National Park After Dark - Get Rich or Die Trying: Adak Army Base and Adak Naval Operating Base National Historic Landmark

Episode Date: July 3, 2023

When a notorious pirate named Captain Gregory Dwargstof sought out the distant Aleutian Island of Adak to stash his stolen gold, he didn’t count on dying before he could get back to it. Over 130 years later a team is put together to uncover the millions of dollars worth of gold not to hoard for themselves, but to pay forward to a community in need.For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Everyone loves a good treasure hunt The thought of being the one to finally reveal The Long Lost location of buried gold, silver, rubies, or precious artifacts after decades or even centuries make our hearts quicken and breath shorten. Just imagine dusting off the dirt to reveal a cache from times long past. Exposing riches to the first rays of sunshine in years is enough to get most anyone excited. The thrill that comes with striking it rich is exciting,

but the thrill of solving a mystery is almost intoxicating. That is what keeps people across the world and throughout the generations scouring the earth for what others carefully tucked away. Sometimes these treasures are found by complete happenstance, by someone simply walking through the woods. But many of these finds are located after years of extensive research, by teams or individuals who take breaks from their own lives in the present to retrace the footsteps of someone else, by people who imagine themselves in another time, in another mind, in order to understand just where someone they've never met may have stashed their most prized possessions.

By doing this, some of these time travelers get rich, but others die trying. Welcome to National Park After Dark. I think I speak for everyone listening when I say, thank you. I love treasure episodes. This is so exciting. They are super, like, lighthearted comparatively. I don't know. You said we usually do.

The last thing you said is some people die trying, so I don't know if lighthearted is the right word. Comparatively. That's the caveat. But it's so funny because I know there's a very small selection of people right now listening that just got a kick out of the Get Rich or Die Trying little thing at the end there. And I named the title of that. Did you? Yeah. So, I love that. Do you have any idea of what like the first thing that comes to mind with that? Get Rich or Die Trying? 50. Yes. Yes. That is a classic. That was my first. Was it? 50 Cent was your first concert. 50 Cent in G Unit in Hartford, Connecticut. When I was 12 years old, my dad took me. Your dad is a legend, by the way. Just all this stuff. It was a time. I should

have definitely not been there. In no way should I have ever been there. We got general admission. So we're just in this like, mosh pit. Mosh pit. He's like throwing you in. the air to like other families. Literally there's no families there. That is not a family. Right. It's not a family outing. But it was just so funny. And I remember, of course, classically, we're late. And we like, we couldn't find parking near the venue because the concert was like already kind of in full swing. So he decided to park at a McDonald's. And I'm like, even at 12, I'm like, this is a bad idea. Like I've been a rule follower forever and it made me wildly uncomfortable. And I'm like,

this is such a bad idea. And he's like, it's fine, it's fine. So he took me and my cousin, AJ at the time. And, well, he's still my cousin. But so we go there, come back from this crazy concert. Like, it's the first time that I was, like, exposed to, like, people smoking weed and doing drugs and, like, mom, obviously I'm fine. Don't be mad. And we get back to the McDonald's parking lot, towed. Car is nowhere in sight. We're in the middle of Hartford, Connecticut, which is a really rough place to be. 12-year-old you is like, I knew it. I called this. I know. it. So we, I remember walking along like the busy roadway to go to the impound lot and it was just a whole fucking to-do. And I just remember looking at my dad like, all right, well, I told you.

And thanks for a fun night, but I'm also frightened now. But anyways, so get rich or die trying. G unit, 50 cent. Thanks for the memories. But we're going somewhere completely different. We are not going to be in Connecticut. We're going to Alaska. We're going back to Alaska. Alaska is just such a hot spot for us. Yeah. I mean, we're going to be there pretty much right after this episode comes out, but also I just did the Lake Clark one too. Yeah, I know. So we're recording this obviously ahead of time. I feel like we say that a lot because we're trying to do a lot of front loading to keep the content up while we're doing our travels. But yeah, Cassie and I are going to be in Alaska for three weeks. We literally leave this week and we'll be there almost the entire month of July. Amazing.

So we're going to, we're not going to be anywhere near where our story is taking place today because it is a very, very remote area of Alaska, but it's also a historic story, which is just my favorite, although it's a little intertwined with some present day activity. So our story today starts over 130 years ago in 1892 in the Bering Sea. Oh, I did Aida Blackjack episode up in that area. Is it, where was it again? Do you remember? Because there's the Bering Sea, but then we're going to be in the Aleutian Islands. It was the Bering Land Bridge National preserve. Okay. Yep. So different area, but kind of the same. With areas that are just so expansive, it's like you could be kind of in the same vicinity, but still a world away. Yeah, for sure.

Captain Gregory Dwargstaff, a Russian-born pirate, was on the run from the law. Dwargstaff worked for an illegal seal poaching ring called the sealing associates, which was operating within the Aleutian Islands. Ooh, already not a fan, but continue. Yeah, you shouldn't be a fan. This is a chain of 14 larger volcanic islands and 55 smaller islands extending about 1,200 miles or 1900 kilometers westward from the Alaskan Peninsula towards eastern Russia. The majority of the islands currently belong to the United States, but at the far western end, a handful of small islands known as the Commander islands, belong to Russia. The seal industry was booming at this time, and when the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, the territory came with a very profitable seal.

industry, especially off of the Aleutian Island chain. Beginning in the 1700s, Russian seal hunters would enslave the local indigenous peoples of the Aleutian Islands from whatever location and specific island they were currently hunting on. Women and children were taken hostage as a way to get the Aleut men to help harvest furs for them. This practice was banned in the 1800s, but poachers were notorious for continuing to enslave indigenous people despite the law, among other lawbreaking. And I won't dive too deep into the seal industry history, but it is worth noting that it was huge for over a century and even caused a different type of rush to Alaska, aside from the rush, many of us are very familiar with, which is the gold rush. Oh, jinks, double jinks.

