GR white water: Father/son dynamic

b3y0nd3r

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I love this show. I really do. It brings so much of hidden facets of humanity. Especially that of the father and son. Dustin said it best when he said, (adlibbing) Fred thinks he is in a competition with me, and I'm not even in it.

Why is there so much friction between them? Is it a passing of the torch kind of thing or a father's perspective that his son doesn't know any better?

I think Dustin is right. To dig around the bridge makes sense as I think that is where the gold would lay. The rocks can be easily removed if the would just invest in a conveyor system. Two teams underwater doing 4-6 hour each shifts(2 shifts) they would be up to their neck in gold.
 

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OreCart

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dont know what all the fuss is about. You guys could be forced to watch Survivor with your wife every freaking week

You have my deepest sympathies...

I have four daughters and a wife, not to mention the cat, the dog, the bunny, and all but one of my sheep being female too. I swim in estrogen, and have to endure shows like Fixer-Upper and House Hunters.
 

OreCart

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Frank, from "Exploring Abandoned Mines", on YouTube said that Discovery was working with him for a possible show. I would like to see that (although I do not have cable TV). I kind of like the guy, he is like me; does everything alone, mutters to himself, is brave but not dangerous, gives as much information as he can about a mine, and is a farmer too!
 

A

Audozer

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Ya'll must have worked some pretty cushy jobs to think that Dustin is that big of a Dbag. You have never been in the oilfield I can tell ya that!

So just because I chose a profession where respect is earned and given in return or you’re out means I have a cushy job? Let’s see you go to work for him for months on end without pay all while your bills and mortgage are not being paid with no guarantee that you will be paid other than him saying “there’s gold here” and see how quiet you stay when he accuses you of anything you obviously didn’t do. I’d be all over a project like what they have taken on but I’m not putting my life in the hands of a man that takes every opportunity he gets to throw a 3 year old’s hissy fit when an elder with years of experience beyond his has a suggestion.
 

RTR

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How would you get to the bedrock in that location if you were in charge???

Well you probably cant do it in today's EPA world but. On the first episode they talked about the old-timers diverting THAT stream (upstream) some place.And they removed the gold from dry-land.
 

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Audozer

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He is a hot head for sure but you know what, he owns up to his mistakes. Which is a lot more than I can say for most people these days.

If you were on his crew would you rather he owned his mistakes after the fact or put pride aside long enough to recognize them before they happen?
 

A

Audozer

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Well you probably cant do it in today's EPA world but. On the first episode they talked about the old-timers diverting THAT stream (upstream) some place.And they removed the gold from dry-land.

Yes but the costs for that would be incredible
 

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b3y0nd3r

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If you were on his crew would you rather he owned his mistakes after the fact or put pride aside long enough to recognize them before they happen?

ALL people make mistakes. Thats how we learn. I am sure if I worked for him, I would be irritated as well. However we aren't seeing the whole story. We aren't in his head. He manned up and said he was sorry and he was sincere about it. Does it make it right? That depends on the person he wronged.

As for getting the gold out of the basins in the stream, there are non-destructive ways to do it which I won't go into.

But one thing that would speed up the whole process would be a conveyor system for the big rocks.
 

IdahoGoldGettR

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There’s no disputing whether Dustin has a temper or not. He does and he admitted it on numerous occasions. The fact that he recognized and warned (his father) Fred that winching the buried suction hose could tear it (which is exactly what did happen), demonstrates he has some smarts. After realizing that he did in fact tear into the hose, Fred tapes the hose as if that will make it all better. “Most” dredgers know that any tape job on a tear/hole to a suction hose is at best a bandaid with a huge loss of suction power (as found out later in the episode). I can’t force myself to support the Arizona dredger that dredged much of the day with that bad suction hose and never once mentioned to anyone that there was inadequate suction. Conservatively speaking, the first five minutes on that taped up suction hose would have had me in an uproar. I have no doubt that I would have made it known but prior to this, I would have agreed with Dustin’s request to his father not to continue his winching for fear that it would do exactly what he said it would do. Credit Dustin on that one. With that said however, I do acknowledge that Fred has a wealth of mining experience. As for hiring an attorney, that would be ill advised and a complete waste of time and money. But hey, it’s your money to piss away. My advice to those individuals who wish to seek legal counsel after being accused of plugging up at a dredge, yelled at, or fired on someone’s Alaskan/Yukon claim, watch an episode of Deliverance. You might find it refreshing. There are no guarantees in mining and for you to believe there is, well you haven’t done enough mining. If you haven’t sufficient enough funds for your bills or mortgage payments to sustain you through such adverse mining endeavors, then you shouldn’t be out doing something that makes you so queasy. As the saying goes, “don’t quit your day job.”
 

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N-Lionberger

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I tried watching an episode they were chasing some crack and nearly had an accident when they undercut the wall of their dredge hole and caused a collapse, they were surprised! This is some amateur hour dredging, digging their hole backwards.
 

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barrelroll

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I haven't watched this season but I'll say it again good mining operations are very boring. Ore/ rock moves and get processed, things break and get fixed wash rise and repeat. You might have someone get a little excited when things are down and you aren't making money but usually it's a pretty boring existence if things are going right. If Discovery didn't invent drama for goldrush it would be really boring for the normal viewer watching trucks drive in circles and a loader loading a wash plant all day.


I could really care less about the drama. In the "real world" either someone gets run off or HR get involved and then it becomes a real mess.
 

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