[music playing]
Up!
Let's get out of here.
Rock and roll.
Narrator: Late September in southeast
Alaska's chilkat mountains, temperatures
Are just above freezing.
And season-ending storms could hit any day.
Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Man (on radio): The local forecast for southeast alaska--
Gale force winds to 35 knots are expected.
[bleep]
Man (on radio): In addition, heavy rain
Will result in significant rises to rivers and streams.
Continue to monitor the forecast for local details.
Son of a [bleep].
That sucks, man.
All right.
Let's suit up.
It's looking pretty grim.
Winter's here.
It's going to be a cold one.
Get in there and get it out real quick.
That's the only hope we got.
All right.
Let's do this.
Narrator: After four long months of dredging,
Dustin hurt and his crew are running
Out of time to add to their record-breaking gold haul.
It's going to be an early winter.
Summer is gone.
This is not a hospitable place.
But we need more gold.
We need to find enough gold to make it worth being out here.
We have to get to the bottom of that hole
Because that's definitely a game changer for the rest
Of our lives, I guarantee you.
We get down to the bottom of that hole,
That might be retirement time.
It's either all or nothing.
We need to find out where the rest of this gold is fast.
Yeah.
We'll get it.
Carlos minor: Let's go to work.
And we have lift-off.
Woo!
Fred hurt: I came to prove there's gold
In the bottom of this creek.
It's the biggest day of the season.
Hell yeah.
It appears that I'm going to get the glory dig.
I know you can do it.
Let's go.
Oh, [bleep].
It's crazy.
One wrong move, and the gun goes off.
I don't want to be buried underwater.
Man: Oh!
I think he's crazy for going in.
We dredge till the end.
Man: [inaudible].
It could be the best pave we've ever seen.
Get that gold.
Man: There is gold everywhere.
The old man just had to know if he was right or not.
[music playing]
Woo!
Man, I'm psyched up.
Narrator: At the trifecta, with the end of the season fast
Approaching, 77-year-old mining legend fred hurt's
Diving days are numbered.
Fred hurt: We need to get that thing primed up
And get us some gold.
We don't have much time to do this in.
We've been having some freezing nights out here.
But we came to prove trifecta's got gold in it.
I told dustin, there's gold in the bottom of this creek.
And he's skeptical.
But I'm gonna tell you what, I don't
Ever listen to the naysayers.
You don't ever get nothing done if you listen to the naysayers.
Narrator: Fred has staked his reputation and what
Could be his last season on finding a monster pile
Of gold nuggets on bedrock.
Fred hurt: We've been out here for months.
We dug 20 feet down, pulled tons and tons of rocks out of here,
Mostly with the dredge and by hand.
Lots and lots of hard work, focus
So much on getting to the bottom of flat bedrock down there.
I left my family.
I left my logging business.
I left all of it.
I left everything I had back home
With the dream of coming out here
And actually striking it rich.
Narrator: Last week, 20 feet down,
As they closed in on bedrock, they
Finally started to hit the nuggets fred
Had bet his entire season on.
Oh, [bleep].
Damn.
That's a nice-looking box.
All right.
Look at that.
Fred hurt: Woo!
Those are nice.
Narrator: Now every dive could be their last.
But the deeper they dive, the greater the danger.
We're not on the bottom yet.
If we can get to the bottom of this thing, we can get gold.
Narrator: Fred tasks his most experienced
Diver, paul richardson, to finally hit bedrock.
Paul richardson: It's so small on the very bottom.
It's like your head down in a 55-gallon drum.
Some of the rocks are on the wall above that.
It's going to fall in the hole.
It would be like being trapped in an avalanche.
It's like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.
Fred hurt: Get him all suited up.
Get you in the [bleep] water and go get it.
Yeah, I'm ready.
It's a huge day for us, probably
The biggest day of the season.
We need big gold today.
We're counting on you today, paul.
Give it all you got, man.
Do you feel good?
Everything feels good.
Go get that gold, buddy.
Hell yeah.
[shouting] it's cold!
Definitely some sketchy rocks up here.
[bleep]
[inaudible]
Wow.
It's amazing and scary all at the same time.
All right.
