"gold mining history is being rewritten." "I christen you Minnie's ATM." "Tony Beets 75 year old gold dredge goes to work for the first time in three decades." "But when Tony surprises his crew with a new dredge captain." "Gene Cheeseman." "How's it going buddy?" "It's a slap in the face for the men who built it." "Gene's got it made." "Mike and I put it all together for him." "Gene ain't gonna be my boss." "And when the ancient mining machine proves too hard to handle." "Skeptics like Todd Hoffman" "I don't know how much gold this dredge is gonna get." "Look like they just might be proved right." "But it's definitely a tourist attraction." "20 year old Parker Schnabel races 500 miles west when his beloved grandpa is medevaced to the hospital." "As 95 year old John Schnabel faces emergency heart surgery." "Tony Beets shelled out a million dollars for a gold dredge built in 1938." "he finally got it running." "so the dredge can start paying for itself." "Hey Tony." "What's up?" "The list is getting shorter." "It's pretty close to actually just being operational here now." "We understand your dilemma Tony." "We're trying." "painstakingly rebuilt the dredge." "But it didn't happen fast enough for Tony." "it's bucket line should chew through 100 yards of pay dirt an hour." "and down into the internal sluice box." "dredges have been incredibly efficient gold mining machines." "it's just 350 tons of rusted metal." "which is holding back 10 million gallons of water." "Whoa." "It's coming in." "Kevin." "We got a problem here." "Ho." "Oh crap." "water from the holding pond surrounds the dredge." "Gotta get Mike the fuck outta here." "And his truck." "Gonna get wet." "Watch out." "I'd get off the ground if I was you guys." "The water is coming up pretty fast." "I hope Tony knows what he's doing.." "how we gonna do the rigging now." "This is a fuck-up." "I'm not sure about this." "The forklift it's down here." "really?" "What?" "Yeah." "That was kinda a little wet." "Water's going in." "actually." "Well." "We wanted water." "Now we got tons of it." "the men who rebuilt it." "Permission to come on." "Gene Cheeseman was Parker Schnabel's trusted foreman." "helping Parker bank over 4 million dollars in gold." "Thank you Gene." "Gene quit." "I'm not gonna take any more shit from the little punk." "Gene fuckin Cheeseman." "How's it going buddy?" "303)}Let's go." "Yeah I worked for Gene." "Last year." "At Parker Scnaubel's site." "there's fuck all wrong with Gene." "teamwork scenario out of Gene being here." "Everybody can work a little more together instead of" "Independently and doing whatever the fuck you feel like." "not everyone is happy to have a new boss." "Having another boss telling us what to do is not gonna move this any faster." "We all know our jobs out here." "We needed fuckin help last year to get 'er in ship shape." "Mike and I took this fuckin thing apart by ourselves pretty much." "Gene's got it made." "Mike and I put it all together for him." "just gonna talk to everybody for a minute here and." "Go." "cause I don't want to do this again." "Perfect." "Okay I just ah.." "wanted to talk to you guys for a minute." "Um excited to come work on this project with all you guys." "thunder." "Everybody's busted their ass to do this." "ah" "You're okay." "It's good." "We're glad you're here." "No." "I don't know and I'm not gonna come in here and start..barking orders." "I just want to get this thing digging and finding some gold." "who's been doing what." "it's just.." "Um huh." "Tony wants me to come here and... push it along." "I want to get the thing running." "Okay." "Gene ain't gonna be my boss." "Why should he come over and start right at the end of the project and say hey this is mine." "ain't gonna happen." "My grandpa got medevaced to Anchorage last night." "His heart issues." "Nobody's heard from him in a little bit." "It's not good." "20 year old Parker Schnabel races over 500 miles to be with his beloved grandpa John." "His heart rate was like 35 or 40." "The doctors are pretty surprised that he didn't have a heart attack." "Parker left his family in Haines Alaska." "was especially hard." "Grandpa." "Huh?" "I love you." "I know you do and I love you too." "Bye." "Take care." "John is already being prepped for surgery." "updates Parker on his grandpa's condition." "Okay." "It's the first