American and foreign car makers have rented land at the installation to test new air bags. Seventy-nine skeletons were described in an adjacent cavern. Too much evidence supports the treasure, including photographs, affidavits, and relics held by the Noss family. And we were poor and I guess a little dumb. 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. Doc Noss was born in Oklahoma and traveled all over the Southwest, seeking excitement. If nothing else, he said, an exhaustive search would lay to rest a question that has driven the family for more than 50 years. Congress had just passed an act outlawing the private ownership of gold, meaning he had no buyers for his supposed stash (via Unsolved ). 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. Noss refused to obey, and Ryan fired again, hitting Noss in the head, killing him instantly. However, White Sands issued an edict expressly forbidding them to return to the base. 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. The engineer suggested eight sticks of dynamite, to which Noss heatedly disagreed, claiming the mountain was too unstable. As the years passed, Babe Noss held onto her claim at Victorio Peak, occasionally hiring men to help her clear the shaft. Its occasional visitors included hunting parties, and Doc Noss and his wife, Ova, were on one such expedition in search of deer. In 1963, the Army, consented to another search by a Denver mining company sponsored by the Museum of New Mexico. In effect, no one could mine the treasure, and that included the Army and Babe Noss. During World War II, he divorced his wife, Ova, and disappeared for several years. New York Times, July 29, 1992 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. 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. 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. When the rain finally stopped, Doc returned to camp, telling Babe of the discovery. Four. Reportedly the military was able to penetrate one of the caves and inventory the contents. However, it was a slow process, and in 1955, the White Sands Missile Range unexpectedly expanded their operations to encompass the Hembrillo Basin. This was shortly before a much-publicized expedition, entitled Operation Goldfinder, took place at the site in March 1977. And for good reason. The earliest reports of placer mining were in the 1600s along the northern Rio Grande. Hiring a mining engineer S.E. 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. Docs object at the time of discovery, of course, was more than old bones. Lifting the rock, he found a hole that led straight down into the mountain. All Rights Reserved. Caballo Mountains - Also called Horse Mountains, the peaks are located 35 miles north of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Though the gold bar was. 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. 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. Many years later, a man named Milton Ernest Doc Noss spent some time exploring Victorio Peak while on a deer hunt. Congress had just passed an act outlawing the private ownership of gold, meaning he had no buyers for his supposed stash (via Unsolved). 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. Once again, Doc began to descend about 125 feet before the shaft again leveled off into a large natural cavern. Although the originals have never been recovered, a copy of one of the documents proved to be a translation from Pope Pius III. History [ edit] Doc Noss The treasure was allegedly found in 1937 by American businessman and gold prospector Milton Ernest "Doc" Noss. 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. Lucky Gold Miners hit it Big in Downieville. Joe Andregg, an electrician from Santa Fe, New Mexico, reflected on the days when he worked with Doc Noss in the late 1930s. 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. These materials, including tape-recorded sessions wherein Lyndon Johnson discussed the disposition of some of the gold bars on his ranch, disappeared from Holmes office at the time of his death in February 1977. ", According to the family, Mr. Noss took some gold bars when he found the cavern in 1937, and planned to return for the rest. Work beneath the city has not slowed, and as science advances . CNN Almost four decades ago, a gold bar was found on land that used to be Aztec ruins in Mexico. All attempts failed, leaving him an embittered and angry man, which caused problems in his marriage. Sensing a double-cross by Ryan, Doc dug up the gold that was to be used in the exchange and reburied it in a place where Ryan was unaware. They insisted they were photographed, finger printed, harassed and not al lowed to go near the search area. 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. But the expedition soon went broke, and the Army declared that it would allow no more searches. 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. Mr. Bailey claimed that given a helicopter and a half-hour, he could find 292 gold bars. [6][5] By 1992, a grandson of Ova formed the Ova Noss Family Partnership to finance additional searching. Anyone can read what you share. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Meanwhile, Tony Jolley, now a 69-year-old rancher living outside Boise, Ida., never forgot those bars of gold he helped bury in 1949. 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. The gold was supposedly removed from the cave and sent to Fort Knox. She called her lawyer, Philip Koury, of Kansas City, who phoned General Shinkle. Unable to sell the gold bars on the open market, Noss was stymied but continued to work steadily to remove the treasure. 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. 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. Noss soon deserted Babe, and in November 1945, a divorce was granted. However, disputing the military claim, New Mexico officials stated that they leased only the lands surface to the military. [1][a] While there have been multiple documented expeditions to the peak, no gold has been officially recorded as being recovered from the site. There are four major stories on the treasure's origin, said Mr. Estimates vary on the number of bars removed, ranging up to 350 or so. The. Hunting by himself, Doc scouted the base of the mountain. The rate of this tax varies from 5.125% to 8.8675% depending on where the business is . 