gold bars found in 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. Legend says he sent a palace full of valuables to the United States to be hidden. In September 1961, Berlett and Fiege swore to the specifics of their discovery in detailed affidavits provided to federal officials. During World War II, he divorced his wife, Ova, and disappeared for several years. The slightest movement stirred up a cloud. The higher gold values occur near the base of alluvial gravel deposits where the gold is trapped by natural processes such as riffles in the river bottom, fractures within the bedrock, along bedding or foliation planes, and/or structures that are transverse to the river flow. 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. Alleged gold cache in the U.S. state of New Mexico, "Hunt for Fabulous Cache of Gold Lands in Court", "Following 1937 Story of Buried Gold, Family Searches New Mexico's Sands", "Seekers of fabled southern N.M. treasure sue Army", "Authors re-examine Victorio Peak storyand think gold really may be there", "Treasure or Treachery? 'Like Any Other Client'. This writer conducted extensive interviews with Thomas Berlett. A small town was built near the place If nothing else, he said, an exhaustive search would lay to rest a question that has driven the family for more than 50 years. Docs object at the time of discovery, of course, was more than old bones. 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.. 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. They even brought in their own security guards, he added. 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. Peak and look, accompanied by the missile range commander, Maj. Gen. John G. Shinkle, military pblicemen and Treasury agents. [5] She later was part of an unsuccessful 1963 search. The secret stash of a gold mine owner? Finally reaching the bottom, Doc stepped into a chamber the size of a small room. According to members of the family, there would have been more, but Docs work was abruptly and unexpectedly brought to a halt in August 1939 when a dynamite blast, set to enlarge a narrow passage, instead caved the passage in, sealing off the main cavern. When it began to rain, Doc sought shelter under a rocky overhang near the mountains summit. Unable to sell the gold bars on the open market, Noss was stymied but continued to work steadily to remove the treasure. A treaty was reached between the tribe and the Federal government in Washington that the Indians could stay upon the land in New Mexico. 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. Another concerns renegades who robbed the Monterey Mint in 1743 and were in turn attacked by Apaches. Within moments he found more skeletons, most of them bound and secured to stakes like the first. Many years later, a man named Milton Ernest Doc Noss spent some time exploring Victorio Peak while on a deer hunt. [6][5] By 1992, a grandson of Ova formed the Ova Noss Family Partnership to finance additional searching. And a fourth story, pieced together recently by Howard Bryan, a reporter for The Albuquerque Tribune, centers on another Apache war chief named Victorio. Three days later the Nosses went back, and in the months that followed, Noss hauled gold bars, one at a time, with enormous effort up the narrow passageway, according to Mrs. Noss's daughter, Mrs. Letha Guthrie of Clovis, who said she was also there part of the, time. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. It is estimated that 662,000 oz of gold have been produced from placer deposits throughout New Mexico from 1828 to 1991. 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 cast of characters ranges from John W. Dean 3d to Geronimo and the vocabulary is marked by double as a prefixas in doublecross, doubletalk and doubledealing. 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. They believe that if the Lue Map and the hieroglyphs could be deciphered then the gold bars could be found. Its occasional visitors included hunting parties, and Doc Noss and his wife, Ova, were on one such expedition in search of deer. 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. is also on Facebook, New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources, Notice of Right to Inspect Public Records, Stephen Wells Bright Star Scholar Program, National Uranium Resource Evaluation database (NURE), Stacy Timmons interviewed for "Searchlight New Mexico" article, New paper published on the timing of small-volume eruptions and related volcanic hazards at Valles caldera. One partner, Charles Ryan, shot and killed Doc on March 5, 1949, in Hatch, N. M., after an argument. 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. 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.. 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. There are four major stories on the treasure's origin, said Mr. There were thousands of them, covered with old, dusty buffalo hides. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. 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. 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. In a hunt that began last Thursday, Mr. Delonas's group has been given one year to search for the gold. For the next few years, Mr. Noss sought partners to help him find the gold. 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. Six men who worked with Doc in removing the gold C.D. Although the originals have never been recovered, a copy of one of the documents proved to be a translation from Pope Pius III. The skeletons hands were bound behind its back apparently, the person had been deliberately left there to die. Lampros later signed sworn affidavits regarding their experiences. The Mystery Of The Lost Victorio Peak Treasure, a group of researchers who published their findings. Passing through the large cavern, he came to a series of smaller caves rooms, he called them. Doc attempted illegally to sell his gold for nine years, but it wasnt easy finding buyers. Lifting the rock, he found a hole that led straight down into the mountain. After 35 years of localized dispute, the Great White Sands Missile Range Lost Gold Treasure Affair has blossomed into a national mystery. Several sand and gravel operators periodically extract minor quantities of placer gold from their quarries. 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. 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. Another source confirmed the manner and the circumstances of E.M. Guthries death, noting that it was listed as just a natural death, but hed been worked over with a baseball bat. This source said that he had hired a team of experienced investigators to dig into Guthries death and more than 30 other deaths in connection with a massive, continuing cover-up of the removal of gold from Victorio Peak. 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. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. Ova Noss took up the search, without success. November 16, 2015. Shriver estimated the total amount of gold removed from Victorio Peak at 25 million troy ounces, of which 10 million came out in 1976. I was just a kid, about 13 or 14 years old, he told this writer. 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. Many people believe the search points to the area of the four corners. (1.93 kilograms), while digging for the construction of a central bank in Mexico City. 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. In 1979, he sold a small mail-order business to devote full time to the search. She called her lawyer, Philip Koury, of Kansas City, who phoned General Shinkle. Many hieroglyphs have been found in New Mexico near his home, according to treasure hunters from the area. "We're treating the gold searchers just like any other client," said Jim Eckles, a spokesman for the White Sands range. 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. He said he often grew angry that his grandmother was ignored or ridiculed for her efforts. Gold Bars Dozens of people claim a piece of the actionthat is, gold bars and treasure said to be hidden on the missile range, and worth from a few million dollars to $1.5billion. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. Background research into the enormous wealth contained in the caverns of Victorio Peak revealed many eyewitness reports of the gold. It would also explain the presence of the Wells Fargo bags, packsaddles, letters, and other artifacts dating to Victorios time. A jury ruled that Mr. Ryan had acted in self-defense. 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. 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 1.93-kilogram bar was found . Porter subsequently brought the gold bar to the close friend, who was an Army major. Try as he would, Captain Fiege could not penetrate the opening he had used just three years earlier. A third, smaller stack, pyramidal in shape, stood about three feet high. The Army, which controls the missile range, insists there is no treasure and has never been any. WHITE SANDS, N.M. Lost treasure stories are a dime a dozen in the Southwest. Further, they stated that underground wealth, in whatever form it took, belonged to the state or any legal license holders. Berlett and Fiege had found a different passage into Victorio Peak, leading into a different chamber. He has recruited friends and investors to form the Ova Noss Family Partnership, named for his late grandmother, that is financing the new search. An intense argument ensued, and Noss headed toward his car. 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. 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. 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. Fueled by suspicions that the military was working her claim, Babe Noss hired four men to enter the range secretly. As the years passed, Babe Noss held onto her claim at Victorio Peak, occasionally hiring men to help her clear the shaft. 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