day on the job for new dredge master Gene Cheeseman and his dog Pug." "Hey." "Come 'ere." "I don't know." "There's always challenges to everything I guess." "it's a learning curve." "Gene's an expert at moving dirt." "But he's never run a dredge." "So Tony's brought in Gordon Martin who was a Winch-Man when Tony's dredge was last afloat in the 1980's." "maneuvering the dredge in it's pond to maximize the gold haul." "it'd be about 30 years now I guess since I was on here." "Quite something." "I never thought I'd see 'em turning again." "was the most efficient gold recovery unit in Canada." "How much gold did you see?" "You just reach in there with your hand and pick it up like a handful a week." "Really?" "(laughter) responsible for operating the dredge." "But it's been a long time since Gordon last ran this massive machine." "right?" "You wouldn't have to operate the brakes on the front winches." "No." "You should be able to. uh" "Just" "If you" "Um huh." "But they're both on now." "No." "This is off." "This one's on." "Put this one on." "And this is off." "Um huh." "Yup yup." "Their first task:" "Move the floating dredge into position on pay dirt at the western edge of the pond." "into that middle into position so I was thinking we just get the cat." "And run along this berm over here and get it pulling the dredge around and just kinda move along as we need it." "or rudder to steer." "Gene will maneuver the dredge using cables attached to a pair of dozers." "One dozer will pull the front of the dredge forward towards pay dirt." "keeping it pointed in the right direction." "while Mike is stationed below deck to keep a close eye on the winches." "Gene tows the front cable." "While Tony's son Kevin pulls on the rear cable." "Go go go go go." "Yeah." "I'm gonna need to get a little more slack." "Gene needs more cable." "Just trying to keep an eye on things." "so he can resume towing." "and the brake is set." "Alright Gordon?" "(klink)" "(bang)" "Fuck." "Something ain't working here." "I can't figure out why we're not fuckin moving." "We just lost our cable." "Fuck!" "The cable that was attached to the front here." "It's gone." "We parted our cable." "Fuck." "Gordon and Jerry applied the wrong brake." "The cable has come off the drum and fallen into the pond." "We've run aground." "and is now beached on a sandbar." "That was a big fuck-up." "There's not much we can do." "We're stranded." "Like a bunch of rats on a sinking ship." "Scurrying around." "Gene takes charge." "Gordon or Jerry." "You guys got a radio?" "Go ahead." "I was thinking we could just use the buckets and reverse paddle it over to the other bank." "We can try it." "It's really slow in reverse though." "Well let's just see if it works." "If it's too slow we'll get the skiff and paddle a line over there." "The thing is they wanted to maybe use the buckets and move it across." "Walk it over there?" "But you know how slow reverse is?" "Yeah I know." "That's what they want." "Gordon lowers the bucket line." "the dredge will slowly back off the sandbar." "I don't think we're doing anything." "Well I thought he'd hurry it up and do things in a hurry instead of this fuckin around." "Hah." "Gene's plan gets off to a slow start." "it works." "We're fine Gene." "We're good." "and finally ready to start mining." "Gonna need a lot of WD-40 for that." "Parker's 95 year old grandpa John is out of surgery." "I'm sorry I can't get up." "Ha ha ha." "Oh." "I" "Hahaha." "You've got nothing to apologize for." "Well." "I love you and I want to hug you." "But I can't do a very good job laying here." "hey." "You're looking beautiful." "I'm so happy to see you." "Huh." "you're the one looking good." "that's" "You're obviously feeling good then." "uh" "A little bit off kilter." "the pacemaker." "Does it?" "Is it kicking in?" "Yeah." "I run like a clock now." "I can barely tell." "I'm set on 60." "So I can sit here and synchronize with that clock." "And we'll all be in the same boat." "John laughs also)" "Hi" "Hi John." "Hey there listen" "Yeah." "I might even decide to live." "(John and doctor laugh)" "You cut me open put a pacemaker in there." "So I now can beat 60 pulses per minute." "At least?" "it's not stable?" "more laughter)" "At least 70." "if I see a beautiful woman it'll go up." "233)}Oh ho." "Okay." "Sounds like I got a bright future." "dry-docked." "Now