People still do that. You owe me a Coke thing? Yeah. We do hang out too much. We're in different states, But we do hang out. We actually haven't seen each other in a really long time in person. By 1868, hundreds of Americans poured into Alaska, slaughtering over 300,000 seals that season alone, only stopping when salt stores ran too low and they could no longer preserve their skins before bringing them into the markets of the world.

When the U.S. government heard of this free-for-all, they deemed the Pribilif Islands a reservation, restricting access to seal hunting to native subsistence hunting. So they were basically like, all right, we had no idea that you guys were just killing every single seal. You could get your hands on. This is going to become a huge issue. So the indigenous peoples can continue their traditional seal hunting, but everyone else is like they started formulating a lot of rules and regulations and laws around the seal hunt so that the population wasn't totally eradicated. That makes sense.

It's smart. When Alaska transferred hands, that may have shifted power in the area, but not the Russian interest in the first seal industry of the area. As a result, a system of leasing hunting rights to various entities in an effort to make the hunt more sustainable was enacted and created. Rights to the hunting grounds exchanged hands between different countries and different commercial companies within those countries for years, but Dworkstaff was not interested in doing things by the book. there was ample money to be made in this industry, and he was going to take advantage of that. He joined forces with an illegal seal poaching ring called the sealing associates, and this ring was kind of like a criminal syndicate, almost like the mafia, if you want to put it in that context, and it operated off of the southern coast of Alaska and throughout the Aleutian Islands.

Fast forward to 1892, U.S. warships raided the fleet, Dwargstaff's fleet, off the coast of what is now, Keenai Fjord's National Park. Knowing that this altercation was one he was likely going to lose, he ordered all of the organization's most precious assets, which happened to be 3,000 pounds of gold, rushed onto his boat, which was the fastest in the entire fleet. He made an initial escape, but authorities were hot on his tail. He set sail toward the allusions, attempting to outrun the U.S. warships through the clusters of islands. All the while, as he was on the run, he was ordering his men to pack all the empty food tins and three gallon milk canisters with the gold coins, which ended up being 150 containers and all. How much money does that equal today? Do you know?

365 mil. Wow, that is a treasure. It's a big one, I know. Nearly 1,200 miles later, he reached secluded Adak Island and made landfall. He ordered his men off the boat and instructed them to bury all of the loot, leaving behind small, inconspicuous clues that. that he would be able to use later to pinpoint the location of the gold scattered throughout different locations. But this wasn't just his gold. The initial agreement made amongst the leaders of the sealing associates was to entrust Dorkstoff with its safekeeping and hiding, with plans to return to dig up the gold once the coast was clear and they weren't being chased by the authorities. There's always plans to return.

Surprise, surprise. Things didn't go exactly as planned. After dropping the gold and fleeing from the island, his ship ran into bad ones. weather off the shores of a nearby island, also a part of the Aleutian chain. Smashing into a coastal reef in near hurricane-like conditions, the ship sank, taking with it nearly all of the men aboard. Dwargstaff survived, but was quickly apprehended by authorities and imprisoned. Likely due to his ordeal at sea, he developed pneumonia and died in prison just weeks later, never revealing the location of the gold to anyone. Fast forward, 50 years later, An Adak Island has been completely transformed.

World War II was in full swing, and the island was serving as a very important military installation for both the Army and Navy. At the time, the military bases that were constructed on the island were the westernmost bases in the entire nation. Located 1,400 air miles from the west coast of the U.S., Adak Island is actually closer to Russia than the west coast of America. So it is out there in the middle of the Bering Sea. The island was chosen strategically to mount an offensive against the Japanese-held Aleutian Islands of Atu and Kiska.

As a result, the 270-square-mile volcanic island became almost unrecognizable. Initially, home to the indigenous Aleut people, the tundra landscape covered with grass, mosses, low-lying flowering plants and berries was drastically altered by the presence of the military. Construction of the bases began in 1942, and the following year, while digging a path connecting two, Quonset huts, which are steel structures. They have like a half cylindrical shape. They were used for storage. And there was actually thousands of them on the island of ADAC during this time. A soldier unearthed a tin can. But this wasn't any old discarded food tin or piece of letter. This can was full of gold coins worth an estimated $2.5 million, stamped with issue dates between 1880 and 1890. Why don't I ever come across anything like that? Well, are you out there?

digging or what? No. All right. Get to it. This was the first glimpse of Dorkstaff's stash in over five decades. And I'll post a picture because there is a picture of this soldier holding the can just brimming with gold coins. And it's in black and white, of course, but you'll get it. Did he get to keep it? I don't know. I don't think so. I would. He's part, you know, anytime you're in the military, like the military oversees everything, you're not on, you know, you're on the military. You're on the military land and all that. True. I'd stash it away and then pawn it off for, even if I didn't get the full 2.5 mil, I'd settle for a mill. Yeah, even less than 50%. Yeah, I would settle for that. Exciting as this find was, it remained the only discovery for years. It wasn't until 1959 when another

gold coin stash was found during the construction of a housing project on the island in a completely different location, about a mile away from that first find. Word spread fast among the military personnel on the island as well as its residents. However, this was still an active base and while the base was in operation, digging on the island was strictly forbidden. So everyone is stoked about this. They're like, okay, it wasn't a one-off. There's more. And we just need to go find it. And obviously, the legend of Dorkstaff is like everyone knows. So they know there's more for real now. But it was a no-go to dig while the Army and Navy were in operation at the time. They're like, oh no, my shovel dropped really hard on the ground. Oh no. I dropped my... I just happened. I just happened to uncover

this. And at this point, we're in 1959 at this point, the second world war is over. But the island continued to serve as an important military base becoming a Cold War naval air and submarine surveillance station. So it's still an operation. And it actually, on Adak Island, became one of Alaska's largest cities. Thousands of military personnel and their families lived on the Island in cookie cutter, prefabricated homes that were shipped fully constructed directly to the island on barges. There were schools, a hospital, restaurants, a movie theater, a bowling alley, a roller rink, playing courts for sports like squash, tennis and basketball. And there was even a ski lodge and a McDonald's. The place was popping. McDonald's is everywhere.

