But in 1977, the Army agreed to allow some searchers with competing claims, including Mrs. Noss, to search the grounds. 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. 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. "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. some of the gold to Mexico, in light planes. Acquitted on grounds of selfdefense, Mr. Ryan testified that Doc had promised him 51 bars of gold in return for his $27,000 investment. 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. However, Doc was unable to capitalize on the gold bars, as four years before his discovery, Congress had passed the Gold Act, which outlawed the private ownership of gold. Still another source reported knowledge of aircraft movements of the gold from Chihuahua to Vancouver, British Columbia, during the period of Johnsons presidency. Ferdig, adding, The trouble with treasure stories is that there's always a little truth in them.. However, the business often passes the tax onto the consumer by adding it to the selling price. . 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. Meanwhile, Babe Noss had filed a counter-claim on the entire area. Peering into the darkness, Doc saw an old man-made shaft with a thick, wooden pole attached at one side. The flamboyant lawyer F. Lee Bailey once said he represented 50 unnamed clients. Doc attempted illegally to sell his gold for nine years, but it wasnt easy finding buyers. A deal with a man named Charlie Ryan went south, and Noss was gunned down. One man, a Mr. The two men told Porter they had taken one of the smaller bars from the stack because they felt it would be easier to handle than one of the large bars in moving through the long and sometimes difficult passage. Mr. Bailey later dropped the matter. Reportedly, he amassed a treasure of gold, silver, and jewels before being ordered back to Mexico City in 1607. 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. They believe that if the Lue Map and the hieroglyphs could be deciphered then the gold bars could be found. And for good reason. At one end of the chamber, the shaft continued downward. In a special act of Congress passed in 1989, the Hembrillo Basin was unlocked for Terry Delonas and the Noss heirs; however, nothing has been found. An intense argument ensued, and Noss headed toward his car. Mr. Mitchell is said to have forwarded the matter to the White House. Reaching down, he could not budge it, but after digging around the rock, he got his hands under it. It could finally solve the mystery. As a child, he said he remembered his grandmother, Ova Noss, talking about it ceaselessly. 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. (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 But Doc Noss cared little about the historical value of the treasures inside Victorio Peak, mostly ignoring the pouches, packs, and artifacts. WHITE SANDS, N.M. Lost treasure stories are a dime a dozen in the Southwest. The two decided to keep the discovery between themselves and return to inspect the shaft later. Docs object at the time of discovery, of course, was more than old bones. 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. 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. By James P. Sterba Special to The New York Times. Within moments he found more skeletons, most of them bound and secured to stakes like the first. However, Noss demanded to see the money before revealing the new hiding place. He remained steadfast in his belief that the treasure remained, according to family members. Mrs. Noss now says she never heard about the divorce and as serts that she is his legal widow. The Army put those fellows in there blind knowing they wouldn't find anything.. This Massive Mine in Utah Has Produced More Gold than Most States! Through the years, soldiers at White Sands have spent weekends looking for the gold. They even brought in their own security guards, he added. 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. Fearing a Federal swindle at the time, Noss returned to Victoria Peak, carrying out gold bars and hiding them, Mrs. Guthrie said. 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. The total price for such a happy. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. 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. After three years they were given permission to go back to Victoria. 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. 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 . 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. That about a month after that, I heard E.M. had been beaten to death in California. Jan 20, 2020 Ian Harvey. The rate of this tax varies from 5.125% to 8.8675% depending on where the business is . To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Fearing Doc was getting a gun, Ryan fired a warning shot in Docs direction, demanding that Noss back away from the vehicle. The gold was then shipped to Switzerland and sold in a new form in Zurich. If the treasure was real, Noss had poor timing. 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. and Montana Ave. in El Paso, Texas, to visit with a friend, Frank Foss, owner of the station. The saga faded back into obscurity until the Watergate hearings, when John Dean, the dismissed White House counsel, testified before the Ervin Committee that F. Lee Bailey had approached John N. Mitchell, then Attorney General, for help in retrieving 292 bars containing 60 per cent gold and 40 per cent copper from the White Sands range. Did they even exist at all? 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. Hunting by himself, Doc scouted the base of the mountain. Just 12 years after discovering the treasure, Doc Noss died with just $2.16 in his pocket. A jury ruled that Mr. Ryan had acted in self-defense. 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. Four major groups of claimants accuse the oothers of trying to cheat them out of it. Work beneath the city has not slowed, and as science advances . 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. A Partner and a Gunfight. 