Acquitted on grounds of selfdefense, Mr. Ryan testified that Doc had promised him 51 bars of gold in return for his $27,000 investment. Though the military confirmed that Swanner had served at White Sands during this time, they claimed there were no documents to support an investigation into the mine nor the removal of the gold bars. After some discussion, the men decided that Porter should take the bar to a close friend of his who worked in the provost marshals office in nearby Fort Bliss, Texas. 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. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. See the article in its original context from. [7], Theories abound on the origins of the alleged treasure, including that it was pilfered from Mexico during the reign of the Austrian puppet Emperor Maximilian, or through collusion between Pancho Villa and Germany prior to World War I.[8]. 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. That I had known E.M. Guthrie for about three years prior to this meeting and knew him to be the husband of Letha Guthrie, stepdaughter of Milton Ernest Doc Noss. 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. This was shortly before a much-publicized expedition, entitled Operation Goldfinder, took place at the site in March 1977. However, disputing the military claim, New Mexico officials stated that they leased only the lands surface to the military. In the room were two large stacks of gold bars, each roughly six feet high, three feet wide and eight feet long. Later, Fiege would take a lie detector test, which would allow Fiege back on the missile range. Others speculate that the treasure could be the missing wealth of Emperor Maxmillian, who served as Mexicos emperor in the 1860s. Claimants charge the Army purposely boobytrapped the area with the shells, yet almost weekly a few fevered treasure hunters sneak through helicopter and horsemounted Army patrols to search. White Sands, New Mexico by the National Park Service. The gold bar had disappeared without a trace. It could finally solve the mystery. [5] During the 1970s, lawyer F. Lee Bailey represented clients who claimed to know where the treasure was located. Edward Atkins himself died, reportedly of a heart attack, in April 1979 while returning to Illinois from El Paso on a matter pertaining to his claim. 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. From that moment onward, every attempt of Babes to clear the rubble from the plugged shaft met with a military escort out of the area. Meanwhile, Tony Jolley, now a 69-year-old rancher living outside Boise, Ida., never forgot those bars of gold he helped bury in 1949. Finally reaching the bottom, Doc stepped into a chamber the size of a small room. The. ", 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. [5] She later was part of an unsuccessful 1963 search. Peering into the darkness, Doc saw an old man-made shaft with a thick, wooden pole attached at one side. They believe that sophisticated equipment like devices to take soundings showing whether there are underground caves will help this search succeed where other ventures failed. [3] Noss was ultimately killed by an associate, Charley Ryan, in 1949 after Ryan accused Noss of fraud and Noss threatened to kill Ryan and his family. 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. A third story asserts that Geronimo hid, Apache booty in the area. Placer gold collected from multiple districts in New Mexico, coupled with a broad database of previously analyzed placer gold samples indicate correlations between chemical signatures (especially gold, silver, and copper) and type of deposits (i.e., Au-rich copper porphyry deposits, Au porphyry deposits, and epithermal deposits). For three months beginning on June 20, 1963, the group used various techniques to search the area; however, they failed to turn up anything. They insisted they were photographed, finger printed, harassed and not al lowed to go near the search area. But in a dispute over the treasure in 1949, the business partner, Charlie Ryan, shot Mr. Noss to death. Today, the Armys official position on the whereabouts of the gold remains cautious, maintaining that the burden of proof rests with the accusers. Mr. Delonas said the legend of the buried treasure obsessed the family for generations. is also on Facebook, New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources, Notice of Right to Inspect Public Records, Stephen Wells Bright Star Scholar Program, National Uranium Resource Evaluation database (NURE), Stacy Timmons interviewed for "Searchlight New Mexico" article, New paper published on the timing of small-volume eruptions and related volcanic hazards at Valles caldera. It is estimated that 662,000 oz of gold have been produced from placer deposits throughout New Mexico from 1828 to 1991. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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.. Babe then began a regular correspondence with the military requesting permission to work her claim, but she was always denied. Neither man being familiar with laws governing the discovery of treasure on a military base, Fiege went to the Judge Advocates Office at Holloman Air Force Base to confer with Colonel Sigmund I. Gasiewicz. Lampros later signed sworn affidavits regarding their experiences. McGuires Place Four. The whole truth will probably never be known, but there is no doubt that a treasure existed. (1.93 kilograms), while digging for the construction of a central bank in Mexico City. The horde of an Apache chief? Shriver also said that he had copies of other presidential messages, several initialed by LBJ, dealing with the clandestine, illegal removal of the gold. Congress had just passed an act outlawing the private ownership of gold, meaning he had no buyers for his supposed stash (via Unsolved ). Mr. Noss returned in the late 1940's with a new wife, and a business partner. Through the years, soldiers at White Sands have spent weekends looking for the gold. He said he often grew angry that his grandmother was ignored or ridiculed for her efforts. Work beneath the city has not slowed, and as science advances . As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Chester R. Johnson Jr., a museum archeologist at the time who wrote the official report of the treasure's history, says the 1963 search was inconclusive because, for example, seismic geophones do not work well near the surface. On the walls were drawings, some painted and others chiseled, that appeared to have been made by Indians. Among those who attested to the accessibility of the peaks treasure was Lynn Porter, a businessman now residing in San Diego, California. The major took the bar and told Porter to check back with him in a few days. 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. They found nothing. A priest named LaRue at Durango in northern Mexico was looking after the soldier who told the priest . This theory explains the thousands of gold bars, antiquities, and artifacts dating more than 100 years later. After telling her what he had seen and shown her the loot, she insisted he go back into the mine for one of the iron bars. But even the nicest people we'd take in, they'd see gold and go berserk.. With so many options available, APMEX has made it easy to find the right Gold bar for your collection or portfolio. 