Victorio Peak, a craggy outcropping of rock barely 500 feet tall, lies in the center of a desert lake known as the Hembrillo Basin in New Mexico. 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. But even the nicest people we'd take in, they'd see gold and go berserk.. 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. Parts of White Sands are sometimes leased by private corporations and foreign governments for experiments. For the next few years, Mr. Noss sought partners to help him find the gold. 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 the meantime, Mrs. Noss said her spies, illegally visited the peak and found military men excavating it. Noss agreed with Ryan to exchange some of the gold bars for $25,000 to reopen the shaft. The world's first atomic bomb was detonated here on July 16, 1945. With so many options available, APMEX has made it easy to find the right Gold bar for your collection or portfolio. Recreational mining continues intermittently in the White Oaks, Pittsburg, Hillsboro, Orogrande and Jicarilla districts to the present day. During World War II, he divorced his wife, Ova, and disappeared for several years. Docs object at the time of discovery, of course, was more than old bones. The gold concentrates by gravity in incised stream valleys and alluvial fans in deeply weathered highlands. Representative Harold Runnels, a Democrat whose district includes the White Sands range, has proposed a joint Federalstate search for the treasure. However, Noss demanded to see the money before revealing the new hiding place. The two decided to keep the discovery between themselves and return to inspect the shaft later. That while visiting Foss, a man we both knew, E.M. Guthrie, drove in to the station in a late model Ford Thunderbird. This was the beginning of protracted legal battles over the ownership of the claim. Fearing Doc was getting a gun, Ryan fired a warning shot in Docs direction, demanding that Noss back away from the vehicle. The skeletons hands were bound behind its back apparently, the person had been deliberately left there to die. 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. A treaty was reached between the tribe and the Federal government in Washington that the Indians could stay upon the land in New Mexico. Suddenly, a host of people surfaced to lay claims on the legendary gold treasure. 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. However, with the discovery of gold, the treaty was broken in 1878, and Victorio went on the warpath. The men believed that Porters friend was in a good position to help arrange an official government expedition to claim the gold. 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. Others believe that Noss found the treasure of Don Juan de Onate, who, in 1598, founded New Mexico as a Spanish colony. In a hunt that began last Thursday, Mr. Delonas's group has been given one year to search for the gold. now. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. A priest named LaRue at Durango in northern Mexico was looking after the soldier who told the priest . Ova convinced Doc to return to the big cave and bring one of the heavy bars back up. He said he often grew angry that his grandmother was ignored or ridiculed for her efforts. 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. He said I'll get F.D.R. Four. 'Like Any Other Client'. 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. 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. Background research into the enormous wealth contained in the caverns of Victorio Peak revealed many eyewitness reports of the gold. This has led to charges that military officers have stolen, are stealing, or are preparing to steal the treasure for themselves. 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. Near the bottom, he encountered a huge boulder hanging from the ceiling, almost blocking his way. This time, the military began a full-scale mining operation at the Peak. On each trip, Doc would retrieve two gold bars and as many artifacts as he could carry. What looked to be a piece of iron was a solid gold bar. 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. But Doc Noss cared little about the historical value of the treasures inside Victorio Peak, mostly ignoring the pouches, packs, and artifacts. It all started in 1937, when Mr. Noss, who practiced as a foot doctor though it was never clear if he had a medical license, returned from a hunting trip at New Mexico's Victorio Peak with startling news: he had glimpsed a hidden trove of riches, 16,000 gold bars. 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 . At one time, he brought out a crown, which contained 243 diamonds and one pigeon-blood ruby. 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. The family declines to discuss the incident. The fortune of a Mexican emperor? 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. Attacking wagon trains, settlements, mail coaches, and churches, he took anything from them that they valued. The. However, disputing the military claim, New Mexico officials stated that they leased only the lands surface to the military. The caverns are located in and around Victorio Peak, in a remote, rugged section of south-central New Mexico. This treasure was only the beginning. Discovered by a . To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Jan 20, 2020 Ian Harvey. Meanwhile, Noss's mining claims (for talc as a disguise) expired in 1948, and Mrs. Noss renewed them in her name. 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. The cloud of death shrouding Victorio Peak has reached far. [6][5] By 1992, a grandson of Ova formed the Ova Noss Family Partnership to finance additional searching. They bore the Spanish stamp. 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. Bill Shriver, before his death, told this writer that he had a copy of a transcribed order from Lyndon Johnson describing in detail how the president wanted a military escort to handle the supply of gold taken out of Victorio Peak and taken to his ranch. Becoming even more complicated, a search of mining records failed to turn up any existing claims including that of Doc Noss. Too much evidence supports the treasure, including photographs, affidavits, and relics held by the Noss family. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. The Army says the gold was never found. Los Angeles Times The secret stash of a gold mine owner? Two local ranch workers stumbled upon the search and notified Mrs. Noss. The gold, Porters friend stated breathlessly, ran in a tremendous stack along one side of the cavern stretching for approximately 200 yards. Now, instead of having thousands of gold bars to draw from, Noss had only a few hundred that he had hidden in the desert. In November 1958, a team of four weekend gold seekers rediscovered the hoard. 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. 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. That three or four weeks later Frank Foss told me that E.M. had called him and said he was in Central America. Noss divorced her, charging desertion. Gold Bars Available from APMEX Gold bullion bars are an investor favorite. 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. In 1963, the Army, consented to another search by a Denver mining company sponsored by the Museum of New Mexico. 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. 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. 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. The Legendary Treasure White Sands Missile Range, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/13/archives/the-legendary-treasure-of-the-white-sands-missile-range-gold-bars.html. The buying entity was a Middle Eastern principal, Shriver said. When the rain finally stopped, Doc returned to camp, telling Babe of the discovery. Others speculate that the treasure could be the missing wealth of Emperor Maxmillian, who served as Mexicos emperor in the 1860s. 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. 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. Topic at Watergate Hearings. The answer could be worth billions of dollars. On August 5, Fiege and his party returned to Victorio Peak, accompanied by the commander of the Missile Range, a secret service agent, and 14 military police. The future economic potential will depend upon the discovery of large-volume, medium-grade deposits that can be mined by bulk-mining methods. At the same time, he concentrated on the gold coins and bars. WHITE SANDS, N.M. Lost treasure stories are a dime a dozen in the Southwest. Two years later, he married Violet Lena Boles, which would further complicate ownership of the treasure rights for years to come. Today, the Armys official position on the whereabouts of the gold remains cautious, maintaining that the burden of proof rests with the accusers. In 1955, the missile range was expanded and, the Army closed Victoria Peak to outsiders. 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. The gold was then shipped to Switzerland and sold in a new form in Zurich. The bars that Noss and his crew removed from Victorio Peak were, in general, crudely formed, indicating the use of primitive smelting processes. 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. 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. Although a suitable path fit for wagons couldn't be found, traces of gold were found somewhere close to Silver City to the north. Hunting by himself, Doc scouted the base of the mountain. To further complicate things, rumors swirled about various factions smuggling. A third, smaller stack, pyramidal in shape, stood about three feet high. Letha Guthrie, Ovas eldest daughter from a previous marriage, described the next few years as a very happy time for the Noss family, one of simple, hard work with a bright, limitless future. 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. 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. Mr. Fertig denied that the report had been censored. This Nevada Gold Mine Produces Amazing Crystalline Gold Nuggets! 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. That about a month after that, I heard E.M. had been beaten to death in California. November 16, 2015. Berlett viewed this as substantiation for the theory that Spaniards had been responsible for stashing the gold. 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. In November 1937, Doc, Babe, and four others left on a deer hunt into the Hembrillo Basin. They had trekked in from Hot Springs, New Mexico, a town since renamed Truth or Consequences. [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]. I was just a kid, about 13 or 14 years old, he told this writer. 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. A Partner and a Gunfight. 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.. American and foreign car makers have rented land at the installation to test new air bags. In 1979, he sold a small mail-order business to devote full time to the search. An intense argument ensued, and Noss headed toward his car. 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. Hearing about the story, Captain Swanner, who was stationed at White Sands Missile Range in the early 1960s, came forward. Gold also concentrates above cemented gravels and clay layers within gravel deposits, which constrain downward migration of gold particles. He was also known to take prisoners back to the Basin, where he subjected them to elaborate torture tests before killing them. Now, cleared to go by an act of Congress, the best-equipped search ever is under way with $1 million in backing from the descendants and some investors. In effect, no one could mine the treasure, and that included the Army and Babe Noss. Moon, said that he was from the White House Secret Service detail and he showed the officer a green, laminated card which stated Secret Service, Division of the White House. Another man, an engineer named Dick Richardson, told the officer that he was a boyhood friend of Lyndon Johnsons and that he had personally counted 18,888 gold bars in one stack in a cavern at Victorio Peak, each bar weighing about 60 pounds. Thayer Snipes of El Paso, Texas, swore to an affidavit regarding another death. 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. 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. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. 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. He estimated there were thousands of these bars, each weighing over 40 pounds stacked against a wall. They even brought in their own security guards, he added. But the matter would not rest. 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. 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. He bolted from the Mescalero reservation in 1879 and camped near Victoria Peak while plundering the countryside and raiding Wells Fargo stagecoaches. New York Times, July 29, 1992 Lucky Gold Miners hit it Big in Downieville. 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