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. Published historic reserves exist for only two districts: Jicarilla with 5.4 million yd3 of 0.043 oz Au/yd3, or approximately 230,000 oz Au in place and Pittsburg with 2 million yd3 of 0.01 oz Au/yd3, or approximately 20,000 oz Au in place in 1936. They believe that if the Lue Map and the hieroglyphs could be deciphered then the gold bars could be found. 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. Instead, it has a "gross receipts tax." This is a tax levied on the business rather than the consumer, like in most states. Beyond the Hembrillo Basin is a hundred-mile stretch of desert known as the Jornada del Muerto. See the article in its original context from. Denied entry by the courts until legalities could determine the legal owner of the mine; Doc feared Ryan would back out of the deal. While waiting for the rain to subside, he noticed a stone that looked as if it had been worked somehow. The flamboyant lawyer F. Lee Bailey once said he represented 50 unnamed clients. However, Doc was unable to capitalize on the gold bars, as four years before his discovery, Congress had passed the Gold Act, which outlawed the private ownership of gold. Just 12 years after discovering the treasure, Doc Noss died with just $2.16 in his pocket. The Lue Map has very strange symbols. Additionally, the actual land where Victorio Peak is located was not owned by the State of New Mexico but rather by a man named Roy Henderson, who had leased it to the Army. 7 Louisiana Ghost Towns Hidden Deep in the Bayou. Case This was the beginning of protracted legal battles over the ownership of the claim. Several smaller rooms had been chiseled from the rock along one wall. (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 hell, I'll get Eleanor.. 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 1937, the peak was miles from nowhere. At one end of the chamber, the shaft continued downward. However, Terry Delonas, her grandson, continued the family tradition and formed the Ova Noss Family Partnership. For the next few years, Mr. Noss sought partners to help him find the gold. In the Fall of 1939, Doc wanted to enlarge the passageway into Victorio Peak so that the treasures could be more easily removed. Thayer Snipes of El Paso, Texas, swore to an affidavit regarding another death. A third story asserts that Geronimo hid, Apache booty in the area. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. 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. Montgomery, the two went into the mountain to blast out the shaft. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. I've heard that story at least 500 times. Dangerous unexploded 20mm shells from Phantom jet target practice dot the range, the Army insists. 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. 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. 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. 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. Mr. Mitchell is said to have forwarded the matter to the White House. Many people believe the search points to the area of the four corners. While Babe looked on from above, Doc inched his way down the narrow passageway into the mountain nearly 60 feet. And a fourth story, pieced together recently by Howard Bryan, a reporter for The Albuquerque Tribune, centers on another Apache war chief named Victorio. 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. 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. Before leaving, both men had observed an old wooden cross on one of the walls. Peering into the darkness, Doc saw an old man-made shaft with a thick, wooden pole attached at one side. 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). [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. 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. Where they the plunder of Spanish conquistadores who had conquered the Aztecs? His main source of income cut off, and his marriage to Babe already deteriorated, Noss was desperate to sell his remaining gold bars on the black market. [5] She later was part of an unsuccessful 1963 search. Meanwhile, Babe Noss had filed a counter-claim on the entire area. 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. 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. Parts of the treasure were described as gold, silver, jewels and as many as 16,000 gold bars estimated around $1.7 billion dollars. 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. He also found some old letters, the most recent of which was dated 1880. Porter subsequently brought the gold bar to the close friend, who was an Army major. Reaching a compromise, the military allowed Expeditions Unlimited, representing all of the claimants, to excavate the peak in 1977. Kathy Weiser-Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2021. Now, researchers say the bar was. In 1948, Doc met Charles Ryan, a Texan involved in drilling operations and oil exploration in West Texas. 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. Through the years, soldiers at White Sands have spent weekends looking for the gold. Mr. Fertig denied that the report had been censored. Many hieroglyphs have been found in New Mexico near his home, according to treasure hunters from the area. Native gold and electrum occurs with quartz, magnetite, ilmenite, amphiboles, pyroxenes, pyrite, zircon, garnet, rutile, and a variety of other heavy minerals. 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. 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.. 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. 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. 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