Gold Rush - General Discussion

[formerlyfreedom]

Parker Schnabel: A major miner. Talk here.

[formerlyfreedom]

Discuss The Hoffman Crew here.

[formerlyfreedom]

Discuss The Dakota Boys here!

[Fosca]

Well, at least it looks like they're out of the tropics now, to devastate another ecosystem.  Good times!

[clod]

sure.

 

they are looking great this season.   1,000 ounces, no problem!   ;)

Edited October 18, 2014 by clod

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Ding dong, the Hoffman got hoffed.  "I don't know anybody up here who would give you a chance."  Hahahahahaha

 

I love that they got a horrid deal.  Of course, with what did they lease dozers, cranes, and the myriad other stuff.  That is hundreds of thousands of dollars in start-up.  With what?  They were flat broke.

 

I called it last year that Parker would stupidly chafe under Tony for this season.  His pig-headedness almost cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars, in my opinion.   Having the Disco contract in his pocket really ill-served Parker here.   Where was even one second of narration in appreciation of Tony having given time for Parker to accept his win-win terns?  In what way did Tony not keep his end of his bargains with Parker?  Who went back to help Parker to finish out the season last year?  

 

So, Parker, you really expect us to buy that two days of sluicing time = two weeks of actual time?  You didn't go ahead and further prepare the claim?  Dig and transport more soil to the sluicer?  This was all about Parker being penny wise and pound stupid.  He did not want to shell out the cash required to build out the riffles.  Was it worth the mistrust he engendered in Tony?  What a fool Parker is becoming.

 

I am an unabashed fan of Tony.  HIs vision and his willingness to risk is the type of thing that made North America the huge material success it became.  He must have some prime land in mind for that dredge.  

Edited October 18, 2014 by Lonesome Rhodes

[green]

Glad the dude that was the Hoffman foreman and did all the work while Hoffman laid about doing nothing except be crabby and yell at the people actually working is now finally out from under them.  And that he is off with a new team of sane people who actually, you know, mine gold that you can see and hold and is real.  And being away from the Hoffmans may help him clear his head of the Hoffman version of Stockholm Syndrome they seem to have cast over him for years.

 

The Hoffmans are only there to collect more money from the producers.  They sure can't mine and they make dismal viewing on TV.  Do they hold some kind of blackmail material regards the producer that they have them back yet again?

Edited October 18, 2014 by green

[green]

sure.

 

they are looking great this season.   1,000 ounces, no problem!   ;)

 

They aren't on this season that I can see.  There are the Dodge Brothers I think they are that are new this season.  Think those are the dudes you might be thinking about.

[Curious5]

Last season when we were all arguing to dump the Toad for this year, the opinion was since everyone disliked him so much, people will watch to see him fail again.  I don't know if I can take it again.

 

I am a fan of Tony.  I was uncomfortable with his weekly visits last year for clean outs and picking up his 15%.  When I think about it though I watch the bank teller count out my cash and that is just smart.  Hoping Tony's gamble works for him.

 

Still hoping Fred doesn't show up.  Did I miss any explanation of them missing?

[Curious5]

I just did a search after reading the posts.  Here is a link with what Fred had to say

http://tvruckus.com/2014/08/14/gold-rush-star-fred-hurt-not-happy-with-discovery-channel-following-his-departure/

 

I'm just glad they're not on!

[Curious5]

If Fred's Facebook page is legit, I have changed my mind about him.  Looks like he does have  the knowledge and gusto

 

https://www.facebook.com/DakotaFred

[clod]

Fred won't be on the show this season.     iirc, money differences

 

 

Todd sitting around a campfire, wishing and dreaming.    oh, look.  that campfire is in the yard in front of his house.    why wait till warm weather to have a meeting with his former team?   that's a couple months too late.

 

when the Hoffmans were making the deal on that claim, the weather sure looked good enough to go mining.    so they are WAY WAY behind.   probably part of the plan, to add some drama to their mining.  also, they are starting with "nothing".   so here we go again.   are they going to have to to find a trommel/wash plant?    hey, that sounds familiar.  was that a problem in an earlier season?  maybe?    would a phone call to the guy who went bust on that claim be a good idea?

 

 

glad to see Dave Turin join a different team.    but that phone call scene at the end of the show makes me wonder if he will return.