Can I get a little bit of slack on that rope?
Fred hurt: Copy that.
All right.
Down here at the bottom?
Fred hurt: Are you down in that real deep hole?
Yeah.
Fred hurt: The last two or three feet is
Where you're gonna find gold.
Paul richardson: All right.
Perfect.
Thank you.
Narrator: For 17 weeks, the crew has dug 20 feet down
Beside the vertical face of an ancient waterfall
Into a plunge pool that should form a perfect gold
Catch, where fred believes on bedrock they'll uncover
A life-changing pile of gold.
Paul richardson: All right, down here at the bottom,
[inaudible].
Scott allen: Copy that.
Coming out.
All right, hold it right there.
[inaudible].. Take it out a little bit.
Scott allen: [inaudible].
We get down there, [inaudible].
Paul richardson: It's like playing russian roulette.
One wrong pull, and the gun goes off.
Scott allen: Be careful down there, buddy.
Paul richardson: The basket is full.
Basket is full.
Copy.
[inaudible] a little bit.
Narrator: After an hour of clearing massive boulders,
Paul should be within inches of bedrock.
Get me that measuring pole.
Pole's coming down, paul.
18.
19.
20.
21 feet, [inaudible].
21 feet.
Oh, you are a long way down there.
[bleep] yeah.
Fred hurt: That's a hell of a hole.
It's crazy.
You just gotta do a little bit of dredging.
See what you can do.
All right.
[inaudible]
Fred hurt: Ready, let's go.
Narrator: Paul sends the nugget-rich gravel up
The hose to the sluice box on the surface.
Here it comes.
It's coming up now.
Now find us that big pocket of gold.
Paul richardson: Hell yeah.
Exciting day.
Yeah, [inaudible] down here, guys.
Scott allen: Feels good.
Keep going.
Copy.
Narrator: Paul digs down, inching the suction
Nozzle closer to bedrock.
We're right on it.
Starting to level off downstream.
It's looking pretty good.
I think I saw another piece of gold go in.
Ow!
Get that gold!
This is [bleep] exciting right now.
Fred hurt: We're going to hit it.
We're going to do it.
We're gonna do it.
Hold it right there.
Holy.
What the hell?
A big section of the wall came down.
Fred hurt: Hold on, hold on.
How's it going down there, paul?
Paul richardson: Around that section of the wall
Is making this all come down.
You ok?
I'm definitely concerned if it's gonna cave in,
This whole thing is gonna come down on me.
Oh--
Fred hurt: Hold off, hold off.
Paul, are you ok?
I think the old section of the wall
Came down, this whole thing's gonna come down on me.
Narrator: At the trifecta, over 20 feet down
And inches from bedrock, the boulder-packed walls
Of the holes are collapsing around diver paul richardson.
God.
Fred hurt: Paul, get out of there.
We're gonna take him out of the water right now.
Holy [bleep].
You all right, man?
What happened, that wall just came right down.
If it would have buried my feet, I couldn't have
Gotten my feet out of there.
We had that hole, what was it, 21 foot.
It's not anymore.
We've got three foot of debris on the bottom.
It's going to take us two, three days
Just to get back to the bedrock again.
Narrator: But with the first winter storms on the way,
Fred's crew is running out of time.
Fred hurt: We're right on it.
We're on the gold.
There is gold down there.
But at what point do we say that it's too dangerous,
We're going to get somebody hurt, somebody killed?
It's a matter of weighing what we can get
Or what kind of danger we're going to have to face to do it.
Is that hole too dangerous to work in?
If you're upside down and you get buried, you're gone.
Scott allen: Ain't that's just a kick in the [bleep] ?
We finally get to the point we've
Been chasing all [bleep] season, and now we're
Getting chased out of here.
The hole's too [bleep] dangerous.
I mean--
Man, I know we all want more gold,
But there's no amount of gold worth somebody's life.
There's a time to go after the gold,
And there's a time to call it quits.
Ok, better be ready.
It's on.
Narrator: Half a mile downstream, at the chute--
Let's go get it.
Let's go to work.
Narrator: --After three weeks of dredging their new dive site,
Dustin hurt is also racing to find gold
At the bottom of a plunge pool.
