‘Gold Rush’ Teams Wrap Up A Challenging Season [Spoilers]


There’s a chill in the air and it’s not entirely the weather that’s at fault. The Gold Rush crews have struggled this season in one way or another, some more than others. From the lack of gold, to trying to breathe new life into ancient dredges, to machinery constantly breaking down has had a negative impact on every crew during this season of Gold Rush.

Todd Hoffman had high hopes for his risky venture at the High Bar mine in Oregon on this season of Gold Rush, and according to Oregon Live was so confident that he set a season goal of retrieving at least 5,000 ounces of gold. This is 2,000 ounces more than what he brought in last season, which was an impressive 3,032 ounces of gold, which was worth $3 million dollars. The crew quickly came to realize that they would be lucky to bring in 100 ounces and the team began to scramble to figure out ways to increase the amount of gold brought in. Despite Todd’s reassurances, everyone realized that the High Bar mine wasn’t going to produce much gold.

Despite his best efforts, the lack of gold forced most of Todd’s crew to literally drop everything and leave. Freddy Dodge offered the Hoffman’s a ray of hope when he returned with a deal that Todd couldn’t turn down. After relocating to Colorado, Todd’s crew returned and now running two operations at once, they hope to pull in at least 1,000 ounces of gold from the ground, which will be enough to pay everyone. To reach his season goal on Gold Rush, Todd is now relying on the gold-rich paydirt from Freddy’s Fairplay mine.

Unfortunately, Todd will face another breakdown that could put an abrupt end to the season. This could be disastrous for the Hoffman crew, and a preview that aired after the latest episode of Gold Rush shows the crew coming to blows and Dave Turin offering his resignation. Although the Hoffman crew’s previous season was productive, it seems that for the most part, Todd and his men just can’t catch a break.

Tony Beets discovered that trying to get another dredge up and running on this season of Gold Rush was going to be impossible. After restoring the first dredge and making a profit, despite mechanical breakdowns and other issues, Tony decided to resurrect another dredge that is twice as big. With $2 million dollars tied up in the 70-year-old dredge, Tony needed to get the machine disassembled, moved 150 miles to a remote area downriver, reassembled, and then repaired before it could bring in a single ounce of gold.

Monsters and Critics shared that during the previous episode of Gold Rush, after five months of delays, Tony’s barge finally headed upriver to bring back his dredge, but there’s a problem to work around. Tony’s plan entailed heading down the mighty Yukon River to Thistle Creek, where they planned to the dredge and haul as much of it back before the Yukon freezes. Once they arrive at the barge, they discover that ice has already started to close in. They use a forced air heater to thaw out the engine room and heat up the hull. After some difficulty, they are finally able to free the machine from the ice and move it off a sandbar so they can get it moving down the river. These obstacles have definitely set his plans back, and getting the new dredge up and running will have to wait until winter passes.

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This season of Gold Rush has been pivotal for Parker Schnabel as he faced his own set of challenges for the first time without the support and advice from his grandfather, John Schnabel, who passed away in his sleep on March 18, 2016. Although John is gone, his parents have always been a big part of Parker’s support system as well and they came up to give Parker a hand when he needed them most. Parker’s girlfriend joined him in the Klondike on this season of Gold Rush and she has been a positive influence on Parker. He met Ashley Yule in Australia, and since then she has been by his side during the entire Gold Rush season.

Parker’s crew is running two operations at the same time as well, and his new $600,000 washplant nicknamed Sluicifer, allowed him to process a lot more pay dirt. Parker’s goal this season is to bring in 4,000 ounces of gold, and with Rick operating the second operation, the crew is close to making and even surpassing their goal. In comparison, during the last season of Gold Rush, Parker’s crew brought in a record-breaking 3,362 ounces of gold worth close to $3.5 million.

Parker has proved on this season of Gold Rush that he can rely on his own will and determination to get the job done. He has taken what he’s learned from his grandfather to keep his crew and machines all working together long enough to have another memorable gold-mining season.

Who do you think will come out on top of the gold total? Do you think Todd will get his 1,000 ounces? Leave your comments, thoughts, and opinions concerning Gold Rush below. The season finale of Gold Rush airs on Friday, March 10 at 9 p.m. ET on the Discovery Channel.

[Featured Image by Discovery]

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