McDonald's knows no bounds, honestly. It's like, can you just fuck off from the Aleutian Islands, please? Like, there's a place you don't need to be. It's funny because I think, I don't know when it was, but Vermont took a really long time to accept. Vermont was like one of the last states that accepted McDonald's into the state and still there's only a few of them. There's only a handful in the bigger, the larger populated areas.

You don't find them in small towns. Like I know in New Hampshire, you go to pretty much half the small towns and there's a McDonald's sitting in the middle of it, but Vermont doesn't have that. I'm not surprised because Vermont is the last holdout for a lot of things. I feel like.

I will say though, subway. Subway knows no bounds. Okay, can I just say this is like my trivia, like my fun fact for any time I pull something out. And I learned it in food health and the environment, one of the classes in college that like completely changed my life. Subway is the most numerous fast food chain of all. That does not surprise me. Like there are more subway locations than any other fast food chain. That does not surprise me at all. Everywhere you go, there's a subway. There's a subway in my town. And everything is like farm to table here. And there's a subway here. Yeah. Go on. any road trip, you're bound to run into a subway. Yeah. On, you know, every few hours. It doesn't matter where you are. There's a subway there.

You can be, I can remember being in different countries and being like, oh, there's the subway. And not talking about transportation. It's like kind of sad, you know. It's not even like, sorry subway. I don't, don't sponsor us, I guess, but it's not even good. It's not even fresh. What are you talking about?

That's their whole thing. Subway eat fresh. Yeah. It's disgusting. I'm sorry. I don't want to eat shredded lettuce out of a strand wrapped, like, vacuum-sealed plastic bag.

Why, it's only a little brown. Okay. All right, we're getting fucking off track. So anyways, even though Adak Island didn't have a subway that had a McDonald's, which is a close second, and it was popping, it was a place to be, but it didn't last. Adak Island today is a very far cry from its heyday.

The military closed and abandoned the entire, installation in 1997, leaving nearly $3 billion worth of military assets to nature, and nature has not been kind to what has been left behind. ADAC is notoriously harsh with persistent overcast skies, gale force winds capable of catapulting dumpsters across the roadways, has significant precipitation, frequent cyclonic storms, and fog that covers the island an average of 173 days a year. It's no wonder when the military ceased operation in the late 90s that people left, but not everyone. As of 2017, the census revealed 80 full-time residents on the island, and as of 2022, a mere 45 people call all of Adak Island home. So there's 45 people there right now. Or less. Tell me you don't like

people without telling me you don't like people. We're going to stay. There are a lot of stories in Alaska, though, in remote areas around where there's small populations of people. people. We talked about it in Rangel St. Elias National Park. In that area, there's a group of people, very small population, but who just love Alaska, the last frontier living off the land and off-grid and whatever. So we do see that in Alaska, but 40 people on a whole island. We do. It's just, it's a little different because it's an island that's really, really remote that doesn't have a lot of natural resources. It's extremely hard to live here. And the island's infrastructure that was, you know, it was so great a couple decades ago.

So many people were there. It had pretty much everything you needed. Pretty much all of that infrastructure now is in complete decay. There's only one restaurant that remains, and it's not McDonald's. The school ranging from pre-K to 12th grade has a roster of only a handful of students. The vast majority of the island's buildings from the military barracks, people's homes, schools, recreation buildings, corporate offices, town records buildings. All are in complete ruin, complete with military barracks. missing siding, collapsing roofs, broken windows, and blown out walls.

Almost the entire island looks like a post-apocalyptic scene straight out of the walking dead. Salvaging and repurposing from abandoned buildings is common practice, as shipping supplies to the island is wildly expensive and takes a very long time. For example, a visitor to the island in 2020 snapped a picture from one of the only stores still in operation on the island, documenting the price of a 24 pack of Heineken at $82. Wow. I could not pay $82 for Heineken. Maybe I could if I lived on Adak Island. It's just insane. And you're obviously more than welcome to look up pictures of Adak. It's a beautiful island. But the, yeah, like I just mentioned, the infrastructure. It does look like, you don't even need, it would just be the perfect place to film a zombie movie or like a post-apocalyptic movie. Like you don't even have to build the set. It's just there. Oh yeah, I'm looking at it now.

Wow, there's so many buildings, too. Well, and I think I mention it later on, but at its peak, the military base had almost 100,000 Army and Navy personnel there and then all of their families. Yeah, I'm looking at when I googled it, one of the first things that came up is an article that says Adak Island, one of the world's most remote abandoned places. Yeah, it's crazy. Oh, and then the National Park site for this pops up to, Adda. Army Base and Adak Naval Operating Base National Historic Landmark.

And that's where we are. So while the town deteriorated, Dworkstaff's legend remained. The residents of Adak didn't forget the two fines from the 40s and 50s. And when the military ceased operations in 1997 and the digging restrictions lifted, locals jumped on the opportunity to find the gold themselves. In their searches, people have unearthed old dog tags, old cans, and miscellaneous aluminum garbage items, but nothing more of the treasure has been found in over six decades. With 270 square miles of search area, ground to that is frozen the majority of the year, and limited access

to detecting equipment, the search went cold again. But the knowledge that 148 cans of gold worth an estimated $365 million remains buried under the surface of ADAC is almost torture. And in 22, Tom Spittler, Adak Island's governor, stepped up to do something about that torture. Tom grew up on Adak, and in addition to holding a seat on the city council, he became governor in 2012 with the goal of turning the community around, which had steadily started to decline decades prior. Tom loves the community of Adak and knows that it is at significant risk of dying out completely. With just 45 residents, Adak hangs on the verge of complete economic collapse. ADAC is a unique place that requires unique thinking, and that's just what Tom did.