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 . As a child, he said he remembered his grandmother, Ova Noss, talking about it ceaselessly. 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. 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. Recreational mining continues intermittently in the White Oaks, Pittsburg, Hillsboro, Orogrande and Jicarilla districts to the present day. Parts of the treasure were described as gold, silver, jewels and as many as 16,000 gold bars estimated around $1.7 billion dollars. Each skeleton had its hands bound behind it to a large wooden stake driven into the ground. Deferring to Docs belief that the gold would all be taken by the government should his find become too broadly known, the work force was confined to the immediate family and a couple of handfuls of trusted associates. 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. After the death of Doc Noss, Ova and her family continued efforts to regain access to the big treasure room. Mr. Bailey, who represents 50 unidentified claimants, says that with a helicopter and a half an hour he can lead officials to 292 gold bars, for openers. 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. Within just a few days, Doc and Babe were back at the site with ropes and flashlights. 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). It has banned treasure hunters from the range since 1963. 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. Additionally, the actual land where Victorio Peak is located was not owned by the State of New Mexico but rather by a man named Roy Henderson, who had leased it to the Army. Now, researchers say the bar was. A four-pound gold bar found on a building site in downtown Mexico City last month is believed to be part of the treasure seized from the Aztec Emperor Montezuma II by the Spanish. Caballo Mountains - Also called Horse Mountains, the peaks are located 35 miles north of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Another concerns renegades who robbed the Monterey Mint in 1743 and were in turn attacked by Apaches. In 1955, the missile range was expanded and, the Army closed Victoria Peak to outsiders. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. In effect, no one could mine the treasure, and that included the Army and Babe Noss. ", According to the family, Mr. Noss took some gold bars when he found the cavern in 1937, and planned to return for the rest. If the treasure was real, Noss had poor timing. 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. But the matter would not rest. and Montana Ave. in El Paso, Texas, to visit with a friend, Frank Foss, owner of the station. 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 deposits generally occur in Late Tertiary- to Holocene-age alluvial fan deposits, bench or terrace gravel deposits, river-bars, and stream deposits or as residual placers formed directly on top of lode deposits typically derived from Proterozoic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary source rocks. . 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. The Army put those fellows in there blind knowing they wouldn't find anything.. However, White Sands issued an edict expressly forbidding them to return to the base. Noss refused to obey, and Ryan fired again, hitting Noss in the head, killing him instantly. 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. The charges concerning LBJs involvement included the following: According to this same source, Victorio Peak was just like a private vault to certain high-ranking people. They would go in periodically and get what they wanted. Gold Bars Available from APMEX Gold bullion bars are an investor favorite. Another source confirmed the manner and the circumstances of E.M. Guthries death, noting that it was listed as just a natural death, but hed been worked over with a baseball bat. This source said that he had hired a team of experienced investigators to dig into Guthries death and more than 30 other deaths in connection with a massive, continuing cover-up of the removal of gold from Victorio Peak. 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. Many people believe the search points to the area of the four corners. And we were poor and I guess a little dumb. Unable to sell the gold bars on the open market, Noss was stymied but continued to work steadily to remove the treasure. The 1.93-kilogram. Ova Noss took up the search, without success. The night before his death, perhaps sensing that a business deal was going sour, Doc enlisted the aid of a cowboy named Tony Jolley to shuffle the locations of various stashes of the bars. However, Noss demanded to see the money before revealing the new hiding place. But the expedition soon went broke, and the Army declared that it would allow no more searches. Many Noss family members and friends believe that the military exploited Babes claim and that the treasure is now gone. They come in a variety of weights, fineness and designs. 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. That I knew E.M. Guthrie had taken an active personal interest in the fate of gold located in Victorio Peak by Doc Noss. After much searching, he finally found a small iron bar to carry back through the narrow passageway. For the next few years, Mr. Noss sought partners to help him find the gold. The Army then shut down all operations stating that no additional searches would be allowed. He has recruited friends and investors to form the Ova Noss Family Partnership, named for his late grandmother, that is financing the new search. Mrs. Ova Noss said she shad filed papers retaining mineral rights in case the area opened up again. 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. The Victorio Peak treasure (also seen in print as the Treasure of Victorio Peak or Treasure of San Andres) describes a cache of gold reportedly found inside Victorio Peak in 1937 in southern New Mexico. Fearing Doc was getting a gun, Ryan fired a warning shot in Docs direction, demanding that Noss back away from the vehicle. It was on Nov. 7, we had 11 families on a hunting trip and I was doing the cooking, she said in an interview at her daughter's home in Clovis, N. M. She said her husband, called Doc, had come back, to the camp that night and secretly told her of lowering himself with ropes down a crevice on Victoria Peak into caverns laden with coins, jewelry, guns, swords, letters, 27 human skeletons, and hundreds of metal bars that turned out to be gold. Parts of White Sands are sometimes leased by private corporations and foreign governments for experiments. Ova Noss, Leonard Fiege and others dont listen when they are told to shut up and they pay the price. At the same time, he concentrated on the gold coins and bars. 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