WEBVTT 00:00:24.779 --> 00:00:26.781 Adak, Alaska, 00:00:26.865 --> 00:00:29.784 rising up from the middle of the Bering Sea. 00:00:30.952 --> 00:00:36.291 Adak Island is closer to Japan than it is to the west coast of the United States. 00:00:38.835 --> 00:00:40.378 It's a place so isolated 00:00:40.462 --> 00:00:45.759 that hundreds of millions in pirate gold has been hidden there for over a century. 00:00:46.843 --> 00:00:50.889 And yet, only a handful of people know the secret. 00:00:53.808 --> 00:00:58.146 During World War II, a major US military base on Adak 00:00:58.229 --> 00:01:00.982 was used to attack the Japanese. 00:01:02.275 --> 00:01:04.402 And during base construction, 00:01:04.486 --> 00:01:08.364 two cans of the legendary pirate loot were discovered. 00:01:19.042 --> 00:01:21.169 This is where they made the first discovery. 00:01:21.753 --> 00:01:24.380 During World War II, a soldier found a tin can 00:01:24.464 --> 00:01:27.842 full of gold coins from the 1880s, buried right around here. 00:01:28.426 --> 00:01:31.387 In 1959, this is where they discovered the second tin 00:01:31.471 --> 00:01:33.556 with $2.5 million worth of gold in it. 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:36.476 There's 148 more of those things still out there. 00:01:36.559 --> 00:01:38.895 It's $365 million. 00:01:40.021 --> 00:01:42.899 While the base was operating, digging on the island 00:01:42.982 --> 00:01:44.317 was strictly forbidden. 00:01:44.984 --> 00:01:47.654 But when it closed in 1997, 00:01:47.737 --> 00:01:50.990 many locals took their shot at finding the gold. 00:01:51.074 --> 00:01:53.493 I've dug up old Coke bottles, 00:01:53.576 --> 00:01:56.871 coffee mugs, old dog tags… 00:01:56.955 --> 00:01:58.873 But we haven't found any gold yet. 00:01:59.374 --> 00:02:01.876 With limited equipment and technology, 00:02:01.960 --> 00:02:05.338 coupled with the ground being frozen for much of the year, 00:02:05.421 --> 00:02:08.716 nothing more has been found in over six decades. 00:02:10.176 --> 00:02:13.930 But now, Adak only has 45 residents left 00:02:14.013 --> 00:02:17.058 and is on the verge of complete economic collapse. 00:02:17.142 --> 00:02:20.728 So Mayor Thom Spitler is throwing a Hail Mary 00:02:20.812 --> 00:02:23.982 and assembling a team of experienced treasure hunters 00:02:24.065 --> 00:02:26.985 in a last-ditch effort to save the town. 00:02:31.698 --> 00:02:36.661 There are nearly 3,000 pounds of gold hidden beneath Adak's tundra. 00:02:37.162 --> 00:02:38.788 -Got a big hit here! 00:02:38.872 --> 00:02:42.542 If they find it, they'll all go home with millions, 00:02:43.126 --> 00:02:46.838 and Thom can bring the community back from the dead. 00:02:49.090 --> 00:02:50.758 No frigging way. 00:02:50.842 --> 00:02:52.760 I think we might have found something! 00:02:53.803 --> 00:02:56.598 -There's something right here. 00:03:23.750 --> 00:03:27.086 I've been trying to assemble the perfect team to find the treasure. 00:03:27.962 --> 00:03:31.424 Now, I found a group of individuals who will be able to solve this mystery. 00:03:32.008 --> 00:03:33.509 Welcome to Adak! 00:03:33.593 --> 00:03:36.804 With their unique skill sets, they'll be able to look for this treasure 00:03:36.888 --> 00:03:39.599 in new, innovative ways that no one's ever tried before. 00:03:40.600 --> 00:03:43.895 It took considerable time for Mayor Thom to assemble the team 00:03:43.978 --> 00:03:45.146 and get them to Adak. 00:03:45.230 --> 00:03:49.150 Now there are just a few precious months before the ground freezes, 00:03:49.234 --> 00:03:52.487 and the window to find the gold will be closed until next year. 00:03:54.489 --> 00:03:56.866 I'm in the white truck down here. Just follow me. 00:03:58.785 --> 00:04:00.536 I picked each member of this team 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:03.873 because each one brings something specific that this mission needs. 00:04:04.999 --> 00:04:08.461 Brian Weed knows more about the latest technology for scanning underground 00:04:08.544 --> 00:04:10.421 than any treasure hunter on the planet. 00:04:11.631 --> 00:04:14.842 I'm the gadget guy. I've found treasures all over Alaska 00:04:14.926 --> 00:04:16.970 that other people just can't find. 00:04:17.053 --> 00:04:18.346 I've always thought of myself 00:04:18.388 --> 00:04:19.973 like Indiana Jones. 00:04:22.308 --> 00:04:25.103 With me, I brought all kinds of state-of-the-art tech 00:04:25.186 --> 00:04:29.190 so I can go down in history as finding Alaska's largest treasure. 00:04:33.361 --> 00:04:36.531 Jay and Burke know how to fabricate specialized gear 00:04:36.614 --> 00:04:38.992 out of salvaged material in a remote environment 00:04:39.075 --> 00:04:42.287 and make it into something that we can use to find this treasure. 