His main source of income cut off, and his marriage to Babe already deteriorated, Noss was desperate to sell his remaining gold bars on the black market. Although the originals have never been recovered, a copy of one of the documents proved to be a translation from Pope Pius III. We took 90 bars stacked by a mine shaft at Victorio Peak and reburied them 10 in a pile scattered throughout the basin with the exception of 30 bars that we buried in a grassy flat near the road we came out on.. He was barely able to lift one, much less think of carrying it back to the surface. Published historic reserves exist for only two districts: Jicarilla with 5.4 million yd3 of 0.043 oz Au/yd3, or approximately 230,000 oz Au in place and Pittsburg with 2 million yd3 of 0.01 oz Au/yd3, or approximately 20,000 oz Au in place in 1936. See the article in its original context from. A new scientific analysis of a large gold bar found decades ago in downtown Mexico City reveals it was part of the plunder Spanish conquerors tried to carry away as they fled the Aztec capital . Mr. Fertig denied that the report had been censored. Though caught trespassing and escorted from the area, the men reported observing several men in Army fatigues upon the peak. Another concerns renegades who robbed the Monterey Mint in 1743 and were in turn attacked by Apaches. (Reuters) A gold bar found in a Mexico City park in 1981 was part of the Aztec treasure looted by Hernan Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors 500 years ago, a new study says.For 39 years, its origins remained a mystery.INAH - National Institute of Anthropology and History/Handout via REUTERS Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History Lampros later signed sworn affidavits regarding their experiences. According to Berlett, the four men proceeded down a fault into the peak for about 150 feet, at which point their progress was stopped by a large boulder. An investigation by Freedom has probed the history of that region, particularly the nearly 49 years since gold bars were first found in that area in November 1937 by a man named Milton Ernest "Doc" Noss, as fascinating a character as ever held a six-gun. In the spring of 1938, Doc Noss and Babe went to Santa Fe to establish legal ownership of the find, filing a lease with the State of New Mexico for the entire section of land surrounding Victorio Peak. Lost Treasures, Recent Posts. Beyond the Hembrillo Basin is a hundred-mile stretch of desert known as the Jornada del Muerto. He used too much dynamite, and the cave collapsed, sealing in the treasure. hell, I'll get Eleanor.. He also found some old letters, the most recent of which was dated 1880. The reports of the massive treasure would consume his marriage and eventually his life, and mysteries around the treasure persist to this day (via Legends of America). When the rain finally stopped, Doc returned to camp, telling Babe of the discovery. Our Mineral Museum The bars that Noss and his crew removed from Victorio Peak were, in general, crudely formed, indicating the use of primitive smelting processes. ", According to the family, Mr. Noss took some gold bars when he found the cavern in 1937, and planned to return for the rest. Most placer deposits in New Mexico had been discovered by 1900. Now there were two military commands involved. Parts of White Sands are sometimes leased by private corporations and foreign governments for experiments. Victorio knew how much the white man valued gold and had little use for it himself; he amassed vast amounts of treasure by attacking the white settlers. With legal ownership established, Noss began to work the claim openly, but he also became increasingly paranoid, hiding the gold bars all over the desert. It is estimated that 662,000 oz of gold have been produced from placer deposits throughout New Mexico from 1828 to 1991. The three men had been on a hunting party when McDonald, who reportedly had imbibed several cans of beer, began talking freely about a huge stash of gold. The family believes that as much as 100 tons of gold, which would be worth $1.25 billion at today's closing price of $358.90 an ounce on the Commodity Exchange in New York, remains hidden in the cavern. Background research into the enormous wealth contained in the caverns of Victorio Peak revealed many eyewitness reports of the gold. See the article in its original context from. Others speculate that the treasure could be the missing wealth of Emperor Maxmillian, who served as Mexicos emperor in the 1860s. Many streams in New Mexico contain at least traces of gold, enough to satisfy weekend gold panners. Attacking wagon trains, settlements, mail coaches, and churches, he took anything from them that they valued. Noss agreed with Ryan to exchange some of the gold bars for $25,000 to reopen the shaft. This was the beginning of protracted legal battles over the ownership of the claim. Gold Bars Dozens of people claim a piece of the actionthat is, gold bars and treasure said to be hidden on the missile range, and worth from a few million dollars to $1.5billion. This treasure was only the beginning. The caverns are located in and around Victorio Peak, in a remote, rugged section of south-central New Mexico. Trace element analysis of placer gold can be used as a valuable exploration tool in order to determine the original deposit source and locating lode gold deposits. White Sands Missile Range, Legends, Ghosts, Myths and Mysteries Main Page, Byways & Historic Trails Great Drives in America, Soldiers and Officers in American History, Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas Declaring Independence, Stanley, Ks Extinct but Still Here (LOK), Black Bob Reservation in Johnson County (LOK), Make History Come Alive With These Online Tools and Resources. In 2019, evidence to support the theory that the gold never left Mexico was revealed when archaeologists confirmed that a gold bar found in 1981 was from Montezuma's treasure. Noss soon deserted Babe, and in November 1945, a divorce was granted. In one of the most closely guarded crimes of recent history, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tons of gold bullion were secretly and illegally removed from caverns on White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the beneficiaries allegedly including former President Lyndon Johnson and individuals connected with the U.S. Army, the Central Intelligence Agency and organized crime. However, the Army placed a two-week time limit on the group, and they had hardly started before they were forced to leave, without finding anything. Gold Bars Available from APMEX Gold bullion bars are an investor favorite. A legal battle and highly publicized search through Victorio Peak ensued but no treasure turned up, leading many to wonder if Noss had made the whole thing up. Testing the old wooden pole attached to one side of the passage, Doc rejected the idea of using it and dropped into the shaft with a rope instead. Discovered by a . "We're treating the gold searchers just like any other client," said Jim Eckles, a spokesman for the White Sands range. Treasure Net Forum They bore the Spanish stamp. Under the direction of Mr. Delonas, the searchers have been analyzing their findings in a temporary office at Las Cruces, about 25 miles south of Victoria Peak. Sometime around the year 1830, travelers were trying to find a new way to reach California from the newly opened route of Santa Fe. Several sand and gravel operators periodically extract minor quantities of placer gold from their quarries. Begrudgingly, he did so. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. CNN Almost four decades ago, a gold bar was found on land that used to be Aztec ruins in Mexico. The 1.93-kilogram bar was found by a construction worker during excavations for a new building along the Alameda, a picturesque park in the heart of the Mexican capital. A source interviewed in Mexico stated that it was common knowledge in the towns of Jimenez and Camargo that Johnsons 110,000-acre ranch in Chihuahua served as a storage area for a very large amount of gold flown in by a four-engine, propeller-driven aircraft in the late 1960s. Another woman, now Mrs. Violet Yancy of Fort Worth, says she married Noss in 1947, that she is his legal widow, and that he gave her 76 per cent interest in the treasure. Within moments he found more skeletons, most of them bound and secured to stakes like the first. But in 1977, the Army agreed to allow some searchers with competing claims, including Mrs. Noss, to search the grounds. A third, smaller stack, pyramidal in shape, stood about three feet high. Chester Stout, for example, a retired Army sergeant, traced the removal of two large truckloads of gold from Victorio Peak, but later had to move out of New Mexico; his life was threatened because, as he was told, he knew too much.. The cloud of death shrouding Victorio Peak has reached far. Reaching down, he could not budge it, but after digging around the rock, he got his hands under it. The cast of characters ranges from John W. Dean 3d to Geronimo and the vocabulary is marked by double as a prefixas in doublecross, doubletalk and doubledealing. Victorio used the entire Hembrillo Basin as his stronghold, refusing to live on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona, where the government wanted to banish him. ): GSA Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, USA, Luterbach, T. and McLemore, V.T., 2016, Trace element analysis of placer gold samples: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, 2016 Annual meeting. A small town was built near the place Porter subsequently brought the gold bar to the close friend, who was an Army major. John Dean, the former lawyer for President Richard M. Nixon, mentioned that Attorney General John Mitchell had been asked to pull strings to allow some searchers to look for the gold. [5] During the 1970s, lawyer F. Lee Bailey represented clients who claimed to know where the treasure was located. The 1.93-kilogram. On the night of March 4, 1949, I went with Doc Noss and dug up 20 bars of gold at a windmill in the desert east of Hatch, New Mexico, and reburied them in the basin where Victorio Peak is. Most deposits are thin and less than 45 ft below the surface, but thicker deposits are found in the Elizabethtown-Baldy district (up to 275 ft) and in the Rio Grande Valley district (up to 370 ft). Some believe that Doc Noss found the Casa del Cueva de Oro, Spanish for the House of the Golden Cave. Bill Shriver, before his death, told this writer that he had a copy of a transcribed order from Lyndon Johnson describing in detail how the president wanted a military escort to handle the supply of gold taken out of Victorio Peak and taken to his ranch. Leon Trabuco's Gold A Mexican businessman buries 16 tons of gold in the New Mexico desert and then dies before telling anyone where it is. We are a research and service division of: Placer gold deposits were an important source of gold in New Mexico prior to 1902, but placer production after 1902 has been minor. Doc returned with a gold bar, presented it to his wife, Babe, and the couple soon dedicated their lives to exploring Victorio Peak, living in a tent at the base of the mountain in search of treasure. A retired U.S. Army officer said that while on duty at the provost marshals office on White Sands Missile Range during the period of LBJs presidency, he was visited by four men in a late model Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham who sought permission to drive to Victorio Peak. In a hunt that began last Thursday, Mr. Delonas's group has been given one year to search for the gold. Many Noss family members and friends believe that the military exploited Babes claim and that the treasure is now gone. One man, a Mr. The daughter of another man, Harvey Snow, died from a gunshot wound in the head after Snow had disregarded repeated warnings in regard to the peak. In 1972, F. Lee Bailey became involved in the dispute, representing some 50 clients, including Babe Noss, the Fiege group, Violet Noss Yancy, Expeditions Unlimited (a Florida-based treasure hunting group), and many others. But in