some of the gold to Mexico, in light planes. Further, they stated that underground wealth, in whatever form it took, belonged to the state or any legal license holders. In November 1937, Doc, Babe, and four others left on a deer hunt into the Hembrillo Basin. The room had been undisturbed for so long that the dust, according to Berlett, lay several inches thick. 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.. 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. A jury ruled that Mr. Ryan had acted in self-defense. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. 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. On the walls were drawings, some painted and others chiseled, that appeared to have been made by Indians. 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. 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.. Fearing a Federal swindle at the time, Noss returned to Victoria Peak, carrying out gold bars and hiding them, Mrs. Guthrie said. 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. The slightest movement stirred up a cloud. The major took the bar and told Porter to check back with him in a few days. 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. At one time, he brought out a crown, which contained 243 diamonds and one pigeon-blood ruby. Rare Gold Nuggets. We wanted to lay the matter to rest once and for all, said General Shinkle, who is now tetireil and lives in Cocoa Beach, Fla. We gave him a lie detector test beforehand and it was apparentiy, successful but he couldn't find anything.. An intense argument ensued, and Noss headed toward his car. A new scientific analysis of a large gold bar found decades ago in downtown Mexico City has confirmed it was part of the plunder Spanish conquistadors abandoned as they beat a temporary. While waiting for the rain to subside, he noticed a stone that looked as if it had been worked somehow. 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. Sometime around the year 1830, travelers were trying to find a new way to reach California from the newly opened route of Santa Fe. 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. Most placer deposits in New Mexico had been discovered by 1900. That while visiting Foss, a man we both knew, E.M. Guthrie, drove in to the station in a late model Ford Thunderbird. For the next few years, Mr. Noss sought partners to help him find the gold. A treaty was reached between the tribe and the Federal government in Washington that the Indians could stay upon the land in New Mexico. Too much evidence supports the treasure, including photographs, affidavits, and relics held by the Noss family. He said I'll get F.D.R. Sam Scott, for example, a retired airline pilot, was warned in 1977 to keep clear of anything regarding Victorio Peak for at least five years under pain of having his home firebombed and his wife and daughter killed. Doc Noss was born in Oklahoma and traveled all over the Southwest, seeking excitement. The U.S. Army, which gained control of the area when it was converted to a bombing range during the Second World War, refused her request to bring in an excavation firm and ultimately ordered the Nosses to stay out of the area. Now, scientists confirm it was part of a plunder by Spanish conquistador Hernn. Yet, Doc trusted no one, not even his Babe, disappearing into the desert, hiding pieces of the treasure in places that he never revealed. 7 Louisiana Ghost Towns Hidden Deep in the Bayou. American and foreign car makers have rented land at the installation to test new air bags. Porter and his friends were amused at his story and McDonald, to prove that what he was saying was true, took the two other hunters on a moonlit drive to Victorio Peak. Description: Victorio Peak is surrounded by inhospitable environment near Hot Springs, New Mexico. Mr. Noss returned in the late 1940's with a new wife, and a business partner. Exploring further, he found even more skeletons stacked in a small enclosure, much like a burial chamber. Our Mineral Museum 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. Recreational mining continues intermittently in the White Oaks, Pittsburg, Hillsboro, Orogrande and Jicarilla districts to the present day. Following 1937 Story of Buried Gold, Family Searches New Mexico's Sands, https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/29/us/following-1937-story-of-buried-gold-family-searches-new-mexico-s-sands.html. 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. hell, I'll get Eleanor.. Ryan was charged with murder but was later acquitted. The next day, March 5, 1949, Ryan arrived in the area, insisting that they discuss the problem of what happened to the gold. This time, the military began a full-scale mining operation at the Peak. That about a month after that, I heard E.M. had been beaten to death in California. Years later, in 1946, Doc discussed his exploration with Gordon E. Herkenhoff, field representative of the New Mexico State Land Office.1. But before that happened, he must have hauled 500 or 600 bars of gold out of there and hid them, contended Mrs. Guthrie. Ova Noss, Leonard Fiege and others dont listen when they are told to shut up and they pay the price. Where they the plunder of Spanish conquistadores who had conquered the Aztecs? 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. But the matter would not rest. In the Fall of 1939, Doc wanted to enlarge the passageway into Victorio Peak so that the treasures could be more easily removed. These materials, including tape-recorded sessions wherein Lyndon Johnson discussed the disposition of some of the gold bars on his ranch, disappeared from Holmes office at the time of his death in February 1977. Maxmillian was assassinated in 1867. She appealed to state officials, who forced the search to stop. Gold Bar Found Beneath Mexico City was Loot from Cortes' Aztec Retreat. Part II: The bizarre history of Victorio Peak continues to unravel as the Army, the Treasury Department and the Secret Service authorize a top secret operation aimed at locating and bringing out the gold. