One partner, Charles Ryan, shot and killed Doc on March 5, 1949, in Hatch, N. M., after an argument. The gold was then shipped to Switzerland and sold in a new form in Zurich. In a hunt that began last Thursday, Mr. Delonas's group has been given one year to search for the gold. Because of this natural concentration, some placers are richer in gold than the original lode deposits. Neither the Denver Mint nor the Federal records center in Denver, which has copies of gold receints for that period, could find the Noss receipt, spokesmen there said. now. The Army, which controls the missile range, insists there is no treasure and has never been any. He used too much dynamite, and the cave collapsed, sealing in the treasure. Mr. Bryan, The Albuquerque Tribune writer, said he had gone through a chunk of Mr. Johnson's memorabilia recently and found both the censored and uncensored drafts of the report. He was shot to death in 1949, but his first wife, Mrs. Ova Noss, now 77years old, insists she was with him. In September 1961, Berlett and Fiege swore to the specifics of their discovery in detailed affidavits provided to federal officials. There is evidence to indicate that many gold bars were removed from Victorio Peak a short time after Lynn Porter brought the bar to the Fort Bliss provost marshals office. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Decades of Searching. When Maxmillian heard of the plot to assassinate him, he moved his gold and treasures out of Mexico. Large movements of bullion from the peak went on for nearly a decade, with the largest single removal of gold occurring in 1976, according to Bill Shriver. Leon Trabuco brought Mexico's gold to the US He buried 16 tons of gold bars in New Mexico CASE DETAILS Farmington, New Mexico, 1933. Among the artifacts, Doc is reported to have retrieved documents dated 1797, which he buried in the desert in a Wells Fargo chest along with various other treasures. ): 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. The actual movement of the gold in this last, largest shipment, Shriver said, was done by [U.S.] military aircraft. Independent of Shriver, another source traced a number of large removals from Victorio Peak. 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. Rare Gold Nuggets. See the article in its original context from. Stepping into the eerie darkness, Doc was alarmed when he saw a human skeleton, kneeling and securely tied to a stake, driven into the ground. 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. White Sands is the nation's largest military installation, about the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. 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). 2003-2008 Church of Scientology International. Its occasional visitors included hunting parties, and Doc Noss and his wife, Ova, were on one such expedition in search of deer. As far as I'm concerned, I've got more gold in my upper bridge than is in those mountains., The center of interest is Victoria Peak, a 1,500foot hill in the San Andres Mountains on missile range land about 25 miles northeast of Las Cruces. Current environmental and permitting restrictions also have hampered recent production in the New Placers and Jicarilla districts. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. 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. 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. [5] During the 1970s, lawyer F. Lee Bailey represented clients who claimed to know where the treasure was located. Theories spread over how 16,000 gold bars came to be stashed away in a random cave in New Mexico. Doc filled his pockets with gold coins, grabbed a couple of jeweled swords, and laboriously returned to Babe waiting anxiously at the surface. Acquitted on grounds of selfdefense, Mr. Ryan testified that Doc had promised him 51 bars of gold in return for his $27,000 investment. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. Case Sensing a double-cross by Ryan, Doc dug up the gold that was to be used in the exchange and reburied it in a place where Ryan was unaware. The skeletons hands were bound behind its back apparently, the person had been deliberately left there to die. 