00:04:45.498 --> 00:04:47.250 Jay and Burke grew up on Adak. 00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:50.044 They have a history with this town and the treasure 00:04:50.128 --> 00:04:51.838 that goes back generations. 00:04:51.921 --> 00:04:54.507 You know how long I've been chasing this treasure? 00:04:55.091 --> 00:04:56.759 Thirty frigging years! 00:04:57.635 --> 00:05:00.430 Jay and I heard about this legend all through high school, 00:05:00.930 --> 00:05:03.099 but the Navy had strict rules. 00:05:03.182 --> 00:05:04.767 You could not dig. 00:05:05.518 --> 00:05:07.353 But Jay and I really didn't give a crap. 00:05:07.437 --> 00:05:09.647 If it was dark, we had a shovel in the dirt. 00:05:13.484 --> 00:05:15.278 I have a long lineage on Adak that started 00:05:15.278 --> 00:05:17.655 with my grandfather in World War II. 00:05:18.239 --> 00:05:21.492 My grandfather was here when they found that first gold. 00:05:21.576 --> 00:05:22.785 He saw it happen. 00:05:23.286 --> 00:05:25.079 And when I received the call 00:05:25.163 --> 00:05:27.707 that we were gonna go on this expedition, 00:05:27.790 --> 00:05:31.711 I was a little bit apprehensive, trying to explain this to my family. 00:05:31.794 --> 00:05:34.005 But they knew if I didn't take this opportunity, 00:05:34.088 --> 00:05:36.215 I would regret it for the rest of my life. 00:05:38.134 --> 00:05:41.346 Dr. M's understanding of geology and landscape change 00:05:41.429 --> 00:05:43.097 is going to be indispensable. 00:05:43.181 --> 00:05:46.642 This area has changed so much by the military over the years. 00:05:46.726 --> 00:05:49.145 She's going to be able to put us in the right spot 00:05:49.228 --> 00:05:51.397 to put shovels in the ground and find the gold. 00:05:52.857 --> 00:05:54.233 When I was little, 00:05:54.817 --> 00:05:58.529 my dad was a welder, and he actually was out here on Adak, 00:05:58.613 --> 00:06:01.783 and he would tell me stories about this gold. 00:06:02.492 --> 00:06:04.786 And I always just imagined that one day, 00:06:04.786 --> 00:06:07.080 I would go out to Adak. 00:06:07.163 --> 00:06:08.623 And I'd find that gold. 00:06:08.706 --> 00:06:12.293 Now, I get to use the science that I love 00:06:13.002 --> 00:06:14.754 to find something that my dad 00:06:14.796 --> 00:06:16.547 told me about when I was a little girl. 00:06:18.132 --> 00:06:23.262 How did 150 cans filled with 3,000 pounds of gold 00:06:23.346 --> 00:06:26.182 get buried on Adak in the first place? 00:06:28.309 --> 00:06:33.439 It was hidden here by a pirate whose name has remained obscure for over a century. 00:06:39.570 --> 00:06:41.697 Captain Gregory Dwargstof, 00:06:41.781 --> 00:06:44.409 working for an illegal seal poaching ring, 00:06:44.492 --> 00:06:49.330 spent the last part of the 19th century one step ahead of the law. 00:06:50.123 --> 00:06:55.086 That is, until 1892 when US warships raided the fleet. 00:06:59.549 --> 00:07:01.509 Surrounded and outgunned, 00:07:01.592 --> 00:07:05.596 nearly 3,000 pounds of gold was rushed onto Dwargstof's boat, 00:07:06.347 --> 00:07:07.849 the fastest of the ships. 00:07:08.683 --> 00:07:13.271 The Russian outlaw plotted a dangerous course through the Aleutian Islands 00:07:13.354 --> 00:07:15.773 as he ordered his crew to pack the gold 00:07:15.857 --> 00:07:18.317 into empty food tins and milk canisters. 00:07:19.277 --> 00:07:20.778 Twelve hundred miles later, 00:07:20.862 --> 00:07:23.865 he made landfall at the most remote place he knew, 00:07:24.532 --> 00:07:26.117 the island of Adak… 00:07:27.952 --> 00:07:29.745 where he'd buried the cans of gold 00:07:29.829 --> 00:07:32.665 in several caches across Adak's treacherous terrain, 00:07:33.583 --> 00:07:36.961 leaving behind clues that only he would understand. 00:07:44.051 --> 00:07:47.930 People ask why he'd buried gold out here. Well, you can look around. 00:07:48.014 --> 00:07:51.392 It's 270 square miles of inhospitable terrain. 00:07:53.686 --> 00:07:56.522 This is where they made the first discovery, 00:07:56.606 --> 00:08:00.067 somewhere between Red Bluff Hill down there 00:08:00.151 --> 00:08:02.069 and the Navy fuel docks down here. 00:08:03.863 --> 00:08:07.783 The first can of gold was found in a two-square-mile location 00:08:07.867 --> 00:08:10.077 the team has dubbed Army 1. 00:08:14.373 --> 00:08:16.083 During World War II, 00:08:16.584 --> 00:08:18.878 an Army soldier was digging a path. 00:08:20.254 --> 00:08:22.381 His shovel hit something. 00:08:22.465 --> 00:08:27.303 It was a tin can filled with ten-dollar US gold coins, 00:08:27.386 --> 00:08:30.765 dated between 1880 and 1890. 