'Gold Rush: White Water' Season 3 Episode 7 finally saw Dustin hit the jackpot: 12 ounces of the precious yellow metal
Episode six of the Discovery Channel docu-series ‘Gold Rush: White Water’ season three saw Dustin Hurt face disappointment. Even as he found a small cave behind the waterfall -- possibly “the gold hiding place of the century” -- his luck turned sour when the crew discovered it had a slope.
There was no chance of any gold accumulating there given its angle. A look at the dredges confirmed their worst fears: no gold. Aside from the gold disappointment, Dustin had other drama going on. His best friend Paul Richardson (part of his father ‘Dakota’ Fred Hurt’s crew) was engaged to his step-sister Kayla. Earlier in the season, Dustin had a falling out with Paul. So miffed was Dustin that he did not attend the wedding.
Episode seven of the show began at ‘Dakota’ Fred’s claim “Two Fish”. The crew told Fred that they had dredged up whatever they could at that spot and it was finally time to move upstream towards the waterfall. But their time at the present spot had been worth it. Upon examining the dredge, they found a few huge chunks of the precious yellow metal. The crew then decided that before hitting the big waterfall, they would dredge the 50-feet stretch of the shallow crevices, in an attempt to leave no stone unturned.
Things seemed to be going smoothly for the crew until it wasn’t. Without warning, a tremor caused a bunch of heavy boulders to roll down the cliff, almost crushing Kayla. Paul decided then to make sure all the loose rocks were taken care of before they started their operations again. The process took a lot of precious time but it was their only choice: they could not risk a fatal situation. Paul told the crew, “We’re all lucky that we’re standing here right now.”
The crew decided that no amount of gold was worth the risk of any of them getting hurt. They decided to move to the big waterfall. Before they moved, however, they checked the dredge. Lo and behold, they found a few nice-sized chunks again.
A quarter of a mile upstream at Dustin’s spot “Rainbow’s End”, the crew was hoping to reap the rewards of three months of hard work. All that stood between them and the promised gold was hardpack mud at the bottom of the creek. At 18 feet underwater, the crew finally hit bedrock, something they had been hoping would deliver them a bonanza.
But Dustin’s bad luck streak seemed to be continuing on. After hours of dredging, they still had not found any gold. The team’s morale took an obvious hit. Dustin himself seemed almost devastated that all their efforts had resulted in seemingly nothing.
His crew member Carlos Minor, however, seemed to still harbor some hope. He decided to make another dive to the bottom. The deeper they went, however, the more dangerous it got. One wrong move and they could easily be buried under a pile of heavy rocks that could easily crush them to death.
After hours of removing heavy boulders, the crew found some respite. Having removed a particularly large boulder, they found what they were looking for: the gold pocket. Upon examining their dredge, they discovered they had collected over 12 ounces of gold!
Things were finally looking up for both father and son.
‘Gold Rush: White Water’ Season 3 airs on the Discovery Channel every Sunday at 10 pm ET.