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. Just 12 years after discovering the treasure, Doc Noss died with just $2.16 in his pocket. Before leaving, both men had observed an old wooden cross on one of the walls. The two decided to keep the discovery between themselves and return to inspect the shaft later. It all started in 1937, when Mr. Noss, who practiced as a foot doctor though it was never clear if he had a medical license, returned from a hunting trip at New Mexico's Victorio Peak with startling news: he had glimpsed a hidden trove of riches, 16,000 gold bars. The sources of this threat, according to the man who relayed the threat to Scott, were two agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Most placer deposits in New Mexico had been discovered by 1900. Two airmen from nearby Holloman Air Force Base would later say that they had found the gold cavern from another natural opening in the side of the peak. The next day, March 5, 1949, Ryan arrived in the area, insisting that they discuss the problem of what happened to the gold. Doc Noss was extremely paranoid and buried everything he took out of the caves, not even trusting his wife, Babe. Doc Noss spent the next 10 years in intermittent efforts to regain access to the hoard, in vain. However, according to a group of researchers who published their findingsfroma seismic study in the 1990s, there definitely is a sizable cavern underneath Victorio Peak, meaning there may be some truth to the treasure. 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 . Mr. Mitchell is said to have forwarded the matter to the White House. With so many options available, APMEX has made it easy to find the right Gold bar for your collection or portfolio. He also asserts that military security officers censored out of his report all references to military searches for the treasure. Two years later, he married Violet Lena Boles, which would further complicate ownership of the treasure rights for years to come. Where they the plunder of Spanish conquistadores who had conquered the Aztecs? Jan 20, 2020 Ian Harvey. The engineer suggested eight sticks of dynamite, to which Noss heatedly disagreed, claiming the mountain was too unstable. Lucky Gold Miners hit it Big in Downieville. : Did 'Doc' Noss Really Find Caverns of Gold or Did He Pull Off a Hoax That Has Plagued His Kin for Years? Theories spread over how 16,000 gold bars came to be stashed away in a random cave in New Mexico. Alleged gold cache in the U.S. state of New Mexico, "Hunt for Fabulous Cache of Gold Lands in Court", "Following 1937 Story of Buried Gold, Family Searches New Mexico's Sands", "Seekers of fabled southern N.M. treasure sue Army", "Authors re-examine Victorio Peak storyand think gold really may be there", "Treasure or Treachery? The Army, which runs the missile range, required the searchers to put up $150,000 to cover the cost of environmental assessments, as well as increased security forces. Nearly choking, the two men hastily marked their claim and made their exit. "We have always believed that the gold was still there," said Terry Delonas, the 43-year-old son of one of Mr. Noss's stepdaughters who is directing the search. According to Atkins son, John, Holmes possessed key materials which were being used to press the Army into allowing Atkins and Holmes access to Victorio Peak. Too much evidence supports the treasure, including photographs, affidavits, and relics held by the Noss family. Though the gold bar was. Mrs. Noss and Mrs. Guthrie, meanwhile, say that they had heard about the 1963 search and rushed to the base, arriving the day before it ended. Noss divorced her, charging desertion. Near the bottom, he encountered a huge boulder hanging from the ceiling, almost blocking his way. There were 110 gold bars moved that night, according to an affidavit obtained by this writer and sworn to by Jolley. At one time, he brought out a crown, which contained 243 diamonds and one pigeon-blood ruby. The answer could be worth billions of dollars. Over the weekend, he said, someone found the chest he had buried with gold nuggets, coins, gems and artifacts. In March of 1949 I handled 110 rough poured bars of gold in the area which is now White Sands Missile Range which is now the area of Victorio Peak. Estimates vary on the number of bars removed, ranging up to 350 or so. Noss traveled down, passing caverns with Native American designs until he reached a room with hoards of gold, jewels, pouches, documents and 27 skeletons. The gold was supposedly removed from the cave and sent to Fort Knox. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. But the legend of the hidden gold was fueled again during the Watergate hearings in 1973. But, she said, mint officers confiscated the five bars and gave her husband a receipt for $97,000. Shriver estimated the total amount of gold removed from Victorio Peak at 25 million troy ounces, of which 10 million came out in 1976. That after he had been beaten to death, according to the information I received, his body was put back into his car, the car was doused with kerosene or gasoline, and then set aflame.. Still another source reported knowledge of aircraft movements of the gold from Chihuahua to Vancouver, British Columbia, during the period of Johnsons presidency. As Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH . The world's first atomic bomb was detonated here on July 16, 1945. 