00:08:32.141 --> 00:08:34.101 They took a picture of that Army soldier 00:08:34.143 --> 00:08:36.103 holding that can of gold coins, 00:08:36.187 --> 00:08:40.066 and I used to look at it every day in one of my high school classrooms. 00:08:40.149 --> 00:08:43.611 That picture was physical proof for me to see with my own eyes. 00:08:43.694 --> 00:08:45.738 That verified to me that it was real. 00:08:46.239 --> 00:08:49.534 However, that photo left no additional clues 00:08:49.617 --> 00:08:52.411 as to the exact location of the gold find, 00:08:52.495 --> 00:08:55.873 and no one has been able to pinpoint that location since. 00:08:56.582 --> 00:09:00.586 Me and the rest of the team have put hundreds of hours of research into this. 00:09:00.670 --> 00:09:04.549 We're going to start right here at Army 1, where the first discovery was made. 00:09:05.550 --> 00:09:08.302 We think if someone discovered gold in one location, 00:09:08.386 --> 00:09:11.472 there's going to be more gold buried close by. 00:09:12.056 --> 00:09:15.476 The only clue the team has about the first gold find 00:09:15.560 --> 00:09:19.814 is that the soldier who found it was digging a path between Quonset Huts. 00:09:20.314 --> 00:09:23.818 Quonset Huts are half-cylindrical, steel multipurpose structures. 00:09:23.901 --> 00:09:27.280 During the course of military occupation on Adak, 00:09:27.363 --> 00:09:30.825 there were thousands of Quonset Huts scattered about the island. 00:09:31.576 --> 00:09:34.245 Only a handful are still standing today. 00:09:34.829 --> 00:09:37.373 If we can find that path, 00:09:37.456 --> 00:09:40.668 that would give us a great place to start digging. 00:09:40.751 --> 00:09:42.545 The only problem I see, though, 00:09:42.628 --> 00:09:46.591 is that today, I can't see where those paths used to be 00:09:46.674 --> 00:09:48.926 because the tundra has grown up over time. 00:09:49.010 --> 00:09:50.219 It's a big area. 00:09:50.803 --> 00:09:52.054 Yeah, it's gonna be tough. 00:10:00.146 --> 00:10:03.691 At its peak in World War II, there were 100,000 troops stationed here. 00:10:03.774 --> 00:10:05.109 It was a large base. 00:10:05.901 --> 00:10:09.697 But in the last 20 years, Adak has had its share of challenges. 00:10:12.074 --> 00:10:14.910 I became the mayor ten years ago to turn this place around. 00:10:14.994 --> 00:10:16.704 I've been on Adak my whole life, 00:10:16.787 --> 00:10:19.624 and there's 45 other people who call this place their home. 00:10:20.124 --> 00:10:22.376 There's no way this town'll die on my watch. 00:10:22.460 --> 00:10:24.462 It's why we're looking for this treasure. 00:10:24.962 --> 00:10:26.922 Finding the gold would help us fix up 00:10:27.006 --> 00:10:30.676 a lot of the falling down infrastructure and reinvigorate the economy. 00:10:30.760 --> 00:10:33.095 That would help bring people back in. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:37.433 Adak does not have the budget to mount this huge expedition. 00:10:37.516 --> 00:10:40.895 So the team will get paid only if they are successful. 00:10:42.313 --> 00:10:46.400 There's a potential of $365 million worth of gold coin 00:10:46.484 --> 00:10:48.027 buried out here somewhere. 00:10:48.110 --> 00:10:51.113 If we find that, the town's going to get 95% of it. 00:10:51.197 --> 00:10:53.449 That kind of money injected into this community-- 00:10:53.532 --> 00:10:55.618 We might get some decent Internet out here! 00:10:55.701 --> 00:10:57.328 Yeah, maybe even a good steak. 00:10:57.411 --> 00:11:00.081 But then there's also five percent for us. 00:11:00.164 --> 00:11:03.876 That's basically $3.6 million once you divvy it up. 00:11:03.959 --> 00:11:05.586 A pretty good chunk of change. 00:11:05.670 --> 00:11:07.129 Yeah. I think it would work. 00:11:16.222 --> 00:11:19.016 Army 1 will be just beyond the green building there. 00:11:21.435 --> 00:11:25.690 Dr. M, Brian Weed, and Thom begin their search in Sweeper Cove 00:11:25.773 --> 00:11:29.026 because it would have been the closest place to Army 1 00:11:29.110 --> 00:11:31.862 that Dwargstof could safely anchor his ship. 00:11:33.239 --> 00:11:37.159 The type of science that I do is deeply involved with the landscape. 00:11:37.243 --> 00:11:39.537 I look at how landscapes change over time. 00:11:39.620 --> 00:11:43.457 The landscape that Dwargstof buried gold in 130 years ago 00:11:43.541 --> 00:11:47.253 has been completely transformed by the US Military. 00:11:48.754 --> 00:11:51.799 There used to be a creek that emptied into Sweeper Cove. 00:11:52.299 --> 00:11:56.554 Sweeper Creek, the mouth is right through there, right? It shifted? 00:11:56.637 --> 00:11:59.682 Yeah, but back in the old days, it used to run right through here. 00:12:00.182 --> 00:12:02.601 All of us have been studying Dwargstof. 