In a last ditch effort to save his community and perhaps solve a centuries-long mystery, he launched a project like no other. He spent months putting together a team to find Dorgstaff's treasure, hoping to locate the remaining gold, and use the proceeds to reinvigorate the local economy, fix the crumbling infrastructure, and save his community. After months of research, he put together a team of four, each with unique knowledge and abilities best suited to find the long-lost gold. If they were to succeed, 95% of the funds would be given directly back to the community of ADAC,

and the remaining 5% would be split equally among the four members of the team. And if this story sounds familiar to anyone, it's because it is a Netflix series, and that is where I got the inspiration for this entire episode. Oh yeah, I remember you saying that actually. What is the Netflix series called? It's called Pirate Gold of Adac Island. And it was, it came out last year. So it's not brand new, but it's pretty recent.

I definitely haven't seen it, though. I feel like I have seen an article talking about this before because I have heard of Adak Island. And some of this sounds a little bit familiar, but I don't know the story at all. I had no information on this at all. Like, I had no idea. And as with so many things, like this show got recommended my Netflix algorithm or whatever. It was like, you may like this. type of thing. I was like, I do like this. And I started watching and I watched the first episode. And I was like,

does this have a national park tie in? They all have a national park tie in. And of course, it does. So that's why I was stoked. So I watched the whole series. I think it was eight episodes, six or eight episodes. And I watched the whole thing in like a day and wrote down a bunch of notes and then filled in the gaps with other resources and research. And that's how this episode came to be. So if you want to watch the entire thing. I'm pretty much condensing it for you. But it was, it's like any other Netflix. It's very, um, dramatized. I love dramatized. Are there fake reenactment of things happening? There is not fake. I love this. No, but there's very like, just everything is like dire. Dun dun, dun, down. Yeah, exactly.

I love stuff like that. I don't know. Lifetime is like my favorite channel. So anything dramatic. See, I don't. I don't. I don't. Like that. that like sometimes, you know, when on Spotify you can listen to podcasts or music or something at like double the speed or a faster rate. Like I wish I could have watched this like that. I'm like, okay, let's just get to the point here. You know what I mean? Like it was slow moving because it was so dramatic. Yeah. I don't like repeating. There are the ones that repeat and they're dramatic and you're like, okay, like what where are you getting? But I like dramatic noise and dramatic effects and I like reenactments and.

especially if they're like shadowy and mysterious and like blurry reenact i you know i don't know i just i'm all for the drama i guess well then you may like this series and i did too in in its own way obviously the story was very compelling just the fluff around it was just a little annoying but anyways it's a cool story so i'm going to tell me more about it cool the assembled team comprised of the following people brian weed aka the techie or gadget guy brian has extensive experience finding treasure throughout all of Alaska, but his experience isn't just all that he brought to the team. He had access to and working knowledge of the best of the best in treasure hunting equipment. Not only did he have the top-of-the-line metal detectors, he brings other state-of-the-art technology

to the team as well. This included ground-penetrating radar, which gave information such as the approximate shape and size of an object under the soil, and drones equipped with LiDAR, or light detection and ranging technology that basically works by emitting pulsated light waves to create a very precise 3D map of the environment. And in this case, the ground that can uncover aspects of the landscape located underneath the vegetation and top soil layers to give them more information. Next is Dr. M. Jackson, aka the scientist, she's my favorite. She has the coolest background. Dr. Jackson is an accomplished geographer, glaciologist, and National Geographic Explorer. Aside from her extensive schooling, she has given TED Talks, traveled the world studying glaciers

and their impact on the remaining landscape with a focus on what physical and cultural impacts result in the unprecedented melting of glacial ice and is the author of multiple award-winning books. She first heard of the Adak Island treasure when she was pretty young. Her father, John Jackson, worked for a time on the island as a welder, and she grew up hearing the legend of Dworkstaff and his lost treasure. Dr. Jackson's extensive knowledge of geology and landscape change brought the team invaluable insight into how the island has changed in the century and a half roughly since pirates first stepped foot onto this island. And not only that, there's obviously the natural changes that have happened on the island, but it has also undergone. drastic change from the military operations, building the base and operating the base and the large community that was once thriving there, like it's a completely different place than it was

in 1892. Sure. The team was rounded out by Jay Tumuth and Burke Mitchell, aka the fabricators. These two friends grew up together on ADAC and have been chasing this particular treasure for over 30 years. The duo met in high school, and that is when they heard the legend for the first time. Jay's grandfather was stationed here in World War II and was there on the base when the gold was first found. And remember when I said the military was like, hey, no digging, you can't do this. This pair did not care. When the sun went down, the shovels came out. I wouldn't care either for that much money.

Clearly. Clearly. And over the years, they hadn't had much luck, but by joining the team, they hope that their luck would change. Knowledge of Adak Island and how to construct specialized gear out of the salvage material throughout the island in order to make it into useful equipment for the operation is what they brought to the table for the team. With so much ground to cover, it would be nearly impossible to canvas at all, meaning that the team needed to be strategic with their approach. They began by looking back on what they already knew, and that was the general location of the two initial finds. With the

mindset of thinking that where there was gold, there was bound to be more gold, the team set off to start digging in the area of the initial find, the 1943 find, in an area called Sweeper Cove. The exact location of where that tin was found is unknown, but they were able to narrow it down to where it may have been, because the soldier was digging those pathways between the Cwanzit huts at the time of the find, so the team used LIDAR to construct a map of the area that showed the remnants of those paths underneath the earth, because they're no longer there, obviously, just looking at but using that technology, they were able to see where some of those paths were. That, with comparing photographic images and maps, circa the 1940s, they sectioned out an area

to start scanning with their metal detectors. Seems like a pretty logical cut-and-dry plan, but there's another slightly larger consideration, and that consideration would be bombs. The base closed in 97, but hundreds and hundreds of unused bombs, also called UXO or unexploded ordinance, have been like. lying dormant since the conclusion of the war, left to be swallowed up by the earth. Scary. And bonus, little to no records were kept regarding their locations.

