On Friday’s Gold Rush: White Water season finale, we learn that getting a half-an-ounce a day is the minimum requirement for Dakota Fred Hurt and his crew. This is how much it takes to make some money as they mine the raging rapids of McKinley Cree in Alaska.
And we have two exclusive clips that show the highs and the lows of this crazy chase for gold in one of the most inhospitable and dangerous places on the planet to mine for gold.
Putting a fine point on the situation at hand, Dustin opens one of our clips noting their location and the dangers around them. He says: “We’re in the bottom of a 200-foot cliff…pretty much death around every corner.”
There’s an air of excitement as the men are keyed up, the adrenaline is racing as the pace is quickened.
The men gather up whatever gold may be sitting at the bottom of a plunge pool deep below. Working together are Dakota Fred’s son Dustin Hurt and Paul Richardson, one of the dredge divers and brother of Wes Richardson, aka “The Texans” — who is the on-point diver for this day’s work.
The hidden gold honey pots for Dakota Fred’s team are these beguiling plunge pools of frigid but calmer water where the gold has settled from eons of rushing waters. The guys all really believe that chunks of gold are sitting in these elusive underwater caches.
This is exactly where our action in our exclusive clips take place as we see an elated Dakota Fred and others talking on the comms to Dustin Hurt and to diver Paul, suited up and already well below as the suction dredges are running.
Then, a potential disaster strikes as Paul’s hot water heated wet suit fails while he is underwater. This is a huge deal as the water is near freezing and the only way for these men to work underwater is to have this layer of warmth coursing around their skin.
The pump that makes this work is on the fritz.
On the episode, there are a lot of moving parts, notably the failure of Paul’s wet suit hot water pump failure and the crew doing their final gold weigh-in where the results will be tallied.
In our second exclusive clip, the excitement is real as Paul, up from a dive, is keyed up and describing not one but two plunge pools he has seen to Dustin.
While the guys were thinking they were going to wrap up the dredging, plans have changed upon this news and they spot a nice size chunk of gold that makes them all whoop and holler.
It’s game on and this is when Paul goes down below again
Also happening on Friday night’s episode, Dustin leads them to a new mine site he has plans for that proves instantly to have massive gold potential — setting up a new season nicely.
How have you liked this second season so far? Are you planning on tuning in if season three is announced?
Gold Rush: White Water airs Friday at 10 pm on Discovery