[Warning: The below contains spoilers for Gold Rush Season 8 Premiere.]
Coming off the monster discovery of a $70,000 nugget, Dustin Harm goes all in for Season 8 of Gold Rush: White Water. He has had his share of success during the last 14 years, however continues to be in seek for the massive rating. Throughout the April 25 premiere on Discovery Channel, he laid out his plan to unearth a doable jackpot hidden in distant Alaskan waterfalls, which is the place that six-ounce nugget was discovered.
The journey 30 miles from Haines to Nugget Creek would imply risking life and limb for an enormous pay day. He met up along with his group made up of Carlos Minor, James Hamm and bearded brothers Wes and Paul Richardson to see in the event that they had been on board for this harmful endeavor. He made no bones concerning the truth he couldn’t assure their security. Hamm had some considerations as did Minor, a military veteran and household man. Regardless of all their comprehensible worries, the crew determined to signal on for the mission.
Lengthy shot of Dustin Harm mountaineering via snow to discover the most effective place to dig on his declare. (Discovery Channel)
And they also start the primary run up river for essentially the most harmful white water mining they’ve ever executed. The group labored to arrange a distant camp 13 miles upstream to Nugget Creek. It didn’t take lengthy for them to identify a black bear close to their website. A gun is fired to try to scare it away, however who is aware of what number of others had been round in search of meals. They don’t discover the waterfall that Harm and Paul initially found. As a substitute it was 80 ft of snow and ice, a frozen barrier between them and the gold. This imply Harm needed to discover one other viable website or it was sport over. Fortunately, he labored via a Plan B. Harm joined Minor and Hamm to take a look at one other space whereas enlisting the brothers to work on getting the dredge working correctly.
Medium shot of James Hamm holding a gold pan while gazing off into the space. (Discovery Channel)
The three do land on a brand new place they dub “The Wall,” a dive website nonetheless coated with 20 ft of snow. Nonetheless, with the suitable instruments, they might be mining in every week. Minor was excited to strive a much less typical means of melting down the white stuff like a flame thrower. In the meantime, Wes has the thought to reap elements from the three damaged dredges to create a double dredge with two sluices and separate heating and suction methods. They might then have two divers working on the similar time and dredging, which meant double the gold.
With the flamethrower not doing the job that properly, they resort to a extra tried and examined technique, pumping out creek water to soften the snow and clear the snow at The Wall. The crew used a water pump and strain washer over two days and made good progress. Hamm does some preliminary panning and located some gold items. They readied the house for the dredge. Earlier than they’ll transfer the dredge, Hamm went for a provide run to the Satan’s Elbow, which has its personal risks. Harm was impatient ready on the dredge. Issues get heated with considerations the dredge may also be too heavy. Regardless of an preliminary scary social gathering within the water, the previous truck and Hamm made it via.
Then it grew to become a race towards the climate with rain threatening to scrub out the one means again. Subsequent got here the backbreaking work of bringing in additional than 80-feet of boards and having to handle to anchor them 20 ft above to The Wall for a walkway. There have been greater than 2,500 dredge parts across the slender boardwalk above the creek. Dustin slipped at one level, feeling light-headed from the job at hand.
The crew accomplished 50 journeys to herald all of the items. It took two weeks, however the Deuce Sluice, was able to go, however would it not float? She does! They maneuvered it into place utilizing the skyline The brand new dredge was nonetheless nearly twice the burden of their previous one. The straightforward answer to get it in the suitable spot was double the pulleys to chop the drive to elevate it by half. Harm obtained injured and thought he broke one thing in his hand. Not good once you’re simply beginning the season. We’ll see how this performs out.
Gold Rush: White Water, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery Channel