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. Suddenly, a host of people surfaced to lay claims on the legendary gold treasure. In 1981, a worker in Mexico City found a gold bar just north of Alameda Centralthe oldest public park in the Americasduring the construction of a bank. According to a close relative interviewed by Freedom, Shriver was murdered. The relative said that Shriver was beaten up in California, beaten about the kidneys and the head and subsequently died from his injuries. Now, scientists confirm it was part of a plunder by Spanish conquistador Hernn. Many people believe the search points to the area of the four corners. The peak is riddled with a network of tunnels. [1][a] While there have been multiple documented expeditions to the peak, no gold has been officially recorded as being recovered from the site. I've heard that story at least 500 times. 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. Today, the Armys official position on the whereabouts of the gold remains cautious, maintaining that the burden of proof rests with the accusers. Lucky Gold Miners hit it Big in Downieville. 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. In a deeper cavern, Doc found what he thought was a stack of worthless iron bars. They insisted they were photographed, finger printed, harassed and not al lowed to go near the search area. He was shot to death in 1949, but his first wife, Mrs. Ova Noss, now 77years old, insists she was with him. Passing through the large cavern, he came to a series of smaller caves rooms, he called them. 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. During fluvial events, large volumes of sediment containing free gold are transported and deposited in relatively poorly-sorted alluvial and stream deposits. Description: Victorio Peak is surrounded by inhospitable environment near Hot Springs, New Mexico. 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. Theories spread over how 16,000 gold bars came to be stashed away in a random cave in New Mexico. 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. Becoming even more complicated, a search of mining records failed to turn up any existing claims including that of Doc Noss. 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. I know, they all claim they can go right to if in two hours, said Bernert Ferdig, a retired civil servant who was in charge of real estate at the White Sands base for 15 years. Subsequently, he also filed several mining claims on and around Victorio Peak and a treasure trove claim. Forrest . 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. 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. 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 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. The Army, which controls the missile range, insists there is no treasure and has never been any. 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. Though caught trespassing and escorted from the area, the men reported observing several men in Army fatigues upon the peak. He said he often grew angry that his grandmother was ignored or ridiculed for her efforts. CNN Almost four decades ago, a gold bar was found on land that used to be Aztec ruins in Mexico. now. Now, instead of having thousands of gold bars to draw from, Noss had only a few hundred that he had hidden in the desert. 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. (1.93 kilograms), while digging for the construction of a central bank in Mexico City. The whole truth will probably never be known, but there is no doubt that a treasure existed. Its occasional visitors included hunting parties, and Doc Noss and his wife, Ova, were on one such expedition in search of deer. The affidavit states, in part: In March of 1949 I handled 110 rough [sic] poured bars of gold in the area which is now White Sands Missile Range which is now the area of Victorio Peak. 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. 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. But the expedition soon went broke, and the Army declared that it would allow no more searches. Several sand and gravel operators periodically extract minor quantities of placer gold from their quarries. I was just a kid, about 13 or 14 years old, he told this writer. For the next few years, Mr. Noss sought partners to help him find the gold. 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. Others believe that Noss found the treasure of Don Juan de Onate, who, in 1598, founded New Mexico as a Spanish colony. He also asserts that military security officers censored out of his report all references to military searches for the treasure. This was shortly before a much-publicized expedition, entitled Operation Goldfinder, took place at the site in March 1977. About $250,000 was spent, core holes were drilled, seismic tests were taken, and nothing was found. When Maxmillian heard of the plot to assassinate him, he moved his gold and treasures out of Mexico. At one time, he brought out a crown, which contained 243 diamonds and one pigeon-blood ruby. The bars that Noss and his crew removed from Victorio Peak were, in general, crudely formed, indicating the use of primitive smelting processes. [5] During the 1970s, lawyer F. Lee Bailey represented clients who claimed to know where the treasure was located. It would also explain the presence of the Wells Fargo bags, packsaddles, letters, and other artifacts dating to Victorios time. [5] The partnership conducted unsuccessful searches until March 1996, when the Army suspended their access. Lack of water has hampered mining in many districts and new technology, which minimizes water usage, may stimulate activity. Four. In 1958, Leonard V. Fiege, then an Air Force captain stationed at nearby Holloman Air: Force Base, and three other men, contended that while deer hunting they found a cave filled with gold bars. He told this writer that the gold bars in the cave were stacked like cordwood.. In 1981, a construction worker discovered the gold bar, weighing 4.25 lbs. Noss traveled down, passing caverns with Native American designs until he reached a room with hoards of gold, jewels, pouches, documents and 27 skeletons. Current environmental and permitting restrictions also have hampered recent production in the New Placers and Jicarilla districts. Forrest Fenn, a New Mexico art collector, created a treasure hunt in 2010. However, it was a slow process, and in 1955, the White Sands Missile Range unexpectedly expanded their operations to encompass the Hembrillo Basin. Topic at Watergate Hearings. If the treasure was real, Noss had poor timing. McGuires Place Doc Noss was born in Oklahoma and traveled all over the Southwest, seeking excitement. Anyone can read what you share. Noss divorced her, charging desertion. As Doc continued to explore the side caverns, he found a hoard of treasure, including coins, jewels, saddles, and priceless artifacts, including a gold statue of the Virgin Mary. Nearly choking, the two men hastily marked their claim and made their exit. All told, he reportedly found 27 human skeletons in the caverns of the mountain. Berlett viewed this as substantiation for the theory that Spaniards had been responsible for stashing the gold. 