she's floating." "Now it looks like an actual dredge." "on pay dirt." "Oh." "It's amazing." "I can't wait." "the only working bucket line gold dredge in North America is once again ready to catch gold." "Oh no." "ha ha." "gather to christen their vessel." "I can't wait to see this thing finally going." "It's nice that it's actually floating." "Oh." "Hey." "We need a lawn chair here." "I'm christening you Minnie's ATM." "(Whoops of joy)" "There you go." "Let's go." "this is the moment of truth." "Big Mike Beaudry hits the power." "2000 gallons of water a minute surge into the ancient plant." "the dredge is once again digging Klondike dirt." "Tony's dream of mining like the old timers has become a reality." "I finally get to manage to see the damn thing actually move." "(talk and laughter)" "but now it's time for Jerry to start sweeping the bucket line from side to side." "Drop the spud in." "Fire up the winches." "they drop the nine ton steel spud at the rear of the dredge." "allowing the bucket line to carve it's way through pay dirt in an arc." "Oh yeah." "It's kind of a unique operating skill I think." "Probably the biggest thing would be you have to really keep an eye on how you're digging." "How deep and how fast." "There it goes." "It's going." "Hey." "Hey!" "Don't be pulling over too hard." "I can see that bucket line moves over like that we're on the verge." "it's too fast." "we're trying to have the dredge swing in a nice slow rate." "It's going like three times as fast as it should be on the sweep here." "That fuckin thing is fuckin way too fast." "Gordon and Jerry are moving the bucket ladder to the left too fast." "(Clunk." "Bang." "Squeak)" "What was that?" "Look." "We better start working back the other way." "We can't control the speed." "(Bang Bang)" "Look out." "Can't see anything." "No no no no no." "(Machinery noises)" "Stop!" "Stop the rail." "Just one hour into it's mining season" "We've already screwed up today." "We knocked the bucket ladder off the drum." "But you know." "It's a learning curve." "This is the first day." "Tony Beets's dredge is dead in the water." "it flipped the buckets off the side of the drum." "I'll take credit for that one." "So that'll be it for the day?" "Probably so." "I'm never interested in repairs." "I'll be back when there's gold in the box." "Jerry and Gordon pushed the old dredge too hard to the left." "Causing the 24 ton bucket line to derail." "The bucket line slipped off the tip of the ladder." "Like losing a track on an excavator." "We gotta get all the equipment rounded up and the rigging to try and pull it back on." "brings in the heavy equipment." "You need to be right along side of here." "Big Mike uses the side boom to lift the bucket line." "While Kevin uses the winch on the D-6 dozer to pull the buckets back in line with the ladder." "Pull." "Perfect." "Okay." "Pull to me just a little bit." "(clunk)" "He isn't gonna get it on this way." "but I think there's a better way to do it." "That's good Mike." "Be careful they don't break a bucket." "clunk)" "Let go of it Mike." "Back off." "I want to cut you loose." "Hold up Kevin." "Gene tries one last trick." "Pick up on the bucket line so that we can get it to run in reverse and we'll get it to ride on there." "A maneuver used to reseat the track on a dozer." "That might get it on there." "There's so much weight hanging on that slack side right now." "And it's got a lot of friction in the dirt down there." "Okay." "You guys ready to run it in reverse." "We're ready Gene." "Give us the signal." "Okay." "Reverse." "Keep 'er coming." "Hold 'er." "Hold it." "All stop." "The buckets won't clear the circular flange on the end of the ladder." "How far is it on there anyway?" "It's sitting on top of the drum." "Cause you'll never drive those buckets back over the edge of that flange." "the dirt might be keeping it from sliding over." "We just need to bump it over now." "you know." "It's turning out to be quite the operation." "Gene's only option:" "Use brute force to get the 75 year old buckets back into place." "Gotta come in with the corner of the blade on that." "the dredge will be crippled for weeks." "We got 'er." "I can't believe that." "Oh yeah." "It's back on there now." "We gotta get everything all hooked back up and anchors hooked back up and our shit picked up and start