Oof. So in other words, thousands of pounds of undettonated bombs are scattered throughout the entire island of ADAC, making it very, very risky to dig willy-nilly. It's like landmines are just sitting everywhere. Yeah, you just like, it's hard to know. There is a way to combat this problem. There is specialized equipment that can be used to detect the bomb. as they pick up the presence of iron, which these bombs were made with.

But it doesn't have to be a bomb to set off the equipment, because obviously there are other items that have an iron component that aren't a bomb. So it makes it kind of like a roll of the dice. It's like, well, it could be a bomb, but it also could not be a bomb. And the team uses specially calibrated gear to detect precious metals for the gold, which makes it even more tricky because the milk containers that some of the gold was buried in is a mixture of both type of metals. So it's going to set off both sets of equipment. So it's like a complete roll of the dice. Yeah, that's, that makes it tough. There has been an ongoing unexploded

ordinance removal effort on the island for many years. Tom himself has been working with the effort for over 20 of those years. And it's a complicated and really long process that involves a lot of moving parts, groups of people, and special permits. Armored excavators sent in from the mainland are typically used to remove the UXO or the military will be sent in to do controlled blasts. Also, nowhere on the island is deemed 100% safe. In recent years, the latest removal of nine, nine separate 500-pound bombs were removed from right under one of the main roads on Adak Island after part of the roadway was washed out following a particularly bad storm and revealed parts of those bombs. That is so scary. Like, okay, I've just been driving this to go to work.

every day and all of these bombs. And they're super, like, they're, they have a very hairpin detonators, you know, like, it's just, it's so scary. Some things are better not to know. Aside from the bombs is another hidden risk, and those are Rommel spikes. These weapons of war are stakes, also known as screw pickets that were used as a defense mechanism. Instead of having these big stakes, having to be, like, pounded into the ground, which produced a lot of noise that could tip off enemy forces to your location. soldiers twisted these corkscrew-shaped stakes into the ground, and they had super sharp ends that would stick out of the ground that were then concealed with natural vegetation.

And the idea was that enemy forces mounting a ground assault would rush into them and be impaled or step on them and die or get significantly injured. And these are also found within the island of ADAC. In 2012, a removal effort on the island removed nearly 3,000 of them, but they're still more scattered and concealed throughout the rolling hills and grasses of the island. And they're now have the added juzh of being extremely rusted out and just tetanus central. This place is a whole booby trap. The island is booby trapped.

Yeah. Which makes it, it's like, it's so isolated. It's so difficult to get to. And there's so many risks associated with it that it makes it, like Dorgstaff obviously couldn't plan for this. but it worked out in his favor that it deters a lot of people. It did. He didn't want anyone to find it, and he literally put it on an island where people made sure that wouldn't happen. And another obstacle comes in the form of landscape change, and that impacts the theories of where most of the gold has been stashed. While Dr. Jackson had ideas of where those

locations were, she wasn't the first to have thoughts about it. Samuel Arrington, a 57-year-old Texan made his way to Adak in 2008. While Adak is not a major camping destination, sometimes caribou hunters camp out on the tundra covered island, but Samuel wasn't there for recreational camping or caribou hunting. He was a Navy veteran who was once stationed at the former Adak Naval Station, perhaps where he first heard of gold on the island. Samuel arrived on Adak Island on July 10th of 2008 after purchasing a one-way ticket from Anchorage. He was seen in town on July 15th buying camping equipment and supplies

before heading off towards Lake Betty, a six-mile hike into the remote and rugged interior of the island. And that day, July 15th, was the last day he was seen alive. His son, other family members and friends had not heard from him and grew concerned for his safety.

They knew that he had gone to the remote island for gold and a chance to live off the land, but after attempts of contacting him were unsuccessful, a full-blown search was launched. Samuel's disappearance prompted one of the largest, if not the largest search and rescue operations in Adak Island's history, complete with canine units and helicopters. The search revealed a staging area on the north side of Lake Betty, along with a camp on the south side of the lake, that were both seemingly abandoned. AADC police chief Daryl Tannahill described the entire terrain as rugged country, and quote, probably the worst hiking conditions I've ever

seen. After weeks of searching, nothing more was discovered and the operation ceased, with sporadic search efforts conducted throughout the following years. Then, in June of 2014, two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees were conducting a bird study in the area when they discovered human remains at the base of a steep ravine, approximately a mile and a half from Lake Betty. It is thought that Samuel fell while navigating the steep terrain and was injured severely enough to not have been able to climb back up, and he died of exposure. The town had dwindling funds, not nearly as much as what was allotted

for the initial search. And as a result, the recovery mission was comprised of Tom and just two other men. The remains were fairly well preserved despite the years that had passed as the body had neoprene waiters up to the chest.

As a result of this and the precarious location of the remains, the difficult to access place, Tom and the two other men had to section the body in three to remove it from the difficult location at the base of the ravine and carry it out of the backcountry. What? What a brutal job.