 

Parker:   who drives 3000 miles to get told NO in a brief conversation....then turn around and drives back.   ?

I guess those hydraulic riffles were crafted just right.  no adjusting, just pop them in and run for days before you know if they are working right.

[walnutqueen]

Parker suffers from "special snowflake delusion", commonly found in our budding youths.   Tony Beets set him straight in a hot minute, because Tony is the real deal.

 

I am ever so glad that Dave Turin is working with Freddy Dodge this year.  He is competent and deserves to work with real miners.  And, they found nuggets!   ;-D

 

Yet another season of Jack praying to the sinus gods for a new set of false teeth and gold for his goateed bloated Baby Huey.  Blech.

[Fosca]

Here's where you can post about Tony ******* Beets, his various ******* mining operations, and those ******* annoying subtitles.

[green]

Can some mod change the title of this to Dodge Brothers maybe?  Or add a thread for them?

[Fosca]

Digging up the tundra since 2014!

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Given how he routinely did others dirty, I have zero empathy for the man.

 

He works hard and he is wicked savvy about keeping an operation going.  I'll give him that.

[clod]

Can some mod change the title of this to Dodge Brothers maybe?  Or add a thread for them?

 

 

Let's just call this the Dodge Dakota thread.     :)       ha

[clod]

about Tony's deal with Parker:  last years spot is already scouted and proven, the washplant is sitting there, and that spot is NOT mined out.   of course someone should keep mining it, and of course that person should be Parker.  

 

if it's profitable, mine it all.   then move on.

 

leaving it to start a new claim would be expensive, a little risky, would leave gold UNmined at last years spot, waste time, AND leave tony with a partially-mined claim to dispose of.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Tony Beets' son is nearly crushed by a conveyor and Parker Schnabel is forced to go looking for gold within a swamp.

[Curious5]

I truly love watching the Beets.  Can't imagine how they grew up right next door to each other and ended up  "happily" married.  She really knows how to handle the situation with money and the crane.  Guess the 50 ton was enough!

[Lonesome Rhodes]

In watching The Dirt, it was noticeable that Parker and Tony were too busy mining to meet with Christo in person and that Todd had no problem being at the studio many miles away.  It was stoopid that TPTB tried to play up the friction between Parker and Todd, too.  I also noticed that we never got the payoff promised last year when Todd challenged Parker, who said, "We'll see."  Well, we saw.  Where was our payoff of Parker smacking down Todd?  This would have been the proper ep to do it.  Ugh.

 

Looooove Minnie.  "You own it."  Awesome to see Tony processing that information and then laughing heartily.  Too cool.

 

I don't understand how Parker ran out of defrosted land.  There was so much more land on that claim.  He never mentioned that he was close to the boundary.  I don't get it.  Didja notice there wasn't any BS about how long they would be down?  Not even after the dredging screw up.   It was also entirely clear on The Dirt that Parker had wised up to the deal Tony gave him.  There was no bitterness or resentment in his comments about the whole thing.  There was actually some self-awareness that he got too big for his britches.   That's more like it.

 

Did Christo pay for the 400 lease?   What about the diesel on the site?  The transpo costs for the trommel?   Hoffman had zero dollars, right?  

 

Looks to me so far that Parker and Tony will largely met their goals.  The first snow has fallen with a major cold snap, so the season is basically over just this past week.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Lonesome Rhodes

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Tony runs into some trouble when an important steel frame on the dredge gets twisted.

[brooksneenee]

Love Parker. He is just a kid, but works harder then most men.

[AndreaK1041]

He was interviewed on the TMZ television show yesterday (don't judge me, it was on at the gym). He told them he was using his profits to buy new equipment. Smart kid.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

I loved how Disco showed that while Tony is a severe taskmaster, he is exceedingly reasonable about it.  We saw him go along with Plan A, which would have taken longer.  Then, when things were getting dicey, he was allllll about safety.  Time was not a consideration.  The guy is manic, but he is not cray cray.  

 

Parker made a very Tony-like decision to run all night and to lead the effort himself.  Good on him.  Gene was against it not because he was afraid of humans being overworked.  His concern was mechanical.  Sure enough, the belt failed.  I know last year's crew had issues with the snot-nosed kid ordering them around, but Parker always takes the lead to work harder.  Anyone who won't follow a guy like that is not cut out for the work.  Simple.

