The story begins at
Sandy Airport, Oregon. Its the place we first meet the Hoffmans.
Father Jack and his son Todd, who operate a small airfield. The
lousy economy is really hurting their business, and they've decided
to go with 'one last hope', a Gold mining expedition to Alaska. A
dream every American would also want to follow, so they proudly proclaim.
Hmm, would you wanna quit your stable desk job for a venture that
might end up in complete personal bankruptcy...or worse?
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| The EX400...the best in Japanese Engineering! |
We soon learn their
chosen claim is Porcupine Creek, Alaska - its a 160 acre plot..and
the Hoffmans have leased the land from Earle Foster. Foster is an old
friend of Jack Hoffman – who we learn already has a few decades
experience in gold mining. We hear a little about how much gold might be in the claim, but we later learn the Hoffmans did not do any of their own testing -and are merely taking the lease on here say from Foster.
The Miners!
Todd Hoffman - official leader of the 'Hoffman
crew'
Jack Hoffman (Todds father no less)
Jim Thurber (Safety Officer)
Greg Remsberg – (Foreman)
James Harness (team mechanic)
Jimmy Dorsey
Mike Halstead (Pastor)
Jack Hoffman (Todds father no less)
Jim Thurber (Safety Officer)
Greg Remsberg – (Foreman)
James Harness (team mechanic)
Jimmy Dorsey
Mike Halstead (Pastor)
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| Todd Displeased with Dorsey |
A few initial highlights...
Dorsey manages to
damage his own car via the EX400 excavator...not exactly a good sign!
A chain snap/breaks
whilst trying to load equipment onto a flat-bed truck. Dorsey's
comments do not please Todd, and its one of the first of many
instances where Todd will slip into his overly bossy attitude. Yeah,
Todd does seem to be the 'big boss man', but still, its not exactly professional.
Harness -the only experienced mechanic, arguably one
of the most important people of the team, we soon learn
that the poor guy is not well, and has a lengthy list of medical problems –
issues that will cause untold delays to the coming mining season.
We learn the team have
had to make a few pieces of critical mining equipment – a Shaker
and a Trummel, and a custom water pump. They lack the funds to buy
much of anything, not least anything brand new.
Besides huge amounts of food, and other essential tech supplies, the team load up on what seems like enough guns to
invade and secure a small town. They claim its to defend against
bears, but it does seem like literal overkill, and considering their
limited budget, it seems largely a wasteful expense.
The journey just to get
to Porcupine is pretty gripping viewing.
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| Best possible speed...to Seattle! |
Despite a blown tire,
and a few other minor issues, the crew do get to Seattle on time. The
heavy gear leaves on a Barge, with a destination of the small Port of
Haines, Alaska. Todd, and the crew themselves have to drive some 2000
miles to meet up with the barge some four days later at Haines. Its at
this point, if you're not already hooked, then you never will be.
This is going to be epic!
There are issues with crossing bridges, and they even have to get the EX400 across a river - since the Dept' of Transport says one of the many smaller bridges along the way is simply too weak.
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| Crossing the River, Todd -driving EX400 |
The first episode ends
with a journey along a snowy road...and the crew successfully
get everything to their claim. The mountains are indeed a beautiful
sight, Jack notes to a celebratory team '...you're all
millionaires, the only thing is, you gotta get it out of the ground'. Millionaires huh? Well, even if Gold was $5000 an oz...we'll later learn this hope of becoming rich is infinately harder than anyone might have feared.
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| The mountains surrounding Porcupine Creek |
What is really great
about this opening episode, we soon come to realise that we're not
going to miss out on anything of this story. Its not just going to be
a short story about watching a group of miners digging gold out of the
ground, we'll see get to everything, from the journey to the claim....which
as this episode showed, was an epic adventure in itself, to the back story of
the miner families, and the sheer physical and emotional toil on everyone
involved.
The Gold Rush....has
begun...and its one amazing story.