What a brutal job. I feel like at that point wouldn't. I mean, I understand recovering a body, but maybe just make that their resting place. I don't know. I'm not sure what ended up if they flew the remains back to his family. If I was that family, I just, I would be like, don't send them home like. that, you know? I'm not sure. I don't know. I'm not sure what happened. I mean, that's, I just, I can't imagine being the person who has to do that job. Well, Tom was one of them and he is one of the

main characters in this Netflix series. He makes a lot of appearances. Oh, wow. And he tells the story from his experience doing that. That's awful. I feel. I mean, if that's what needs to be done to bring someone's family member home and that's what the family wants. And you get that, God, rescuers. just don't get enough credit, man. If you are. They don't. And also, like, Tom is like a jack of all trades, honestly, for this island because it is, it has such limited resources and there's, you know, there's with 45 or so people, like,

he kind of has to have a little part in everything. Like, you would never, the town mayor for my town would not be doing a body recovery. You know what I mean? It's just like, I think a lot of credit is due to him. Preliminary idea the remains was based. on identification in a wallet found at the site and later was confirmed to be that of Samuel Arrington. The reason Samuel chose to set up camp around Lake Betty is unknown, as Dr. Jackson believes that the gold would not be that far into the interior of ADAC. She believes that with limited

time and manpower, it doesn't seem logical that the men would haul 3,000 pounds worth of gold miles into the center of the island. Dr. Jackson had a theory that Dorgstaff split up his treasure, which wasn't really his, and buried it in different locations, multiple locations, and based off of the geography of the island, both current and past, as well as the fact that Dorgstaff likely knew this area pretty well due to his experience of seal hunting in the area. With these pieces, she pinpointed two locations on the island to conduct the team's search. The first being Sweeper Creek, somewhat near the site of the first find,

once ran from a cove on Adak Island, far into the first. to the interior of the island. But over time, the creek shifted and in areas has been covered up completely, like with entire roadways or fill dirt. But the thought is that Dorgstaff transferred the gold, or at least some of it, from his ship into different rowboats and sent those rowboats up Sweeper Creek. This would have allowed the men to get further inland and have access to more area of land. That isn't just directly on the shore. And while much of this general area has changed, there is a physical feature in the form of a large hill called Red Bluff Hill that has remained in the same spot. It seems likely that Dorkstaff and his men would have been able to

pull up near it using the creek and then navigate behind it on foot, which would have provided cover from anyone searching from the sea. So she's like, it's a pretty good, like if I was Dorkstaff, this is what I would do. So that's kind of like her first inclination of why she wanted to focus the search there, and it is also somewhat near the paths between the Quonset huts that were constructed. And while they were dismantled after the war, the paths, like I mentioned before, are still visible to LIDAR-Tech. And that gave them a good starting point because there were some that kind of transected this area. Even more promising was the discovery of a Russian Orthodox cross etched into a rock found by Dr. Jackson, a sign that the team took as some sort of marker clue left

behind to indicate the presence of a gold stash nearby. Detecting around the area came up with their first exciting find, a tin can. And while it was crushed and empty of any coins, it was promising because this can was manufactured pre-1900, which they could tell by looking at it on site, by how it was soldered with a tin lead alloy while modern cans are crimped. So there was like a difference in how tin cans were manufactured. And pre-1900s, it was the soldering technique, which this particular can had. So they're like, okay, this is good because this isn't from the army or military.

This is from before that. So while this was promising and everyone was excited, it's like, what the hell happened? Like, did someone find this can? Where's the goal? Why is it empty? Yeah. Did someone find it and empty it and then just like throw the can back or what, you know? Dr. Jackson didn't think that was the case. She points to the landscape change once again.

because the issue with Red Bluff Hill is that a large portion of the top of it had been completely removed with excavators during the military operation time period, and that dirt had been used to fill in other areas of the island, meaning potentially an untold number of gold-filled tins and milk jugs could have possibly been torn up and tossed and scattered throughout the hill or moved completely to a different spot entirely. So she thinks that this particular gold can was just, torn up with excavators. The gold coins are scattered everywhere. And then whatever was in that

top portion of the hill has been literally removed and placed somewhere else for Filder or other construction projects throughout the island. So now do they have to figure out where it was moved to, the top part of the hill? Yes. So she does that. She has her work cut out for her. And she's like loving it. She's so pumped over this. This is her forte. To get an idea of where those locations may be, She had Jay and Burke construct a makeshift soil probe to obtain varying soil samples from the Red Bluff Hill and other locations where fill dirt and stone had been brought in from other locations, aka the top of Red Bluff Hill. To help with either drainage or make the ground level,

there's a variety of reasons why they would have brought in fill dirt. And by calculating the soil depth, analyzing soil layers and soil composition, and then cross-comparing those soil samples with soil from an undisturbed area on the island, such as the Seven Doors of Doom, which was a nuclear weapon storage facility used during the Cold War, that area had been completely undisturbed, which gave her a good standard of like what undisturbed soil looks like. So by doing all of these things, she was able to narrow down an area near the mouth of the bay that used dirt from the Red Bluff Hill. That was in a completely different area. Science is wild.

Science is really cool. And it's just so interesting how it can be utilized to solve mysteries like this. Yeah. The second location that she had pinpointed was an area called the Bay of Waterfalls. A very isolated bay, 10 miles from the town of Adak, is a five-hour journey because it's only accessible by boat. The location of the bay would have provided the perfect place for Dorgstaff to slip his ship into to be hidden away from prying eyes. Dr. Jackson and Brian used a submersible to scan the seaf floor for exactly where Dorgstaff may have anchored. Because Adak Island is part of a volcanic island chain, the seafloor is comprised mainly of fine sands with minimal areas of rocky seafloor where the captain would have been able to anchor to hold his large ship.

So they're scanning, like, just the amount of thought. It's like, okay, well, logistically, we're not going to just go and scan this area if he couldn't have anchored here. So they're like looking at the seafloor, where could he have anchored? And it's kind of like coming up as a no-go for a while until they finally find a, a big rocky pile at the bottom of the seafloor. And then they look based on there, where on land that correlates to, where they would have sent smaller rowboats onto shore to bury. And then they start searching there.

