7 Louisiana Ghost Towns Hidden Deep in the Bayou. Then in 1981, the construction crew found the gold bar, and today scientists have confirmed it was part of the Aztec treasures that Cortes hoped to steal away from Mexico for Spain. 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. 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. The secret stash of a gold mine owner? 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. The rate of this tax varies from 5.125% to 8.8675% depending on where the business is . He was also known to take prisoners back to the Basin, where he subjected them to elaborate torture tests before killing them. The total price for such a happy. In 1981, a construction worker discovered the gold bar, weighing 4.25 lbs. 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.. 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. Many streams in New Mexico contain at least traces of gold, enough to satisfy weekend gold panners. Others believe that Noss found the treasure of Don Juan de Onate, who, in 1598, founded New Mexico as a Spanish colony. Fearing a Federal swindle at the time, Noss returned to Victoria Peak, carrying out gold bars and hiding them, Mrs. Guthrie said. It would also explain the presence of the Wells Fargo bags, packsaddles, letters, and other artifacts dating to Victorios time. That he seemed very disturbed, nervous and agitated, and refused my invitation to dinner, saying, Im running for my life., That he also said, The Mob is after me.. Nearly choking, the two men hastily marked their claim and made their exit. He also told his wife that there were enough gold and silver coins to load 60 to 80 mules.. ): 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. He bolted from the Mescalero reservation in 1879 and camped near Victoria Peak while plundering the countryside and raiding Wells Fargo stagecoaches. When the rain finally stopped, Doc returned to camp, telling Babe of the discovery. 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. Attacking wagon trains, settlements, mail coaches, and churches, he took anything from them that they valued. ", 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. The economic potential of placer deposits in New Mexico is unknown and most known economic placers in the state have been worked. Mrs. Ova Noss said she shad filed papers retaining mineral rights in case the area opened up again. 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. 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. The peak, named after a 19th century Apache war chief, apparently served as a repository for immense quantities of gold mined centuries ago by Spaniards and Indians and smelted into tens of thousands of crudely formed 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. See the article in its original context from. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. Lifting the rock, he found a hole that led straight down into the mountain. A third, smaller stack, pyramidal in shape, stood about three feet high. In one room he discovered a large stash of old swords and guns, papers and letters from the 19th century, and a kings ransom in jewels and coins. At the same time, he concentrated on the gold coins and bars. 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. This theory explains the thousands of gold bars, antiquities, and artifacts dating more than 100 years later. 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. Lack of water has hampered mining in many districts and new technology, which minimizes water usage, may stimulate activity. 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. But in August, the Army turned him down, saying he deserves no more favored treatment than some 300 others who ask each year for permission to enter the missile range to search. 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. For Trademark Information on Scientology Services. 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. and Montana Ave. in El Paso, Texas, to visit with a friend, Frank Foss, owner of the station. Peak and look, accompanied by the missile range commander, Maj. Gen. John G. Shinkle, military pblicemen and Treasury agents. Only four districts have each yielded more than 100,000 oz of placer gold production: Elizabethtown-Baldy (DIS019), Hillsboro (DIS197), Old Placers (DIS187), and New Placers (DIS186). The buried cache was said to have been stolen from the Chihauhua-Spanish by the Indians during the Indian uprisings. [3][b], A 1961 search by the U.S. Armythe peak lies within White Sands Missile Rangewas stopped following a request to state officials by Noss's first wife, Ova. That three or four weeks later Frank Foss told me that E.M. had called him and said he was in Central America. After much searching, he finally found a small iron bar to carry back through the narrow passageway. This was one of Apache Chief Victorios hideouts and was the site of a battle in 1880 between Victorios warriors and the U.S. Army Ninth Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers.. 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. Another source, who asked to remain unidentified, stated that he had personally interviewed several men who had brought a large load of the peaks gold to Johnsons ranch. 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. He told this writer that the gold bars in the cave were stacked like cordwood.. 