Dustin hurt: We're not down to the bottom yet,
But I'm so hopeful that this thing has gold in it.
Narrator: Over the last four months,
Dustin's crew has dredged over 30 ounces
Of gold worth over $60,000.
But if they can hit bedrock before the big freeze
Shuts them out, they could go home with a fortune in gold.
Dustin hurt: Dane found a pretty good sized nugget.
That's wonderful news, proof this thing has gold in it.
We need to get it cleaned out and find out what's down there.
I'm going in next.
It appears that I'm going to get the glory dig
And get to clean the bottom of the bedrock.
Hopefully there's a lot of gold with it.
Let me go get suited up.
All right.
Let's finish this.
Carlos minor: We need to get to the bottom of the chute.
We need gold.
We need gold to make this work.
We've got to keep focus.
We can't mess this up.
It's a do-or-die thing.
We dredge till the end.
Dustin hurt: I'm gonna take the whole top down and get
Some of the bigger rocks out.
I think that's a good call.
Dustin hurt: I want that basket to fly.
All right.
We can do that.
There you go.
I know you can do it.
You've got this.
Dustin hurt: Oh, I hate this.
I know!
Dustin hurt: [bleep]
Oh!
It's so cold.
[inaudible]
Narrator: Eight feet down, dustin is following bedrock
Steps into the plunge pool.
But a layer of boulders and gravel stands
In his way to reach what he believes
Is a fortune in chunky gold.
I got so many big rocks down here.
[inaudible]
Ok.
Going down.
Dustin hurt: [inaudible].
Let's go.
All right.
Go ahead and lift.
Got it.
Oh.
Holy moly.
Woo-hoo!
Going down.
Dustin hurt: Stop.
I'll stop.
All right.
Hold on.
Coming up.
Got it?
Yep.
Ok.
Dustin hurt: It's gonna lift it up.
Man: Yep, I got it.
Hey!
Carlos minor: Woo!
That's a lot of rocks down there.
Narrator: Two hours into his dive, dustin's
Taken the plunge pool down another two feet.
Man: What's it looking like down there?
Dustin hurt: [inaudible]
Man: Awesome.
Dustin hurt: On the upstream side of the pool,
There's some big green rocks in here.
Really?
Green rocks.
Woo-hoo-hoo!
Dustin hurt: You know what those green rocks have.
Gold.
Use the basket.
Copy that.
Coming downstream.
Narrator: Green rocks are packed full of metals and minerals.
Due to their weight, they're usually
Found near bedrock gold.
All right.
Let's go.
Holy moly.
All these rocks are green, dude.
Yeah.
Woo-hoo!
All right.
Let's go.
[inaudible]
It's right there!
Looking good.
Narrator: Finally, through the rocks,
Dustin can now continue his hunt for bedrock
And their big pile of chunky gold.
Dustin hurt: Whoa.
[bleep]
[inaudible]
Oh, it hurts, it hurts.
What the hell?
Carlos minor: [inaudible],, we got a fire.
Dustin hurt: Fure!
Man: Fire.
[bleep] hell.
[bleep] [bleep]
What's going on here?
It melted into the hose.
There's no water coming out of that.
Carlos minor: Ok, bring him up, bring him up.
Faster.
Get out of there.
[bleep] damn it.
Now what's going on? - Yep.
He's gonna come up.
[bleep], that hurt.
[bleep]
You all right?
It hurt.
[bleep]
What happened?
I don't know.
It came in hot, dude.
That [bleep] boiled over.
[screaming]
Is that water going through that [bleep]??
Oh, I know.
Somehow one of the valves got turned off.
Dustin hurt: What the [bleep]?
[bleep]
I don't know how that happened.
Well, I don't even know how it got turned off.
James, y'all turn this off?
That was totally my fault. I made a mistake.
I bumped that when I was slipping all over the place.
Dustin hurt: What the hell are you thinking?
What the [bleep].
I can't believe I [bleep] made that mistake.
Narrator: The dredge extracts cold water from the creek,
Passes it through a pair of filters,
Then heats it in a sleeve around the engine's exhaust.