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. After he got back to the surface, Doc told Ova what he had seen, and almost as an afterthought mentioned the long row of metal bars. Going public with information about the gold stored in Victorio Peak or removed from it, however, is something that people familiar with the subject are generally reluctant to do. Mr. Noss's ex-wife was barred from searching in the 1950's, when the Army extended the White Sands borders to include Victorio Peak. Suddenly, a host of people surfaced to lay claims on the legendary gold treasure. And a fourth story, pieced together recently by Howard Bryan, a reporter for The Albuquerque Tribune, centers on another Apache war chief named Victorio. Reportedly the military was able to penetrate one of the caves and inventory the contents. He was also known to take prisoners back to the Basin, where he subjected them to elaborate torture tests before killing them. He supposedly told his wife: "We can make John D. Rockefeller look like a tramp. That I walked over to E.M. Guthrie on this occasion in 1972, greeted him, and invited him out to dinner with myself and Frank Foss. Immediately reporting the activity to Babe Noss, Babe contacted Oscar Jordan with the New Mexico State Land Office, who, in turn, contacted the Judge Advocates Office at White Sands. Kathy Weiser-Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2021. A retired White Sands Missile Range security guard, residing in El Paso, Texas, indicated that he observed Johnson and former Texas Governor John Connally spending about 10 days in the desolate area around Victorio Peak in the late 1960s. Reportedly, he amassed a treasure of gold, silver, and jewels before being ordered back to Mexico City in 1607. Discovered by a . I was just a kid, about 13 or 14 years old, he told this writer. Beyond that there is supposed to be another incline upward at about 30 degrees for some distance (40 feet as I remember it) where entrance is gained to a cave some 2700 feet long which contains many evidences that the cave was occupied as living quarters by a large group of humans for many years., The group evidently had some grisly practices, for the first thing Doc Noss encountered was a row of skeletons, 27 in all. (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 He carries in his wallet a photograph of gold bars and old coins next to a flashlight he provided. In 1979, Babe died without ever finding the treasure. An affidavit dated October 28, 1961, was signed to this effect, also claiming to have seen a military jeep and a weapons carrier on the mountain. After much searching, he finally found a small iron bar to carry back through the narrow passageway. In 1979, he sold a small mail-order business to devote full time to the search. This time, the military began a full-scale mining operation at the Peak. This writer conducted extensive interviews with Thomas Berlett. They come in a variety of weights, fineness and designs. Ferdig, adding, The trouble with treasure stories is that there's always a little truth in them.. A treaty was reached between the tribe and the Federal government in Washington that the Indians could stay upon the land in New Mexico. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The reported treasure and efforts to find it have been covered in books and on television, including: On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. It has banned treasure hunters from the range since 1963. Did they even exist at all? After scraping a small section of the bar clean, she exclaimed, Doc, this is gold!. Floyd and his friend Pat were getting ready to look for treasure in an area where Pat found found three old metal bars in a cave on the old Spanish trail in New Mexico. Yet that is exactly what happened to Milton "Doc" Noss, a traveling doctor who discovered an extensive cave network laden with gold and historical artifacts or so he claimed. The buried cache was said to have been stolen from the Chihauhua-Spanish by the Indians during the Indian uprisings. 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.. That about a month after that, I heard E.M. had been beaten to death in California. At the same time, he concentrated on the gold coins and bars. Fearing a Federal swindle at the time, Noss returned to Victoria Peak, carrying out gold bars and hiding them, Mrs. Guthrie said. Docs object at the time of discovery, of course, was more than old bones. Later, the wealth in the cave would be calculated to be worth more than two billion dollars. For three months beginning on June 20, 1963, the group used various techniques to search the area; however, they failed to turn up anything. And, on March 4, 1949, the day before Doc was shot, a small plane crashed near Victoria Peak killing the pilot and severely injuring Marvin Beckwith, son of the, first Mrs. Noss. Doc Noss was born in Oklahoma and traveled all over the Southwest, seeking excitement. Many streams in New Mexico contain at least traces of gold, enough to satisfy weekend gold panners. We all dream of stumbling onto a map or riddle that will lead us on an adventure to find a treasure of glittering gold and jewels, but most of those tales only exist in bedtime stories and movies. The. When it began to rain, Doc sought shelter under a rocky overhang near the mountains summit. 