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. He used too much dynamite, and the cave collapsed, sealing in the treasure. 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. As a child, he said he remembered his grandmother, Ova Noss, talking about it ceaselessly. 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. According to accounts from members of the Noss family, Doc bagged no deer, but he found something that whetted his appetite for the area a shaft near the top of Victorio Peak which led into the bowels of the mountain. "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. Ryan hinted that if Noss did not reveal the whereabouts of the gold, Doc would not live to enjoy it. 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. White Sands, New Mexico by the National Park Service. Ryan was charged with murder but was later acquitted. Mr. Noss, a traveling doctor who was known for a hot temper and an appetite for liquor, claimed that the cache consisted of Spanish artifacts and Wells Fargo chests, along with the gold. 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. Lampros later signed sworn affidavits regarding their experiences. Lack of water has hampered mining in many districts and new technology, which minimizes water usage, may stimulate activity. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. 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. It is estimated that 662,000 oz of gold have been produced from placer deposits throughout New Mexico from 1828 to 1991. The two men told Porter they had taken one of the smaller bars from the stack because they felt it would be easier to handle than one of the large bars in moving through the long and sometimes difficult passage. 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. Doc mentioned nothing of his find to the group, choosing instead to return to the site a couple of days later with Ova. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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. 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. This could explain the skeletons in the cavern. The family declines to discuss the incident. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Later, the wealth in the cave would be calculated to be worth more than two billion dollars. In November 1937, Doc, Babe, and four others left on a deer hunt into the Hembrillo Basin. Mr. Bailey later dropped the matter. 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. The night before his death, perhaps sensing that a business deal was going sour, Doc enlisted the aid of a cowboy named Tony Jolley to shuffle the locations of various stashes of the bars. Lost Treasures, Recent Posts. : Did 'Doc' Noss Really Find Caverns of Gold or Did He Pull Off a Hoax That Has Plagued His Kin for Years? This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Jan 20, 2020 Ian Harvey. This time, the military began a full-scale mining operation at the Peak. To further complicate things, rumors swirled about various factions smuggling. 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. 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. 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. Gold also concentrates above cemented gravels and clay layers within gravel deposits, which constrain downward migration of gold particles. Fearing Doc was getting a gun, Ryan fired a warning shot in Docs direction, demanding that Noss back away from the vehicle. 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. Noss agreed with Ryan to exchange some of the gold bars for $25,000 to reopen the shaft. 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. Shriver also said that he had copies of other presidential messages, several initialed by LBJ, dealing with the clandestine, illegal removal of the gold. He did, only to find that in the short, three-day interim the major had been whisked away, transferred to the Pentagon. In 1979, Babe died without ever finding the treasure. He was also known to take prisoners back to the Basin, where he subjected them to elaborate torture tests before killing them. 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. New York Times, July 29, 1992 After 35 years of localized dispute, the Great White Sands Missile Range Lost Gold Treasure Affair has blossomed into a national mystery. 2016, Trace Element Analysis of Placer Gold Samples (abstr. 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. He said he often grew angry that his grandmother was ignored or ridiculed for her efforts. Noss refused to obey, and Ryan fired again, hitting Noss in the head, killing him instantly. 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. And for good reason. (1.93 kilograms), while digging for the construction of a central bank in Mexico City. But in a dispute over the treasure in 1949, the business partner, Charlie Ryan, shot Mr. Noss to death. Los Angeles Times 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. Dangerous unexploded 20mm shells from Phantom jet target practice dot the range, the Army insists. Gold Bars Available from APMEX Gold bullion bars are an investor favorite. Where they the plunder of Spanish conquistadores who had conquered the Aztecs? As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. It would also explain the presence of the Wells Fargo bags, packsaddles, letters, and other artifacts dating to Victorios time. 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. After three years they were given permission to go back to Victoria. 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.. Mr. Fertig denied that the report had been censored. Mr. Koury asserted that the General first denied the search was on but admitted it later when sworn statements from the spies were produced. The gold concentrates by gravity in incised stream valleys and alluvial fans in deeply weathered highlands. The two decided to keep the discovery between themselves and return to inspect the shaft later. Because of this natural concentration, some placers are richer in gold than the original lode deposits. One group of claimants took the flashlight and provided the photo as evidence that they knew the location of the treasure. 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. [5] The partnership conducted unsuccessful searches until March 1996, when the Army suspended their access. Many streams in New Mexico contain at least traces of gold, enough to satisfy weekend gold panners. Hiring a mining engineer S.E. Four major groups of claimants accuse the oothers of trying to cheat them out of it. But while trying to blast his way to the gold in 1939, he accidentally closed the hole. The Mystery Of The Lost Victorio Peak Treasure, a group of researchers who published their findings. A source interviewed in Mexico stated that it was common knowledge in the towns of Jimenez and Camargo that Johnsons 110,000-acre ranch in Chihuahua served as a storage area for a very large amount of gold flown in by a four-engine, propeller-driven aircraft in the late 1960s. He bolted from the Mescalero reservation in 1879 and camped near Victoria Peak while plundering the countryside and raiding Wells Fargo stagecoaches. Hearing about the story, