"The race is on{\alphaHFF} to find gold in the Alaskan wilderness." "The race is on to find gold in the Alaskan wilderness." "This is the best country in the world." "the team runs dirt for the first time." "We got gold." "Gold out of our mine." "We are (bleep)." "180)}And the Hoffmans{\alphaHFF} come face to face with tragedy." "180)}" "We need help." "Shana?" "180)}And the Hoffmans come face to face with tragedy." "If she quits breathing" "And her heart stops." "There's nothing those doctors can do." "A fly buzzes by." "It's 6 am" "Todd Hoffman is trying to rouse his crew of gold miners." "Let's go guys." "Good morning." "Go guys." "How ya doing." "Get 'er together man." "Get some coffee." "Let's go." "Jim's asleep." "Greg just got out of the shower." "We're getting gold." "That's it." "That's my commitment." "We're gonna have gold coming out of that jig today." "Todd and his crew arrived at Porcupine Creek 6 weeks ago." "000 gallons of water they'll need every day." "The final step will be when we're actually running." "it's cost them 180 thousand dollars on equipment and running costs." "And every day puts them another thousand bucks deeper into the red." "and soon." "We're bleeding dry." "they're finally ready to run dirt." "All they need is to pump water from the intake pond up to the wash plant." "Our water is gonna come up through the pump down these red lines to four water bars up on the shaker." "I got one water bar to the jig." "One going to the second sluice." "Water flows to every part of the wash plant to recover gold." "It washes away the lighter dirt and leaves the heavier gold behind." "and it's not working right." "Look at the air coming out of that." "There's our problem." "It starts sucking air right there." "Dave Turin runs a quarry back in Oregon." "And he's here to help Todd get the wash plant running." "A little bit of air just screws these things." "They start sucking air." "Its like sucking water through a straw and you got a hole in the straw and you can't suck it up." "dry it out and weld it." "We gotta get the water out first." "Okay." "Let's do that." "Dave Turin and Jim Thurber dry and clean the area that needs to be welded." "Stick welding uses up to 600 amps of electrical current." "More than enough to kill a man." "And particularly dangerous in these wet conditions." "steps up to fix the problem." "It's good." "Get this baby back together and start rocking." "Make sure the excess comes off." "If the weld holds the pump should be able to feed thousands of gallons of water a minute to the wash plant." "Ready dudes." "Clear." "they'll know that they're in business." "Wow." "I think we're okay." "I think we got it." "Is the bottom turned on?" "I don't know." "I think Dave got it." "Wooh!" "Are we ready to turn stuff on?" "Blowing water everywhere." "We're ready to go." "Run some rock through here and get some gold." "Just before they can start mining.." "Hey." "Todd spots a stranger on the claim." "They have no choice but to shut everything down." "I saw him heading down by the river." "The stranger is a government inspector investigating water use at the mine." "We need to fix this." "Okay" "We need to close this off." "needs a berm." "Okay." "So this is completely blocked." "Okay." "the team dug a channel connecting the creek to their holding pond." "But it's in breach of fish and game regulations." "This part right here needs to be returned to it's original condition." "Okay." "This channel they've excavated here in the stream bank is a violation." "Um." "there's potential to shut this whole operation down." "Porcupine Creek is a breeding ground for salmon." "worth over two billion dollars a year." "The salmon fishery in Alaska is very important." "Huge commercial fishing and recreational fishing." "And we want to make sure that these type of activities don't impact habitat." "Fish and game is worried that young fish could swim into the holding pond from the creek." "And be sucked up into the wash plant." "When do you want me to close this off." "Immediately?" "Uh yeah." "Right now." "Okay." "Will do." "We'll do it right now." "Fish and Game could end our season right here." "a bad position cause now we don't have water." "It really friggen hurts." "we're screwed." "You got any ideas?" "This is a mess man." "I don't know what to do." "and fast." "They hatch a plan to use an old pump head as a fish strainer." "for setting in a hole." "we could set" "We're not gonna suck any rocks up into the pump." "This screen will allow them to draw water without sucking in fish." "all they have to do is persuade the man from Fish and Game." "we could get started." "yup." "I think this will work." "thanks." "Alright" "Appreciate it." "Very well." "Give her s**t." "Keep it." "Their quick fix has stopped them being shut down." "But their holding pond has already dried out." "They'll need to fill it if they're going to be mining in the morning." "This has to put a kink in our little wheel." "We got to get on it though." "We got to get back to work." "Stop right here." "They have just a few hours of daylight left." "First the team needs to lay 80 yards of piping from the creek over the berm to the canal." "get it out there a ways." "they use the 400 excavator to bring in the pump with the fish screen attached." "I gotta get this...hook set in the water." "The Porcupine river is fed by water from glaciers." "And it's just above freezing." "Hooah!" "the job of digging out a hole for the pump head to sit in." "this water is so cold." "Oh ho." "Get it right down to here Dorse." "Be back at.." "Why don't you use the excavator?" "We can't." "We're not allowed to." "I'll try to get you some gloves or something dude." "That looks cold." "Aahaw." "which will draw water from the creek to the channel." "Seriously." "This thing will pump out 450 to 500 gallons a minute...easily." "So that's a lot of stinking water." "The pump is connected to the lay flat pipe running over the berm." "Doing two clamps because the pressure on this thing might be so great it'll probably rip this thing off." "Plus I don't want this thing to rip off at night." "and they're ready to roll." "Turn it on too." "go." "Where's that pipe wrench?" "Right here." "guys." "That pump's working great." "We got water." "We got water." "We're mining now." "A year of preparation." "that I didn't have." "is right coming up." "tomorrow." "We're gonna run it." "Uhhh." "I don't really know what time it is." "I can't figure it out." "I don't have a watch on so" "Got to be after midnight." "before they run dirt in the morning." "Up ahead:" "Yeah." "Friggen gold." "The team finally starts mining." "The wash plant grinds to a halt." "Try it on now." "This isn't easy." "This is hard to figure out." "And a young life hangs in the balance." "All's I'm seeing is blood and foam coming out of her mouth." "the Hoffmans are ready to run dirt for the very first time." "Todd's been planning this moment for months." "Six inch and under rocks are gonna go onto the shaker." "and come down this bottom chute." "the holes." "There's a hole in this pipe wrapped in screen." "It don't want rocks bigger than a half inch to come through this hole." "I want to control the water across that jig." "there better be some gold." "all night." "Pastor Mike Halstead has returned to the claim for the big day." "it's hard to really think through what it's gonna do until you see what it does." "unless you're digging dirt that's rich in gold." "right there." "I've got this huge knot in my stomach." "I don't sleep very long." "It's vital to see some gold today." "and his kids are the latest family to arrive at the claim." "we're burning a lot of food." "we're done." "Three meals a day for 25 people." "You can do the math." "and hasn't slept for nights." "It would be very easy for me to stay in bed all day." "Hard to get let these guys down. listen." "You've all worked your butts off." "You're out of money." "You're out of money." "You're about ready to lose your house." "okay." "And this summer we're gonna dig that yellow stuff out of the ground man." "you know what we need to do?" "We need to start helping each other out." "I know in my heart there's gold in the ground." "We just gotta get it." "but uh.." "this is the best country in the world." "We live in the best country in the world." "James." "Fire that up man." "Let's go." "Okay." "Come on." "Let's get it done." "Get down there." "Yeeah!" "I want to do it." "Come on." "Right here." "Hey hey hey." "help us." "Amen" "Amen." "Let's go guys." "Go." "Let's do this." "Running dirt through the wash plant for the first time is an important moment for everyone." "there's every chance they'll be counting gold by the end of the day." "We got gravel." "Gravel." "Turn the jig on." "Alright." "Start a little dirt." "Right here." "Right here." "Jack dumps the first bucket of dirt into the shaker." "It separates the larger stones and they are discarded." "the miners get to see how their home built plant is working." "Need a little bar." "Right across the top." "There's a little bar right here." "so the sluices don't get out of the drive." "Yeah." "where water washes it down the plant." "Chute's working good." "Looks good so far." "The second bucket