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 . During fluvial events, large volumes of sediment containing free gold are transported and deposited in relatively poorly-sorted alluvial and stream deposits. At the same time, he concentrated on the gold coins and bars. The gold was then shipped to Switzerland and sold in a new form in Zurich. 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. All four men Fiege, Thomas Berlett, Ken Prather and Milleadge Wessel were, at the time of their find, employees at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Passing through the large cavern, he came to a series of smaller caves rooms, he called them. Later, Fiege would take a lie detector test, which would allow Fiege back on the missile range. One man, a Mr. In 1948, Doc met Charles Ryan, a Texan involved in drilling operations and oil exploration in West Texas. Further, they stated that underground wealth, in whatever form it took, belonged to the state or any legal license holders. The 1.93-kilogram. Two years later, he married Violet Lena Boles, which would further complicate ownership of the treasure rights for years to come. 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. An investigation by Freedom has probed the history of that region, particularly the nearly 49 years since gold bars were first found in that area in November 1937 by a man named Milton Ernest "Doc" Noss, as fascinating a character as ever held a six-gun. 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. The future economic potential will depend upon the discovery of large-volume, medium-grade deposits that can be mined by bulk-mining methods. 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. Article content. 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. White Sands Missile Range, Legends, Ghosts, Myths and Mysteries Main Page, Byways & Historic Trails Great Drives in America, Soldiers and Officers in American History, Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas Declaring Independence, Stanley, Ks Extinct but Still Here (LOK), Black Bob Reservation in Johnson County (LOK), Make History Come Alive With These Online Tools and Resources. Berlett and Fiege had found a different passage into Victorio Peak, leading into a different chamber. You just couldn't trust anybody and still can't, she said. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. 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. In December 1961, General Shinkle shut down the operation and excluded anyone from entering the base who was not directly engaged in the missile research activities. "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. Work beneath the city has not slowed, and as science advances . 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. Several sand and gravel operators periodically extract minor quantities of placer gold from their quarries. WHITE SANDS, N.M. Lost treasure stories are a dime a dozen in the Southwest. Within moments he found more skeletons, most of them bound and secured to stakes like the first. 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. It has banned treasure hunters from the range since 1963. 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. All attempts failed, leaving him an embittered and angry man, which caused problems in his marriage. In 1979, he sold a small mail-order business to devote full time to the search. Unable to sell the gold bars on the open market, Noss was stymied but continued to work steadily to remove the treasure. However, the Army placed a two-week time limit on the group, and they had hardly started before they were forced to leave, without finding anything. Reaching a compromise, the military allowed Expeditions Unlimited, representing all of the claimants, to excavate the peak in 1977. Ova convinced Doc to return to the big cave and bring one of the heavy bars back up. 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. Near the bottom, he encountered a huge boulder hanging from the ceiling, almost blocking his way. The NMBGMR is conducting a research project examining the origin, occurrence, trace element composition, and resource potential of placer gold deposits in the state. 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. Case A narrow passage through rocks kept the bulky Porter from following the other two men into the depths of the peak. 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. The secret stash of a gold mine owner? Noss soon deserted Babe, and in November 1945, a divorce was granted. 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. When he reached the surface, he told Babe, This is the last one of them babies Im gonna bring out. However, when Babe rolled the bar over, she noticed a yellow gleam where the gravel of the hillside had scratched off centuries of black grime. 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. The Army then shut down all operations stating that no additional searches would be allowed. Where they the plunder of Spanish conquistadores who had conquered the Aztecs? 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. 'Like Any Other Client'. There are four major stories on the treasure's origin, said Mr. Exploring further, he found even more skeletons stacked in a small enclosure, much like a burial chamber. Instead, it has a "gross receipts tax." This is a tax levied on the business rather than the consumer, like in most states. 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.. In 1979, Babe died without ever finding the treasure. Did they even exist at all? Mr. Noss returned in the late 1940's with a new wife, and a business partner. The Army, which controls the missile range, insists there is no treasure and has never been any. Decades of Searching. As a child, he said he remembered his grandmother, Ova Noss, talking about it ceaselessly. But even the nicest people we'd take in, they'd see gold and go berserk.. On the walls were drawings, some painted and others chiseled, that appeared to have been made by Indians. However, according to a group of researchers who published their findingsfroma seismic study in the 1990s, there definitely is a sizable cavern underneath Victorio Peak, meaning there may be some truth to the treasure. They come in a variety of weights, fineness and designs. Ova Noss, her two sons, Harold and Marvin, and her two daughters, Letha and Dorothy, helped Doc in the strenuous task of removing the bars, one at a time, from the depths of the peak. He also found some old letters, the most recent of which was dated 1880. 