God, this water is killin' me!
This is a whole new ball game.
You know why nobody did this.
It looks impossible.
Narrator: In remote southeast alaska,
Carlos minor is two hours into his first dive of the season.
♪♪
[bleep] oh, my [bleep].
-Did you find gold already? -Oh, [bleep]!
[ laughter ] are you serious?
Oh! Oh, my [bleep]!
Whoo!
[ screaming ]
Oh, [bleep]!
Oh, my [bleep].
Yeah!
We got the nuggets!
We got the nuggets, nuggets, we got the nuggets, nuggets.
[ laughter ]
Yeah, that feels good.
Wait for it. Whoo!
-Oh, my goodness. -That's nice, boys!
That's like a half ounce.
That's close to half an ounce right there, buddy.
[ screaming ]
I didn't know I needed a container already.
-Is it gold in the box? -Yeah, it's gold in the box!
Holy [bleep].
[ carlos yelling indistinctly ]
Finding gold is a weight lifted off our shoulders,
Finding gold is a good possibility for a good winter.
I didn't bring a container yet.
You didn't think we would need it.
Narrator: After a delayed start to his season,
Dustin's hit on a chunky nugget,
And he's nowhere close to bedrock where the bigger gold
Usually lies.
Gonna be a lot more nuggets down there.
It's going to be a great season.
I can't wait to see what's in the bottom of this thing
If this thing is as deep as I hope it is,
This is the one that's going to make us rich.
♪♪
First time in the water, got to get on that gold.
This is some really fast water.
It's going to be dangerous.
This is really insane.
Thought we had whitewater before.
Oh, [bleep] this is off,
We got a big pressure bomb going.
If you fall in there, you're dead.
[bleep].
Pull him up, pull him up!
Probably dive until I die.
We don't get that [speaks indistinctly], we're screwed.
Good job, man!
-Yeah! -We diggin' in gold!
Whoo-hoo!
That's the way you do it.
This is a damn dream come true.
♪♪
-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
Captions paid for by discovery communications
Mornin', fred, what's going on? What's up?
Hey, dus, we're going to try to get our dredge in this morning.
Good.
Narrator: Three weeks into their shortened season,
Both crews should have been diving for seven weeks now,
But dustin's crew has completed one dive
And fred's has yet to get in the water.
How are you guys doing down there?
-Pretty good. -Did good, man.
Did all right. -Oh, yeah. You find any gold?
Very first thing we find a little bit bigger
Than a half-ounce nugget just sitting there, man.
-Wow. -And he's only just taking
The overburden down to bedrock
Comes rolling a damn half-ounce nugget
And just come right down the bedrock.
-Wow. -It's shrank a little bit,
But...
Check that out, fred.
That's a nice piece of gold there.
Got a little weight to it.
Wow.
That's the first nugget I've ever seen.
[bleep].
That's what you're looking for, buddy.
Well, glad for you guys, y'all struck first.
Yow! Ow...
Dragoid works perfect, down 20 feet right now.
Almost.
All right.
[ laughter ]
Hey, guys, I heard the bell, we're going to let y'all go
And good luck today.
All right.
We showed fred our gold.
You could see it physically hurts him
Like you're in competition.
But I want him to do well.
We've got a late start.
Several weeks behind. We'll catch up.
Dustin, he might find his stuff
In a little shallow pool down there.
We got a deep one to dig.
We're going to be the guys that find the gold this year.
Let's go mining.
Let's go find some gold.
Sayoonara!
Narrator: Half a mile from camp at the trifecta mine site,
Fred is finally getting in the water
One week behind dustin.
Man: It's got to go -- it's going.
There you go, about somewhere in there.
Launch. Yee-hoo!
Narrator: Fred is counting on his custom built dredge
To finally get him to the gold he's been searching for.
Good job, fellows.
Narrator: For two seasons, dustin forced the crew
To mine upstream in what fred believes was the wrong spot.
Fred's convinced downstream is the site
Of an ancient waterfall; at the bottom,
A monster pile of gold worth millions.
