Idaho Today has a sneak preview and digital exclusive with our friend Dave Turin, the Gold Rush star whose Discovery series, America's Backyard Gold, shows you can turn a fun hobby into a money-making venture with some planning, homework, and elbow grease. Here is a video of Dave showing Mellisa Paul how to pan for gold in the Idaho Today studios:
RELATED: Discovery's "America's Backyard Gold" sees "Gold Rush" star Dave Turin find gold all over the USA
Below, Idaho Today has the exclusive preview clip of Rocky Mountain Nugget Fever. This April 26th episode focuses on our region where Dave finds Bob Sorgen mining on an Idaho creek, using homemade ingenuity to capture gold using a super soaker as a gold trap!
The former Idaho Territory of Idaho and Montana is still rich with gold. Dave shows you where and how everyday miners think outside the box to get it. The episode begins in Montana, as Dave uses a metal detector and plucks an ounce and a half nugget right in front of our eyes.
In May, Dave will take Idaho Today on the road and help host Mellisa Paul find some of the three trillion in unclaimed gold in our region, which he swears is out there. Stay tuned, Idaho Today watchers.
The massive Idaho Territory is the focus of the episode, which airs before we hit the creeks and look for our cha-ching. America's Backyard Gold is a masterclass in how to be wise, spend little, and have fun making side money. Dave stresses that doing homework is mandatory for Idaho gold hunters.
Elk City is home to Rob McGuire, a former landscaper turned extreme prospector who shows Dave the Idaho insider details on where the creeks run through the hard rock mining spots. Most gold is found in underground deposits, but erosion is your friend, as place gold results from time and elements. That's the fun stuff you can pluck out of the rivers and creeks. A caveat: It's not all a cakewalk, as yellowjackets, cougars, and bears can cross your path in Idaho.
Dave says a pan is the easiest and cheapest way to swirl for gold.
Rob has banked almost 10K in gold findings and prefers it to his former landscaping day job. He and Dave stake a claim, and Dave moves down the road. He crosses paths with a family camped out. Bob Sorgen shows Dave his engineered suction pump made from odds and ends. With some PVC leftovers, Bob has fashioned a fine gold trap using Idaho ingenuity. "With a bit of imagination and spare parts, you can do this too," says Turin. Montana and Idaho have many creeks and rivers that continually receive mountain runoff. You have to be smart about where to look.
Gary White takes Dave on a tour of his Idaho property, where his gold haul is valued at $66,500—all thanks to Gary's $745 fee for the gulch claim rights and some money for a metal detector. Dry creek beds are another great place to use a detector and sweep for gold deposits. Gold is continuously being churned up thanks to flash floods and the seasons.
As the episode progresses, Dave shows how the soil indicates where to look, as the clay layer often holds gold deposits. The radio waves from the detector picked up a funny woo-woo noise that meant there was metal or gold there. And sure enough, they pluck a tiny one out of the clay. Then the dry washer is shown, and Dave says it costs about $2000. However, it allows a prospector to find the finer flakes of gold that add up fast and net more of a yield. The machine quickly pays for itself. Gary's claim and yield have Dave's wheels turning, and he notes that he's bringing an excavator up to turn more rock. "There's still gold out here to be found," says Turin, whose love for the Pacific Northwest stretches to Montana and throughout Idaho.
Dave also travels back to the 1860s Alder Gulch Gold Rush in Montana. The 1863 Alder Gulch gold strike was the largest gold strike in the state's history, leading to the creation of Nevada City and Virginia City. Historian Ken Nelson takes Dave on an old-timey sluice box adventure, and sure enough, the relic worked.
The show offers even more history lessons for our region, as the cattle business and ranching history is covered. Still, the ranchers are also turning to prospecting to augment their incomes. Rancher Hope Jordan's backstory is fantastic. An Idaho native, she has three children, one with autism, and moved to her ranch because a school was nearby that her child could attend. She's a hard worker and has a great plan B for making extra money to help her kids thrive and grow up in a wholesome spot.
"I'm always excited about new technology, a new way to get the gold," says Turin, who meets up with Alan Robertson in Montana, who takes Dave on a tour of his claim. "Doing your research on where miners have worked before is a great way to get gold," noted Turin, whose interviews with Alan's band of innovators, a mining club, including Nick Steichen, show off clever new machines to sort the pay from the runoff. One is a portable spinning trommel that catches the gold with a silicone mat designed to trap even the tiniest specks of gold. Kevin Knie uses the unique sluice mats he invented for their club members using a 3D printer. Dave said, "Maybe between Alan and I, maybe we can invent something to help people out."
The episode is a love letter to our Intermountain West region with excellent leads and advice for novice prospectors.
Make sure to watch our Idaho Today exclusive preview ahead of the America's Backyard Gold episode:
TUNE IN: "America's Backyard Gold" airs at 9 p.m. Friday on the Discovery Channel