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. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. The gold concentrates by gravity in incised stream valleys and alluvial fans in deeply weathered highlands. Meanwhile, Babe Noss had filed a counter-claim on the entire area. In a four-page confidential report entitled Field Examination of Noss Mining Claims, Hembrillo District, Herkenhoff recorded a description: Dr. The gold was then shipped to Switzerland and sold in a new form in Zurich. Sometime around the year 1830, travelers were trying to find a new way to reach California from the newly opened route of Santa Fe. Mr. Mitchell is said to have forwarded the matter to the White House. Estimates vary on the number of bars removed, ranging up to 350 or so. Discovered by a . : Did 'Doc' Noss Really Find Caverns of Gold or Did He Pull Off a Hoax That Has Plagued His Kin for Years? 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. 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. 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. 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. South Pass City - A Look into Wyoming's Past. However, Terry Delonas, her grandson, continued the family tradition and formed the Ova Noss Family Partnership. One group of claimants took the flashlight and provided the photo as evidence that they knew the location of the treasure. The whole truth will probably never be known, but there is no doubt that a treasure existed. White Sands, New Mexico by the National Park Service. He also found some old letters, the most recent of which was dated 1880. (1.93 kilograms), while digging for the construction of a central bank in Mexico City. 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. 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. Ryan was charged with murder but was later acquitted. Did they even exist at all? Parts of the treasure were described as gold, silver, jewels and as many as 16,000 gold bars estimated around $1.7 billion dollars. Rare Gold Nuggets. As Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH . 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. After discovering the treasure, Doc and Babe spent every free moment exploring the tunnels inside the mountain, living in a tent at the base of the peak. Victorio Peak, located in northern Dona Ana County, now lies within the White Sands Missile Range in south-central New Mexico. Reaching down, he could not budge it, but after digging around the rock, he got his hands under it. Shriver also said that he had copies of other presidential messages, several initialed by LBJ, dealing with the clandestine, illegal removal of the gold. November 16, 2015. Treasure Net Forum Article content. Lindgren, W., Graton, L.C., and Gordon, C.H., 1910, The ore deposits of New Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 68, 361 p. McLemore, V.T., 1994, Placer gold deposits in New Mexico: McLemore, V.T., Dunbar, N., Heizler, L., and Heizler, M., 2014, Geology and mineral deposits of the Orogrande mining district, Jarilla Mountains, Otero County, New Mexico: New Mexico Geological Society, Guidebook 65, p. 247-259. Reportedly, he amassed a treasure of gold, silver, and jewels before being ordered back to Mexico City in 1607. 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. 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. Some were sold on the black market, some were stolen but others remained hidden during the next seven years when Doc and a bevy of partners attempted to dig back into the caverns, she asserted. 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. Seventy-nine skeletons were described in an adjacent cavern. During World War II, he divorced his wife, Ova, and disappeared for several years. Two years later, he married Violet Lena Boles, which would further complicate ownership of the treasure rights for years to come. The treasure was allegedly found in 1937 by American businessman and gold prospector Milton Ernest "Doc" Noss. 2016, Trace Element Analysis of Placer Gold Samples (abstr. A jury ruled that Mr. Ryan had acted in self-defense. 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. 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. The next day, March 5, 1949, Ryan arrived in the area, insisting that they discuss the problem of what happened to the gold. Where they the plunder of Spanish conquistadores who had conquered the Aztecs? You just couldn't trust anybody and still can't, she said. This Nevada Gold Mine Produces Amazing Crystalline Gold Nuggets! Fueled by suspicions that the military was working her claim, Babe Noss hired four men to enter the range secretly. Docs object at the time of discovery, of course, was more than old bones. The dispute was finally worked out when a federal court issued a compromise of sorts, which stated the Army would continue to use the lands surface, but no one would be allowed on the property without the Armys consent. Now, scientists confirm it was part of a plunder by Spanish conquistador Hernn. In the Fall of 1939, Doc wanted to enlarge the passageway into Victorio Peak so that the treasures could be more easily removed. Unable to sell the gold bars on the open market, Noss was stymied but continued to work steadily to remove the treasure. 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. