Tonight’s fifth season premiere episode of “Gold Rush” was titled “New Blood.” As the episode opens, Dave Turin is walking in the Yukon and relates that he is finished mining with the Hoffman crew. He has wasted too much time for nothing and will now be working with a crew that is capable of finding gold. Todd was also alone, lamenting on his failures and swore he would never be a part of something like that again.
In Arizona, Parker Schnabel is driving through the desert, he is proud of his accomplishment in the Klondike last season, but it was his training year and now it is time to take the training wheels off.
In the Klondike, Tony Beets states that he spent a million dollars for a huge dredge. He feels every Viking needs his ship, and this is his.
The introduction announces new claims, new miners and new ways to pull gold out of the ground. Dave Turin has left Todd to mine the Yukon in Carmacks with two legends; Freddy and Derek Dodge. When Todd decided to go to South America, Freddy and Derek stayed in the Klondike and mined and now they have Dave Turin as part of their team. The nuggets are beneath the ice, and are building an ice dam. Dave is maneuvering his excavator on ice, as he builds the dam. But Dave has to make a quick exit as the dam breaks and sends the water rushing down the ice hill where they are now ready to find more gold.
Parker mined 1,039 ounces of gold in the Klondike. He is in Arizona to meet with Tony Beets, who promised him better ground if he did well last year. The promise did not hold, and after driving all that way, he is leaving unhappy.
The Hoffman crew has disbanded, and Jim Thurber is doing what he can to earn money. Andy Spinks is working in his family’s nursery. Kevin Hiatt is collecting garbage to make ends meet. But Todd called his crew together for one last meeting. He told them he wanted to go back to the Klondike to find land. They were surprised that he had no land; but he then told them he had nothing. Nobody would come with him because he had no land.
In Haines, Alaska, Parker went to see his 94-year-old mentor, Grandpa John. Parker told his grandfather that Tony offered him the same ground he had last year. Grandpa told him to go up there and earn enough money to buy his own claim. Parker knows that it will cost about 2,000 ounces to purchase his own claim, so that is his goal for this season; to double last season.
Tony Beets bought another claim and is on his way with two men who know about equipment. When they saw his gigantic dredge, they were shocked that he would invest so much. This dredge is capable of mining a million dollars worth of gold in a short time, but nobody has run a dredge in over 25 years. He told them he wants this dredge out of there and up to Indian River in six to eight weeks. The dredge is 75-years-old, it must be disassembled, moved to where Tony wants it, and reassembled and he wants it to run. The dredge is capable of doing the work of many pieces of large machinery as it floats on the river. They took the tour of the old machine and saw its possibilities. It did work when it was shut down, but that was 30 years ago.
In Dawson City, Parker and Rick Ness returned early to check their equipment to see if it survived the winter. The D-10 dozer started up on the third try. Suddenly the dozer starts acting strange, and Parker calls Rick to check it out. The stabilizer bar on one track has come out. Between the two of them, they try to get the holes lined up. Rick comes to the rescue, as he lies under the dozer and pounds the pin back in.
Jack and Todd Hoffman have been abandoned by their crew, but they refuse to quit. Although without a claim, a crew, and a plan; they are determined to go to the Klondike and find gold. They met with the man who provided them their first place to mine, and hoped he would have a place for them, but they were out of luck. Jack refused to let Todd quit.
Rick and Parker have been working for ten days to clear the overburden before Gene, the foreman arrives with their new mechanic; Mitch Blaschke, Todd’s old mechanic.
At Carmacks, Dave, the Dodge boys, and Derek’s wife Irene are getting ready to sluice as Dave works down the road. When Freddy spots a seal from one of the machines, he halts everything and calls for his brother. One of the wheels has been sheared off its axel on the D-Rocker. Dave knows he is now working for the dream team. The Dodge boys can fix just about anything.
Parker and Rick are driving their own trucks to Scribner Creek, because nobody else will take the risk. At 3 a.m. the roads are frozen enough to make the 55 mile trip. With only about five hours of night, they must hustle to get there before the rising sun melts the ice and makes the road impassible. With the sun up, and ten miles to go, the roads are a slippery mess. When Rick slides into a ditch five miles from Scribner, Parker must pull him out with his rock truck. Fortunately, all was done without any tragedies. Continued in part two.