00:12:02.685 --> 00:12:06.564 One theory we have is that Dwargstof brought the gold in a rowboat 00:12:06.647 --> 00:12:07.815 up Sweepers Creek 00:12:08.315 --> 00:12:12.486 because it allowed him to get inland to bury all of this gold. 00:12:12.987 --> 00:12:16.449 But he needs to find a place that's hidden from the cove 00:12:16.532 --> 00:12:18.909 so no one sees him hiding this gold. 00:12:18.993 --> 00:12:21.328 It looks like there's a lot of natural topography 00:12:21.412 --> 00:12:23.080 that Dwargstof could've used to hide behind. 00:12:23.998 --> 00:12:26.625 I think it might be a good idea if we go ashore 00:12:26.709 --> 00:12:29.628 and we walk along where Sweeper Creek used to be 00:12:29.712 --> 00:12:31.422 and see what he would have utilized. 00:12:31.505 --> 00:12:32.465 Okay. 00:12:33.758 --> 00:12:36.552 While the rest of the team explores Sweeper Creek, 00:12:36.635 --> 00:12:39.764 Jay and Burke will search Adak's Department of Records 00:12:39.847 --> 00:12:41.599 for any evidence of the location 00:12:41.682 --> 00:12:45.352 where a soldier who was digging paths between Quonset Huts was working 00:12:45.436 --> 00:12:47.396 when he discovered a can of gold. 00:12:48.147 --> 00:12:49.815 This is gonna be rough, bud. 00:12:50.649 --> 00:12:53.152 Last time I was in this building was in 1991. 00:12:54.153 --> 00:12:56.280 The military had their offices here. 00:12:56.822 --> 00:13:01.035 This is where they stored all the records, dating all the way back to World War II. 00:13:01.118 --> 00:13:02.828 We're looking for logs. 00:13:02.912 --> 00:13:05.247 We're looking for journals. We're looking for maps. 00:13:05.331 --> 00:13:07.249 Hopefully, some of that's still here. 00:13:07.333 --> 00:13:09.668 You can smell the mold. It's pretty powerful. 00:13:09.752 --> 00:13:11.629 Yeah, lots of water damage. 00:13:13.005 --> 00:13:15.800 Oh man, that is just destroyed in there. 00:13:16.634 --> 00:13:19.553 -I'm ready to get out of this spot. -This is not good. 00:13:21.138 --> 00:13:23.182 The building's completely devastated. 00:13:23.265 --> 00:13:25.726 It's nothing like I thought it was going to be. 00:13:26.268 --> 00:13:29.897 Look at this big pile of maps on this table that's completely destroyed. 00:13:29.980 --> 00:13:33.734 It would take a restoration team to even get anything out of this. 00:13:33.818 --> 00:13:37.655 Index drawings, plans, substations. 00:13:38.405 --> 00:13:40.908 I don't think any of that is helpful to us. 00:13:42.034 --> 00:13:43.118 Not this one. 00:13:46.497 --> 00:13:47.957 A lake inside of here. 00:13:48.874 --> 00:13:51.877 -Oh my God! -Nothing in here is salvageable. 00:13:51.961 --> 00:13:54.505 If you even touch 'em, they start falling apart. 00:13:55.923 --> 00:13:57.258 Can you read that? 00:13:59.218 --> 00:14:00.636 1943. 00:14:00.719 --> 00:14:02.847 Look at all the Quonset Huts. 00:14:03.597 --> 00:14:05.599 If we can magnify this, 00:14:05.683 --> 00:14:08.435 we've got Quonset Huts, and we have paths. 00:14:09.228 --> 00:14:12.648 Jay and Burke have found some old photographs of the Quonset Huts 00:14:12.731 --> 00:14:14.233 and pathways in between them 00:14:14.316 --> 00:14:16.944 from the time the first can of gold was found. 00:14:17.653 --> 00:14:21.490 However, in Army 1 alone, there were hundreds of Quonset Huts. 00:14:21.574 --> 00:14:26.662 So narrowing in on the exact location of the gold find will be a difficult task. 00:14:27.705 --> 00:14:29.915 I don't think we're gonna find much else. 00:14:29.999 --> 00:14:31.667 So we'll take these to the team. 00:14:36.171 --> 00:14:39.258 We're now walking up where the creek bed used to be. 00:14:39.758 --> 00:14:42.553 It gives us an idea of what Dwargstof may have seen 00:14:42.636 --> 00:14:44.722 and what landmarks might still be around. 00:14:46.265 --> 00:14:48.434 The geographic features were different back then 00:14:48.517 --> 00:14:51.687 before the army transformed the island into a military base. 00:14:51.770 --> 00:14:54.815 But there's actually an original landform 00:14:54.899 --> 00:14:58.819 right next to where the creek used to run that I really want to investigate. 00:14:59.653 --> 00:15:01.906 -Do you guys see the hill in front of us? -Yes. 00:15:01.989 --> 00:15:06.827 Sweeper Creek went right along the base of it, carving around it. 00:15:06.911 --> 00:15:11.081 This is going to give us a little bit of privacy if we're Dwargstof, right? 00:15:11.165 --> 00:15:13.083 We'll be hidden from the main cove. 00:15:13.167 --> 00:15:16.462 And those are Quonset Huts scars on the hill, right, Thom? 00:15:16.545 --> 00:15:18.130 Those are the foundations. 