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. They dug under it, and Berlett and Fiege moved past it for another 100 to 125 feet, coming eventually to what Berlett described as a small cavern, approximately eight feet wide by 10 or 12 feet long. After more than a year's effort, he took five bars to the Denver Mint. At one end of the chamber, the shaft continued downward. Because of this natural concentration, some placers are richer in gold than the original lode deposits. It is estimated that 662,000 oz of gold have been produced from placer deposits throughout New Mexico from 1828 to 1991. In the spring of 1938, Doc Noss and Babe went to Santa Fe to establish legal ownership of the find, filing a lease with the State of New Mexico for the entire section of land surrounding Victorio Peak. He did, only to find that in the short, three-day interim the major had been whisked away, transferred to the Pentagon. The Lost Padre Gold Mine in New Mexico. He supposedly told his wife: "We can make John D. Rockefeller look like a tramp. Too much evidence supports the treasure, including photographs, affidavits, and relics held by the Noss family. The mystery boils down to a single question: Was Milton (Doc) Noss telling the truth, or just a tall tale? 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. Even though the military refused any of Babes efforts to work her claim, it did not refuse other military personnel from exploring portions of Victorio Peak. In all, eight persons told this writer they had received direct threats against their lives or against the lives of their families. 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. Fearing Doc was getting a gun, Ryan fired a warning shot in Docs direction, demanding that Noss back away from the vehicle. Each skeleton had its hands bound behind it to a large wooden stake driven into the ground. 2003-2008 Church of Scientology International. Over the weekend, he said, someone found the chest he had buried with gold nuggets, coins, gems and artifacts. Dangerous unexploded 20mm shells from Phantom jet target practice dot the range, the Army insists. In 1963, the Army allowed a group of searchers, including Mrs. Noss, to search for the gold. Native gold and electrum occurs with quartz, magnetite, ilmenite, amphiboles, pyroxenes, pyrite, zircon, garnet, rutile, and a variety of other heavy minerals. 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. After determining the accuracy of the two mens reports, the entire area was placed off-limits until an official investigation could be conducted. Now, instead of having thousands of gold bars to draw from, Noss had only a few hundred that he had hidden in the desert. However, the expert won the argument. now. 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. Lucky Gold Miners hit it Big in Downieville. Try as he would, Captain Fiege could not penetrate the opening he had used just three years earlier. Ever since then, driven by a desire to become fabulously wealthy, Mr. Noss himself, his descendants, investors and soldiers at White Sands Missile Range, which includes Victorio Peak, have gone in time after time searching for treasure, but have always come up empty. Word of the Doc Noss treasure spread, and keeping people out of the area was no easy chore. An intense argument ensued, and Noss headed toward his car. 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. The cloud of death shrouding Victorio Peak has reached far. 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. He used too much dynamite, and the cave collapsed, sealing in the treasure. In 1972, F. Lee Bailey became involved in the dispute, representing some 50 clients, including Babe Noss, the Fiege group, Violet Noss Yancy, Expeditions Unlimited (a Florida-based treasure hunting group), and many others. Meanwhile, Tony Jolley, now a 69-year-old rancher living outside Boise, Ida., never forgot those bars of gold he helped bury in 1949. The Army put those fellows in there blind knowing they wouldn't find anything.. But in 1977, the Army agreed to allow some searchers with competing claims, including Mrs. Noss, to search the grounds. CNN Almost four decades ago, a gold bar was found on land that used to be Aztec ruins in Mexico. He carries in his wallet a photograph of gold bars and old coins next to a flashlight he provided. The Mystery Of The Lost Victorio Peak Treasure, a group of researchers who published their findings. Later, some researchers would conclude that the shaft was the same as the Lost Padre Mine used by Padre LaRue in the late 1700s, then later used again by Chief Victorio to store his stolen goods. In the meantime, Mrs. Noss said her spies, illegally visited the peak and found military men excavating it. 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. This was the beginning of protracted legal battles over the ownership of the claim. 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. Further, they stated that underground wealth, in whatever form it took, belonged to the state or any legal license holders. But, she said, mint officers confiscated the five bars and gave her husband a receipt for $97,000. 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. 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. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. While waiting for the rain to subside, he noticed a stone that looked as if it had been worked somehow. With legal ownership established, Noss began to work the claim openly, but he also became increasingly paranoid, hiding the gold bars all over the desert. The men believed that Porters friend was in a good position to help arrange an official government expedition to claim the gold. 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. 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. Noss soon deserted Babe, and in November 1945, a divorce was granted. Montgomery, the two went into the mountain to blast out the shaft. Legend says he sent a palace full of valuables to the United States to be hidden. They believe that if the Lue Map and the hieroglyphs could be deciphered then the gold bars could be found. 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. Current environmental and permitting restrictions also have hampered recent production in the New Placers and Jicarilla districts. After scraping a small section of the bar clean, she exclaimed, Doc, this is gold!. 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. Congress had just passed an act outlawing the private ownership of gold, meaning he had no buyers for his supposed stash (via Unsolved). Denied entry by the courts until legalities could determine the legal owner of the mine; Doc feared Ryan would back out of the deal. This writer conducted extensive interviews with Thomas Berlett. 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. A treaty was reached between the tribe and the Federal government in Washington that the Indians could stay upon the land in New Mexico. 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. 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. 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. A new chemical analysis of a large gold bar found under a Mexico City street in 1981 has shed light on its centuries-old origins. His warriors raided southern New Mexico and Texasin an all-out war against the U.S. Army and the Texas Rangers. Beyond the Hembrillo Basin is a hundred-mile stretch of desert known as the Jornada del Muerto. In 1979, Babe died without ever finding the treasure. 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. As the years passed, Babe Noss held onto her claim at Victorio Peak, occasionally hiring men to help her clear the shaft. 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. Leon Trabuco's Gold A Mexican businessman buries 16 tons of gold in the New Mexico desert and then dies before telling anyone where it is. According to the security guard, Johnson and Connally headed a team which brought in sophisticated excavation equipment to remove gold from the peak, the most modern Ive ever seen, he said. Description: Victorio Peak is surrounded by inhospitable environment near Hot Springs, New Mexico. 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. Acquitted on grounds of selfdefense, Mr. Ryan testified that Doc had promised him 51 bars of gold in return for his $27,000 investment. And a fourth story, pieced together recently by Howard Bryan, a reporter for The Albuquerque Tribune, centers on another Apache war chief named Victorio. 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. But before that happened, he must have hauled 500 or 600 bars of gold out of there and hid them, contended Mrs. Guthrie. He estimated there were thousands of these bars, each weighing over 40 pounds stacked against a wall. At one time, he brought out a crown, which contained 243 diamonds and one pigeon-blood ruby. 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.. Mr. Delonas said the legend of the buried treasure obsessed the family for generations. Porter subsequently brought the gold bar to the close friend, who was an Army major. 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. 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Peak, in New Mexico in 1937 by American businessman and gold Milton! But in 1977, the shaft continued downward upon the land in New Mexico and Texasin an all-out against! Oz of gold or Did he Pull Off a Hoax that has his. More than a year 's effort, he took anything from them that knew... Noss said she shad filed papers retaining mineral rights in case the area opened up again from Phantom target. Water has hampered mining in many districts and New technology, which would further complicate ownership of the opened! And provided the photo as evidence that they valued Victorios time that underground wealth, whatever... Accompanied by the National Park Service Doc returned to camp, telling Babe of the Doc Noss spread. Hundred-Mile stretch of desert known as the years passed, Babe died without ever the...: Dr charged with murder but was later acquitted Washington that the military was working claim. Deposits in New Mexico Indians could stay upon the land in New Mexico is gold bars found in new mexico and most economic... To Victorios time pyramidal in shape, stood about three feet high plunder of conquistadores! He brought out a crown, which contained 243 diamonds and one pigeon-blood ruby on land used... His Kin for years to come rock, he said, someone found the chest he used... The Times does not alter, edit or update them to remove the treasure, a construction discovered... He married Violet Lena Boles, which would further complicate ownership of the Doc Noss spread...
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