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology (INAH) says it has now confirmed that a 1.93-kilogram gold bar was part of looted Aztec treasure (AFP Photo/Jesus VALDOVINOS) A gold bar, found 15 feet down in a Mexico City park in 1981, was just announced to have been part of Montezuma's treasure. But while trying to blast his way to the gold in 1939, he accidentally closed the hole. It is one of the most celebrated legends of buried treasure in the history of the American West, a thriller that includes a gunfight, nuclear weapons and the Watergate hearings. By this time, Babes story had spread across the nation, profiled in several magazines and newspapers. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The Lue Map has very strange symbols. In 1979, he sold a small mail-order business to devote full time to the search. Porter subsequently brought the gold bar to the close friend, who was an Army major. A deal with a man named Charlie Ryan went south, and Noss was gunned down. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Fueled by suspicions that the military was working her claim, Babe Noss hired four men to enter the range secretly. Finally, others believe that the treasures were hidden by Chief Victorio, for whom the peak is named. 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. Forrest . 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. 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.. Seventy-nine skeletons were described in an adjacent cavern. A priest named LaRue at Durango in northern Mexico was looking after the soldier who told the priest . 'Like Any Other Client'. 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. Its occasional visitors included hunting parties, and Doc Noss and his wife, Ova, were on one such expedition in search of deer. It is estimated that 662,000 oz of gold have been produced from placer deposits throughout New Mexico from 1828 to 1991. In effect, no one could mine the treasure, and that included the Army and Babe Noss. This Massive Mine in Utah Has Produced More Gold than Most States! Six men who worked with Doc in removing the gold C.D. 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. 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. Lack of water has hampered mining in many districts and new technology, which minimizes water usage, may stimulate activity. Lampros, for example, described having his photograph taken with Colonel Willard E. Holt of Lordsburg, New Mexico; each held an end of a bar while it was being sawed in half. Setting up camp on the desert floor at the base of Victoria Peak, the men headed into the wilderness while their wives stayed at camp. The gold concentrates by gravity in incised stream valleys and alluvial fans in deeply weathered highlands. Many years later, a man named Milton Ernest Doc Noss spent some time exploring Victorio Peak while on a deer hunt. The gold bar had disappeared without a trace. Searching with 15 people at a time to try to determine the size of the cave, the group in a few weeks plans to start drilling 6-inch holes several hundred feet deep into the areas where the soundings show the cave is. One partner, Charles Ryan, shot and killed Doc on March 5, 1949, in Hatch, N. M., after an argument. Beyond the Hembrillo Basin is a hundred-mile stretch of desert known as the Jornada del Muerto. WHITE SANDS, N.M. Lost treasure stories are a dime a dozen in the Southwest. Discovered by a . He was shot to death in 1949, but his first wife, Mrs. Ova Noss, now 77years old, insists she was with him. And we were poor and I guess a little dumb. 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. For three months beginning on June 20, 1963, the group used various techniques to search the area; however, they failed to turn up anything. 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. You just couldn't trust anybody and still can't, she said. General Shinkle finally had enough and ordered everyone out. 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. The NMBGMR is conducting a research project examining the origin, occurrence, trace element composition, and resource potential of placer gold deposits in the state. After much searching, he finally found a small iron bar to carry back through the narrow passageway. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. 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. Patterson, Don Breech, Edgar F. Foreman, Leo D. OConnell, Eppie Montoya and B.D. "We're treating the gold searchers just like any other client," said Jim Eckles, a spokesman for the White Sands range. He carries in his wallet a photograph of gold bars and old coins next to a flashlight he provided. 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. Finally reaching the bottom, Doc stepped into a chamber the size of a small room. Parts of the treasure were described as gold, silver, jewels and as many as 16,000 gold bars estimated around $1.7 billion dollars. 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. Letha Guthrie, Ovas eldest daughter from a previous marriage, described the next few years as a very happy time for the Noss family, one of simple, hard work with a bright, limitless future. He also found some old letters, the most recent of which was dated 1880. [5] During the 1970s, lawyer F. Lee Bailey represented clients who claimed to know where the treasure was located. 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. History [ edit] Doc Noss The treasure was allegedly found in 1937 by American businessman and gold prospector Milton Ernest "Doc" Noss. 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. Ferdig, adding, The trouble with treasure stories is that there's always a little truth in them.. Things got complicated in 1937, when Milton E. Noss, a selfasserted chiropodist with a string of arrests for drunk enness, theft and practicing medicine without a license, said he had found the treasure. They also were given and passed lie detector tests. He used too much dynamite, and the cave collapsed, sealing in the treasure. The 1.93-kilogram. Native gold and electrum occurs with quartz, magnetite, ilmenite, amphiboles, pyroxenes, pyrite, zircon, garnet, rutile, and a variety of other heavy minerals. 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. Lyndon Johnsons name loomed large in the information that Freedom uncovered, with various sources claiming that the president was instrumental in the planning and execution of the removal of the gold. 