When james accidentally hit the valve on one of the filters,
He halved the water supply going to the exhaust,
Sending scalding hot water to dustin's dive suit.
Dustin hurt: We're obviously tired, man, making
Stupid mistakes like that.
It looks bad.
There was no water flowing through our heat system.
It caught that rubber hose on fire.
I can try to fix it by tomorrow.
Dustin hurt: We won't be diving today.
Narrator: With the dredge out of action,
Dustin has no choice but to call an end to the dive.
This is ridiculous.
There's a storm coming through.
I got snow coming down the mountain right now.
I don't have time for this.
Gah.
[bleep]
No go, man.
[bleep]
Narrator: Up ahead--
We are down on the gold.
Is the rest of that gold down there worth
Getting one of us hurt?
No.
I think you're crazy for going in.
Holy [bleep].
Dustin hurt: This [bleep] will kill you.
We won't even find your body.
Pull my damn hose.
Get him out of there. Hey, guys.
Help me.
Pull him up.
[groaning]
[music playing]
All right, we need to fix this to get this done.
Yeah.
Narrator: As the first big winter storm barrels
Towards alaska, dustin's crew races
To finish repairing the dredge.
James accidentally flipped one of the switches,
So it stopped water going to our hot water system.
Narrator: After working through the night at camp,
Wes scavenged enough parts to get
The dredge back up and running.
Ok, done.
Start this back up.
Come on, baby.
That's better.
Woo!
Yes.
We got it figured out.
We got water going through our heaters,
So we're ready to dredge.
It's all good.
That was a close call.
It could have caught the whole thing on fire,
And that would have ended our season.
We would have had to pack up.
All right.
Everything seems to be working now.
Sorry, man.
I apologize.
We all [bleep] up, bro.
It's all good.
All right.
Let's go to work.
Narrator: Now it's carlos's chance
To be the one who finally hits the bottom of the plunge pool
And uncovers a monster payday on bedrock.
We've got to push.
We've got to get hungry.
And we've got to dig it out.
We've got to get that gold.
We're almost there, man.
I want to finish it off.
All right, are you going to finish
This [bleep] haul for me today?
Do my best, man.
I don't know what kind of mess is down there, dude.
Ooh.
[chuckling]
Ok.
Air check?
Good.
All right, let's go.
Have a good dive, man.
Let's get the gold.
All right.
Ah.
[groaning]
Oh.
Got down to the bottom [inaudible]..
Give me a basket, please.
Copy that.
Oh, stop.
Just stop out there.
Narrator: 10 feet down in the plunge pool,
Carlos is back on the hunt for bedrock gold.
All right, [inaudible].
Ready to rock and roll.
This basket's good to go.
All right, coming up.
That's it.
Narrator: But an hour into the dive, carlos
Still hasn't hit bedrock.
Is that pole showing any signs of [inaudible]??
Carlos minor: I had to stop because
Of the big boulder that's in the middle of [inaudible]..
Copy that.
Carlos minor: All right, stop.
All right.
Dustin hurt: All right, here we go.
Carlos minor: Come on, get out.
That's a big one.
Get out, get out, get out.
All right, [inaudible],, you got it.
Woo.
That's a big one.
It's really heavy.
[inaudible]
I can't lift it.
James: It's more pounds than we can pull with the winch.
Man: Hold on, hold on.
Dustin hurt: Watch out.
[bleep]
Wes richardson: It's starting to turn.
Now it's starting to go hit the dredge.
Dustin hurt: [bleep] can you grab it real quick?
[bleep] my way.
Oh, man.
That's not what I wanted.
I don't want him to smash the dredge.
What do you want to do?
Well, I don't know.
I mean, we can use the [inaudible]
And try to get it out.
All right, let's try that.
Narrator: If the rock rolls forward,
It could completely destroy the dredge.
Wes richardson: Can you clip it onto the carabiner?
Narrator: Wes improvises, using a come-along winch.
Hey, wes!
If that thing cuts loose, it's gonna [bleep] you up.
Wes richardson: Y'all move out of the way.
Be careful, man.
Watch out.
All done.
Get it off of there.
Woo!
