Brian, what's the situation?
Over.
I'm looking good, yeah.
[INAUDIBLE] going up.
That sounds good.
NARRATOR: With a second diver pulling in strong results,
Vernon Adkison is looking at a new crew, a new claim,
and a new lease on life.
We're doing good here.
We're seeing a little bit of gold down there.
Everything's holding together.
But my first day on 56, I'm pretty happy.
I'm thinking I made the right decision by buying this thing.
VERNON ADKISON: You got some time, man.
Why don't you come on up and--
and we'll wrap it up for today.
So far, 56 looks to me like it's going to be a winner.
Matter of fact, I know damn well it's going to be a winner.
I've been up here 10 years and I finally
got a first class claim that's gonna
last me the rest of my life.
Whoo.
Look good.
I can work right here on 56 for the rest
of the time I'm on this planet.
VERNON ADKISON: I feel like the emperor of Nome right now.
This is the biggest gamble I've ever made.
I stuck my neck way out there.
But I went with my gut instinct.
And now it looked to me like I've
got my own raw gold bank at the bottom of the Bering Sea.
Everything's working good.
I've got to be very proud of Claim 56.
I think that's gonna be a money maker for us all.
CREW: Yeah.
VERNON ADKISON: You guys hang with the Wild Ranger,
we'll all be wealthy men.
CREW: All right, we're there.
All right.
Boom.
VERNON ADKISON: We cleaned out right here in the Gold Cup.
We've got everything we need to do it right here.
NARRATOR: Vernon Adkison is ready for his first call
on his new claim.
VERNON ADKISON: I bought Claim 56 last March.
We've got to find out what kind of gold we're on.
BRYAN WILDER: Scoop number one.
Let's find out how it is.
Oh.
Look at that.
Lot of gold.
VERNON ADKISON: Oh, look at that.
Look at that.
It's paying it off now.
Oh yeah.
BRYAN WILDER: Oh man.
VERNON ADKISON: She's lighting up.
First clean out on 56.
It's going to be juicy, guys.
It's gonna be really juicy.
When he's smiling, you know something good's going on.
All right, here we go.
That's one, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, nine.
BRYAN WILDER: 10.
VERNON ADKISON: 10.32.
That is awesome.
I like it.
NARRATOR: 10.3 ounces is worth over $20,000.
VERNON ADKISON: This is the payoff.
NARRATOR: And Vernon is off and running in the turf war.
VERNON ADKISON: This has been a long time coming right here.
But now I'm saying 56 is the place to be.
This wasn't even a full day of mining.
We spent all morning mapping out the claim
and we still pulled in double digits.
I'm telling you, 56 is a money maker
and I'm going to be shaking this tree for a long time to come.
Everything tuned up.
All we got to do now is to get more hours.
So, yeah, we'll just get out there and hammer it.
[INAUDIBLE]
- Thank you. - Thank you.
All right.
You know, happy days are here.