 

So, Todd harvested 34 ounces.  Yay!  He can buy some needed stuff....oops.  The first 100 ounces don't belong to him, do they.  :)

 

So, unless there was all-time edit monkey action, Parker's frozen paydirt problem melted away in a day or two.  How?  What happened to the obviously intractable problem?  Did he develop an ultimate thermal machine that unfreezes massive amounts of ground?   

[clod]

So, Todd harvested 34 ounces.  Yay!  He can buy some needed stuff....oops.  The first 100 ounces don't belong to him, do they.  :)

 

 

iirc, the deal was that the claim owner gets a 100 ounce minimum payment.   not that he would get the first 100 ounces.

[Quilt Fairy]

The dredge thing that Tony is doing has me mystified. Surely it's going to take an entire season to get that thing dismantled, transported, re-assembled and up and running. I'd be surprised if there's any payback before next season. It's a huge gamble for a guy who doesn't seem to take many gambles.

 

Parker leaves me feeling conflicted. You have to admire his work ethic, but damn, he's just an asshole to his crew. And despite the knowledge he picked up working at his grandpa's mine, I feel he's just too young to have the gravitas needed to lead a crew successfully.

[qtpye]

I love Tony Beets and would love to know more about his courtship of Elsa,  However, watching him dismantle a dredge week after week is boring. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Todd needs some new equipment and he must sell his gold in order to get what he needs.  Tony uses an aircraft to get from his claim to his gold dredge.

[eskimo]

My 10 year old thinks that "we're screwed" must be Todd Hoffmans catch phrase.  I like the Hoffmans, and wish them much success, but I'm getting bored of watching them.  And I really wonder how the other claim leasers went 'bust' with so much gold and the H2O line already set up to fill their intake pond.  Anyone wonder if Disco had a hand in that?  Also, and I don't remember where I read it, but my favorite comment on this show was that this show should be called 'Shit Breaks Down'.  I think of that several times each episode and get a laugh out of it each time.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

So, Parker's math was that he was getting $15K/day out of the swamp.  That's basically 12 ounces.  He was planning to stay there how long?  At that rate, it would take about 150 days to hit 2000.  He claimed he was going through 1000 gallons ($5/gal?) of diesel a day.  Was there no cleanout when they moved the wash plant?  

 

Of course, they ended up losing $60K in Parker math with the breaking up of the wash plant.  That means Tony lost $9K.  I bet he was thrilled about that.  Oh, and Parker never called to get updates on the progress of the move.  Uh huh.  He just showed up wholly ignorant?  Mr. Driving Taskmaster?  Uh huh.  Total Disco trumped up confrontation with Gene who did a spectacular job leading the move.  

 

I really loved the direct conversation we saw with Tony and his wife about getting the plane.  Each had full respect for the other's problems.  They knew the other wanted to help.  Soooooo much unsaid, but it was epic.  They were each maximally frustrated, but, and this is crucial - NOT with each other. To me, that is a true marriage. 

 

Preview:  What the heck happened to the plot which was frozen?  Did Parker  just give up on it?  Why the need to move on?  How far is this new plot from the now-moved wash plant?   and....How stupid is Dave to seek partnership with the Hoffmans?  Unless...the promising start he had with his new boss went to crap.

 

Overall, I still just do not understand how Parker hit such an awesome vein which put him over 1K ounces in a very short time last year.  Was that pure luck?  Why didn't that land keep paying off?  

Edited November 8, 2014 by Lonesome Rhodes

[walnutqueen]

Minnie Beets:  "I can't pull money out of my ass"

Tony Beets:  "Well, try your pockets.  It might work better"

 

I love them.  :-)

[eskimo]

Although I don't know if we'll see it this season or not, I can't wait to see that dredge running.  Tony and Minnie are my favorite.

[JC65]

If Todd normally never sells gold, as he claimed, how does he make any money mining gold?  Oh wait, he's never actually mined any gold before.

Oh, and the scene at the gold buyer sure calls bullshit on every single time the voice-over tells us how much money the gold they weigh is worth.  Be sure to discount every dollar amount by 20% for the slag!