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. 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. Congress had just passed an act outlawing the private ownership of gold, meaning he had no buyers for his supposed stash (via Unsolved). If nothing else, he said, an exhaustive search would lay to rest a question that has driven the family for more than 50 years. The flamboyant lawyer F. Lee Bailey once said he represented 50 unnamed clients. The initial soundings appear to indicate a cavern precisely where Mr. Noss described. All attempts failed, leaving him an embittered and angry man, which caused problems in his marriage. She called her lawyer, Philip Koury, of Kansas City, who phoned General Shinkle. A priest named LaRue at Durango in northern Mexico was looking after the soldier who told the priest . An intense argument ensued, and Noss headed toward his car. Legend says he sent a palace full of valuables to the United States to be hidden. Mr. Noss, a traveling doctor who was known for a hot temper and an appetite for liquor, claimed that the cache consisted of Spanish artifacts and Wells Fargo chests, along with the gold. Anyone can read what you share. This was shortly before a much-publicized expedition, entitled Operation Goldfinder, took place at the site in March 1977. 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. Gold also concentrates above cemented gravels and clay layers within gravel deposits, which constrain downward migration of gold particles. Mr. Bailey will not say, but Mrs. Noss and, her dozen or so partners have filed a $1billion Federal Court suit charging that the Government, the Secretary of the Army, several military officers and 200 John Does were conspiring to bilk her out of the treasure. Letha told Freedom that she herself handled 12 to 15 of the bars, and I even put one up and hid it for four days.. That I knew E.M. Guthrie had taken an active personal interest in the fate of gold located in Victorio Peak by Doc Noss. 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. McGuires Place During fluvial events, large volumes of sediment containing free gold are transported and deposited in relatively poorly-sorted alluvial and stream deposits. Noss refused to obey, and Ryan fired again, hitting Noss in the head, killing him instantly. 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. The military claim stemmed from a statement made by New Mexico officials on November 14, 1951, which withdrew prospecting, entry, location, and purchase under the mining laws, reserving the land for military use only. Lack of water has hampered mining in many districts and new technology, which minimizes water usage, may stimulate activity. The gold, Porters friend stated breathlessly, ran in a tremendous stack along one side of the cavern stretching for approximately 200 yards. The NMBGMR is conducting a research project examining the origin, occurrence, trace element composition, and resource potential of placer gold deposits in the state. He also told his wife that there were enough gold and silver coins to load 60 to 80 mules.. Led by U.S. Air Force Captain Leonard V. Fiege, the four had done extensive research on Victorio Peak, poring over old documents and records, and even traveling south into Mexico to check stories there regarding a man who has often been linked with the origin of the gold, Padre Philip La Rue. Denied entry by the courts until legalities could determine the legal owner of the mine; Doc feared Ryan would back out of the deal. You just couldn't trust anybody and still can't, she said. But the expedition soon went broke, and the Army declared that it would allow no more searches. However, the expert won the argument. On the night of September 1, 1968, Porter drove to the peak with a friend and a civilian security guard from White Sands Missile Range named Clarence McDonald. Now there were two military commands involved. He estimated there were thousands of these bars, each weighing over 40 pounds stacked against a wall. 