Fred: We mined trifecta for two years.
We only got about 12 or 13 ounces out of there.
This is where the gold is -- downstream.
Got the gas going on.
There we go.
-Oh, yeah! -Fred, check it out!
Yeah!
Got water on this side!
Yep, is coming up in the ripples just like it should be.
Oh, that's not good.
Yeah, the most important motor,
That's the one that runs our air.
We got something plugging up the line.
Oh, [bleep], we got a big pressure bomb going.
Shut this one off. We gotta put a...
There's no, uh...
There's no pop off valve on this air tank.
We're maxed out.
We're calling 180, 200 psi.
Narrator: Once they're in the water,
The diver will rely on the vital air supply from the air tank.
By releasing air, the pop off valve keeps the tank
At a constant pressure of 50 psi.
The damaged pop off valve failed to regulate the air,
Causing a rise in pressure to over 200 psi.
Any more and the tank could explode.
Hell of a way to start the season.
You know what, we might have to take a one
Off the old dredge.
All right, well, that's shot anyway.
We want everything working properly.
We cannot afford to be losing the diver's air.
Narrator: After a late start,
And just as he's hoped to make up for lost time,
This delay puts fred even further behind.
Fred: This dredge has got to work.
We just don't get to the bottom of this hole,
We're just not going to get any gold this year.
♪♪
Narrator: A half mile downstream,
Dustin's crew is racing ahead.
With gold prices soaring,
The half-ounce nugget carlos found is proof they need
That rockfall ravine is going to pay out big.
[ shouting indistinctly ] are you ready?
[bleep]. Go, go, go!
We worked really hard to be here.
We've had years where we find nearly nothing
Until the last day almost.
If anybody thinks this is easy they're wrong.
Today's going to be my first dive of the season.
I'm excited to get back in the water.
That's where I belong is down there.
My goal for today is to get us back to where we were.
I'd like to make a huge hole right here.
Just a ridiculous dig.
All right, man, let's go.
Narrator: Winter storms raged through the creek
And the hole they started to dig last season has filled back in.
There's some really bad water.
It's going to be dangerous.
Narrator: After the biggest snowfall in a decade,
The torrent rages at over 300,000 gallons per minute,
Three times faster than any of them have ever dived in.
Man: You have a tether?
Carlos: Not yet, hold on, stand by.
Narrator: To deal with the most lethal diving conditions
They've encountered,
Dustin's rigged to safety tether
That should stop him from being swept to his death
Over the 80 foot waterfall.
Got to be on the top of your game out here,
I mean, you look at this water,
If anybody falls in, you're gone and you're not going to survive.
So everybody's got to have their wits about them out here
All day long, every day.
All right, goin' divin'.
Oh...
Oh, that's cold.
All right, get the suction, I'm gonna make a hole.
All right, man, stand by.
Got full suction.
♪♪
Oh, we diggin' now, and it's game on.
Whoo-hoo!
Narrator: Dustin's six-inch suction hose
Sends the gravel up to the dredge
Where the heavy gold settles in the sluice.
Carlos: Man, is it hard to dig here.
Ah! It's a little bit easier,
Somebody had already dug it up and they'd all be gone.
-Yep. -I really hope
This thing's deep -- the deeper it is,
The more gold's gonna be in it.
This is going to be an all-time game changer for me right here.
Narrator: In the worst current ever,
Dustin dredges another foot deeper to get to the gold.
Dustin: That sure would be [bleep] nice.
Suck it up. You guys throw the baskets.
[bleep]!
Aah! There's nothing easy about this place.
All right, we've got a basket hooked onto the winch.
[ grunts ]
Thank you]
[ speaks indistinctly ]
Cool.
All right, how do I do this?
[ grunting ]
-Whoa, whoa, whoa! -Got a problem!
The hose is on top of him!
Pull me up, pull me up, pull me up!
♪♪
All right, how do I do this?
[ grunting ]
Narrator: At rockfall ravine, dustin's mining for gold
In the most ferocious conditions he's ever encountered.
-Got a problem! -Whoa, whoa, whoa!
