that might be The biggest nugget catch.

We've ever seen.

I'm always looking For gold, brother,

I'm always looking For the color, man.

That was an exciting day, dude.

Definitely had a good dive.

Got into that deep.

And it goes down into A little bitty point.

And if it's that Way to the bottom,

And no one's been there, Were gonna be rich.

That's awesome, dude.

This has been The most exciting day

I've had out here, Bottom line.

The crack where the vain is, I punched through.

With the nozzle And its just hauling chips.

There should be something In here, there has to be.

I actually took the channel And actually went down it.

That's what we've been Chasing so it was like, "Yes!"

We got this opportunity Now to pull that gold out.

I hope we did find gold because,

It's an absolute nugget trap.

If it's not there, I would be really surprised.

Things are going Better than I thought.

They ever would.

Let's do a clean out And find out what's in there.

I'd really like to see.

If there is anything in The walls in this formation.

All right, Let's do a clean out.

Paul just dug The first scoop in there.

And it's very promising, Very, very promising.

- You got color? - It'll start showing up.

More pyrite q.

That freaking pyrite Pisses me off.

Yeah! Yes, it is!

My.

Look at those nuggets, boys.

This is dangerous And your taking a chance.

By going down there.

If we weren't A little bit crazy,

We wouldn't be up here. It's the gold.

What's going on fellas?

Look at the pickers We got out so far.

Wow. It's getting way bigger.

That's what we've Been looking for.

This is one of the hardest Things I've ever done.

In my life, my body Is beat to hell,

But I love Hunting for gold.

- This is a good sign right? - That's a good sign.

Yeah, that's some rough Looking stuff, too.

It hasn't traveled far.

We just can't stop doing this, It's in our blood.

And all for this pretty Little yellow stuff, the gold.

We've already equaled up What we got last season.

And we're only halfway through.

It gives me shivers, I literally got shivers, man.

The totals so far 3 ounces.

Worth over $3,500.

And they haven't even Reached bedrock.

They just hit a crack In the side of the wall,

If that thing continues Down like that,

That is the best mother nature Gold trap there ever was.

This crack may hold.

All the gold That I'll ever need in it.

We could all walk Away wealthy men.

Whoo! That's gonna be A big ass payday.

That's a very big possibility.

- We're on the gold boys. - Finally starting to pay off.

This is awesome, Today is an exciting day.

Good day, good week.

On the next "Gold rush white water."

Diver up, diver up.

Diver gots no air.

That's awfully quick, Around and back down.

We're that close to the gold.

We're in business, boys, Little nugget.

This is out of My league right here.

- What in the hell? - Holy?

Get me the hell out of here, Man, come on!

Get me out of here.

Justin?