This week on The Curse of Oak Island, the team will expand their search in the Money Pit area in the hope that they can reach a deposit of gold and silver that has been detected under the ground.
It’s all systems go on Oak Island just now following last week’s revelation that gold was discovered in water samples found at the Money Pit. This comes after a previous scientific analysis at the end of last season found there was also silver in the water.
These revelations have provided concrete evidence that a significant amount of gold and silver may still be buried on the island. In the words of geoscientist Ian Spooner, “a Gerhardt dump truck” amount of treasure.
This has led to the guys contracting a massive dose of optimism, and we just love to see it. In this week’s episode preview, we hear a voice that sounds like surveyor Steve Guptill say: “This is the year that everything seems to be coming together.” And it does not sound like a lie.
And judging by the synopsis and previews for this week’s episode, the team will be going all out to get their hands on that gold. The History Channel states for its Episode 2 synopsis that:
“Dreams come true and hard work pays off when the team discovers gold in the Money Pit area.”
We can expect the guys to focus a lot of their attention in and around the C-1 shaft, and from the preview, it sounds like the team has been looking in the wrong place. A case of close, but no cigar.
Rick Lagina states that the area to the north of C-1 was unexplored. And Marty Lagina says he thinks “we’ve been looking in the wrong place.” He also adds, “these new holes might be where the treasure is.”
This suggests they’ll be aiming that 30-ton sonic drill rig at the ground to the north of the C-1 shaft. How far north we don’t know yet, but we learned last week that the water samples with the gold were all found within 50 feet.
The below map marks the shafts in gold color where the team found traces of gold in the water.
Oak Island work will also continue on the stone roadway
In the meantime, archaeologist Miriam Amirault will be back working on the stone roadway, possibly with Aaron Taylor. According to the preview, something has Miriam stumped; she can be heard saying: “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
It seems likely that this roadway still has a key role to play in uncovering the island’s secrets so expect lots more archaeological finds there on this episode and throughout the season.
Will Nova Scotia government cause problems for Oak Island team?
It appears that the guys are closer than ever to actually finding answers and something substantive this year. However, fans of the show will know that Oak Island is constantly throwing curveballs at the Fellowship of the Dig.
This year, a potential problem might be interference from Nova Scotia’s Department Of Communities, Culture, and Heritage (DCCH), which has taken an interest in what the guys are doing on the island. Last week, we learned that all work on the majority of the island now has to be supervised by an archaeologist approved by the DCCH.
Luckily, Laird Niven can fulfill that role, and the guys initially took the news as a positive, hoping that the DCCH might prove helpful.
But, there are also fears that the department might try to obstruct the team’s work; in a season preview at the end of last week’s episode, Laird can be heard announcing to the team that the DCCH asked them to stop work, and Marty laments “the more we cooperate, the more of our island we lose.” Marty can then be heard stating that they have to fight for their rights.
Fingers crossed the guys will not have to put up too much of a fight.
The Curse of Oak Island airs at 9/8c on History.