[suspenseful music plays]
[Tony] Oh, no.
[Tony speaking]
[narrator] On this "Gold Rush"...
24 nonstop hours with Klondike legend,
Tony Beets.
[Tony speaking]
From training new recruits...
[Tony speaking]
...to revealing another Beets family member...
[Tony speaking]
...and cashing in on record gold prices.
[Tony speaking]
[calm music plays]
[Minnie] You're getting older,
but you're not slowing down at all.
[Minnie] There's something wrong with you, man.
[laughs]
Tony's day starts normally enough with a visit
from wife Minnie.
If you would have told me that I would end up marrying
that dude, I would have said,
"Yeah, not in this lifetime."
You're lucky I was still available.
-You'd be selling... -[cackles]
[Minnie] No, no, no.
You would be living with your mummy.
[Tony speaking]
The world would have never known you.
Tony is spending the season living at his massive
1,200 acre Indian River operation,
where he's been sluicing nonstop for months,
while Minnie stays 40 miles away at the family base,
Paradise Hill, where son Mike runs the trommel.
[Minnie] Sure, we'll get right on that.
Do it while the gold price is high.
[Tony speaking]
[Minnie] I still remember when we were selling it for 350.
[Tony speaking]
Tony and Minnie came to the Yukon from the Netherlands
over 40 years ago with just $300
and built their kingdom from the ground up.
[Minnie] You know, I think it's time for breakfast.
[Tony speaking]
-Yeah, I am. -[Tony speaking]
Mm.
What's your plan for the rest of the day?
[Minnie] Yeah.
[Minnie] Well, that'll be good.
It would be nice if we can smelt some gold today.
[Tony speaking]
[Minnie] And don't forget, you also have
a visitor coming today, eh?
[Minnie] Yeah.
[Tony speaking]
None that I know of.
And if I would tell you, it wouldn't be a surprise.
I have to go back to the Hill.
See you later.
Tony's first priority
is to his morning drive-bys
in the Indian River cuts.
[honks]
To get as much gold out of the ground as he can while
the price is hot, Tony has built a 70-strong workforce
comprised of mostly new employees.
[Tony speaking]
Downtime on either washplant costs Tony $8,000 an hour,
so he needs to make sure
his operators are firing on all cylinders.
[Tony whistles "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"]
["Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" plays]
[Tony speaking]
[operator speaking]
[classical music resumes]
[country music plays]
Rookie operator Austin Lepage is opening more ground using
the 100-ton 950 excavator, the biggest in Tony's fleet.
It's a whole different experience running the 950
compared to a 349.
Not used to it at all.
[Tony speaking]
[Austin speaking]
[Tony speaking]
Yep.
Still can't get over how much dirt fits in that bucket.
By loading full buckets instead of half, Tony is able
to move an extra five tons per bucket,
getting him down to the gold faster.
[Tony speaking]
[Austin] Yeah.
[Tony singing] ♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪
[Austin] Yeah.
-[Tony speaking] -[Austin] All right, yep.
[grunts]
[Tony speaking]
Yeah, it's quite the experience to...
get taught how to operate by Tony Beets.
It's quite the machine to run.
[Tony speaking]
[rock music plays]
[operator] Tony, have you got a copy?
[Tony speaking]
[worker over radio] Your guest has arrived.
[Tony speaking]
[intriguing music plays]
[Klaas] Knock, knock.
[Tony speaking]
[Klaas] Hey!
[mysterious music plays]
[Klaas] Knock, knock.
[Tony speaking]
[Klaas] Good, good, good.
At Indian River, Tony Beets' younger brother, Klaas,
has come to visit.
[Tony speaking]
[Klaas] Oh, yeah.
Oh, you know, you've done it yourself, right?
[Tony speaking]
The brothers grew up working together on the family dairy
farm in the Netherlands, where they ran equipment
and looked after the cows.
Tony left for the Klondike when he was 24 years old,
and Klaas was 14.
Over a decade later, Klaas came to work for Tony,
where he ran dozer,
bringing along his son, Cousin Mike.
Now, Klaas is a superintendent, building custom excavators for
big construction projects, while Cousin Mike follows in
his uncle's footsteps, chasing gold.
[Klaas] How are you doing?
[Klaas] Yeah? Oh, yeah.