00:15:18.213 --> 00:15:20.758 This gets me excited. Let's go check this out. 00:15:24.929 --> 00:15:28.515 I'm really interested in seeing what the hidden side of this hill looks like. 00:15:32.394 --> 00:15:36.273 This whole hill slope is definitely hidden. 00:15:36.774 --> 00:15:38.901 With Dwargstof rowing up the creek, 00:15:38.984 --> 00:15:40.986 he would have come around the backside here, 00:15:41.070 --> 00:15:43.030 and he could have easily hidden the treasure 00:15:43.113 --> 00:15:44.990 and not be seen from the cove. 00:15:48.202 --> 00:15:49.578 Found something! 00:15:52.289 --> 00:15:56.585 I don't know if this is anything, but I just put my hand on it. 00:16:00.214 --> 00:16:01.382 It's a cross. 00:16:02.257 --> 00:16:03.801 It's a Russian Orthodox cross. 00:16:03.884 --> 00:16:06.011 Oh yeah, from your angle, it really is. 00:16:07.596 --> 00:16:11.350 Treasure hunters are always on the lookout for symbols or markers. 00:16:11.433 --> 00:16:13.560 Many outlaws used such glyphs to lead them 00:16:13.602 --> 00:16:15.729 back to where their treasure was hidden. 00:16:18.023 --> 00:16:21.902 In 2013, a couple was hiking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains 00:16:21.986 --> 00:16:25.197 when they noticed an old metal can embedded in a tree 00:16:25.280 --> 00:16:28.492 near a hillside with an oddly shaped rock. 00:16:28.575 --> 00:16:31.412 Ten paces in the direction of the North Star, 00:16:31.495 --> 00:16:36.750 they found a stash of cans that were filled with 1,400 gold coins, 00:16:36.834 --> 00:16:40.921 some of which were appraised at more than one million dollars apiece. 00:16:43.007 --> 00:16:45.801 Do we know if Dwargstof was Russian Orthodox? 00:16:45.884 --> 00:16:47.261 We know he was Russian. 00:16:47.928 --> 00:16:50.514 Either way, it's something we should be paying attention to. 00:16:51.098 --> 00:16:53.684 I think we definitely have a contender here. 00:16:54.184 --> 00:16:56.603 This hill checks a lot of boxes. 00:16:57.187 --> 00:16:58.897 If Dwargstof anchored in Sweeper Cove, 00:16:58.939 --> 00:17:00.649 it's the furthest point inland 00:17:00.733 --> 00:17:03.986 that he could haul the gold by rowboat using Sweeper Creek. 00:17:04.069 --> 00:17:05.404 It's hidden from the cove. 00:17:05.487 --> 00:17:09.116 If any other ships had come by, no one would have seen him working. 00:17:09.199 --> 00:17:12.036 The team believes that this is the most likely spot 00:17:12.119 --> 00:17:15.956 where Dwargstof buried a stash of gold, but they won't know for sure 00:17:16.040 --> 00:17:18.625 unless they can confirm that this is also the spot 00:17:18.709 --> 00:17:22.254 where the soldier who found the first can of gold was digging. 00:17:22.838 --> 00:17:25.799 Let's get the LiDAR drone in the air, see what this area looks like. 00:17:30.554 --> 00:17:31.847 There she is. 00:17:31.930 --> 00:17:33.057 That looks so cool. 00:17:36.727 --> 00:17:37.728 Here we go! 00:17:44.109 --> 00:17:46.862 The LiDAR drone will pass over the entire area, 00:17:46.945 --> 00:17:49.406 scanning the ground with pulsed lasers 00:17:49.490 --> 00:17:51.867 to create a precise 3D map 00:17:51.950 --> 00:17:54.536 and discover any signs of pathway digging 00:17:54.620 --> 00:17:57.998 that may still exist beneath Adak's dense tundra. 00:17:58.082 --> 00:18:01.460 But it can't detect anything buried below the surface. 00:18:02.044 --> 00:18:05.130 Making the decision to put our shovels in the ground here, 00:18:05.214 --> 00:18:06.256 it's a big decision. 00:18:06.840 --> 00:18:09.510 That's why I put my faith in technology. 00:18:10.177 --> 00:18:14.056 I gotta use the tech to give me the data that will say start right here. 00:18:15.224 --> 00:18:17.017 We're coming in for a landing! 00:18:23.398 --> 00:18:25.275 -Touchdown. -Nice job. 00:18:34.701 --> 00:18:38.163 The team regroups at Adak's only remaining restaurant 00:18:38.247 --> 00:18:39.456 to share their findings 00:18:39.540 --> 00:18:42.042 and see if they can determine a place to start digging. 00:18:42.126 --> 00:18:44.753 -What's up, guys? -You those guys looking for gold? 00:18:44.837 --> 00:18:46.713 -Yeah. -Yeah? How's things going? 00:18:46.797 --> 00:18:49.049 The locals are interested in our treasure hunt. 00:18:49.133 --> 00:18:51.844 People are perked up and want to know what we're up to. 00:18:51.927 --> 00:18:54.596 You remember how interested we were back in the day, 00:18:54.680 --> 00:18:56.557 sneaking out to look for this thing? 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:00.060 Don't tell people that. We might get a little bit of trouble. 00:19:00.144 --> 00:19:03.397 I'm thinking by now, the statute of limitations on all that's over. 00:19:11.280 --> 00:19:13.866 This shows you how the Quonset Hut paths 00:19:13.866 --> 00:19:17.411 were actually laid out. 00:19:17.494 --> 00:19:19.371 Yeah, look at that. 00:19:19.454 --> 00:19:22.666 I had imagined them to be compacted earth pathways. 