sluicing again I hope." "Mike." "Let's go and get the water going and everything spinning." "the dredge gets back to catching gold." "running again." "Okay." "Cheeseman's fuckin smiling." "It's a great day." "the Hoffmans." "Hey Tony." "How ya doing." "You remember my son Hunter." "So this is it huh." "huh." "I'm going big. 300 yards an hour." "Did you just say you do 10 gallons an hour?" "I'm doing 10 gallons a second." "I got dozers going and I got big bills." "he's also running three times as much pay-dirt as Tony." "that's all." "I mean." "Talk about two different ends of the spectrum." "Todd's season depends on pulling gold out of his super-cut before it turns to a lake of mud." "but I'll tell you what." "We're gonna find out." "Alright man." "Good luck with that." "I don't know how much gold this dredge is gonna get bit I'll yell you what." "It's definitely a tourist attraction." "Pretty cool." "95 year old John Schnabel is out of the hospital." "And he's eager for an update on Parker's rocky start to the season." "Now how are things going with you over at your mine." "Yeah." "I don't know." "it's gonna be tough." "But you know." "Makes all the difference." "That's right." "Your crew is the next best thing to your family." "Parker." "You'll never know how much I really appreciate your coming." "To help me get through this day or yesterday and get back on the road to home." "You know you don't need to thank me." "You'd a done the same thing in a heartbeat." "Ha ha ha ha." "Good good." "Tony Beets has been running his dredge non stop for 20 hours." "It's finally time to find out if it has caught it's first ounce of gold in thirty years." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Should be able to do that." "Okay." "Shut her down." "the mining community thought he was crazy." "you know." "Until we start doing a cleanup that doesn't mean anything." "Tony's about to find out if his gamble has paid off." "Yeah." "I'd be happy with that too." "and recoup the million dollars he spent on it." "Don't count yourself rich yet." "That's about the size of it." "Kevin?" "last pails." "Okay." "So you gonna head out to the hill there right away?" "I can do that yeah." "Because I'm actually really curious to see how much is there." "Cause the pans looked okay?" "right?" "Aw I know that." "So." "and we'll see you then." "How's that?" "Sounds like a plan." "Okay." "Sounds good." "See ya." "Kevin and Monica Beets separate the dredges first gold concentrate with a pulsating jig." "Six a.m. we're doing the first jig for the dredge cause when you spend a lot of time money and effort on that thing." "So it'd be really nice to see it actually producing and see what's coming out of it." "We know there's gold in the ground." "Just gotta see if the dredge actually works eh." "all the gold's in the pails down here." "gone." "We're gonna get a lot of garnets in here." "And garnets are what you want." "Cause garnets and gold go hand in hand." "You can have the garnets." "I'll take the gold." "Tony and Minnie." "We're ready for the gold weigh." "Come on up guys." "Gene Cheeseman and the Beet family head to the gold room for the first weigh-in of the season." "Over the last two days the dredge ran pay dirt for a total of 20 hours." "Tony needs a minimum of 20 ounces." "So far it's 21 ounces." "The dredges first cleanup in almost 30 years yields 21 ounces worth 23 thousand dollars." "I. Honestly better than I thought it was gonna be for the first few days in the learning curve." "It's actually better what I thought it would be too." "I'm impressed." "I'm really am impressed with what you guys done so." "It catches." "There is no doubt." "And you know it's there." "We've proven it." "Ha ha okay." "Tony's 75 year old dredge is catching gold at just a fraction of the running cost of other claims." "It looks like Tony's controversial investment just might pay off." "303)}On the next Gold Rush" "Ready to rock and roll." "we're gonna start kicking some ass." "Wooh." "Wooh." "Some of these people get all worked up over absolutely nothing." "Once in a while you need a sense of urgency." "Talk." "(sobbing)" "You guys can't be here." "No." "Don't get out with that camera." "Hey Parker." "Something's going on with Emily." "I don't know what it is." "a helicopter." "283)\fnLucida Calligraphy} Subs by {\fs36.727\b1\i1} Jack T"