Rick and the team arrive at the Money Pit to begin excavating TF1, the first ten-foot shaft of the season. The borehole site produced high concentrations of gold and silver in water samples, wood from a possible tunnel dating to as early as 1488, and pieces of metal containing gold. A steel caisson will be driven to a depth of up to 170 feet by the 48-ton oscillator, while the 22-ton hammer grab removes 11,000 pounds of spoils per scoop. Gary Drayton will metal detect every load before it is transported to the wash plant near Smith's Cove for cleaning, sorting, and a final examination. Vanessa Lucido reports the caisson has reached forty feet and the shaft is at approximately thirty feet, with the zone of interest between seventy and ninety feet expected the following day. Meanwhile, Charles Barkhouse and Marty travel three hundred miles northwest to the University of New Brunswick to meet Dr. Chris McFarlane, Professor of Earth Sciences, for laser ablation results on the Lot 32 lead bag seal found the previous year. Laser ablation uses a laser to cut microscopic samples and identify isotope values that reveal an item's composition and possible region of origin, the same technique previously used on the lead cross. Starting from a database of 7,000 records, Dr. McFarlane narrowed the results to ten to twelve possible locations, all in Europe. Nothing points to North America, Scandinavia, or England; the lead appears to be French. This finding joins a growing list of evidence supporting Zena Halpern's Knights Templar theory, including a stone paved area dating to the 1200s, 15th-century cargo barrels, the stone pathway between the swamp and the Money Pit, and the 14th-century lead cross.
Alex Lagina and David Fornetti head to the southeastern edge of the swamp to trace the stone road beyond the restricted area using an OKM Gepard GPR 3D scanner capable of imaging structures up to 130 feet deep. Because Mi'kmaw pottery was found in the stone feature, the team can no longer dig there, but if evidence of the road appears outside the restricted zone they can apply for a special permit. The first scan reveals a feature at the correct depth and roughly the same width as the road. A second scan in the upland yields another matching anomaly, and they call Steve Guptill to mark GPS coordinates.
The next day, as TF1 enters the seventy to ninety-foot zone, Gary and Billy Gerhardt notice large timbers coming up. This is the depth where evidence of a 15th-century tunnel and traces of gold and silver were found during the drilling program. Gary scans the spoils but gets no metal hits. Rick, Marty, and Craig Tester arrive after being notified that the shaft has reached the zone of interest. Vanessa reports the caisson is at 81 feet and the dig at 76.5 feet, just eleven feet from where metal containing gold was pulled from Borehole D2. Gary and Peter Fornetti recover an iron fastener from the next load of timbers that Gary believes has a square shank. At the wash plant, Rick and Charles sort through spoils from the target depth and bag a piece of metal.
The hammer grab then stops producing wood and returns only water for three consecutive scoops. Vanessa tells the team they are at 83 feet with a nine-foot plug and what appears to be a blockage at ninety feet. After the hammer grab is dropped three times, it brings up a large rock with what looks like a drill hole, the apparent obstruction. Once removed, wood and a heavy beam follow. Gary metal detects the next load and recovers a boot. Jack Begley pulls it out and it proves to be a rubber boot. Doug Crowell identifies it as made by Kaufman, a Canadian rubber company that manufactured this model only in 1908 and 1909. The discovery places the team in the shaft where Franklin Delano Roosevelt helped finance the Old Gold Salvage and Wrecking Company, which conducted a large-scale excavation and, by some reports, recovered gold shavings while drilling at the bottom of their shaft. By the end of the day, the caisson has reached 101 feet with excavation at 92.5 feet. Rick declares the team has moved the dial.