00:19:22.749 --> 00:19:25.419 I didn't realize they were almost all elevated boardwalks. 00:19:25.502 --> 00:19:28.714 Like little decks just running around to each one. 00:19:28.797 --> 00:19:31.842 Jay and Burke's discovery indicates that all the paths 00:19:31.925 --> 00:19:33.760 connecting Adak's Quonset Huts 00:19:33.844 --> 00:19:36.597 were constructed as elevated boardwalks. 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:39.057 Although they were dismantled after the war, 00:19:39.141 --> 00:19:43.061 the places where hillsides were leveled prior to installing the boardwalks 00:19:43.145 --> 00:19:45.230 should still be visible to the LiDAR. 00:19:45.731 --> 00:19:49.359 I used my computer to analyze the LiDAR scans of the hillside. 00:19:49.985 --> 00:19:52.029 We can zoom in here, and you will see 00:19:52.029 --> 00:19:54.740 all those Quonset Hut pathways. 00:19:54.823 --> 00:19:56.241 There's one going across here 00:19:56.325 --> 00:19:58.410 and something going up diagonal right here. 00:19:58.493 --> 00:20:01.079 -Look at that. -It's all the indentations. 00:20:01.163 --> 00:20:04.666 Brian has identified two linear indentations 00:20:04.750 --> 00:20:09.213 that could be places where the ground was leveled to construct boardwalk pathways. 00:20:10.047 --> 00:20:13.842 This could mean that the entire side of the hill is worth searching 00:20:13.926 --> 00:20:15.886 because the soldier who dug the path 00:20:15.969 --> 00:20:18.096 may have only discovered a single can 00:20:18.180 --> 00:20:22.392 that was part of a larger stash that Dwargstof spread out across the hill. 00:20:22.476 --> 00:20:24.228 I think that we should start here. 00:20:24.311 --> 00:20:26.813 We've got everything that we're looking for right here. 00:20:26.897 --> 00:20:28.649 It's the right place to dig. 00:20:28.732 --> 00:20:29.566 Let's do it. 00:20:30.150 --> 00:20:31.485 -Agreed. -Let's do it. 00:20:55.175 --> 00:20:57.094 Adak's terrain and severe weather 00:20:57.177 --> 00:21:00.639 already create a difficult challenge for any treasure hunter, 00:21:01.139 --> 00:21:05.143 but the island has one defense that makes it nearly impenetrable. 00:21:05.227 --> 00:21:09.022 Adak's landscape is littered with bombs. 00:21:10.941 --> 00:21:12.067 Before we get going, 00:21:12.150 --> 00:21:15.112 I'm going to go through and sweep for unexploded ordnance. 00:21:16.571 --> 00:21:18.323 During World War II, 00:21:18.407 --> 00:21:22.077 Adak was an important military base in the fight against Japan. 00:21:23.495 --> 00:21:26.456 But when the base closed in 1997, 00:21:26.540 --> 00:21:31.128 what remained behind were countless unused US bombs 00:21:31.211 --> 00:21:34.131 that had lain dormant and neglected for decades. 00:21:35.132 --> 00:21:38.802 These unexploded ordnances, or UXOs, 00:21:38.885 --> 00:21:42.014 had been scattered around Adak's rugged landscape 00:21:42.097 --> 00:21:44.349 with almost no location records kept. 00:21:45.267 --> 00:21:49.271 Over the years, they were simply swallowed up by the earth. 00:21:51.064 --> 00:21:54.401 I'm probably the only mayor that's an active bomb disposal tech. 00:21:54.901 --> 00:21:58.280 I've personally disposed of over 4,000 rounds of unexploded ordnance. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.411 I'm going to put a white pin flag on items that could be UXO, could be bombs. 00:22:04.494 --> 00:22:06.330 Thom, is it okay to be walking here? 00:22:06.413 --> 00:22:09.374 It's not like a minefield. We're all right to be walking. 00:22:09.458 --> 00:22:11.752 We just don't want to be digging on the white flag. 00:22:11.835 --> 00:22:13.837 That's why we're putting the white flag in. 00:22:24.056 --> 00:22:26.558 UXO work demands that you know what you're doing. 00:22:26.641 --> 00:22:28.852 Making mistakes can be very unforgiving. 00:22:29.353 --> 00:22:31.355 It can cost people their lives. 00:22:32.522 --> 00:22:35.108 Thom is scanning the entire search area 00:22:35.192 --> 00:22:40.322 using a military-grade metal detector designed to locate unexploded bombs. 00:22:41.198 --> 00:22:42.908 It does not detect gold. 00:22:43.909 --> 00:22:48.205 While many of the iron-based objects that he finds might not be bombs, 00:22:48.288 --> 00:22:51.291 Thom marks them all with white flags anyway. 00:22:52.459 --> 00:22:54.211 So the beeping we hear… 00:22:55.212 --> 00:22:56.463 that's what? 00:22:57.255 --> 00:22:58.924 That's him hitting metal targets. 00:22:59.007 --> 00:23:01.718 They concern him, so he just put that white flag out. 00:23:02.761 --> 00:23:06.723 -He found something that concerns him. -I'm going to walk into a field. 