of dirt is dropped in." "The material works it's way through to the trommel." "and the smaller pieces pass through the screen down to the jig." "I'll be damned." "The last part of the wash plant is the duplex jig." "two diaphragms pulsate a bed of ball bearings." "Black sand and any gold should sink down through into the bucket." "this is fantastic." "There's a million guys who'd love to be here doing this." "Todd and Jack plan to run a hundred cubic yards today." "there's gravel starting to build up in the sluice boxes." "Need more water here." "It's not working on it here." "where the gold is collected is producing nothing." "Any coming out?" "Listen." "This ain't running right." "just four yards of dirt and the wash plant doesn't work." "this is hard to figure out." "000 tons." "but make a cube just 22 yards long." "That's only 1/3 the volume of the Washington monument." "The team is running dirt for the first time." "There's black." "I don't know if the pipe's plugged up." "they've hit a problem." "Nothing's coming out of the duplex jig." "Anything coming out?" "No." "We're all plugged up." "Shut the jam plant down." "Okay." "Our trommel works pretty good." "The shaker works." "You know." "doesn't work very good." "they're not going to be able to separate gold from dirt." "so everything hurts." "It's tough when you're a fat kid trying to go gold mining." "You can't bend over right." "You know." "Friggen ankles hurt." "My knees hurt." "And I don't know what I'm." "I'm gonna figure out what the frickth I'm doing." "I don't know." "Hey buddy." "John Schnabel runs the big nugget mine." "He knows exactly how to fine tune a wash plant." "and we pulled it out of the jig." "And the" "The gold is heavy enough that it don't blow away." "has been helping him since the age of six." "That's about a.." "I would judge close to a half an ounce." "Yeah." "I'd say so too." "A little over a bit." "so half an ounce will be 240." "275 grains." "That's a" "I was right." "yeah." "That's over a half ounce." "That's around 650 dollars." "The Schnabels know how much work goes into turning a claim into wash plant into profit." "and be successful and make money." "And only maybe five percent of the people who attempt it are successful." "Todd needs help to get the jig running properly." "And the Schnabels are sending their expert to bail him out." "but he's got a lot more experience than I do." "G'day Parker." "Todd." "How are you buddy?" "Pretty good." "I want you to take a look at my jig." "Something's wrong." "I don't know what I'm doing with it." "Alright." "It ain't working right." "I don't even know if it's in the right position or the right angle." "right?" "I do." "Alright." "We'll take a look." "Water carrying dirt and gold flows from the wash plant into the top of the duplex jig." "Two diaphragms at the bottom pulsate water up through a layer of ball bearings or steel shot." "The pressure forces the shot apart." "The larger waste material passes over the top of the shot." "While the heavier fine gold and black sand drops through the gaps down to the outlets." "Their home made system has to work if they're going to see gold bearing black sand out of the bottom of the jig." "I got them both piped together" "Yeah." "At the bottom of each jig" "That white piece." "gold and black sand comes out of the bottom." "running that pipe together and down into a sluice." "Yeah." "The advantage of that is you can adjust each jig separately." "Yeah." "And you've got more pressure on the front or the back." "that's.." "Depending on how much pressure you need." "Do it again?" "Do it." "I gotta take that apart." "I gotta do 'em separately." "I think so." "if they're going to see gold out the bottom of the jig." "huh." "I think I would." "and it works good." "Then we adjust each one separately." "That's where I screwed up." "I was running them both in together." "I see gold on my fingers." "We got gold." "You're kidding." "No." "We're serious." "It's all plugged up with gold." "you are (bleep)" "I think this whole pipe is just plugged up with gold." "You're kidding me." "Lookit." "Look out." "Whoa." "Ha ha ha." "They clear the blockage." "But now gold's running through their fingers." "I'm going to Disneyland." "but you know." "That's gold." "I mean it's just.." "Gold fever." "That's all it is." "that's not really that big of a deal." "like tiny." "compared to everything they've spent here." "cover their costs." "the team should already be getting enough gold to turn a profit." "were supposed to arrive after the miners found gold." "so the family could be together." "I got my little girl." "She's a wild animal." "Look at her." "with her yellow boots." "And she's busy." "Hurricane busy." "is only adding to the pressure to find gold." "mechanic James Harness is making adjustments to the jig." "but I don't know that yet." "This is all a fine tuning science." "stockpiling dirt he hopes will be full of gold." "I'll run this." "But Todd thinks his dad is digging in the wrong place." "I want to start mining along this rock face down all the way through this." "You work this rock down Dad." "I'm gonna work this side wall." "That way." "Along that face." "I'm gonna bring the 400 down right now" "And make that deep." "that's it. and he's not a strategist." "is to help him be successful." "maybe I'm just getting in his way." "But I'm not." "Jack's almost ready to load the dirt into the wash plant." "That's good pay." "And Harness has nearly finished the jig." "Todd!" "What was that?" "She's not breathing." "Todd.!" "Go go go." "a young life hangs in the balance." "between her teeth." "Go go go." "has had a seizure." "That road's supposed to be a 20 mph road." "We did 55 down it." "but they weren't focusing on me." "her little arm was shaking the whole time." "and driven to Haines airport." "she stopped breathing." "uh... it was really tough." "But uh.." "They got her going again." "just friggin hang in there." "and medi-vacced 500 miles to Anchorage Children's Hospital." "Olivia is being scanned to see if she suffered brain damage." "that's where the rubber hits the road." "You know." "but um... mining has come to a halt." "Okay." "Be good." "because without knowing the cause of that." "If it was something that that's one thing. ." "But if it's something from the environment 2 and 3 and 4 year olds are susceptible to lots of things that would never bug an adult." "Everyone at the camp has a theory about what caused Olivia's seizure." "I'm worried about the water." "coming from the top of the mountain." "Some glacier's melting." "bears." "thinks the blame may lie elsewhere." "the bugs are incredible." "and they're just more ferocious than anything you'll see anywhere else." "and Alaska's 35 different types of mosquito are competing for the miner's blood." "everywhere." "they use a repellent containing DEET." "But DEET is a toxin." "particularly in children." "or getting sick from all the mosquito repellent." "The parents are reconsidering their future at Porcupine Creek." "and every worker here needs to make that decision." "Todd receives the results of Olivia's scan to check for abnormalities or brain damage." "Greg is waiting to hear the news." "We just want to get answers for what's going on with her in her little precious body." "we can't do any thing about it." "Wait and trust." "The results are normal." "That's good news." "Oh." "I'm happy for you." "Thanks for coming with us." "Hey." "My girl's just as glad." "This ending was dramatic." "There's nothing I can say or do." "Been praying for her." "are with us again one more time"." "That's great." "_" "I got to go back." "see ya around." "Olivia's not suffered brain damage." "Hi baby." "Daddy." "But she still needs intensive care." "I can't give you chocolate because we're gonna eat dinner first. 'kay." "How ya feeling?" "Feeling okay?" "No." "A little bit sick?" "Yeah." "Hmm 'kay." "She'll have to undergo further tests to determine the cause of the seizure." "we can figure out why that happened." "but.." "I dunno." "We'll figure it out." "Olivia's tests results may prove that Porcupine Creek is too dangerous for the families to stay." "If something shows up then I'm done." "I'm done mining." "It's all over." "My family comes first." "Over anything." "pack up." "Dreams over." "and heading back to Oregon for more tests." "You ready to go home." "Take 'em home." "Back down to Sandy." "I'd rather be can pinpoint what went on." "Todd's search for gold will have to wait." "Halstead and Dorsey are trying to track down the cause of Olivia's seizure." "where people been getting sick." "And we're not sure if it's the food or the water or.." "Ah." "Something blowing around in the air a bit." "This is where we been getting our water from and." "There's beaver right down there." "Ah huh." "That's only 50 feet off the road." "That's a" "There's gonna be beaver over there." "The big pond down there." "So we'll see." "Beavers near a water source are a serious health risk." "giardia lamblia." "Which causes beaver fever." "This can be life threatening in infants." "the entire camp has been drinking their water unboiled and unfiltered." "Not all things are as they seem." "you're in Alaska." "It's a fresh mountain