Gold Rush Starts in the Bering Sea

As the sun rose, its rays streamed through the window and fell on Jason's face, waking him from his sleep.

Get up and take a shower.

By the time Jason finished packing up, the rest of the group had already gathered around the excavator and bulldozer.

The leader was Swail, who was constantly explaining the precautions and pulling people to sit in the driver's seat, explaining the function of each button.

Lillian saw Jason get up and said to him, "Jason, the restaurant has saved breakfast for you."

Breakfast was simple: a sandwich, a fried egg, and a glass of milk.

He put a fried egg in a sandwich, held the sandwich in one hand and milk in the other, and sat under the eaves of the house, eating while watching the people who were learning from Swail.

There's no way to rush it. Apart from Andy and Brent, who had intensive training for over two weeks, the rest of the staff only had basic excavator operation experience.

In one morning, by combining theory with practice, and with Swell's help, I gradually got the hang of it.

They are all vehicles, and the operation is largely the same. The only difference is that you need to remember some special operations and how to control the road surface while driving.

Meanwhile, Little Hart was studying the operation manual over the ore washing machine, occasionally turning it on.

Perhaps it's the natural attraction of machinery to men, but Albert and Old Hart also took it upon themselves to operate the bulldozer under Swail's guidance.

Even Ellie's mother, Lillian, kept a close eye on her, as if afraid that Ellie would disappear from her sight in the blink of an eye.

Jason was undoubtedly the most idle person in the entire mine.

Jason lay idly in the shade, reclining on a deck chair.

In my past life, I was a wage earner, working myself to the bone every day. Now that I've finally turned the tables and become a boss, I'm not even allowed to relax.

No one bothered Jason.

According to Albert and others, spending more than two weeks in the wild was indeed very tiring.

As for Andy and the others, although Jason was young, his status was what it was; he was their boss, and they couldn't ask Jason to do anything.

During lunch, Swell spoke up.

"Jason, I feel like we can start trying to pan for gold."

"You can handle the arrangements." Jason is well aware that professional matters should be handled by professionals.

His biggest role now is to determine the excavation site, and that's the greatest help he can provide.

After lunch, Brent and the others, who had been eagerly waiting, got into the excavator.

With a roar, the tracks crushed two distinct lines in the mud as Brent drove the excavator to the excavation site.

With a clanging sound, the excavator's boom started moving, and the bucket, aided by the hydraulic system, went deeper into the ground.

One shovelful after another was dug up and piled up, and soon a large pit was dug out.

"Stop, stop, Brent, stop for a second!" Seeing the direction Brent was digging, Swell quickly picked up the walkie-talkie and called for a halt.

Pulling a still somewhat dazed Brent out of the car, Swail explained, "What we need is gold underground. When the excavator digs down, we must leave some leeway, otherwise going down will be easy, but coming back up will be difficult."

He then sketched a simple excavation diagram on the paper, saying, "Dig in the direction shown here."

Jason is the most relaxed person in the mine, while Swell is undoubtedly the busiest.

He would give instructions on excavation precautions one moment, and then run to the soil storage area to direct operations the next. He constantly adjusted the channel on his walkie-talkie, communicating and directing the team.

Andy and Brent became more and more skilled at their work over time.

Following the tracks left by Nobel and his team, the excavator bucket moved forward continuously, and soon, black soil mixed with pebbles was dug out by the bucket.

Seeing this, Swail, who had been watching closely, excitedly picked up the walkie-talkie and urged, "Brent, pile it over there, this is bedrock!"

Placer gold is formed when primary gold is weathered and washed away, deposited in riverbeds, streams, or ancient river channels. Because gold has a relatively high density, it tends to settle in the crevices of underlying rocks or in depressions in the bedrock.

Fissures or pits in the bedrock of ancient riverbeds can prevent gold from moving further, causing it to accumulate over time and form enriched areas.

Brent got excited too, and he also brushed up on his knowledge of land-based gold panning.