And then they're like, and his feet were a size 11. So then we measured how many steps a size 11 shoe would take before they would get tired of carrying. I swear to God that that's like what most of this show was. I'm like, oh my God. And I mean, I don't want to like shit all over the show because obviously I'm doing an episode because of it. And it is really interesting. But it was like a lot of reaches as far as like, oh, okay, I get the line of thinking. And some of it is very practical like with the soil samples and all of that.

But other things, it's like that's a lot of what ifs. And like just kind of speculating. Yeah, lots of speculation. Either way, they conduct a search on the land in this bay of water. Falls for a while. They even camp out there overnight and it ended up being a bust. Only Rommel spikes were found scattered throughout this isolated part of the island. But the team didn't end their expedition entirely empty handed. The entire expedition was under a pretty large time constraint, which I did not mention before, because the winter weather was approaching and the ground

was starting to freeze, which would deem digging pretty difficult to do. And while Brian and Dr. Jackson were finishing up at the Bay of Waterfalls, Jay and Burke were more determined than ever. They're like, our window is closing. This is the best opportunity we've ever had. The biggest leg up we've ever had to try and finally find this after 30 years of wanting to. And they started just like digging and searching all night. Like they pulled all-nighters going throughout this isolated area where that red bluff hill dirt was transferred to. And they were scanning the area.

They were pulling all-nighters. They were there like three, four in the morning. and their efforts paid off when their detectors pinged the signal for precious metal. It took some time and additional help from their other team members in the early hours of the next morning, but under a several hundred pound rock along the shoreline of Lake Andy, a single coin was found. Just one! Minted at 1861, the 22-carat $10 U.S. coin with a Liberty Head on one side and an eagle on the other turned out to be a perfect match from the previous discoveries from 1943,

and 1959 deeming it a part of Dorgdorf's treasure. And everyone freaked the fuck out in celebration. I mean, it's exciting. You found one piece. But this is along the area where they believe that everything got disturbed and scattered. So they were kind of... So they're on the right track. They're on the right track.

They're like losing their mind. They're like, oh my God, we finally found it. And so they continue to sweep the area. They're like, oh, my God. Like, this is it. And they just knew there was going to be more in the... this area. And then boom, another hit on the detector. And it was a crushed and mangled tin, just like the other one found on the top of Red Bluff Hill. But when they shook it around, it had a single gold coin

minted in 1879 at the bottom. Another perfect match for Dorgstaff's treasure. And the team was hyped. They were like, raise the roof. We did it. We're rich. We didn't die trying. How much is each coin worth? Millions. One coin is worth millions. At this point, like, because all, obviously a historic value and everything like that. Okay, I'm cool with one. But sadly, this is where the story ends. Wait, they found two? For now, they found two.

And this is where the story ends for now, because the area of the finds that they uncovered abuts a completely restricted area of the island that is sectioned off by high chain link fences with large, bold, no trespassing signs because this area has an untold amount of UXOs piled up and hidden through all. out it. Of course it does. So this is like a specific area. Like obviously the whole island has bombs scattered throughout the people like are unaware of and it's just kind of like, oh, there's one. You know, let's take care of that. But this section of the island is like a total, absolutely not. Danger zone. So no one is able to gain access to the area without high level security clearance

from the military. And as a side note, the team did investigate the location of that second find in 1959. Remember, I briefly mentioned it. It was when they were building the housing community. The other gold coin find was found. Yeah. So as with the 1943 find, the exact location of that 1959 find is unknown, but it was narrowed down to about a 120 acre area adjacent to the coastline at Kulik Bay, which is a mile east of the first location. And they did investigate it. Obviously, they did their due diligence there. And there's more details in the show. They didn't find gold. but they found something really interesting. And it was a human finger.

And at first, the team was like, this is perfect. Because a tactic that a lot of pirates used in the past to conceal treasure was they would bury their treasure and then they would bury a body over it in hopes that if someone was to happen to come across it and unearth a grave, they would not dig further. Yeah. They would be like, oh, this is a grave. So they're like, oh, my God, this is perfect. Like, they buried a body on top of more gold.

But it's just a finger. But it was a single finger. So no other human remains were found at the location. But after some investigating, because this finger was very old too. So it was the skeletal remains of a finger, I should say. It was a perfectly preserved finger. Yeah. So the team determined it was most likely the result of what's called sealer's finger,

which is a bacterial infection that afflicts the fingers of people who hunt or handle seals as a result of a bite or a cut. It can also be contracted by exposure to untreated seal pelts. And according to the state of Alaska section for epidemiology, they define it as a finger infection associated with bites, cuts, or scratches contaminated by the mouth, blood, or blubber of certain marine mammals. So historically, in Dwarxtoff time, seal finger was treated by amputation. Just leaving it on the ground.

Just leaving it, I guess. Like, all right, we're down a finger. Just leave a ear. Throw it out. So even though it wasn't significant as far as a treasure find, it was really cool because... It's a historic finger. It's a historic finger. I would have been like, this is the best thing I've ever found.

