I know I’m on the sidelines watching, which is so much easier than doing, but perhaps these guys gold mining in Alaska wouldn’t have as many shenanigans and “bad luck” if they planned beforehand!
Parker’s team runs into trouble with not yielding enough gold per yard at the old cut so they decide to go back to the other cut which had been frozen. Now, instead of stripping the dirt off the top of the perma frost, they let it melt with the dirt on top which has turned into black muck that they can’t work because their trucks are getting stuck in. FORE-thought…….just sayin’.
Onto Todd and his jabronis………the same thing applies. It’s easier to fix a problem afterwards instead of before, or so they think. It always seems they’re trying to staunch the blood instead of avoiding the injury! Ha…..Todd tells Jack to run dirt faster and when he does, he’s then told to slow down. Too much tailings were escaping the sluice box……so they really need a bigger wash plant. Guess who just happens to have one within miles of Todd? That’s right….Freddie Dodge who has bailed Todd’s ass out for the last 4 years! So now all they need is to come up with 100 oz. of gold up-front in 48 hours. NO PROBLEM…….
The Viking and his crew are still dismantling the 75-yr. old million dollar floating dredge trying to get it set up and running for the season. Tony Beets as usual is in a rush and doesn’t give a damn if his need for speed kills or breaks things! At his direction, they try to take off the control tower in one piece to everyone’s amazement and horror. We were waiting for some serious drama, but it ended up simple and worked almost too smoothly.
Back to Todd….the guys need 60 ozs. of gold to buy the new wash plant……and guess what? They do it! So now they can get the new giant wash plant from Freddie and put it together. They are carrying it on four trucks 40 miles across 2 rivers to get to their claim and the drivers have never done it. Of course there’s a little drama, but it’s really not as big a deal as it was made into.
Parker’s mother comes to visit to discuss finances….she thinks she’s going to ask him for money for bills, but he asks for a loan to get a bigger dozer. He has to use all his equipment as collateral, but of course his Mom gets the loan. They put the dozer’s blade on and start stripping the new perma-frost cut.
In the meantime they clean up and get the best yield ever 182 oz. so now Parker has the conundrum of what to do…stay on the old cut and hope for another hot spot or move on to the new cut where they are pretty sure the yield is a constant higher amount. Tony Beets says to move on and Gene says to stay…… My husband suggests they work both…….we’ll see what happens next week.
© Evelyn Garone