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. In 1963, the Army allowed a group of searchers, including Mrs. Noss, to search for the gold. In the meantime, Mrs. Noss said her spies, illegally visited the peak and found military men excavating it. For the next few years, Mr. Noss sought partners to help him find the gold. The gold bar had disappeared without a trace. 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. Years later, in 1946, Doc discussed his exploration with Gordon E. Herkenhoff, field representative of the New Mexico State Land Office.1. (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 Yet that is exactly what happened to Milton "Doc" Noss, a traveling doctor who discovered an extensive cave network laden with gold and historical artifacts or so he claimed. The mystery boils down to a single question: Was Milton (Doc) Noss telling the truth, or just a tall tale? 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. 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. Though the gold bar was. 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. The rate of this tax varies from 5.125% to 8.8675% depending on where the business is . Lost Treasures, Recent Posts. 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. However, disputing the military claim, New Mexico officials stated that they leased only the lands surface to the military. This treasure was only the beginning. The room had been undisturbed for so long that the dust, according to Berlett, lay several inches thick. Topic at Watergate Hearings. 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. 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. But the expedition soon went broke, and the Army declared that it would allow no more searches. CNN Almost four decades ago, a gold bar was found on land that used to be Aztec ruins in Mexico. He also asserts that military security officers censored out of his report all references to military searches for the treasure. For three months beginning on June 20, 1963, the group used various techniques to search the area; however, they failed to turn up anything. 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. South Pass City - A Look into Wyoming's Past. The 1.93-kilogram bar was found . The buying entity was a Middle Eastern principal, Shriver said. Now, scientists confirm it was part of a plunder by Spanish conquistador Hernn. 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. Ova Noss, Leonard Fiege and others dont listen when they are told to shut up and they pay the price. But in 1977, the Army agreed to allow some searchers with competing claims, including Mrs. Noss, to search the grounds. 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. Returning through the main cavern, he noticed an immense stack of metal bars off to one side. 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). In November 1937, Doc, Babe, and four others left on a deer hunt into the Hembrillo Basin. some of the gold to Mexico, in light planes. The soldiers, Airman First Class Thomas Berlett and Captain Leonard V. Fiege said they had found approximately 100 gold bars weighing between 40 and 80 pounds each in a small cavern. He said he often grew angry that his grandmother was ignored or ridiculed for her efforts. The answer could be worth billions of dollars. [5] She later was part of an unsuccessful 1963 search. A deal with a man named Charlie Ryan went south, and Noss was gunned down. 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. [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. 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. Hunting by himself, Doc scouted the base of the mountain. 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. He told this writer that the gold bars in the cave were stacked like cordwood.. 2016, Trace Element Analysis of Placer Gold Samples (abstr. 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. However, the business often passes the tax onto the consumer by adding it to the selling price. 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. 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. 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. The earliest reports of placer mining were in the 1600s along the northern Rio Grande. 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. 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. Native gold and electrum occurs with quartz, magnetite, ilmenite, amphiboles, pyroxenes, pyrite, zircon, garnet, rutile, and a variety of other heavy minerals. Meanwhile, Noss's mining claims (for talc as a disguise) expired in 1948, and Mrs. Noss renewed them in her name. Maxmillian was assassinated in 1867. Although the originals have never been recovered, a copy of one of the documents proved to be a translation from Pope Pius III. After much searching, he finally found a small iron bar to carry back through the narrow passageway. That three or four weeks later Frank Foss told me that E.M. had called him and said he was in Central America. The flamboyant lawyer F. Lee Bailey once said he represented 50 unnamed clients. 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. 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. He was also known to take prisoners back to the Basin, where he subjected them to elaborate torture tests before killing them. 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. The total price for such a happy. 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. 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. Through the years, soldiers at White Sands have spent weekends looking for the gold. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. 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). [6][5] By 1992, a grandson of Ova formed the Ova Noss Family Partnership to finance additional searching. Noss claimed that he noticed a strange rock while taking shelter in a cave within Victorio Peak, in New Mexico in 1937. Parts of the treasure were described as gold, silver, jewels and as many as 16,000 gold bars estimated around $1.7 billion dollars. Beyond the Hembrillo Basin is a hundred-mile stretch of desert known as the Jornada del Muerto. CNN Almost four decades ago, a gold bar was found on land that used to be Aztec ruins in Mexico. In effect, no one could mine the treasure, and that included the Army and Babe Noss. Docs object at the time of discovery, of course, was more than old bones. . In 1937, the peak was miles from nowhere. Although a suitable path fit for wagons couldn't be found, traces of gold were found somewhere close to Silver City to the north. There is evidence to indicate that many gold bars were removed from Victorio Peak a short time after Lynn Porter brought the bar to the Fort Bliss provost marshals office. 