Moreover, he and Andy also studied at the mine for a period of time. Although they didn't have many opportunities for hands-on experience, they still gained an understanding of the bedrock.

Swail outlined an area and said to Brent and the others, "First, pile up the soil, and then wash it all at once when there's enough soil."

Jason arrived at the excavation area at some point, used his detection abilities to survey the area, did not give any random instructions, and then quietly left.

They're still getting used to each other, and Swell is also planning the mining operations. Jason doesn't want to interfere too much unless there's an error in the mining direction, in which case he'll correct it.

Old Hart, Abbott, and Lillian sat quietly on chairs under the eaves, watching.

Although the roar of the machines echoed in my ears, this was a gold mine, and the operation of the machines meant that gold was coming in; there was no sound as pleasant as this.

Ellie put her hands on her hips, puffed out her cheeks, and said with a look of utter disdain, "Jason, you big lazybones!!!"

Jason lay motionless on the recliner, slightly lifting his eyelids to glance at Ellie before closing his eyes again.

"snort"

Seeing that she was being ignored, Ellie ran to Lillian to complain, "Mom, Jason is so lazy, can't you do something about him?"

"Ellie, do you want a doll?"

"Do you still want the snacks?"

Jason's voice was languid, his head tilted, his eyes crinkled, and his tone was full of teasing.

"Mom, Jason threatened me!" Ellie pointed at Jason and turned to complain.

"Alright, alright, stop fooling around." Lillian found the two of them amusing, especially Jason, whom she found utterly exasperating: "Jason, how old are you? Why are you still fooling around with Ellie?"

On one side, Albert and Hart, who were chatting and smoking cigars, also shook their heads with smiles.

Old Hart said to Albert, "Jason seems pretty steady, but he's still as playful as ever with Ellie."

"It's giving me a headache every day," Albert shook his head, his forehead throbbing as he recalled Ellie's screams.

Turning his gaze to his old buddy, Albert said, "Let's not talk about that. Tell me about you, are you really planning to go it alone?"

"We're hiring, what else can we do? You know the situation in the Bering Sea, there are more and more people there." Old Hart's originally relaxed tone turned into a sigh at the end.

He took a puff of his cigar, let it linger in his mouth, and then exhaled.

Old Hart looked at Jason lying on a deck chair not far away and said enviously, "Albert, you could say we've been through a lot in the Bering Sea since we were kids."

"How come Jason, who never liked gold mining, is the one who's doing the best right now?"

In his view, even though Jason had gone through a full gold rush season, he was still a novice, only this novice's gold-mining ability was truly too strong.

"So many gold prospectors in the Bering Sea wanted to turn to land to pan for gold, but no one expected that Jason would be the one to succeed. You've really raised a good son!"

Old Hart's words made Albert burst into laughter. Although it wasn't him, Jason was his son.

"Let's not talk about this," Albert said with a smile, waving his hand, but his mouth was practically stretched to his ears.

Old Hart rolled his eyes. "Come on, your mouth is practically sticking out of your ears."

"By the way, do you want to try land-based gold panning?" Albert suggested. Whether old Hart agreed or not, he was going to give it a try later anyway.

"Can't hold back anymore?" After knowing each other for so many years, Old Hart could easily understand Albert's thoughts and couldn't help but tease him.

Albert didn't respond, but instead urged, "Come on, come on, we finally have this opportunity, let's at least see how it differs from panning for gold in the Bering Sea."

Holding a walkie-talkie, Albert and Old Hart stopped the work and immediately took over.

They were very familiar with operating excavators, but one was a stationary operation and the other was a mobile operation.

While keeping an eye on the road conditions and the direction of the excavation, he operated the excavator and soon got it on track.

Although excavators can dig very fast, it is still far from enough to keep large ore washing machines running.

Based on the current digging speed of the group, Swell decided to conduct a unified screening and washing in a week.

On the one hand, it saves fuel, and on the other hand, it allows for a more reasonable allocation of limited time, eliminating the need to repeatedly switch the ore washing machine on and off due to insufficient soil.