The hose is on top of him!
Pull me up, pull me up, pull me up!
[ grunting ]
-What happened? -Dredge was slipping on me.
That [speaks indistinctly] line is gone.
It's that, uh, rock,
It sawed it off.
[bleep].
Narrator: The current is so powerful,
It's ripped the tether on the 200-pound dredge hose,
Sending it crashing into dustin's path.
Well, can't dig like this.
I didn't see that one coming.
One of the ropes on the hose cut loose on the rock
Because this water's sitting here moving like this,
And that rope is rubbing on the sharp rock,
Just cut it right in two,
Just uncontrollable because this water is just raising too much.
All right, guys, we are shut down.
I was just starting to get into my groove too.
Hey, man, it happens, bro.
I mean, you've never dealt with this kind of crazy water before.
This is really insane.
Thought we had whitewater before...
Fighting mother nature,
If she wants to just really shut you down,
There's nothing you can do.
We have got to do something to slow this water down.
Anyway...
♪♪
Stop making all that racket!
I'm a little suspicious.
I have a funny feeling they're up to no good.
Narrator: At mckinley camp,
There's a surprise breakfast in store for fred.
Man: Hey, fred, c'mere!
Happy birthday, man! -Happy birthday, fred!
[bleep].
Look at that golden nugget we got for ya!
Isn't that awesome?
-Nice! -My boy made that for you, fred.
That is incredible.
-This is undescribable. -Big boot.
[ laughter ]
Ninety-seven.
Oh, I mean, 77.
That's what I feel like after that hill, 97.
You got to realize, fred, you made 77.
You're still climbing that hill.
Well, happy birthday, fred.
-Thanks. -Make a wish, fred.
On, two, three.
Happy birthday, fred.
Fred: I'd like to thank the guys
For having a nice little get together.
Hey, at 77 years old,
You just never know how many more seasons I got to do this.
I'll probably dive until I die.
♪♪
Narrator: Seventy seven years aside,
Fred is determined to celebrate his birthday
By taking on the first dive of the season.
I think all I want for my birthday today is lots of air,
High water and some gold.
Narrator: But yesterday, when they tested the dredge,
The air compressor nearly blew it out of the water.
How's it going?
We've brought in a new pop off valve today.
We're going to install that,
Then we're going to test the pressure system
And see if it works right.
All right. Make sure all those things are good and tight,
And I'll go get my suit on.
All right, man, let's test it out.
It looks like the pressure is holding steady.
I hope this works, man.
We don't need no fireworks today.
This is an untested dredge, fred's not getting any younger.
He's getting close to 80, and he's going to be the one
To test this dredge out before anybody else gets in.
Everybody is a little bit tense because there's the potential
For all kinds of things to go wrong.
-You're ready? -I think I'm ready.
Yeah.
So, if y'all hear me tell,
"get him out, get him out"...
♪♪
How's he doing, paul? Everything okay?
How's it feel in the water again?
-Fred: I got air. -Did you want water?
Yep, everything looks fine so far,
Warm water. -We are dredging.
We are dredging.
Yeah, good job, fred! Way to go, buddy!
Get us some gold!
Fred: We hope we can get some good hole dug today.
Narrator: Fred's plan -- follow the bedrock wall down,
Clearing hundreds of yards of overburden
And massive boulders to over 20 feet deep
In the bedrock floor where the gold lies.
Man: I see rock coming through the box.
Been a long time coming for this.
Hey, buddy.
Narrator: After three hours,
Fred's removed two feet of gravel.
That's two feet closer to the goal.
Fred: Big rock right on my left side here.
[ fred speaking indistinctly ]
Holy cow.
It's solid.
[ groans ]
You know, kinda wasting my time a little bit.
Man: Copy that, diver's coming out.
Pull him over towards the deck.
There you go, fred! Looking good!
Fred: Couldn't get my knees under me.
This heavy [bleep].
-Well done, fred. -All right.
How's that feel to finally get down there?
Feel like I've been there before!
Right there you haven't, though, right?