[qtpye]

I have seen Hoffman weigh outs, where it seemed like 20 percent gold and 80 percent slag.  In the previous seasons it looked liked very fine gold dust interspersed among a lot of dirt.  I did love seeing how the gold brick was made. Being a gold buyer must be a very cool job.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Tony is removing a piece of the dredge when his life is suddenly put in danger.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Soooo much this week between this ep and The Dirt's "Meet the Beets" ep.

 

The main thing, for me, is the outrageous edit monkeys messing with Parker's story.  Parker was running a bunch of dirt through the wash plant from the swamp cut.  A bunch.  Cool.  Then, all of a sudden, pay dirt runs out - despite Parker believing he was going to need to run 24 hours/day because he had sooooo much paydirt to process?  Nobody saw the end coming???!!!!!!.  No clean out seen nor spoken of.  OK.  

 

Then. they run the seemingly barren cut next to the swamp against Rick's advice.  Gotta get 100 ounces from it, right?  Now comes the weigh-in...less than 100 and it HAD to include a boatload of paydirt I just mentioned from the swamp cut, too.  You tell me how much that second cut yielded after 100 hours!   If there was an intermediate clear-out and weigh-in, why was it withheld from us?  Tony was said to be near-desperate for cash, right?  He wouldn't have insisted on getting a cut each week?  

 

The Dirt was fantastic.  Tony can be a real SOB, yet he most definitely has learned to enjoy being on the receiving end of some teasing/ribbing.  The segment declaring Minnie the true power in the family was as good as this show can hope to get.    The boyfriend of the daughter segment was truly humorous.  I bet that situation caused no small amount of mirth amongst the Beets until Tony finally told him that he knew about the relationship.  Such a universal family dynamic playing out Yukon-style!  Just awesome.  If you haven't seen this ep, I most highly recommend you do.   One revelation, at least to me:  The Dirt is taped in a studio in Washington, DC.  

 

I am gobsmacked that Dave decided to buy-in to a Hoffman partnership.  I am with his brothers.  I hope it worked out for him.  I can't believe it will (did).  If that claim was THAT rich, and there were literally no other claims worth a fig which were unbought, as claimed in the first eps of this season, how on earth did everyone else pass on it?????  That is literal insanity.  Here again, we don't have near the real story.  Any chance that Dave didn't really have to come up with that large a buy-in?

 

How classy is Freddie Dodge?  Taken at face value, his advice to Dave against self-interest was darn cool.  He really needed an excellent machine operator for that specific claim, too.  

[green]

I am gobsmacked that Dave decided to buy-in to a Hoffman partnership.  I am with his brothers.  I hope it worked out for him.  I can't believe it will (did).  If that claim was THAT rich, and there were literally no other claims worth a fig which were unbought, as claimed in the first eps of this season, how on earth did everyone else pass on it????? 

 

I assume production "bought" the claim or reserved it anyway as a way to get Todd back into the show.  There probably wasn't any "failed" operation either but rather a production set-up from the get go providing Todd with the easiest mining anyone ever did in the history of mining.  Now they brought back Dave?  Any real person would have stayed with the sane Dodge Brothers.  This is all totally scripted period.

 

This thing has become totally unwatchable.  Lazy, never does any work himself, nagging, whining, mean-spirited and full of it Todd "saved" by being propped up by production.  Dave being a total idiot leaving a good outfit to sell his soul to the devil again.  And Parker becoming a cruel despot in his treatment of his workers before he even turns 20.  Former likeable boy wonder turned into a jack-booted dictator.  Don't like any of them.

 

The Dutch couple are funny enough when taken in small doses.  Dodge Brothers looked really interesting so of course we can't watch them.  But these two groups are the only ones worth watching. 

 

I can't stand anyone let alone bosses treating people with total cruelty and lack of respect and that is both Todd and Parker in a nutshell.  Won't watch this show ever again.

[Quilt Fairy]

Let me understand this: Dave wants to be a partner, so Todd pulls $500K out of thin air as the amount that would be needed to buy in. (I sure hope Dave had a lawyer review the deal before it was signed.)  So Dave is now a 'partner', but runs the entire mining operation and makes all the decisions. Here's the big question: What the FUCK does Todd do?

[walnutqueen]

Let me understand this: Dave wants to be a partner, so Todd pulls $500K out of thin air as the amount that would be needed to buy in. (I sure hope Dave had a lawyer review the deal before it was signed.)  So Dave is now a 'partner', but runs the entire mining operation and makes all the decisions. Here's the big question: What the FUCK does Todd do?