Yeah, boy.
That's a rock moving.
Good job, guys.
Look at the size of the boulders we're getting out now.
That's a little one.
That's a little one?
That's amazing.
I just can't imagine what's going
To be in the bottom of that.
A little bit of dredging.
Narrator: The rocks out of his way, carlos
Can finally get back to the hunt for bedrock.
Come along.
Let's see what happens.
Copy that.
It's getting there.
[inaudible]
Dustin hurt: Dude, you're still going down?
Yeah.
Getting there, man.
[inaudible], dude.
Narrator: Carlos has exposed all four walls of the plunge pool.
Now he can continue digging down in search of the bedrock
Bottom, where he believes he will
Find a pile of gold nuggets.
Oh, man, this is--
I don't know what's down here, man.
Digging a tunnel, [inaudible].
There had to be something that created a waterfall right
There, because there's no other way to dig
That hole without any pressure.
You have to have down-- straight down
Pressure to dig that there.
Wes richardson: Yeah.
It's got to be an ancient waterfall.
It'll be the best pay we ever see.
Carlos minor: [inaudible] that hose.
Dustin hurt: Copy that.
Hey, pull the dredge.
We're trying to move the dredge up to get
Carlos a couple more feet.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Now the hose will go.
Perfect.
We gave you an extra foot and a half on the [inaudible]..
[inaudible].
Dude, this is freakin' gorgeous, man.
[inaudible]
Just working the area around it and going left to right, dude.
Taking it down, man.
Dustin hurt: All right.
Look how much you got blowing through there now.
I can feel that's going to have a bunch of [bleep] gold in it.
I hope so.
Hey, man.
[inaudible] 40-minute warning.
[inaudible]
Dustin hurt: I know, dude.
I know what you're seeing.
Narrator: Determined to hit the bedrock gold,
Carlos has taken the plunge pool down to 12 feet.
Dustin hurt: All right, man.
Come up.
Oh.
Ok, man.
Narrator: But after an epic five-hour dive,
Dustin calls time.
Dustin hurt: [inaudible]
You're all right.
Woo-hoo-hoo!
Good job, man.
Good job, brother man.
You got a bunch of [bleep] out today, man.
That's [bleep] awesome, dude.
Woo!
That's a gold pole.
I guarantee it.
It's like a shaft.
What a freaking day, man.
There's gold in there.
Oh, yeah.
Just a couple of small fingers today.
Carlos minor: I wanted to hit bottom, man.
I wanted you to hit bottom, too.
But the deeper it goes, the more possibilities of gold.
But the longer it's going to take us to dig it.
Do you believe this might be one of our deepest digs?
Deeper than nugget bowl already.
Yeah.
It's getting there, man.
All four sides, dude.
I mean, you can see all four sides.
Perfect nugget catch of all times.
That was created for the purpose of gold.
It was created for us to dig that out to get that gold.
Dustin hurt: Carlos definitely had a good dive.
I hoped he'd hit the bottom, but this thing just keeps going
Down, which blows my damn mind.
This is the best-looking nugget catch we've ever looked at.
It's going to be a dream come true for us.
[music playing]
Fred hurt: All right.
We had a situation occur, and I don't know what we're
Going to do about it just yet.
Narrator: At the trifecta, dakota fred and his crew
Face their toughest decision of the season.
We are down on the gold.
There's gold in this hole.
But the wall down there is very unstable.
Paul just avoided total disaster.
Narrator: They've started to find large chunky gold as they
Close in on the bedrock, but on his last dive,
Paul richardson narrowly escaped death
When the wall collapsed above him 21 feet deep in the hole.
I mean, if I would have been head down
And kicked that one rock, I'd still be down there right now.
Fred hurt: We don't have much time.
We're about to get us nasty weather.
Up in this mountain, once it hits, you're screwed.
We've got to make a decision what
The hell we're going to do.
I know we all want more gold, but I
Don't see any way for a diver to be down there safely.
I can't go back in.
I don't want to be buried underwater.
That is one of my biggest fears.
Scott allen: No [bleep].
I want to get home to my kids.
Paul richardson: Yeah.
I understand all your positions.
I respect them.