[Klaas] Hopefully it stays that way, eh?
Yeah, yeah.
[Klaas] No.
So your beard is doing not too bad.
Yeah, well, I like mine still better than yours, though.
[Tony speaking]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, [chuckles].
Well, you know, you were the first one,
so you're a prototype.
[Klaas] I'm the second one, so I'm the perfect.
-[laughing] -[Tony speaking]
-[Klaas] Yeah. -[both laughing]
-[Tony speaking] -Yeah.
[Tony whistling]
[operator] That's the wrong radio, Tony.
[both cackle]
[Klaas] I won't tell anyone.
[cackling]
[Tony speaking]
-[bleep] [bleep]. -[laughing]
[Cousin Mike speaking]
[Tony speaking]
[Cousin Mike speaking]
Thank you.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Klaas] Ha-ha-ha!
Hey! Kiddo.
[Cousin Mike] Good to see you.
How are you? Good to see you.
-[Cousin Mike] Yeah. -Yeah, been a while.
-Been a while, yeah. -[Klaas] Everything OK?
-Yeah. -[Klaas] Yeah, good.
-How are you? -Yeah, not too bad, yeah.
Have a good trip, yeah. Yeah.
-[Cousin Mike] OK. -[Klaas] Yeah.
[Cousin Mike] It's been a couple of years.
[Klaas] Yeah. Yeah.
-Quite a few years, yeah. -Lots has changed.
Yeah. Yeah.
Quite nice to see everything again.
[Tony speaking]
-[Cousin Mike] Yeah, right. -[all laugh]
Yeah.
So how are you getting along with the old guy?
[Cousin Mike] Oh, not over, you just gotta...
[Monica speaking]
[Cousin Mike] How is Tony?
[Tony speaking]
Cousin Mike began working for Tony four years ago.
He started as an operator and quickly moved up the ranks.
I don't think so.
[Tony speaking]
Now, Tony's nephew is foreman on the biggest claim
and is one of his most trusted employees.
[Cousin Mike] Looking good.
Rocks are gone. Firing back up.
[Tony speaking]
[Klaas] Sure.
[Tony] OK.
[Cousin Mike] OK, let's do it.
[mysterious music plays]
Oh, it was 2010, 11, I think so.
[Tony speaking]
Yeah.
[Klaas] Yeah.
[Tony speaking]
Yeah.
-[Tony] Yeah. -Nice to see him doing that.
-[Cousin Mike] Yeah. -Yeah.
Like father, like son? Well, you never know, right?
-No. -Oh, yeah, yeah.
He never will.
Is that why you guys are hiding it?
Since Klaas left, the Beets' small family
business has more than doubled in size, exploding into
an ever-expanding empire.
[Klaas] Quite an operation you have going, Tony.
-[Tony speaking] -Yeah
Tony is opening up even more ground on the other side of
his claim, over two miles from where he did his rounds earlier
in the day.
[Tony speaking]
[Klaas] [indistinct] [bleep] in there?
[Tony speaking]
[Klaas] That's insane.
[Cousin Mike] Yeah.
[suspenseful music plays]
Yeah, Tony, you know,
he's getting a little bit older.
I think a little bit, milder also.
But he still can tell people what he wants done
and how he wants it done.
Hey!
He will get the message across, yeah?
[Tony speaking]
[Klaas] What was Tony as a kid?
Well, he was my big brother.
We have 10 years of difference in between us.
With that big of difference, and you look up to a bigger,
older brother, we have a little bit of the same humor.
So yeah, I don't know, it was
fun with him to work on the farm.
Yeah, quite a bit different, yeah.
Something else than milking cows.
[Klaas] Yeah.
[Tony speaking]
[Klaas] I will, yeah, I would love to, yeah.
Maybe I have to show you guys how it's done.
[Tony speaking]
Tony's 63 ton D10 dozers provide extra muscle to move
overburden and open up more ground fast.
So, here's the D10.
It's a little newer than the one we ran 15 years ago.
[Klaas] Still looks nice.
[Cousin Mike] I'll show you the new controls.
OK, yeah.
And then we'll each get on one, and we'll do some pushing.
[Klaas] Let's do it.
So this is forward and backwards.
[Klaas] Yeah.
Instead of that lever you had then, and now you steer
with the fingers.