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. 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. Still another source reported knowledge of aircraft movements of the gold from Chihuahua to Vancouver, British Columbia, during the period of Johnsons presidency. In a hunt that began last Thursday, Mr. Delonas's group has been given one year to search for the gold. Several smaller rooms had been chiseled from the rock along one wall. [1][a] While there have been multiple documented expeditions to the peak, no gold has been officially recorded as being recovered from the site. The engineer suggested eight sticks of dynamite, to which Noss heatedly disagreed, claiming the mountain was too unstable. Anyone can read what you share. Legend says he sent a palace full of valuables to the United States to be hidden. 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. Too much evidence supports the treasure, including photographs, affidavits, and relics held by the Noss family. 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. 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. The caverns are located in and around Victorio Peak, in a remote, rugged section of south-central New Mexico. 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.. Using ropes for support and guided by his flashlights wavering beam, Doc Noss descended a series of interconnecting chambers which led downward for 186 feet. During World War II, he divorced his wife, Ova, and disappeared for several years. They also were given and passed lie detector tests. And a fourth story, pieced together recently by Howard Bryan, a reporter for The Albuquerque Tribune, centers on another Apache war chief named Victorio. Victorio used the entire Hembrillo Basin as his stronghold, refusing to live on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona, where the government wanted to banish him. Army spokesmen have consistently dismissed all reports of Victorio Peak gold as rumors. An apparent propaganda campaign, in fact, has been conducted for many years by the Army in order to dispel these reports and to keep treasure seekers away from the missile range. This was shortly before a much-publicized expedition, entitled Operation Goldfinder, took place at the site in March 1977. A small town was built near the place Jan 20, 2020 Ian Harvey. Our Mineral Museum
Another concerns renegades who robbed the Monterey Mint in 1743 and were in turn attacked by Apaches. The soldiers, Airman First Class Thomas Berlett and Captain Leonard V. Fiege said they had found approximately 100 gold bars weighing between 40 and 80 pounds each in a small cavern. He also told his wife that there were enough gold and silver coins to load 60 to 80 mules.. See the article in its original context from. White Sands, New Mexico by the National Park Service. 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. 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. Ryan hinted that if Noss did not reveal the whereabouts of the gold, Doc would not live to enjoy it. It is estimated that 662,000 oz of gold have been produced from placer deposits throughout New Mexico from 1828 to 1991. Reportedly, he amassed a treasure of gold, silver, and jewels before being ordered back to Mexico City in 1607. There wasn't much known about a 4-pound gold bar discovered during construction work in Mexico City nearly 40 years ago, but now experts are calling the precious metal an Aztec relic. The Lost Padre Gold Mine in New Mexico. But before that happened, he must have hauled 500 or 600 bars of gold out of there and hid them, contended Mrs. Guthrie. 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. In 1981, a construction worker discovered the gold bar, weighing 4.25 lbs. Seventy-nine skeletons were described in an adjacent cavern. Peak and look, accompanied by the missile range commander, Maj. Gen. John G. Shinkle, military pblicemen and Treasury agents. The fortune of a Mexican emperor? 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 cave was covering a small tunnel, originally thought to be an abandoned mineshaft. Fueled by suspicions that the military was working her claim, Babe Noss hired four men to enter the range secretly. 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. 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 . Four major groups of claimants accuse the oothers of trying to cheat them out of it. In the room were two large stacks of gold bars, each roughly six feet high, three feet wide and eight feet long. : Did 'Doc' Noss Really Find Caverns of Gold or Did He Pull Off a Hoax That Has Plagued His Kin for Years? Ova Noss took up the search, without success. Yet, Doc trusted no one, not even his Babe, disappearing into the desert, hiding pieces of the treasure in places that he never revealed. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. That about a month after that, I heard E.M. had been beaten to death in California. 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. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. He stood guard while McDonald and the other man descended into a large cavern, returning with a crudely formed gold bar roughly 2 1/2 inches wide by 7 inches long. [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 jury ruled that Mr. Ryan had acted in self-defense. After the death of Doc Noss, Ova and her family continued efforts to regain access to the big treasure room. After scraping a small section of the bar clean, she exclaimed, Doc, this is gold!. If nothing else, he said, an exhaustive search would lay to rest a question that has driven the family for more than 50 years. November 1945, a construction worker discovered the gold, Doc, Babe died without finding... Heard E.M. had called him and said he remembered his grandmother, Ova and. Family Partnership to finance additional searching a different chamber cheat them out it. 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