Exactly -- we got about a half a dozen
Big ass rocks right on my left shoulder there.
They probably weighed 300 pounds to me.
If we can put that drag-away down there, we can get rid of
Three-fourths of those rocks
That I'm fightin' with down there.
This is exactly what we've made the drag-away for.
We're in a race against time now.
It's already so late in the season.
So we've got to get to the bottom,
We've got to get to it quick.
Fred: It's a good day. I'm feeling good.
Guys have to do most of the work.
I get to go down there and play in the water.
In the morning we will get right back to work.
♪♪
The water is outrageous,
But under there I know there's big gold.
Narrator: At rockfall ravine,
After the fast current put dustin's life
And dive site in danger,
He can't mine for gold until he slows down the raging current.
Dustin: What we're going to do is try to lift
The downstream side up,
Just get a little bit of depth to it.
I'm going to try to lift it just enough to slow this down
Because the water is coming down so hard right now,
We can barely dive in it, it's getting dangerous.
Narrator: Dustin's crew will attempt to slow
The fiercest water they've ever faced
By building a dam using a 20 foot 4x8
And a pile of massive boulders.
If this slows the water down,
It should make it safe enough to dive in.
They all dug this.
Wes uses the baby claw to position
The dam's board in place.
Turn around [bleep].
Got it -- whoo! Somebody get a rope!
The timber's in place -- now for the boulders.
What I need is large boulders piled up right there
To lift the water and fill this spot up.
Aah, bro.
Narrator: Carlos braves the rapids
To start moving boulders
Just feet from death's door.
Dustin: Right below us is this 80 foot waterfall,
And that is not something you want to swim in.
If you fall in there, you're dead.
Hey, are all your carabiners locked?
Check your carabiners, damn it.
-Locked! -Catch your breath.
You're on the edge here, buddy.
We got to find some big rocks somewhere.
Slack, slack, slack!
Right now, he's using the diving tether winch
To actually hold him in place
So he can go really close to that waterfall.
Comin' at you!
Sorry!
[bleep] just losing rocks right here!
Get on your feet! Pull him up, pull him up, pull him up!
Pull him up, pull him up, pull him up!
Up, up, up, up!
[ grunting ]
That's it.
[bleep].
Carlos, you're out.
[bleep]. He's done.
The current is not letting up.
If it wasn't for james being on the [bleep] winch,
I would have been gone, dude.
Dustin: The snow melt is just going to be up there the whole season.
We're not going to have enough warm days
To melt the snow at all this year, I don't think.
This is what we have to work with,
And it is dangerous.
♪♪
Man: There's a nice big one, and it's right in the channel.
Fred: Let's get this boulder out of here.
Narrator: At the trifecta,
To make up for his delayed start,
Fred unleashes his trusty dragoid on the boulders
That stand in their way.
Oh, man, you got a big one, boss.
[speaks indistinctly] big rocks outta here,
A lot of 'em so big, a diver couldn't even possibly move 'em.
So we're saving a lot of time.
This thing is disappearing out of the top of the water
At times, so we know we're going down deeper every time.
Narrator: The dragoid is winched downstream
Using fred's skyline,
Dragging massive boulders out of the creek,
Which will allow the divers to dredge the gravel
And get down towards the gold-rich bedrock floor.
[ machinery whirring ]
Two.
That's a good spot, you got a lot of rocks right there.
Fred: Just make it back right there.
I got a hold of something --
Oh, boy, she's a-pullin'.
♪♪
[ clunk ] oh!
Uh-oh, that can't be good.
You got a problem there.
Man, these anchors are bad.
What, our anchors are bad?
Oh, wait, you see them.
I think if we pulled anything right now,
We're going to lose this whole system.
Wow, man.
So our anchor bolts are bent almost at a 90 degree.
Wow.
Well, that ain't supposed to happen.
The wall is so bad and rotten
That it's breaking the outside layer of rock
And it's bending our anchor bolts over.
This dragoid is absolutely essential
To our whole operation.
If we don't get that thing fixed, we are screwed.
[bleep], damn it!
Come on!