[Klaas] Looks like straightforward.
I'll give it a try, Michael.
-All right, let's do it. -[Klaas] Yeah.
[adventurous music plays]
[indistinct] ...in this direction, Michael?
Yeah, so that excavator sitting there loading trucks,
let's sit there side by side
and put some dirt to that excavator.
OK, let's do it.
♪
Well, this brings back memories, Michael.
Kind of nice of us doing this again.
It's nice to be doing it together now.
[Klaas] Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.
I'm kind of proud of you, Michael.
You're all doing this.
I used to do it, and now you do it.
Yeah, we didn't think that when you were working here
and I was 13 years old.
Now I'm working here, and you're here for a visit.
I think I'm still pushing more dirt than you do, so.
Beginner's luck.
Still to come...
[Monica] I put on two bras expecting a bumpy [bleep] ride.
[intriguing music plays]
-That's a nice truck, eh? -[Monica] Yeah.
Oh, shame we don't have more.
At Paradise Hill, Tony's youngest kids,
Mike and Monica, have just taken delivery of a brand new
50-ton rock truck.
Safe travels, Monica. I'll miss you.
I'll be back tomorrow.
Now, Monica must drive the $600,000 truck 40 miles
to Tony at the Indian River.
[rock music plays]
[Monica] Ooh! This chair!
Come on, adjust.
The A50 is the only full suspension,
articulated hauler of its size,
making for a smooth ride.
[Mike] Kind of jealous.
Kind of wish I could go drive it to the Indian.
[Monica] There seems to be a bit of, like, rivalry between
the Indian River and the Hill, but you know what?
Like, there's just more happening
out in the Indian River right now,
and also where Tony is is where the toys will be.
I'm usually pretty busy in the Gold Room.
It's kind of like where I'm stuck.
So it's really nice to be able to do something new because,
yeah, it's been a hot minute
since I got to do something so fun.
The skies are blue, the leaves are green,
and I'm in the shiniest yellow truck in the whole territory.
[Tony speaking]
[Monica] Hey, Tony, Tony, do you copy?
[Tony speaking]
[Monica] I'm just coming into the yard with your new toy.
[Tony speaking]
Tony's new toy is the first of its kind in the Klondike.
The A50 is his biggest and most powerful truck yet,
with a seven-ton increase in payload capacity,
and an extra 47 horsepower
compared to Tony's smaller A40 rock trucks.
[Tony speaking]
[bleep] fancy, it's got an air ride seat.
[Tony speaking]
Didn't even feel half the bumps.
[Tony speaking]
[Monica] Like, I'm not even gonna lie.
I put on two bras expecting a bumpy [bleep] ride.
I could have gone with a sports bra.
I didn't need anything.
I would almost run rock truck for the day.
[Tony speaking]
No, let's make sure people don't [bleep] this one up first.
[Tony speaking]
-[Monica] "[bleep] off." -[both laughing]
[intriguing music plays]
[operator laughs]
Three miles away from Indian River,
Tony's oldest son, Kevin,
is deep in his second year as a mine boss.
[operator speaking]
[Tony speaking]
[operator] We've got a problem with a D6
by the entrance to camp.
[ominous music plays]
[suspenseful music plays]
[Tony speaking]
At Tony Beets' Indian River claim...
[Tony speaking]
A neighboring miner's settling pond has burst its dike,
and the road outside Tony's claim has flooded.
Now, one of Tony's D6 dozers has been blindly driven
into a ditch and is stuck in the drink.
[Tony speaking]
To free the sunken dozer, Tony will use his 550 excavator
to grab onto the blade of the 25-ton D6 and pull it out.
[Tony speaking]
[dramatic music plays]
[clanging heavily]
[clattering]
[Tony speaking]
[clanging, rattling]
Tony has misread the road.
Now, the 550 excavator is stuck
and the inoperable D6 is blocking access.
[Tony speaking]
[Klaas] Yeah.
[Tony speaking]
[Klaas] OK.
Interesting day. D6 stuck in the water.
Then Tony tried to pull it out. Got the excavator stuck, so...
But at least we got the toys to get him out.
If we can get it out without wrecking anything,
then it'll be all good.
[Tony speaking]
-We'll hook up the D6 to the D10... -[man] That's good.
and then we'll drag it out of here first.
