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Gold Rush (titled Gold Rush: Alaska in the first season) is an American reality television television series that airs on Discovery and its affiliates worldwide. The series follows the placer gold mining efforts of various family-run mining companies, initially in Alaska, but then mostly in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. Prior seasons also included mining efforts in Guyana, Oregon, and Colorado. As of 2025, the show has aired 16 seasons.

Season 1

The show was named Gold Rush: Alaska in its first season, and featured six men from Sandy, Oregon, a small town 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Portland. Due to the economic downturn, the men had lost their jobs; they decided on an all-stakes gamble: travel to Porcupine, Alaska, to prospect for gold. Most of them had little or no previous placer gold mining experience and had to learn on the job.

The season was marred by equipment malfunctions and crew inexperience. The crew's initial plan to strip mine a site near Porcupine Creek is quickly disrupted in favor of Jack Hoffman's search for an ancient waterfall that he hoped could contain a large cache of gold nuggets. Halfway through the season, claim owner Earle Foster sends Dakota Fred, an experienced miner, out in an attempt to improve the site's efficiency. Despite late season heroics, the crew is unable to hit a rhythm and cover their costs. By the end of the season, the Hoffman crew had recovered 14.64 ounces of gold.

Season 2

In season 2, with the show renamed Gold Rush, Todd misses a lease payment on Porcupine Creek, and "Dakota" Fred Hurt buys the claim from owner Earle Foster, not needing to honor the lease due to the missed payment. The season explores the Hoffman crew's new mine at Quartz Creek, in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, as well as "Dakota" Fred's operation at the site of the original Hoffman mine, Porcupine Creek, and Parker Schnabel's attempts to mine his grandfather's property at Big Nugget Mine.

At Porcupine creek, Dakota Fred focuses his operation around further expanding the original Hoffman mine. At the beginning of the season he removes all of the Hoffman's original equipment in favor of a different mining set-up known as a de-rocker, in an attempt to process dirt more efficiently than the Hoffman's were able to last season.

The gold recovered by each team for the season was:

Hurt Crew, Porcupine Creek: 80.4 ozt (2,500 g) $125,000

Schnabel Crew, Big Nugget Mine: 34 ozt (1,100 g) $55,000

Hoffman Crew, Quartz Creek: 93.5 ozt (2,910 g) $150,000

Season 3

The third season began in October 2012. The Hoffman crew returned to the Klondike to once again mine the Quartz Creek site but also brought on additional crewmen to simultaneously work another site in the area. However, with Hoffman having delays and equipment trouble at his site, they decided to merge with Dave Turin's team at Indian River. Parker Schnabel returned to the Big Nugget Mine site with larger and more efficient equipment, while "Dakota" Fred Hurt and his crew returned to the Porcupine Creek site.

The Turin crew mined 803 ounces of gold, earning them over $1.28 million. Incredibly, this was only 3 ounces more than Dave Turin predicted they would recover when asked by the executive producer on the Season 2 Aftershow. Parker and Dakota Fred mined 192 ounces and 163 ounces, respectively, worth over a quarter-million dollars each. This was a large success in comparison to the first season, where no team recovered more than 50 ounces of gold.

Season 4

The fourth season began airing in August 2013 and started with a preseason episode called "The Dirt" featuring interviews with all the teams featured in season three. Gold Rush: Guyana South America features the Hoffman crew in South America, Parker Schnabel leasing new land at Scribner Creek with mentor Tony Beets in Dawson City, and "Dakota" Fred Hurt and his son Dustin mining at Cahoon Creek, a hard-to-reach, post-glacial area mined only with pickaxes in the late 1800s. The actual Season 4 premiere was October 25, 2013.

The Hoffman crew mined barely two ounces of gold, supplemented by a paltry $1,350 worth of diamonds, and were forced to abandon their Guyana mining operation. The Dakota boys mined 280 ounces, and Parker and his crew mined 836 ounces by the end of the season. Parker then stayed and continued mining with Rick, picking up an additional 193 ounces and bringing his season total to 1,029 ounces. Parker's $1.4 million haul not only broke Todd Hoffman's single-season record of 803 ounces but also eclipsed Hoffman's entire four-season total.

Season 5

The two-hour Gold Rush season 5 premiere broadcast on Friday, October 17, 2014, at 9 PM ET/PT with The Dirt airing beforehand at 8 PM ET/PT on the Discovery Channel.

By season's end, Parker had mined 2,538 ounces totaling just under $3 million, and the Hoffmans had mined 1,349 ounces totaling just over $1.6 million.

Season 6

The two-hour Gold Rush season 6 premiere started in the United States on October 16, 2015, with The Dirt airing beforehand on the Discovery Channel, while the UK premiere was on October 20, 2015. By the season's end, Tony's dredge had pulled out 737 ounces, Parker managed to mine 3,372 ounces worth almost $3.5 million, and the Hoffmans mined 3,032 ounces worth just over $3 million.

Season 7

Season 7 premiered on October 14, 2016.

By the end of season 7, Todd's mining effort in Oregon had failed, although he finished the summer at a Fairplay, Colorado, mine with a break-even total just over 1100 ounces. Tony Beets and family finished with just over 2100 ounces using a refurbished gold mining dredge. Parker Schnabel and his crew finished with just over 4300 ounces, worth in excess of $5 million.

Season 8

Season 8 premiered on October 13, 2017. The season finds the Hoffman and Schnabel crews wagering 100 ounces of gold to the company that mines the most gold, with both vying for a 5,000-ounce season goal. Meanwhile, Tony Beets is disassembling, transporting, and reassembling another vintage dredge, resurrecting a method of placer mining that has not been in common use in Dawson City for half a century. It was announced on Gold Rush Live that season 8 would be the last season on the show for the Hoffman family.

By season's end, the Hoffmans had mined 1,644 ounces in Colorado, worth just under $2 million. Schnabel's crew finished with 6,280 ounces mining in the Yukon, worth $7.5 million. Tony Beets finished with 3,659 ounces at Eureka Creek, worth $4.39 million.

Season 9

Season 9 debuted on October 11, 2018, with an episode 0 entitled "The Story So Far". Episodes during this season focused on the mining efforts of Rick Ness in his first season operating independently, Parker Schnabel and his crew, and Tony Beets and his family. The season was slated to have 20 episodes, with the final one airing in March 2019.

Parker's crew exceeded his 7,000 goal at Scribner Creek, mining 7,427.25 ounces (worth nearly $9 million). Rick Ness mined 1,105 ounces, worth $1.3 million, and beat his 1,000 ounce season goal. Tony Beets fell short of his 6,000 ounce goal, mining just under 4,400 ounces.

Season 10

Season 10 premiered on October 11, 2019. It focused on the mining crews of Parker Schnabel, Tony Beets, and Rick Ness in the Klondike. The 21st and final episode of the season aired on March 6, 2020. Although Parker Schnabel ended his season 204 ounces short of his previous record year, the 7223 ounces mined actually netted him over $1 million more than in season 9 because he largely mined his own ground and paid far less in royalties. Due to rising gold prices, Parker's gold haul was worth $10.8 million. Rick Ness had a disappointing year moving his operation to Duncan Creek in the hills above Keno City. He encountered permafrost and was unable to locate gold-rich pockets to feed his wash plant Monster Red, which he had purchased for a half a million dollars at the beginning of the season. Rick's…