-Got it? -I don't know.
Come on.
Oh, that was close!
Narrator: At rockfall ravine,
Dustin's crew is on a mission to build a dam
And slow the fast current to get back on the gold.
That's it -- ooh!
Ach! There you go.
Maybe we go out a little -- ooh, ooh!
I need a longer lead, give me a second.
This water is more raging than any water we've ever dealt with.
So we decided not to put a diver in today,
We brought the baby claw out because that thing
Is spectacular for moving rocks.
So now we get a few boulders here.
We're going to stack it back up and we'll slow our water down.
[ groans ]
You're all right, I'm worried that bolt's gonna cut loose.
[bleep]. How's that look?
Yeah, just got to get your foot in there.
I know. Don't let me get hung.
Up, up, up!
♪♪
You got it? -That's it!
Yeah! Yee-haw!
Hold on, let me get the [bleep] out of the way,
Can't be on the side of it.
I got it, I got it. I got it.
Okay, all right, wes, stop pulling, it's a big one, man.
Narrator: Wes winches the boulder down towards the dam.
Slowly.
Ooh! That's put some strain.
[bleep].
Everybody back away from the cable!
Whoo! [bleep].
Look how far that skyline is coming down.
I know -- I can't get away from it either.
Ah! What do we do?
What do we do?
[ speaks indistinctly ]
What happened? What happened?
It flipped over the top -- just like a magic trick.
How did it come out?
Looks like one of our pulleys came off of our skyline somehow.
It popped out somehow, popped right back in.
We have a pulley sitting on top of the skyline
That runs up and down, and when that popped,
The whole thing came off the cable,
But I don't know how I can
Because it's enclosed on there,
So it shouldn't be able to come out.
It did something weird.
I see how it happened.
It was some las vegas frickin night show act!
That pulley separated
For a split hundredth of a second
And put itself back together again.
Narrator: When the baby claw slipped off the rock
And released massive tension.
The sideways force caused the pin to break
And the pulley to separate and drop off the skyline.
I didn't know that's what's holding these things together,
And that little bitty rim right there pops loose
So easy apparently on these things,
That I'm terrified to use 'em.
So we have to find a better way.
♪♪
This is all I have, I don't have any small blocks
Or anything like that, so...
No, but that works good.
That's better.
Narrator: At rockfall ravine,
Dustin's plan to slow down the current is on hold
Until he can upgrade the lightweight pulleys
On his skyline to lift boulders and build his dam.
This is my first block, by the way, ever.
That's what I used to go across the big cable with.
Narrator: This pulley is a cast steel model
That has a bigger shackle and sturdier pin.
Man: We've got to make something work.
And I think this is going to be our best bet.
Can we put a dab of grease in there?
Yep -- I mean, we're limited to resources out here.
So that is the best option right there, I do believe.
Hey, carlos, do you want to go out on that cable
And change that one out for me?
I don't mind, but why don't you let james have a chance at it,
You know?
James, what do you think?
Everybody's been on that cable except for james.
Yeah, bro.
I'll go -- I'll go out there, yeah.
-You sure? -Yep, I got it.
All right, don't pass out or nothin'.
We got it.
We're giving you a hell of a job.
I understand.
Narrator: This task is a first for james,
And dustin takes the opportunity
To train up his most inexperienced crew member.
Oof.
Absolutely terrified of this.
You just try to get it to where that hook will go through
That loop over that cable
And then get that pin in it.
All right? You okay with this?
Nothing else scares me but heights.
All that fear stuff?
You're going to have to control it.
It's all right to be afraid.
You still have to be able to harness it, right?
I'll be all right.
So if these guys are going to continue to work with me,
They have to be able to do some of the stuff I do,
If I go down, that means the job goes down.
So I got to train these guys.
It'll help me in the long run.
James is so scared of being on heights
That he sometimes kind of freezes up,
But he wants to be better at it.
So we'll see how he's going to act.
Remember, you gotta push that block back.
-Wait -- -hey, keep your hands back.
Don't let me out too fast.
[bleep].
Slow down, dude!