Not the gold that's worth millions of dollars per piece. That's close second. You guys have the gold. I want the finger. As long as I can keep the finger, I'll be payment enough. Adak Army-based and Adak Naval Operating Base National Historic Landmark is operated, of course, by the National Park Service, but Adak Island is also part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. And this refuge extends across nearly 5 million acres, and its environment includes more than

2,500 islands, islets, spires, rocks, reefs, waters, and headlands that is a travel equivalent of taking a trip from Georgia to California. That's how large this national wildlife refuge is. Wow, that's very large. So obviously, Adak Island. is a national historic landmark, but it is also part of a larger wildlife refuge. So I thought that was pretty cool. And of course, like I said, this entire show on Netflix should be taken with a grain of salt. While there is some solid historic information and the treasure is clearly real, the show is extremely dramatic and sensationalized, in my opinion. And I wanted to know if it was kind of like just my feelings or if other people were feeling this type of way. So I kind of like looked up what people

thought of the show. And viewers had mixed reactions to it. Some were saying that it was clearly scripted and certain scenes were staged. But regardless, the story of the Dwargstaff treasure is true. And the situation of Adak Island in its community is very real. And just as a huge disclaimer to end this episode with before anyone goes and adds digging on Addaq Island to their list, digging is strictly prohibited now on the island and anyone caught digging will be prosecuted. After they did it? Well, they obtained special permits, and obviously they were working with the government and different military installations and things like that on the mainland for the show purposes.

Sure. But like if you just go and think that you can metal to detect anywhere on the island, you're wrong, and you'll go to jail. So don't. The government wants the treasure for themselves. Yeah, I was going to say the island treasures. We're our military bomber friends. Get us out there.

We're ready. Yeah. If you think that this treasure is for the taking, you're wrong. It's only for certain special people. And it's not us. But it's cool to watch unfold. And hopefully, I didn't see any. I also tried to look up if there was any talk of a second season coming and anything

like that. And I'm not sure if that's in production or is even ever going to happen or not. Maybe it was just a one-off. I mean, exciting they found, they actually found something while they were there. Allegedly. I know. I don't know. I'm a little skeptical now.

because you say it's dramatized. I'm like, did they find something for the show? They just like placed a couple little coins there to make make it seem like they actually found something. That's what a lot of people are arguing. Oh, really? There's just no way. I haven't seen it, so I'm just making things up. But I mean, like, obviously, like some of, it would be, you'd have to go through some shit, especially the first find of the two that they found, just the single coin under the rock. It was on the shore, like they were scanning around. And it was under, like, they had to use a truck to remove this rock. It was so heavy. Like they had to chain it up to a truck to move it, because the coin was in the sand underneath it. And it's like, it's not impossible to plant

something like that, obviously. But it's just like a lot of work and a lot of people involved in this ruse. And I don't know. Like I said, it's not impossible. But I would like, my heart would like to believe that it's real. Me too. And I hope they're millionaires now if they went out and found this. And I just, I'm just so curious if it's something that will be funded again in the future in the next few years to fund, uh, ADAC's community. And just because the future of the community there is just such a question mark. And if anyone has been to ADAC Island or has relatives that live there or has lived there before, like please reach out because that would be so fucking cool. It just seems like a world away, you know, to hear firsthand experience there. Yeah. Yeah, that would be so cool.

And what an interesting place, just the way you described it, with all of the remnants of history that's still there. And I love treasure episodes. I'm not really a treasure hunter myself. I'm like a watch from afar and watch it unfold. I can't really picture myself out searching. But I like to hear of other people doing it. You like to watch Outer Banks, but you wouldn't be in the group of Outer Banks. What are they called again?

The Pogs? The Pogs. You wouldn't be a Pogue. Yeah. I would be, I don't know. If you're not a poe, you're like the shitty, boosy. The like snooty, rich ones. That's, yeah, you'd be the rich ones.

If you had a choice, if I had a choice, if I had a choice, I would want to be bushy and rich. But nice, but not in the way they depict them. I would want to be nice. Sarah. Sarah was that. Oh, a cooque. A cooke, yeah. Isn't that what they were called? I think so.

I don't know. Either way, she switched sides and so could you. You know, like you could have a. a foot in each side. I don't know. Things didn't really work out that well for her for a lot. A long time. Yeah, she had a rough go. Yeah, she had a rough go. She like almost died. I don't know. Yeah. So anyways. Okay. Well, that's it. Thanks for coming to Alaska again with me.

Thanks for taking us there. Love Alaska. Love treasure. Treasure episodes are really cool. And this was a lot of fun. And I think you were right at the beginning where you said it's more lighthearted. For the most part, it was more lighthearted because the history on it, that's really dark was so far away that it felt more lighthearted. And Samuel Arrington did lose his life. And like, the more that here's just the last little thing that I just thought of. The other thing about the show, I'm like shitting all over the show. You are. Someone's listening and they're like, that's my favorite show. I don't like, how dare you? I produced that show. But in the show, they make it seem very clear that Samuel Arrington went to ADAC specifically to find this gold. And when I read more about him,

in different news articles and statements from his family members and his son. It was more like, yeah, he may have heard of the treasure. He could have had knowledge of it. But it was more like I got the vibe of he wanted to live somewhere secluded, try to live off the land, and Alaska is known for gold. So he was going to, like, find gold in the traditional sense versus digging up pirate gold. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, he wasn't necessarily after this.

treasure. Yeah, like it made, the show made it seem like cut and dry. That was why he was there, period. But like, I just didn't get that sense from your research. Yeah. You know what I mean? So it's just kind of like, I don't know, I just kind of didn't know how to feel about that with like how the show made him seem. And it's not even like a bad thing either way. Like even if he was there doing it just for the gold, like fine. Yeah. But if he wasn't, it's just kind of weird to paint him. Well, you certainly haven't sold the show. So, everyone's like, glad you told us the story because the story is really interesting. I don't know if I'll go watch the show now, but the story was really fun.

Yeah, I told you eight hours worth of content in one. So you're welcome. Thank you. And we'll see you next week. In the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch your back. Bye, everyone. Look for treasure.

Good luck. Bye. Bye. Thank you so much for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale or story suggestion, send us an email at Stories at npaddpodcast.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD podcast. Join our outsiders-only community on Patreon or Apple subscriptions to listen ad-free, unlock monthly bonus episodes, and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our sponsors, you are supporting our show.

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