00:23:07.724 --> 00:23:10.685 And there might be bombs underfoot, 00:23:11.228 --> 00:23:12.646 and it's scary. 00:23:16.525 --> 00:23:18.360 Oh my gosh, there's another one. 00:23:22.030 --> 00:23:23.573 All right, grab your gear. 00:23:24.241 --> 00:23:27.077 Now, the team will begin to search for the treasure 00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:30.122 using metal detectors that are different from Thom's. 00:23:30.205 --> 00:23:34.751 Theirs are calibrated to detect precious metals like gold coins. 00:23:34.835 --> 00:23:37.212 Let's do this. I think we're off to the right. 00:23:37.295 --> 00:23:39.214 Yeah. That's our zone up here. 00:23:39.714 --> 00:23:42.634 The team has divided the hillside into smaller sectors 00:23:42.717 --> 00:23:45.804 so that they can efficiently cover the entire area. 00:23:45.887 --> 00:23:49.349 Jay and Burke are starting in a lower zone on the western side, 00:23:49.433 --> 00:23:52.978 looking for one of the paths that Brian identified with the LiDAR. 00:23:53.061 --> 00:23:55.772 This'd be a great spot to hide gold if you were a pirate. 00:23:56.773 --> 00:24:00.193 The rest of the team is going to sweep the eastern sectors, 00:24:00.277 --> 00:24:03.697 starting on higher ground, near the area where they found a marker. 00:24:04.781 --> 00:24:08.034 I think that rock with the Russian Orthodox cross is… 00:24:08.118 --> 00:24:12.497 -I think the most sensible spot to start. -Let's get Weed's detector on it. 00:24:15.792 --> 00:24:19.379 We're checking extra deep, but there's nothing under the rock. 00:24:19.463 --> 00:24:21.631 See if there's anything below the slope. 00:24:21.715 --> 00:24:24.092 -Maybe a little bit farther down. -Sure. 00:24:26.928 --> 00:24:28.305 I have a hit here. 00:24:29.222 --> 00:24:30.724 Something big in here. 00:24:31.892 --> 00:24:35.353 Could be something valuable like gold, copper, brass. 00:24:35.437 --> 00:24:36.396 Let's see what it is. 00:24:38.565 --> 00:24:40.358 There's definitely something here. 00:24:41.610 --> 00:24:43.069 I'm completely okay doing this? 00:24:43.153 --> 00:24:44.404 Yeah, yeah. 00:24:49.784 --> 00:24:50.744 Is that a ring? 00:24:52.829 --> 00:24:55.749 It's silver. It's been oxidized. That's why it looks green. 00:24:55.832 --> 00:24:57.792 We'll hold on to it. Keep looking. 00:24:57.876 --> 00:25:01.463 The only thing this means is now we know the equipment works. 00:25:05.592 --> 00:25:08.178 So far, we've dug, like, eight holes. 00:25:08.678 --> 00:25:10.305 We haven't found much but trash. 00:25:10.388 --> 00:25:11.806 That's just garbage. 00:25:13.099 --> 00:25:14.976 I have a good hit over here. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:16.353 How about there? 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:24.402 We got an old Hot Wheels car, bud! 00:25:24.903 --> 00:25:27.864 The toy car is made from an aluminum alloy. 00:25:27.948 --> 00:25:32.285 To most metal detectors, its signature is nearly identical to a gold coin. 00:25:32.786 --> 00:25:35.539 Clean up some trash. It's not what I want to do today. 00:25:36.665 --> 00:25:39.918 Jay and Burke have covered more than 5,000 square feet, 00:25:40.418 --> 00:25:44.256 but more than 60% of their primary target remains unsearched. 00:25:53.765 --> 00:25:56.226 Wow, this is a big target. 00:25:56.726 --> 00:25:58.228 Here's the problem though. 00:25:59.354 --> 00:26:02.566 This is right next to one of those white flags that Thom put. 00:26:03.191 --> 00:26:06.069 Thom's UXO detector has already indicated 00:26:06.152 --> 00:26:10.073 that there is an unknown object buried here that contains iron. 00:26:11.825 --> 00:26:15.161 But Jay's equipment indicates that there is also something here 00:26:15.245 --> 00:26:16.705 which could be gold. 00:26:17.706 --> 00:26:21.710 Here, to here, to here, to here. 00:26:21.793 --> 00:26:24.879 We have something that we haven't seen since we've been digging here. 00:26:25.463 --> 00:26:27.674 My detector's reading like a precious metal, 00:26:28.216 --> 00:26:31.720 but it's in the same place that Thom thinks there might be a bomb. 00:26:32.220 --> 00:26:33.430 We gotta see what it is. 00:26:43.273 --> 00:26:44.608 There we go, hot target. 00:26:46.735 --> 00:26:47.569 Right there. 00:26:47.652 --> 00:26:49.529 -Oh, right there. Okay. -That's hot. 00:26:50.030 --> 00:26:54.075 It's a lot louder. Something bigger. Uh… very dense. 00:26:54.159 --> 00:26:55.243 -Okay. -Heavy metal. 00:26:55.327 --> 00:26:57.829 Could be a can of gold coins. It's the right sound. 00:26:58.788 --> 00:27:00.498 -Hey, Thom? -Yeah. 00:27:00.582 --> 00:27:03.460 Yeah. We got a hit down here by one of your white flags. 