But I want to go after some more gold.
Scott allen: Dude.
Is the rest of that gold down there worth
Getting one of us hurt?
No.
Dustin hurt: What's going on, fred?
Narrator: Four months ago, fred pledged he'd
Hit gold at the bedrock bottom.
Dustin hurt:
I'm thinking we missed a whole lot of gold in the trifecta.
Trifecta?
Yeah.
Jeez.
I think there's gold there.
I didn't find anything there, but I hope you do.
See, in my mind, that's where the gold got caught.
If you hit it real big, I expect you're gonna break
Off a piece for me, right?
Hell yes, because I'm going to get plenty of it.
I understand what the dangers are down there.
I've seen them.
But I came to prove there's gold in the bottom of this creek.
Y'all go ahead and get everything together here.
I didn't get to be 77 years old by taking chances all my life.
But the lure of gold, it's strong.
I don't know if fred's drive is gold fever.
I'm afraid he's going to dredge himself a grave down there.
Paul richardson: One wrong move, and everything
Is going to come tumbling down.
You got 20 foot of rocks above your head.
You'd be buried alive instantly.
The hunt for gold continues.
Maybe we find the bottom.
Maybe we can't.
The only way to find out is to get my ass in the hole water
And find out.
Let's go.
You're ready to go, fred.
Here we go.
You be careful on that entrance, man.
Fred hurt: Wow.
That's a big rock [inaudible].
Paul richardson: Be careful of [inaudible]..
When you're down there 20 foot and you look up
And you see rocks hanging over your head like that,
Any second they could come down on you.
You're not getting out of there.
You're just stuck in a funnel at the bottom.
Any second now, that wall could come tumbling down.
Fred hurt: I'm down in the hall.
There's rocks that have been falling
Down on top of the ladder here.
All right, let's clear it up a little bit.
Come down with the basket.
Copy that.
Coming down.
Narrator: Before fred can get dredging to bedrock,
He needs to remove the three feet of rocks and gravel
That fell in on the last dive.
Paul richardson: Ok, fred.
Just be careful down there, man.
Fred hurt: There's no room for the basket down here at all.
All right, [inaudible] up on the basket.
Paul, stop.
I'm taking rocks right now.
There's a huge danger factor right now.
It's like russian roulette.
You never know when that round's going to go off.
Fred hurt: The hole is so small that there's no room.
It's a tight space down here.
All right, keep it straight up.
Paul richardson: Copy that.
Narrator: After two hours of moving baskets,
Fred is back on virgin ground.
I'm going to hook up the gold blaster,
Trying to open up an area a little bit.
Narrator: No room to maneuver, fred needs to create
Enough space to dredge.
Paul richardson: Sounds pretty grim down there.
[inaudible] 30 minutes of dredging.
Much to my dismay, and against my advice,
He's going to gold blast.
He's trying to push it as far as he can push it.
Paul richardson: He's wanting to get the gold blaster in there
And try to open the hole up a little bit.
That's going to be challenging in itself,
Because that wall is pretty straight.
And as soon as he starts undercutting,
It's going to want to start coming down.
[inaudible] gold blaster.
Hey, fred, just be careful down there, man.
It's got everybody on edge right now.
Fred hurt: [inaudible].
This will be fine.
You hooked up the dredge nozzle.
Copy.
Carlos minor: Gonna do a little dredging.
Narrator: After using the gold blaster
To expand the bottom of the hole,
Fred can now dredge deep into the virgin gravel
For his fortune.
Carlos minor: [inaudible] a lot of rocks there.
[inaudible] four inches on the dredge.
Paul richardson: Copy that.
Fred hurt: [inaudible] blast of hot air.
Scott allen: That's a good sign.
Fred hurt: Yep, right there [inaudible]
Hook lines on the bottom.
I'm going to feed that pole down there.
18.
19.
Fred hurt: Keep going.
20.
21.
Fred hurt: Keep going.
Ryan cardoza: Holy [bleep],, fred.
Fred hurt: Fine, what you got there?
22 feet.
Man, I can't hardly believe that.
Fred hurt: Looking good.
Narrator: 22 feet is the deepest fred has ever dredged the hole.
