For the die-hard fans of Gold Rush, the Discovery Channel’s top-rated show entered its third season Oct. 26, and Mountain resident Dave Turin is once again up to his mining elbows.

In the previous season of the blockbuster reality hit, Turin had been teamed with his buddy Todd Hoffman. Season 3 promises change.

According to the Gold Rush promo for the new season, the pressure of finding
gold ramps up and Hoffman has doubled down, promising to pull 1,000
ounces of gold from the Yukon Territory – more than 10 times the haul of the
previous two seasons.

Turin, the promo suggests, is fed up with Hoffman’s tactics and will only
return to the Klondike with the Hoffman crew if he is allowed to run a second
claim his own way.

Turin, in an interview with The Mountain Times, conceded to the split of the
crew, but due to a non-disclosure agreement is limited in his ability to expand
on any particulars about the upcoming season.

"I do have a difference of opinion with Todd," Turin said in a tight-lipped
manner. "He’s very creative. He’s a dreamer. I’m a doer. He dreams in color. I
dream in black and white."

The promo teases viewers, saying that Hoffman’s double down with two
claims, two wash plants, and twice the crew and equipment, leads Turin to
take over the second mine, forcing the Hoffman crew to take sides. They
break all previous gold counts, but the pressure to get to 1,000 ounces drives
a wedge between the crews and it’s a battle between Team Todd and Team
Turin for who can produce the most gold.

"It’s true, we butt heads," Turin said. "But we’re good friends. We agree to
disagree – a lot. Todd calls most of the TV shots, but I call the mining shots.
I’ve been a miner my whole life."

Turin backs that claim with a civil engineering degree from Portland State, and
an adult life of employment in his father’s rock and quarry business, Jim Turin
and Sons in Sandy, with the quarry located in Brightwood.

Gold Rush differs from other reality shows in that there’s no script, although
Turin concedes the filmmakers will occasionally attempt to foment differences
between the miners.

"We call the shots," Turin said. "That makes this show different. But, the
filmmakers are making a show after all, so they will try to mix things up once
in a while. They plant little seeds."

Hoffman got the original idea for Gold Rush when his construction company
was having problems and he decided to look for claims along the Arctic trails.
This led to the idea that his adventure would make a good TV show. He went
online and discovered RAW TV Productions in England was looking for ideas of
the same sort. They hooked up, pitched the show to Discovery Channel’s
executive producer Christo Doyle, and the show became reality.

"Sam Brown owned RAW, and at the time had four employees," Turin said.
"Today, they have 200."

During the first season Hoffman turned to Turin.

"We were friends from the Good Shepherd Church in Boring," Turin said. "He
knew I mined and he said he needed some help."

In June, 2009, Turin agreed to a week or 10 days of assistance. He didn’t
know what was waiting for him.

"I told him I’d help him get his plant going," Turin said. "That’s all I thought of
it, really. But when I got off the plane there were three guys filming me. I
thought, ‘He really has a TV show.’"

A couple more short visits in Season 1 led to Turin joining the show for
Season 2.

"It was difficult," he said. "Everyone in the show had to give up something.
We had to live in trailers. It was a ghetto. We had to dig our own septic
system. We were 15 miles from food.

"My brothers (Dan, Dennis and Doug Turin) had to fill in for me back in Sandy
and Brightwood."

But the show went on, and the Mountain miner found another outlet to sustain
himself in the Yukon wilderness.

"It came to me that the show was a three-legged stool," he said. "There was
the gold, the TV show, and a chance to send a message."

He dubbed his crew "316 Mining," from the scripture of John. They insisted
the show be suitable for children. The crew met in an abandoned shack for
prayer before starting the mining day.

"We’re all Christians, and we read the Bible," he said. "I’m not all that
wrapped up in religion, but I have faith."

Season 3 is underway, and Turin provided a careful tease.

"There’s a turn in the middle of the season that changes everything," he said
with a sly smile.

There are strange things done in the midnight sun, as Robert Service warned
us years ago.