gold bars found in new mexico

Berlett and Fiege had found a different passage into Victorio Peak, leading into a different chamber. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. The caverns are located in and around Victorio Peak, in a remote, rugged section of south-central New Mexico. I've heard that story at least 500 times. When Docs story eventually hit the headlines, scholars began speculating on how the enormous treasure could have come to be stashed inside Victorio Peak. They believe that if the Lue Map and the hieroglyphs could be deciphered then the gold bars could be found. 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. Some believe that Doc Noss found the Casa del Cueva de Oro, Spanish for the House of the Golden Cave. 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. 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. Fearing a Federal swindle at the time, Noss returned to Victoria Peak, carrying out gold bars and hiding them, Mrs. Guthrie said. The bars that Noss and his crew removed from Victorio Peak were, in general, crudely formed, indicating the use of primitive smelting processes. Noss claimed that he noticed a strange rock while taking shelter in a cave within Victorio Peak, in New Mexico in 1937. In 1961, he returned to the desert and claims to have found 10 . Its occasional visitors included hunting parties, and Doc Noss and his wife, Ova, were on one such expedition in search of deer. By completing a chemical analysis and determining the particle morphology of placer gold collected from these districts using an electron microprobe, patterns in the chemical signatures from each location can be used to examine chemical variability (1) within the individual placer gold particles, (2) within the same district and (3) among different districts. He has recruited friends and investors to form the Ova Noss Family Partnership, named for his late grandmother, that is financing the new search. After 35 years of localized dispute, the Great White Sands Missile Range Lost Gold Treasure Affair has blossomed into a national mystery. 'Like Any Other Client'. [6][5] By 1992, a grandson of Ova formed the Ova Noss Family Partnership to finance additional searching. This Nevada Gold Mine Produces Amazing Crystalline Gold Nuggets! Lifting the rock, he found a hole that led straight down into the mountain. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. As a child, he said he remembered his grandmother, Ova Noss, talking about it ceaselessly. That three or four weeks later Frank Foss told me that E.M. had called him and said he was in Central America. But Doc Noss cared little about the historical value of the treasures inside Victorio Peak, mostly ignoring the pouches, packs, and artifacts. However, the expert won the argument. Now there were two military commands involved. After three years they were given permission to go back to Victoria. The Army, which runs the missile range, required the searchers to put up $150,000 to cover the cost of environmental assessments, as well as increased security forces. Many streams in New Mexico contain at least traces of gold, enough to satisfy weekend gold panners. 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. Once again, Doc began to descend about 125 feet before the shaft again leveled off into a large natural cavern. Nearly choking, the two men hastily marked their claim and made their exit. 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 . They insisted they were photographed, finger printed, harassed and not al lowed to go near the search area. Mrs. Ova Noss said she shad filed papers retaining mineral rights in case the area opened up again. Now, scientists confirm it was part of a plunder by Spanish conquistador Hernn. 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. Legend says he sent a palace full of valuables to the United States to be hidden. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Gold Bars Available from APMEX Gold bullion bars are an investor favorite. This has led to charges that military officers have stolen, are stealing, or are preparing to steal the treasure for themselves. A deal with a man named Charlie Ryan went south, and Noss was gunned down. The mystery boils down to a single question: Was Milton (Doc) Noss telling the truth, or just a tall tale? Among those who attested to the accessibility of the peaks treasure was Lynn Porter, a businessman now residing in San Diego, California. While waiting for the rain to subside, he noticed a stone that looked as if it had been worked somehow. 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. Dangerous unexploded 20mm shells from Phantom jet target practice dot the range, the Army insists. He also told his wife that there were enough gold and silver coins to load 60 to 80 mules.. The skeletons hands were bound behind its back apparently, the person had been deliberately left there to die. 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.. 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. 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. 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. See the article in its original context from. 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. Mrs. Noss believes Mr. Bailey's clients to be mili tary officers and perhaps some of her husband's old partners. 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. They even brought in their own security guards, he added. 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. Four major groups of claimants accuse the oothers of trying to cheat them out of it. Reaching down, he could not budge it, but after digging around the rock, he got his hands under it. Ova Noss took up the search, without success. Edward Atkins of Decatur, Illinois, had been a claimant to the peaks gold and was vigorously pursuing that claim via attorney Darrell Holmes of Athens, Georgia, when Holmes died under mysterious circumstances. 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. 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. But while trying to blast his way to the gold in 1939, he accidentally closed the hole. Others believe that Noss found the treasure of Don Juan de Onate, who, in 1598, founded New Mexico as a Spanish colony. now. Theories spread over how 16,000 gold bars came to be stashed away in a random cave in New Mexico. Lost Treasures, Recent Posts. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Meanwhile, Babe Noss had filed a counter-claim on the entire area. After more than a year's effort, he took five bars to the Denver Mint. A narrow passage through rocks kept the bulky Porter from following the other two men into the depths of the peak. Representative Harold Runnels, a Democrat whose district includes the White Sands range, has proposed a joint Federalstate search for the treasure. After some airmen from a nearby air force base claimed they found some gold at Victorio Peak, the Army and Secret Service began a secret search in 1961. Patterson, Don Breech, Edgar F. Foreman, Leo D. OConnell, Eppie Montoya and B.D. Still another source reported knowledge of aircraft movements of the gold from Chihuahua to Vancouver, British Columbia, during the period of Johnsons presidency. Shriver estimated the total amount of gold removed from Victorio Peak at 25 million troy ounces, of which 10 million came out in 1976. There were thousands of them, covered with old, dusty buffalo hides. Noss soon deserted Babe, and in November 1945, a divorce was granted. On each trip, Doc would retrieve two gold bars and as many artifacts as he could carry. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. They found nothing. He was shot to death in 1949, but his first wife, Mrs. Ova Noss, now 77years old, insists she was with him. 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). November 16, 2015. Mr. Mitchell is said to have forwarded the matter to the White House. Gold also concentrates above cemented gravels and clay layers within gravel deposits, which constrain downward migration of gold particles. 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. Ryan was charged with murder but was later acquitted. Noss traveled down, passing caverns with Native American designs until he reached a room with hoards of gold, jewels, pouches, documents and 27 skeletons. Rare Gold Nuggets. Mr. Bailey later dropped the matter. Doc mentioned nothing of his find to the group, choosing instead to return to the site a couple of days later with Ova. 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. (1.93 kilograms), while digging for the construction of a central bank in Mexico City. To further complicate things, rumors swirled about various factions smuggling. The flamboyant lawyer F. Lee Bailey once said he represented 50 unnamed clients. ", According to the family, Mr. Noss took some gold bars when he found the cavern in 1937, and planned to return for the rest. In 1963, the Army allowed a group of searchers, including Mrs. Noss, to search for the gold. The NMBGMR is conducting a research project examining the origin, occurrence, trace element composition, and resource potential of placer gold deposits in the state. 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. Most placer deposits in New Mexico had been discovered by 1900. 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. 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. However, it was a slow process, and in 1955, the White Sands Missile Range unexpectedly expanded their operations to encompass the Hembrillo Basin. Jan 20, 2020 Ian Harvey. 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