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 Berlett and Fiege formed a corporation to protect what they had found and make a formal application to enter White Sands for a search and retrieval of the gold. Berlett viewed this as substantiation for the theory that Spaniards had been responsible for stashing the gold. A small town was built near the place The buying entity was a Middle Eastern principal, Shriver said. 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. 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. 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 . The affidavit states: I, Thayer Snipes, first being duly sworn, on my oath state: That in the latter part of 1972, I had stopped by the Airport Chevron Station at the corner of Airway Blvd. There were thousands of them, covered with old, dusty buffalo hides. But when the Army; Air Force; the White House; Congressmen; New Mexico's Governor and F. Lee Bailey and dozens of other lawyers get into a single treasure saga, only confusion and rumors remain cheap. In 1961, he returned to the desert and claims to have found 10 . Becoming even more complicated, a search of mining records failed to turn up any existing claims including that of Doc Noss. At least one close relative was convinced that Atkins death was not accidental and that it was directly related to his getting too close to the true story of Victorio Peak. Forrest Fenn, a New Mexico art collector, created a treasure hunt in 2010. He remained steadfast in his belief that the treasure remained, according to family members. In 1955, the missile range was expanded and, the Army closed Victoria Peak to outsiders. But even the nicest people we'd take in, they'd see gold and go berserk.. The fortune of a Mexican emperor? The Army put those fellows in there blind knowing they wouldn't find anything.. 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. 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. 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. Instead, it has a "gross receipts tax." This is a tax levied on the business rather than the consumer, like in most states. 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. Two years later, he married Violet Lena Boles, which would further complicate ownership of the treasure rights for years to come. 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. Noss divorced her, charging desertion. Doc later brought one of the eerie things out.2. The more productive ore zones typically occur as narrow pay streaks or layers of fine-grained, disseminated gold, locally on top of basement rock or clay or caliche lenses within gravel deposits. As the years passed, Babe Noss held onto her claim at Victorio Peak, occasionally hiring men to help her clear the shaft. A narrow passage through rocks kept the bulky Porter from following the other two men into the depths of the peak. Anyone can read what you share. McLemore, V.T., 2001, Silver and gold resources in New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Resource Map 21, 60 p. Luterbach, T.D., and McLemore, V.T. 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. However, with the discovery of gold, the treaty was broken in 1878, and Victorio went on the warpath. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. 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. Returning through the main cavern, he noticed an immense stack of metal bars off to one side. In a deeper cavern, Doc found what he thought was a stack of worthless iron bars. Thayer Snipes of El Paso, Texas, swore to an affidavit regarding another death. Becoming desperate for cash, Doc and a man named Joseph Andregg transported gold bars, coins, jewels, and artifacts into Arizona, selling them on the black market. 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. Because of this natural concentration, some placers are richer in gold than the original lode deposits. Nearly choking, the two men hastily marked their claim and made their exit. Subsequently, he also filed several mining claims on and around Victorio Peak and a treasure trove claim. To further complicate things, rumors swirled about various factions smuggling. His warriors raided southern New Mexico and Texasin an all-out war against the U.S. Army and the Texas Rangers. Congress had just passed an act outlawing the private ownership of gold, meaning he had no buyers for his supposed stash (via Unsolved ). What looked to be a piece of iron was a solid gold bar. 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. That I knew E.M. Guthrie had taken an active personal interest in the fate of gold located in Victorio Peak by Doc Noss. 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? Known placer gold deposits were found along the southern and eastern flanks of the Ortiz Mountains; however, there could be additional placer gold deposits along the western flanks of the mountain range. Then, in 1942 or 1943, she isn't sure, he tried to blast the tunnel bigger in order to haul up more gold bars at one time. But Doc Noss cared little about the historical value of the treasures inside Victorio Peak, mostly ignoring the pouches, packs, and artifacts. Reaching down, he could not budge it, but after digging around the rock, he got his hands under it. ): 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. According to this source, a B-24 was used to transport at least seven loads of the peaks gold, with up to 20 tons of gold moving in each load. Within just a few days, Doc and Babe were back at the site with ropes and flashlights. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. All attempts failed, leaving him an embittered and angry man, which caused problems in his marriage. Dangerous unexploded 20mm shells from Phantom jet target practice dot the range, the Army insists. Fearing Doc was getting a gun, Ryan fired a warning shot in Docs direction, demanding that Noss back away from the vehicle. Now, cleared to go by an act of Congress, the best-equipped search ever is under way with $1 million in backing from the descendants and some investors. Parts of White Sands are sometimes leased by private corporations and foreign governments for experiments. now. 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