Then we'll worry about the 550 excavator.
First, Klaas must drag the D6 to the yard where Tony's
mechanics can assess the damage.
[Tony speaking]
D6 out of the way,
the Beets brothers now need to rescue Tony's 63-ton
550 excavator.
We're not out of the woods yet, but we'll get it.
We'll get it. Nothing new.
[Tony speaking]
[suspenseful music plays]
[dramatic music plays]
[rumbling]
Coming up...
[Tony speaking]
[Mike] Yes.
[Tony speaking]
[calm music plays]
[Tony speaking]
Tony Beets is heading to Paradise Hill.
He has one last bit of business to take care of before
a date night with Minnie.
[Tony speaking]
I'm just going to get it in there and let it start heating,
see if my tongs are ready. Yeah.
Tony has called in long-time friend and gold smelter
Danny Johnson to melt some of his gold into bars.
You do the service. Pour that 75 in there.
It's a practice he plans to make part of his growing
operation to make storing and moving gold easier.
It'd be kind of cool to see melting gold for the first time
in real life.
It looks cooler, too.
[Tony speaking]
But, hey, Tony, if they're laying around,
you can't spend them.
[laughing]
We're gonna pull it out, and we're gonna dump it in.
[Tony speaking]
Now we're just gonna turn the heat up and let it cook.
The temperature is around 1900 to melt gold, and we go up
another maybe 100 degrees,
just so it's super liquid and we can pour it.
[hissing]
Because if you go at 1900 and it's liquid, by the time
I lift it up and pour it, it's solid again.
So we have to have the temperature up
a little more.
Let's just put it this way, don't stick your hand in it.
[rock music plays]
Ready? Hot, yeah. OK.
As one bar cools, another jar of gold
is prepped for the crucible.
[hissing]
That's [bleep] cool.
[Danny] We'll get all that off and then we'll wire brush it.
And it should all come up -- look.
Should all come up quite nice.
[Mike] I just want to see how heavy it is.
That's [bleep] cool.
[hissing]
[Tony speaking]
[Danny] Yeah, you can pour that in there.
[Tony speaking]
[Mike] Yes.
[Tony speaking]
[Mike] Awesome!
[Mike] This is about $350,000, 75 ounces.
So, yeah, it won't get you
the best rock truck, but it'll get you a rock truck.
[emotive music plays]
After a long day on the mine, the king has a rare opportunity
to unwind with his queen.
[Minnie] Yup.
Well, we haven't done this at all, have we?
We're supposed to go for supper with people,
and it never happens, it seems like.
[Minnie] Yeah, because always something happens.
I mean, good thing for FaceTime, otherwise we'd never
see each other.
Well, it's true, though.
-Here we are. -Yep.
[Minnie] Young man.
Food, probably.
-Hey, how are you? -I'm doing well, yourself?
[Minnie] Pretty good.
I'll have the pork belly, please.
-[waiter] You got it. -[Tony speaking]
[Minnie] How was your visit with your brother?
[Tony speaking]
It's kind of funny when you see the both of
you together, because you are similar.
-Mm-hmm. -You can tell you're from the same family.
Definitely.
[Minnie] There's no mistake there.
But even with cousin Mike, you can see it.
The way you guys walk and the way sometimes you talk.
And it's like, yeah, you can definitely tell
you guys are all related.
[Tony speaking]
[Minnie] It's been a long time, eh?
[Tony speaking]
'78.
So that's 47 years ago.
Yeah, we did.
[both cackle]
I mean, the first time I danced with you was when --
when we got married.
That was probably the last time, too.
[laughing]
Yeah.
[Minnie] Well, it has been a good run, yeah.
Yeah.
[waiter] All right, folks.
[Minnie] Thank you.
-[waiter] Enjoy. -[Minnie] I will.
I mean, Kevin seems to be doing OK.
[Tony speaking]
Well, they're either gonna have a hell of a sale...
...or they're gonna go mining.
[Minnie] I think we did OK in life.
I guess it is, you know.
[Tony speaking]
-No. -[Tony cackles]
-[Tony] No? -No.
Ugh... OK, dear, hm?
-[Minnie] Yes, dear. -Yes, dear.
[Minnie] People don't realize you're a pussycat.
[Tony] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
We'll make out just fine, all right?