August, the Army turned him down, saying he deserves no more favored treatment than some 300 others who ask each year for permission to enter the missile range to search. After discovering the treasure, Doc and Babe spent every free moment exploring the tunnels inside the mountain, living in a tent at the base of the peak. In 1948, Doc met Charles Ryan, a Texan involved in drilling operations and oil exploration in West Texas. However, Terry Delonas, her grandson, continued the family tradition and formed the Ova Noss Family Partnership. Mr. Koury asserted that the General first denied the search was on but admitted it later when sworn statements from the spies were produced. MEXICO CITY A new scientific analysis of a large gold bar found decades ago in downtown Mexico City reveals it was part of the plunder Spanish conquerors tried to carry away . A number of sources also independently named Major General John G. Shinkle, the commander of White Sands Missile Range from June 1960 to July 1962, as knowing about the movement of tons of gold from Victorio Peak. Only four districts have each yielded more than 100,000 oz of placer gold production: Elizabethtown-Baldy (DIS019), Hillsboro (DIS197), Old Placers (DIS187), and New Placers (DIS186). The family declines to discuss the incident. Try as he would, Captain Fiege could not penetrate the opening he had used just three years earlier. Berlett viewed this as substantiation for the theory that Spaniards had been responsible for stashing the gold. The soldiers, Airman First Class Thomas Berlett and Captain Leonard V. Fiege said they had found approximately 100 gold bars weighing between 40 and 80 pounds each in a small cavern. His wife and his two school-age children had also abruptly left. They would have the proper persons on guard duty., Possession of gold by private American citizens was illegal under federal law throughout the period of the Johnson presidency. Speaking to a Noss family member, he stated that he had been the Chief of Security in 1961 and was sent to inspect the report made by Airman Berlett and Captain Fiege. The family believes that as much as 100 tons of gold, which would be worth $1.25 billion at today's closing price of $358.90 an ounce on the Commodity Exchange in New York, remains hidden in. While Babe looked on from above, Doc inched his way down the narrow passageway into the mountain nearly 60 feet. For three months beginning on June 20, 1963, the group used various techniques to search the area; however, they failed to turn up anything. This writer conducted extensive interviews with Thomas Berlett. After three years they were given permission to go back to Victoria. The major took the bar and told Porter to check back with him in a few days. With so many options available, APMEX has made it easy to find the right Gold bar for your collection or portfolio. They also were given and passed lie detector tests. However, the expert won the argument. Peering into the darkness, Doc saw an old man-made shaft with a thick, wooden pole attached at one side. In addition, Victorio Peak lay on land owned by the state of New Mexico, and removal of gold without permission of the state violated New Mexico law.4. He worked with a succession of partners, the last of whom, Charlie Ryan of Alice, Texas, shot and killed Noss in an altercation in Hatch, New Mexico, on March 5, 1949. . The flamboyant lawyer F. Lee Bailey once said he represented 50 unnamed clients. In 1828, large placer deposits were found in the Ortiz Mountains in Santa Fe County (Old Placers district, DIS187), which began one of the earliest gold rushes in the western United States. Noss traveled down, passing caverns with Native American designs until he reached a room with hoards of gold, jewels, pouches, documents and 27 skeletons. Hunting by himself, Doc scouted the base of the mountain. He also asserts that military security officers censored out of his report all references to military searches for the treasure. At one end of the chamber, the shaft continued downward. Fueled by suspicions that the military was working her claim, Babe Noss hired four men to enter the range secretly. Reached for comment in Cocoa Beach, Florida, General Shinkle adamantly denied any knowledge of the gold and refused to comment at all on the story. One group of claimants took the flashlight and provided the photo as evidence that they knew the location of the treasure. Fearing a Federal swindle at the time, Noss returned to Victoria Peak, carrying out gold bars and hiding them, Mrs. Guthrie said. The future economic potential will depend upon the discovery of large-volume, medium-grade deposits that can be mined by bulk-mining methods. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. However, Terry Delongas stated, Were not accusing the military of stealing the gold, but I do feel that the Department of the Army in the 1960s treated my grandmother unfairly However, weve worked very hard over the years to establish a working relationship with the military, and were certainly not going to jeopardize that by accusing them of theft.. In 1933, he married Ova Babe Beckworth, and the two settled down in Hot Springs, New Mexico, which later changed its name to Truth or Consequences. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Victorio_Peak_treasure&oldid=1133710645, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 15 January 2023, at 04:22. However, the business often passes the tax onto the consumer by adding it to the selling price. Gold bars, silver, and jewels were reportedly buried by a spring under the big rocks of Cabello Canyon. According to accounts from members of the Noss family, Doc bagged no deer, but he found something that whetted his appetite for the area a shaft near the top of Victorio Peak which led into the bowels of the mountain. Edward Atkins of Decatur, Illinois, had been a claimant to the peaks gold and was vigorously pursuing that claim via attorney Darrell Holmes of Athens, Georgia, when Holmes died under mysterious circumstances. 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