[bleep].
Aah, you're going too fast!
All right, you're all right.
You're all right.
You got it.
[bleep] me runnin'.
Am I [bleep] crazy or what?
Relax.
Shake your arms out, man, breathe it out.
All right, come on.
[ grunts ]
♪♪
Draw the cable up!
Narrator: Suspended 25 feet above the raging whitewater,
Look at 'im shakin'!
Yea, buddy!
Narrator: James now has to unscrew the heavier
Replacement pulley from its safety line
And hook it onto the skyline cable
Without it slipping out of his hands.
Yeah, buddy!
[ james grunting ]
♪♪
[bleep].
♪♪
Figure it out, slow down.
Can't get the [bleep] pulley on the cable, it's too heavy!
[bleep] damn it!
I can't get hold of it.
You're all right.
Slow down, slow down, you're all right.
Okay, it's on! I got it!
Think that'll do. Yeah, buddy!
All right, now get me off of this!
Whoo! You're good to go, man!
Hell yeah! There you go!
[ laughs ]
Whoo!
He feels like a warrior right now, just came through battle.
[ laughs ]
[bleep], I can't believe I just did that.
You are going to have some stories
To tell at the end of this season.
You never thought you'd be able to do these things, man,
And look at that!
[ laughs ]
Now, how crazy did that feel?
Ugh! [ laughs ]
Oh, I'm so happy for you, man.
I felt -- I felt like I was fearing for my life,
But I was trying to get a job done.
Great job, man. You're doing great.
You can handle this.
Whoo!
[bleep] the crazy [bleep] you put me through.
[ laughs ]
I'm proud of you, man!
That's how you overcome your fears right there, buddy.
That was awesome. -It looks great.
Look what you did, bro!
That's beautiful man.
That's the definition of courage right there, man.
Being afraid and doing it anyway, man.
♪♪
Fred: This skyline is critical to our operation.
Narrator: At the trifecta,
Fred can't get to the gold
Until he repairs the faulty anchors on the skyline.
If this thing fails, the dragoid fails,
Our whole operation is going to be a failure
Because we're not going to be able to reach the bottom
In the short amount of time
That we've got to do it in.
Narrator: To reinforce the skyline.
Paul makes holes for a secondary set of anchor points
To attach to the cable.
Put a few licks on it left handed.
Nothin' easy out here, that's for sure.
It's going. -That's good right there.
All right, I think we got them.
We're in good shape.
Much better than when we started,
That's for damn sure.
All right, that's perfect.
Right now, we could just get
Scrappy as hell with that dragoid.
Start pulling them rocks.
Man: Oh, we got our skyline hooked back up right.
We need that dragoid running as much as possible.
Go ahead. A little at a time. Nice and easy.
Narrator: Secure anchor bolts
Mean fred can get his dragoid back to clearing boulders.
-Yeah. All right. -On a fast track to gold.
Fred: Whew, that's one big rock!
That dragoid is going to be our best friend.
It's like having a big giant diver,
Pickin' those rocks up and moving them out of there for us.
-There we go. -All in all,
One hell of a success --
It'll get us a little closer to the gold.
♪♪
Today's my first dive.
It's looking like it's going to be rough out there today.
I'm going to continue to do what I can to help us get the gold.
Oh, crap. The water's too fast.
Narrator: After his confidence boost on the skyline,
James steps up to do his first dive of the season,
Moving boulders down to finish the dam.
-How are you feeling, james? -Ah, a little nervous.
Dustin: Good. It's a good thing.
What I need from you today, I need as many big rocks
As I can get and put them by the dam system.
If I can raise that water up
It would just change our whole situation right now.
That's some fast, fast water, be safe down there, james!
♪♪
If we can get some kind of rocks across the waterway,
It tends to slow it down a bit,
But we've got extra amount of water this year,
So if we can get it to slow down any we're going to be way ahead.
-Oh! -You're okay, james!
You're okay.
[bleep].
So hard to stay in one spot. [bleep].
Use your muscles!
[ groaning ]
He's a good diver!