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.. Today, the Armys official position on the whereabouts of the gold remains cautious, maintaining that the burden of proof rests with the accusers. In 1963, the Army, consented to another search by a Denver mining company sponsored by the Museum of New Mexico. Possession of gold was against the law at the time, and the men reasoned that the bar would provide evidence to bring about an authorized, legal expedition to remove the vast quantity of gold. During World War II, he divorced his wife, Ova, and disappeared for several years. After the death of Doc Noss, Ova and her family continued efforts to regain access to the big treasure room. Porter subsequently brought the gold bar to the close friend, who was an Army major. This treasure was only the beginning. Asked about the bars, he said, I sawed one in two with a hacksaw., One person who worked with Doc Noss inside the cave was Jose Serafin Sedillo of Cuchillo, New Mexico. The cave was covering a small tunnel, originally thought to be an abandoned mineshaft. If the treasure was real, Noss had poor timing. As the years passed, Babe Noss held onto her claim at Victorio Peak, occasionally hiring men to help her clear the shaft. In 1963, the Gaddis Mining Company of Denver, Colorado, obtained permission to work the site under a contract with the Denver Mint and the Museum of New Mexico. In the summer of 1961, upon the advice of the Director of the Mint, Major General John Shinkle of White Sands allowed Captain Fiege, Captain Orby Swanner, Major Kelly, and Colonel Gorman to work the claim. He remained steadfast in his belief that the treasure remained, according to family members. But even the nicest people we'd take in, they'd see gold and go berserk.. This could explain the skeletons in the cavern. Mr. Koury asserted that the General first denied the search was on but admitted it later when sworn statements from the spies were produced. 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). In the room were two large stacks of gold bars, each roughly six feet high, three feet wide and eight feet long. The Lue Map has very strange symbols. Reaching a compromise, the military allowed Expeditions Unlimited, representing all of the claimants, to excavate the peak in 1977. In 1963, the Army allowed a group of searchers, including Mrs. Noss, to search for the gold. Mr. Delonas said the legend of the buried treasure obsessed the family for generations. Word of the Doc Noss treasure spread, and keeping people out of the area was no easy chore. In 1948, Doc met Charles Ryan, a Texan involved in drilling operations and oil exploration in West Texas. After determining the accuracy of the two mens reports, the entire area was placed off-limits until an official investigation could be conducted. The Legendary Treasure White Sands Missile Range, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/13/archives/the-legendary-treasure-of-the-white-sands-missile-range-gold-bars.html. In 1939, he hired a mining engineer to try to open a wider passage into Victorio Peak, but the attempt was disastrous and there was a massive cave-in. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Mr. Noss returned in the late 1940's with a new wife, and a business partner. Others believe that Noss found the treasure of Don Juan de Onate, who, in 1598, founded New Mexico as a Spanish colony. 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.. Subsequently, he also filed several mining claims on and around Victorio Peak and a treasure trove claim. 'Like Any Other Client'. He estimated the total amount of gold coming from the peak at a staggering 96 million troy ounces, worth, at $320 an ounce, nearly $31 billion. Topic at Watergate Hearings. Bill Shriver, an international dealer in precious metals who proved very helpful in the initial stages of this investigation until his death, brought the total still higher. They also were given and passed lie detector tests. Gold bullion bars are struck continuously to meet the demand for gold, with the following refineries and mints representing some of the greatest refiners of gold bars: Credit Suisse PAMP Suisse Republic Metals Corporation Sunshine Minting Valcambi Suisse Buying Gold Bullion from JM Bullion 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. All told, he reportedly found 27 human skeletons in the caverns of the mountain. One story involves a Jesuit missionary named Padre LaRue whose band of 40 gold mining families was massacred in a punitive raid by Spanish soldiers in the early eighteenhundreds. A third, smaller stack, pyramidal in shape, stood about three feet high. Others speculate that the treasure could be the missing wealth of Emperor Maxmillian, who served as Mexicos emperor in the 1860s. Congress had just passed an act outlawing the private ownership of gold, meaning he had no buyers for his supposed stash (via Unsolved ). Though caught trespassing and escorted from the area, the men reported observing several men in Army fatigues upon the peak. About $250,000 was spent, core holes were drilled, seismic tests were taken, and nothing was found. History [ edit] Doc Noss The treasure was allegedly found in 1937 by American businessman and gold prospector Milton Ernest "Doc" Noss. Through the years, soldiers at White Sands have spent weekends looking for the gold. Gold Bar Found Beneath Mexico City was Loot from Cortes' Aztec Retreat. However, the business often passes the tax onto the consumer by adding it to the selling price. In 1937, the peak was miles from nowhere. 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