Discovery star “Dirty Water Don” and his team are the first to dive into New York City’s East River in search of the woolly mammoth’s tusks.
Mammoth bones expert John Reeves sparked a “bone rush” in the Big Apple after revealing the location of 500,000 tusks reportedly thrown into the river in the 1940s.
Don Gann, 35, who starred in the first episode of Discovery’s Sewer Divers, said he wasn’t shocked by the revelation as he and his friends found all sorts of ancient treasures and even human bodies at the bottom of the East River.
Though he’s excited at the prospect of finding the mammoth tusks, which can cost around $20,000 each, he warned that the search could quickly spiral out of control as more people show up to survey the waters.
“I expect someone will find something soon, and it will cause a stir and draw more people here,” Gann predicted. “From then on it will snow and it will end when someone is killed or injured.”
“And at that point, officials have to shut the whole thing down.”
Discovery star Don Gann, better known as “Dirty Water Don,” who appeared on the first episode of “Sewer Divers,” leads the plunge into New York’s East River in search of mammoth tusks
Gann said his crew of experts is well-equipped to search the East River but warned that the tusk onslaught could result in an amateur losing his life
Pictured: Gann returns to his boat after an unsuccessful first look in the river
Gann, who lives in New Jersey, headed out into the East River Wednesday accompanied by his brother John and two colleagues, Stephen Cortes and John Santiago.
He noted that they were the only divers out there as others did their own surveillance on boats and underwater cameras.
Gann, who has nine years of diving experience, said he keeps finding everything from cannonballs to copper to quartz in the East River. He said he found three human bodies while diving there, Cortes found eight.
“Today we found a whole truck down there,” he said. “You can really find all sorts of things down there.”
Gann was out in the water on Wednesday looking for the bones. Pictured (L-R): John Gann, Don, Stephen Cortes and John Santiago
Gann’s crew explored the site where the bones were said to have been dumped on East River Drive near 65th Street in the 1940s
Gann warned of the cold temperatures and strong currents in the river
Although he said the prospect of finding tusks was exciting, he cautioned amateurs that the journey could be more than they expected if they weren’t properly equipped.
Because they’re all professionals, Gann said his ship is properly equipped to allow his team to stay safe and warm while monitoring the bottom of the East River.
“I wouldn’t recommend this to everyone,” he warned. “Especially diving with scuba gear only. You need the right gear.”
He added that the race would be the first to reportedly spot the tusks in the river, and should his team find them, it would likely lead to greater fame for Gan.
He was the focus of the first episode of “Sewer Divers,” which premiered this Sunday, as a film crew followed the lives of those exploring centuries-old sewage systems across the country.
Gann, who bills himself as “Dirty Water Don,” starred in the first episode of Discovery’s latest series, Sewer Divers.
Gann is pictured showing off his special hazmat suit, which he wears to protect himself from contaminated water when diving into a manhole
Gann, who is promoting his role as “Dirty Water Don” on social media, said he was excited for the opportunity to share his passion with the world.
He said he’s dived into manholes in all five counties, and in the new series’ trailer he warned the job can be exciting but treacherous.
“A lot of people in this industry aren’t going to hold out because they’re claustrophobic,” he said [manhole] is small, the ladders there are dilapidated or broken.
“Usually there is a current or the area is very slippery so you can’t find a good footing or move. You really rely on your guys at the top. There are some dangers. Electric shock, a whole range of diving-related illnesses.
“You could lose a limb. You could lose your life,’ he added.
Despite the dangers of the water, many people queue up in boats and around the riverbanks with underwater camera drones to find the mammoth’s tusks.
Woolly mammoth bones expert John Reeves said the tusks were “accidentally” dumped along East River Drive near 65th Street
The revelation has sparked a bone rush as Austin Volz, 26, hits the water with friends Josh Leonard and Turner Kilpatrick on New Year’s Eve
Austin Volz, 26, who owns a remodeling business north of Atlanta, went to the river on New Year’s Eve just a day after Joe Rogan’s podcast episode paused with his interview with Reeves.
Volz said he went on a 12-hour drive to New York with his business co-owner Josh Leonard and her boyfriend Turner Kilpatrick.
There they launched their duck boat and sent waterproof cameras down to look for the tusks.
Although the search came up empty handed, Volz said his crew will return over the weekend with a bigger boat and the right scuba gear to try and crack old fortunes again.
“Right now there’s a lot of fuss and a race to see who finds the tusks first,” Volz said. “I think whoever finds it first gets all the credit, and everyone wants to be that guy.”
However, Volz also reiterated Gann’s warning that amateurs should exercise caution, noting the East River’s dangerously low temperatures and strong currents.
Steve Zerges, 49, was also at the East River and sent out an underwater camera to look for the woolly mammoth’s tusks
A small crowd gathered along the river as Gann’s crew sailed towards the center
In the Rogan podcast, bone mogul-turned gold miner John Reeves said he wanted to incite a “bone rush” and mapped the location of 50 tons of mammoth tusks that may be at the bottom of the East River.
Reeves read from a draft report from the Fairbanks Mining District of Alaska that described the 1940 shipment of 500,000 tusks from Fairbanks to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Reeves – who owns thousands of acres of mining land in the area and received the report from the company he bought and spoke to its lead author Richard Osborne of the University of Alaska – said the museum is “no longer a camp.” and discarded the bones.
The report revealed the location of the landfill on East River Drive and 65th Street.
Woolly mammoth tusks can cost around $20,000 depending on condition, putting the potential value at the bottom of the river at around $1 billion.
“If any of you guys want to go out there and find some bones, I’ll tell you exactly where the hell they are,” Reeves said while spelling out the location. “They are finders and guardians.”
John Reeves, an Alaskan gold miner turned mammoth expert, has revealed the location of 500,000 tusk bones said to have been dumped in the middle of New York’s East River
Alaskan miners, seeing no value in the tusks, reportedly shipped them to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Pictured: tusks found during an Alaskan expedition in 1907
Citing the draft report, Reeves said gold miners shipped 500,000 tusks to New York because the owners saw “no value.”
“You have to remember that this was 1928 to 1958,” Reeves told Rogan. “Guys, you know miners didn’t collect the bones.”
According to the tusk report, “mistakes” were made regarding the “acceptable condition” of the bones shipped to New York.
“They took about a carload of these bones, they ran out of storage, and they dumped them in the East River,” Reeves said.
The tusks were eventually dumped into the river at the former New York City Hospital garbage dump.