[ james groaning ]
I have to get gold.
It's wet in this water.
How's it looking down there, james?
Well, there's some big rocks down here,
We're at boulder city, now,
Wait till you see this boulder.
I might be able to put the superclaw on it.
Copy that, we'll prep the superclaw.
Narrator: Dustin's superclaw is operated by the winch,
Its steel bars close around heavy boulders.
Dustin: Using the superclaw for the first time this year,
When we get to rocks we normally couldn't lift,
We'll be able to lift them.
Open up.
Cables are jammin' up.
♪♪
[ shouts indistinctly ]
-You got it? -[ speaks indistinctly ]
All right, here I go.
♪♪
Well, that didn't work.
All right, what's he at? What do you want to do?
All right.
Trying to pull out some big rocks,
The superclaw might not quite be big enough to do this.
So, might be a problem.
Come down on the [speaks indistinctly] just a little bit.
No way, holy crap.
It's on there.
That's good news.
[ james speaking indistinctly ]
Yeah, think I got it. You got it, you got it!
All right.
That's number one.
Whoo-hoo! [bleep]!
Good job, man, look at that thing.
That's a big one!
That was so hard, dude.
I'll bet. There we go.
♪♪
Good job, james, nice boulder.
Slowed it up, didn't it?!
All right, you go dredge, man,
Let's see if we got some gold underneath that thing, huh?
Every time we move a boulder,
There's big, chunky gold underneath it.
We're gonna get you a basket.
All we got to do is go down and do our normal digging.
Every boulder that comes up,
We're just going to stack 'em up,
It'll slow the water a little bit each day,
Let us get the gold at the bottom.
This is it.
♪♪
[ speaks indistinctly ] let me get clear.
Whoo-hoo! [bleep]!
[bleep].
Narrator: At rockfall ravine,
Dustin's dam is slowing the water.
Now james can dredge deeper.
Dustin: James set a high bar to beat today,
I saw a lot of material go over this box.
He's probably got us really close
To where we ended last year.
This is why james is down here.
His main strength, he's super strong underwater.
It's his time to shine right now.
Movin' the big boulders, digging like a maniac.
He can dig like a champion.
James is a badass when it comes to
Being in this water.
We got some yard today, that's what it was about, right?
Yeah, it's all about the yardage right now, man.
Narrator: After five hard hours dredging for gold,
James calls time on his dive.
Man: You went the distance, bro.
Good job, man!
Yeah!
James, man!
He frickin' killed it today!
Yeah!
♪♪
And I'm happy that I got some work done today
For the guys and I managed to get at least four feet,
I dug a deep enough hole
To where I could get away from that water.
That's rushing right into my face.
Did you look in the box yet?
Nope, haven't even glanced in there yet.
I'm curious.
-Dude, there's nuggets in there. -Oh, there's nuggets in there.
Hell yeah, james!
I knew there's gold in there, dude!
[bleep].
-That's awesome, man. -Yeah, oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, there's a nugget right there.
That's a good size one.
[ laughter ]
Another nugget!
That's the way you do it, yardage, man --
Yardage, yardage.
Look at that! That's a nug.
Man, that's beautiful, dude.
[ clinks ] I love that sound.
Starting to get on the gold, boyses!
Yeah, we diggin' in gold!
Love it! Love it!
I've been looking everywhere.
I can tell you a hundred places on these claims,
There's absolutely no gold.
That's not the case here.
This was the right place to dig.
We nearly kill ourselves looking for this, and we found it.
So many people told me not to waste my time with this.
Here I am -- they can kiss my ass.
Narrator: On the next "gold rush: Whitewater"...
Man: I don't know if I should let you go down there.
Holy crap, man, you actually did this?
You're not thinking that's some easy [bleep] now, are ya?!
Scott, he's brand-new to this whole operation.
I want to see how he works.
-Whoa! -Down to the bone.
This is rookie dumb [bleep].
There's a nugget.
Did you just say you found a nugget?
-Gold, gold, gold. -That's the nugget!
This is going to be one hell of a spot.
We have arrived!