Fred hurt: I'm not sure that that's not bedrock right there.
You got bedrock?
Fred hurt: I got flat bedrock down here.
I got about a foot of it opened up right now, so looking good.
Yeah.
That's what we've been looking for.
Finally.
Hell yeah.
Man, that is excellent news, fred.
It's a long time coming.
Narrator: After a season full of setbacks and four long months
Of dredging, fred's dogged determination
Has finally got him to bedrock.
It's taken us all season, but we are finally on bedrock.
We're finally there.
We're finally getting the good gold.
This is what we've been hunting for all year.
I'm pulling it out.
It's only a little bit of it right now.
Oh, this goes a big chunk of gold.
Scott allen: Looking for it, yeah.
We got it, we got it.
Yeah!
Ryan cardoza: It's time to make some gold, buddy.
Yeah!
That is some good-looking stuff.
Wow.
What an incredible sight.
Oh!
[bleep]
Man: What's going on down there, fred?
Fred hurt: [bleep] winches rock.
Are you ok?
Fred hurt: [inaudible].
Fred, that sounded real bad.
Fred hurt: I know.
I don't want to come back up right now.
If I can work [inaudible] right just a little bit and away,
I can avoid that damn thing.
If the walls are that loose, he needs to get out.
Otherwise it's going to cave in on him.
Fred hurt: [coughing] yes [bleep] can't see down here.
Ah.
Pull my damn hose.
Pull.
Pull!
Get him out of there.
Hey, scott, help him.
Pull him up.
Fred.
Fred hurt: [wheezing]
It's a long day, man.
James, you gonna build us a fire?
Yeah.
I'll get a fire going.
That's a lot of fire wood, brother.
Holy moly.
James: Just preparing for that cold winter that's coming in.
I think it's coming in a little faster than they expect.
Carlos minor: No doubt.
It's gonna get really, really cold the next couple of days.
We have to start working on that roof.
Narrator: At mckinley camp, the first storm
Of the alaskan winter is on the way.
The weather is coming in.
It's snowing just above us.
It may snow on us tonight even.
But we can handle it.
We're tough.
I got a great crew.
We're strong.
We're motivated.
We need to get a little bit more gold before I
Can justify leaving this place.
It's a gamble.
Man: What's going on down there, friend?
Fred hurt: Whoa, [inaudible] [bleep] rock.
Narrator: At the trifecta, dakota fred
Has finally hit gold on bedrock at 22 feet down in the hole.
If the walls are that loose, he needs to get out.
Otherwise it's going to cave in on him.
What's going on down there, fred?
Fred hurt: [coughing] there's some [bleep] [inaudible]..
Oh.
Pull my damn hose.
Pull, pull!
Get him out of there. Hey, scott.
Help him.
Pull him up.
Fred hurt: [wheezing]
Fred!
Oh, fred.
Get him out of the [bleep] water.
Paul richardson: Can you hear me?
Ugh.
Paul richardson: You all right?
Yeah, I'm all right.
Ugh.
Hey.
You ok?
[bleep] [bleep].
Bunch of rocks come down in that hole.
Yeah.
It had my boot wedged up in there,
And it was no letting go.
That scared the [bleep] out of me.
That's the first time I ever got stuck that bad.
I was pulling on that dive boat with everything I had.
And I did not move anything.
I mean, that is crazy.
Awful thoughts were going through my mind.
When you all pulled on me, it pulled me up just enough.
All I just was trying to do was just get out of the damn thing.
It's not looking good.
We no longer have a well.
All that stuff down there from about six feet down
To the bottom is filled in, the whole thing.
We're not going to be able to continue the dig.
Narrator: After narrowly avoiding two catastrophic wall
Collapses, fred has no choice but to call
It quits at the trifecta.
I'm just glad to see you made it back up, man.
We got lucky on that one.
Fred hurt: Like the old saying says,
I'd rather be lucky than good any day.
Yeah.
[chuckling]
You want to see if you got any gold in the box?
[bleep] [bleep] ha!
Paul richardson: There is gold everywhere.
Go for it.
Scott allen: Look at that big piece there, yeah.