00:27:03.543 --> 00:27:04.794 Is it okay if we dig? 00:27:04.878 --> 00:27:08.298 I'm gonna have to scan it with the GPR before you guys dig, 00:27:08.381 --> 00:27:10.675 but you're okay to start taking off the root mat. 00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:14.554 I need to see what Weed's hot target is before I go investigate Jay and Burke's. 00:27:15.138 --> 00:27:17.766 Jay and Burke pulling off the root mat will save some time. 00:27:17.849 --> 00:27:19.059 Come on. 00:27:21.269 --> 00:27:23.605 Just gonna pull that up a little bit. 00:27:23.688 --> 00:27:26.316 -There you go. -You're prying something up. 00:27:26.399 --> 00:27:27.233 Okay. 00:27:27.317 --> 00:27:29.319 -Wait. Careful. -Yup. 00:27:31.154 --> 00:27:33.823 -Get that outta the way. -This looks like wood. 00:27:42.499 --> 00:27:43.583 That's a board. 00:27:43.667 --> 00:27:45.168 -This… -Yeah. 00:27:45.669 --> 00:27:48.588 This is not just a board though. You know what this is? 00:27:48.672 --> 00:27:49.964 This is a boardwalk. 00:27:50.465 --> 00:27:54.844 The decomposing wood would have been impossible for the LiDAR to detect, 00:27:54.928 --> 00:27:57.681 buried more than a foot below the surface. 00:27:57.764 --> 00:27:59.683 Not only is this decomposed, 00:27:59.766 --> 00:28:03.645 but we can actually see here all these roots from the vegetation. 00:28:03.728 --> 00:28:05.271 This is actually pretty old. 00:28:05.355 --> 00:28:07.232 -I would guess World War II. -Yeah? 00:28:07.315 --> 00:28:12.237 And I would say, having now seen the image of the raised boardwalks, 00:28:12.320 --> 00:28:14.698 that this was a piece. 00:28:14.781 --> 00:28:16.199 -Right? -Right, right. 00:28:16.282 --> 00:28:18.118 Finding this wood is evidence 00:28:18.618 --> 00:28:21.955 that we have located the wooden paths between Quonset Huts 00:28:22.038 --> 00:28:24.290 that the soldiers were digging when they found gold. 00:28:24.874 --> 00:28:26.626 The evidence is piling up, 00:28:26.710 --> 00:28:31.047 which means our chances of finding the gold are going up as well. 00:28:31.131 --> 00:28:34.426 We made the right decision to start the search here. 00:28:35.009 --> 00:28:37.262 I was still getting a hot hit in that hole. 00:28:37.345 --> 00:28:39.431 There could potentially be gold underneath. 00:28:39.931 --> 00:28:42.767 We're on the right spot. This is where we want to be looking. 00:28:42.851 --> 00:28:45.061 -Hey, Thom! -Yeah? 00:28:45.729 --> 00:28:48.440 We got the root mat pulled back. It's ready to scan. 00:28:49.065 --> 00:28:51.151 Okay. Let's pull out the GPR. 00:28:51.985 --> 00:28:53.820 Whatever is below the white flag 00:28:53.903 --> 00:28:57.657 has now set off both Thom's iron-based UXO detector 00:28:57.741 --> 00:29:00.326 and Jay's precious metal detector. 00:29:00.994 --> 00:29:04.497 Some bombs contain both iron and brass components, 00:29:04.581 --> 00:29:06.958 which would trigger both pieces of equipment. 00:29:07.959 --> 00:29:10.253 But Dwargstof also buried some of his gold 00:29:10.253 --> 00:29:12.297 in large iron milk canisters, 00:29:12.380 --> 00:29:14.591 which would give an identical reading. 00:29:17.260 --> 00:29:21.347 Before Jay and Burke can dig up the object to see if it's a can of gold, 00:29:21.431 --> 00:29:24.684 Thom needs to scan it with ground-penetrating radar 00:29:24.768 --> 00:29:26.978 to make sure that it's not a bomb. 00:29:27.061 --> 00:29:27.979 All right. 00:29:28.062 --> 00:29:30.857 One of the advantages of GPR, ground-penetrating radar, 00:29:30.940 --> 00:29:33.151 is it'll give us an actual visual picture. 00:29:33.234 --> 00:29:35.195 So it'll give us a shape and a size. 00:29:40.408 --> 00:29:41.493 It's really big. 00:29:44.120 --> 00:29:45.330 Yeah, it's really big. 00:29:47.540 --> 00:29:49.000 It's kind of a linear shape. 00:29:49.501 --> 00:29:52.670 -Does it look like a can? -It's something quite a bit bigger. 00:29:52.754 --> 00:29:55.507 -I'm excited to see what it is. -We're curious. 00:29:59.135 --> 00:30:02.055 What we're looking at is this linear object right here. 00:30:02.138 --> 00:30:04.891 That red on the yellow there. 00:30:05.391 --> 00:30:09.521 The ground-penetrating radar is indicating a large linear shape 00:30:09.604 --> 00:30:11.564 about two feet below the surface. 00:30:12.690 --> 00:30:14.901 We know that some of Dwargstof's gold 00:30:14.984 --> 00:30:18.446 was buried in three-gallon galvanized iron milk jugs. 00:30:19.113 --> 00:30:22.992 So there's a high potential this thing could be a huge can of gold. 00:30:23.910 --> 00:30:26.496 This is definitely a big target. I mean, it's large. 00:30:26.579 --> 00:30:29.541 I mean, the machine was, you know, going max. You know… 00:30:29.624 --> 00:30:30.708 This could be our gold.