stream." "You still have to go check out the source." "We thought it would come straight out of the rock." "It's coming off of a road." "Oh Jimmy." "Look at that." "What is it?" "Just touch it." "It's pitch." "See." "There's one coming off each..." "Oh!" "That's not pitch." "There's one coming off each one of those." "got a skin on it." "This is above the water source." "I don't like that." "I've never seen anything like that." "Hold mommy's hand." "Shana is taking Olivia to see her pediatrition." "Olivia." "Hi guys." "Hi baby." "How are you?" "Shana wants to find out what nearly killed her daughter." "who knows for sure what exactly that cause is." "there's some bacteria that could be in the water that are associated with seizures." "So you guys are definitely headed back up." "but um.." "That's probably not a bad plan." "then I think we just wait and you carry the emergency meds and treat her if we need to." "Doctor Frank Calcano advised us strongly to stay within 10 minutes of help for her." "I totally miss Alaska." "It's so beautiful and I do really want to go back." "But it won't be till next summer." "for the bible tells me so♪♬ the parents at the claim are still worried about safety." "oh my goodness." "I just couldn't do it." "it's up to Jack to get the team mining again." "our goals." "I just thank you for sticking it out." "We just gotta get there and get it done." "they need fuel." "fuel's almost as precious as gold..in our camp." "We're down to our last day of fuel." "The camp is off the grid and everything runs on diesel." "are all powered by generators." "Add on the 2 excavators and the dump truck and you're looking at 300 gallons of fuel a day." "you can't get gold." "If you can't get gold you can't get money." "You know." "Just" "It's a vicious circle." "with the 4th of July moving to the fifth and stuff's gonna start shutting down." "We gotta go." "Jack starts the 30 mile trip to Haines to try and arrange an emergency fuel delivery." "He's got one hour before the gas station closes." "Jack Hoffman is racing to get fuel." "we gotta have that fuel." "there'll be no mining till after the 4th of July weekend." "Three full days." "some of them might be taking off and heading for home." "Please." "He may be on time." "really bad." "But he's out of luck." "There's just no way." "and it's Friday and a three day holiday." "Any way that we could pay a little more to get it through?" "The earliest I could get out there is Tuesday." "a grand a day." "Yeah." "To not run and we need to run." "I can imagine." "There's just no way we can get it." "Nah." "I got a hundred gallon tank." "We could put that in the gen plant." "Thanks a lot man." "the crew will have to survive on what Jack can load in the back of his truck." "maybe even make an hour." "Jack has spent just under 500 dollars on fuel." "and briefly run the wash plant." "I'm anxious." "I wanna get going." "I wanna roll." "Jack takes some dirt from the new hole he's dug." "He has just 45 minutes of fuel to prove he can find gold." "They cut off the pipes clogging the jig and are putting their fix to the test." "All this diesel that we're burning is just.." "We had a drip of water there." "Has all the gold in it." "Everything appears to be working." "On the stroke of 45 minutes" "Jack turns off the generator." "There's just a few ounces of material to show for it." "We're going to pan it." "See if there's anything in that." "Then we'll know whether our jig's working." "Oh sweet." "That's nice." "is a sign that they could have hit a major deposit." "but it looks fantastic to me." "000 dollars worth of gold in our box." "All we have to do is keep running." "This is the top of the layer of the material we been goofing around with." "and it's gonna start paying off." "We could have over a million dollars by the end of the season." "That's right brother." "See." "Hey." "We didn't miss at all." "Now you're crying." "Not a problem." "through our machines." "We might own a family farm." "That'd be nice." "Now it's been here 3 weeks for me." "There is gold here." "Well it gives me a little bit more hope." "I was starting to get a little skeptical whether we were gonna get rolling and actually find any gold." "It's nice to have something positive happening." "There's one more person who's yet to hear the good news." "I went ahead and ran a little bit." "(Todd) Good lord." "Why'd you do that?" "because I wanted to see" "Turn around." "You're supposed to be we got gold." "Awesome." "We got gold." "it is Independence Day." "Woo." "Yea hoo." "(Bang) Aww." "Hu hu hu hew." "Get that gold out." "You did it." "Subs by Jack T"