Paul richardson: What I'm seeing here fred,
You're exactly right.
Dustin hurt: So that's what's on bedrock.
Fred hurt: [bleep] damn good to see that.
[interposing voices]
[bleep] wow.
Oh, three of them, four of them.
Paul richardson: [inaudible]
Fred hurt: That's good.
Man.
Some of those pieces.
[bleep], [bleep].
Looking damn fine, fred.
Look at that.
That's the best one so far.
I've never seen that much gold come
Out of that small of an area.
That's worth it.
Narrator: Finding such gold-rich gravel on a small section
Of bedrock is cast-iron proof that fred was
Right about the trifecta gold.
Beginning of the season, I thought
You were crazy for wanting to come back to trifecta
And dig here.
Dustin called me that too.
But damn if you didn't prove that there was some gold here.
Fred hurt: Those, I'm just more than ecstatic.
And I just want to thank you guys for just
All the help you guys gave me.
It has taken one hell of an effort to do all of this.
I gotta admit, this is absolutely one
Of the highlights of my career.
It really-- it's--
Ryan cardoza: Good job, fred.
Excellent dive.
Brought home the bacon.
I mean, the gold.
Old man just had to know if he was right or not.
[chuckling]
Finally, after all the work we've done,
It was just fantastic to see that kind of gold in the box.
Fred took a ton of [bleep] for picking this spot to dredge.
Today he was vindicated.
Yes!
Woo!
Oh, we put some hours in that thing.
Yeah, we have.
That's one hell of a hole.
Sad to see it go.
I feel a little bit bad that we didn't
Get gobs and gobs of gold.
But holy cow, we only worked it down to a six-foot hole.
We could have come up with nothing.
It's not the amount of gold.
It's the fact that we actually did it.
I'm just happy with what's there.
Tough to talk right now.
I'm-- a little overwhelmed a little bit.
Just the fact that there was gold
Down there on the flat bottom makes me feel pretty damn good.
[music playing]
Man (on radio): Like the storm, it
Will bring strong gusty winds and heavy rain
For portions of southeast alaska.
It's coming down, bro.
It's coming down big time.
I don't like the looks of it at all.
Narrator: The first big storm of the alaskan winter has arrived.
It rained nonstop last night.
Weather is not cooperating.
Carlos minor: Holy [bleep], man.
Dustin hurt: Let's suit up.
We're going across.
Narrator: After a month dredging in the chute,
Dustin's crew is racing to hit the bottom of the plunge pool
And uncover a fortune in gold on bedrock.
Dustin hurt: Look at that water.
I've never seen it like that before.
The water levels look higher than they've ever looked.
Holy [bleep].
Carlos minor: Oh!
Dustin hurt: You can see the waters rising.
Carlos minor: We're in for it now, dude.
Can you hear it?
Dustin hurt: Oh, my [bleep].
Carlos minor: Holy [bleep].
Look at that waterfall.
That's freakin' huge.
[bleep]
Dustin hurt: Just all that fresh lumber I see at the bottom
Is what scares me.
[bleep] it does not look good.
Oh, my [bleep].
That rock.
[bleep] don't fall in.
[bleep]
Oh, no!
Oh, my [bleep].
[bleep]
It's destroyed.
What the hell, man?
Dustin hurt: Oh, no.
It looks like it's broke in half.
Carlos minor: Oh, gosh!
This is insane.
What are we gonna do?
[bleep],, I don't know what to tell you.
If we don't have a dredge--
The engine is underwater.
It's unsalvageable.
It's un-diveable.
This [bleep] will kill you.
We won't even find your [bleep] body.
Aw.
Jesus.
Narrator: On the next "gold rush--
White water"--
We got this.
Oh, my--
That's 10 times more than I thought you were going to get.
Ha, ha.
It's all about willpower.
How much do you want the gold?
We can't leave this.
We've got a bunch of gold sitting there waiting for us.
The water looks crazy.
Holy [bleep].
Woo!
[inaudible]
One of us has gotta kill somebody.
Come on!
You got it.
[clanging]
Holy [bleep].
God [bleep].
I can't hold it.
Carlos!
[screaming]