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. In 1797, when the work of the Spanish missionaries had almost come to an end, there was an old Spanish soldier who was at his death bed. Word of the Doc Noss treasure spread, and keeping people out of the area was no easy chore. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. It has banned treasure hunters from the range since 1963. Doc Noss was extremely paranoid and buried everything he took out of the caves, not even trusting his wife, Babe. In September 1961, Berlett and Fiege swore to the specifics of their discovery in detailed affidavits provided to federal officials. Years later, in 1946, Doc discussed his exploration with Gordon E. Herkenhoff, field representative of the New Mexico State Land Office.1. He used too much dynamite, and the cave collapsed, sealing in the treasure. 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. Meanwhile, Noss's mining claims (for talc as a disguise) expired in 1948, and Mrs. Noss renewed them in her name. Ryan hinted that if Noss did not reveal the whereabouts of the gold, Doc would not live to enjoy it. They come in a variety of weights, fineness and designs. However, disputing the military claim, New Mexico officials stated that they leased only the lands surface to the military. Congress had just passed an act outlawing the private ownership of gold, meaning he had no buyers for his supposed stash (via Unsolved ). 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. Exploring further, he found even more skeletons stacked in a small enclosure, much like a burial chamber. Reportedly the military was able to penetrate one of the caves and inventory the contents. Native gold and electrum occurs with quartz, magnetite, ilmenite, amphiboles, pyroxenes, pyrite, zircon, garnet, rutile, and a variety of other heavy minerals. There are four major stories on the treasure's origin, said Mr. 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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Instead, it has a "gross receipts tax." This is a tax levied on the business rather than the consumer, like in most states. After much searching, he finally found a small iron bar to carry back through the narrow passageway. 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. Noss claimed that he noticed a strange rock while taking shelter in a cave within Victorio Peak, in New Mexico in 1937. Yet, Doc trusted no one, not even his Babe, disappearing into the desert, hiding pieces of the treasure in places that he never revealed. This writer conducted extensive interviews with Thomas Berlett. Our Mineral Museum 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. The major took the bar and told Porter to check back with him in a few days. His warriors raided southern New Mexico and Texasin an all-out war against the U.S. Army and the Texas Rangers. The gold concentrates by gravity in incised stream valleys and alluvial fans in deeply weathered highlands. No one in the provost marshals office to whom Porter talked would admit to knowing anything about the gold, and he was warned by the provost marshal that any future trespassing would be dealt with severely. 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. Over the weekend, he said, someone found the chest he had buried with gold nuggets, coins, gems and artifacts. In 1955, the missile range was expanded and, the Army closed Victoria Peak to outsiders. The Army then shut down all operations stating that no additional searches would be allowed. 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. 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. White Sands is the nation's largest military installation, about the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. The Army says the gold was never found. 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. 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. 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. Though the gold bar was. 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. He was barely able to lift one, much less think of carrying it back to the surface. While Babe looked on from above, Doc inched his way down the narrow passageway into the mountain nearly 60 feet. Kathy Weiser-Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2021. 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. Fueled by suspicions that the military was working her claim, Babe Noss hired four men to enter the range secretly. 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. Finally reaching the bottom, Doc stepped into a chamber the size of a small room. Unable to sell the gold bars on the open market, Noss was stymied but continued to work steadily to remove the treasure. Later, the wealth in the cave would be calculated to be worth more than two billion dollars. Recreational mining continues intermittently in the White Oaks, Pittsburg, Hillsboro, Orogrande and Jicarilla districts to the present day. As the years passed, Babe Noss held onto her claim at Victorio Peak, occasionally hiring men to help her clear the shaft. 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.. 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. hell, I'll get Eleanor.. Each skeleton had its hands bound behind it to a large wooden stake driven into the ground. In the meantime, Mrs. Noss said her spies, illegally visited the peak and found military men excavating it. 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. 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. 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. 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. Enter the range since 1963 Timess print archive, before the start of online in... 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