 

What the FUCK has Todd ever done?

[HumblePi]

I usually play poker online while my husband insists on watching this contrived bunch of hooey. I've watched some episodes in previous seasons and Todd Hoffman gets on my 'fricken' nerves and I wish I was a ghost with a pair of scissors and I'd chop off that wild bunch of hay on his chin in an instant. I can't even watch the aerial view of the complete and utter devastation they leave behind in search of riches.

[Quilt Fairy]

I'd chop off that wild bunch of hay on his chin in an instant.

Get in line, HumblePi, get in line.

 

What the FUCK has Todd ever done?

Well, you have me there.

[HumblePi]

What the FUCK has Todd ever done?

Who the 'frick' knows?

[JC65]

I can understand Dave's desire to be owner and to call the shots as opposed to working for wages as stated by the Dodges, but $500K seems like an awful lot to buy into an operation that has never shown to be successful in the past.

 

With that said it looks like his buy-in was mostly equipment to actually make the plan work.   If I were Dave I'd send the Hoffmanns home.

[AndreaK1041]

Ha, that would be hilarious.  He should just send home Todd and let Jack stay.  Does Todd even know how any of the machines work?  I don't recall seeing him ever doing the actual grinding hours sitting in the machines that we have seen every other cast member on this show do.  Sometimes I watch this show and think that it doesn't look that hard, driving a truck back and forth, but the mind-numbing monotony of it all must be incredibly draining.

 

I'm not liking the obviously scripted for television plot points this season.  The show is entertaining enough without things that are obviously fake drama.  Isn't this part of the reason the Dakota boys were nixed, that they wouldn't play ball with the "TV production" part of it?  I think Fred said something like if you want to film me mining for gold, that's great, but I'm not here to entertain you.  Dustin talking about rocks with his melange of an accent was entertainment enough for me, Christo.  (Also thought his name was Chris O'Doyle for probably two seasons before I saw Christo Doyle written on the screen)

Edited November 18, 2014 by AndreaK1041

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Parker's mining hopes are destroyed when multiple issues, including a flooded cut, arise.  Todd and Dave are at odds as they talk about mining the frozen ground.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Please tell me the Disco trolls didn't dictate that Dave stupidly go after the iced-over dirt.  I'd be furious if I were his father, who seems to have put hundreds of thousands on the line.  

 

If Parker's crew truly resents him, how did they fake their acceptance of his major screw-up?  How could they have been laughing about it almost straight away?  Where were the backbiting confessionals/sound bites?  I totally noticed that Parker immediately took ownership and was tougher on himself than any of the others could have been.  So, he's the first on and last off the site; he's the first to take on additional tasks/shifts; he's the first to take blame.   Whether he got it from his Grandpa or he just knows things instinctively, that is one heck of a great leadership recipe.

 

Similarly, how awesome was Tony to just hand over to his daughter the difficult task of moving the conveyor?  You want your children to grow strong and confident? You do what he did there.  That dredge makes or breaks him and he entrusted his daughter with a crucial task and zero guidance.  What a man.  What a father.

 

It would have been nice to have seen how Freddie adjusted to losing Dave. 

[clod]

he's the first on and last off the site; he's the first to take on additional tasks/shifts; he's the first to take blame.   Whether he got it from his Grandpa or he just knows things instinctively, that is one heck of a great leadership recipe.

 

 

do you think he would be like that if he was the one working for wages, and a co-worker was the one with ownership / equity / chance to get rich ?

[Lonesome Rhodes]

do you think he would be like that if he was the one working for wages, and a co-worker was the one with ownership / equity / chance to get rich ?

If parker had not been an eager sponge, he would never have come this far, this fast.

 

The question is irrelevant to his leadership on display this year.  His crew have no cause to resent him individually.  He works harder than all of them.  If they resent the capitalist "system" where owners get theirs, they do not belong on claims they do not themselves own.  If they can't stand taking orders from a younger owner, they do not belong on that individual claim.

 

I totally get the natural bitterness and resentments held by many elder working class folks.  It's been human nature forever.  That doesn't make it right.  It is not on the owner to get a worker to bring her/his best.  It is on each worker to have the integrity and self-respect to bring her/his best regardless anything or anyone.   It was most refreshing to see this on full display in the last episode.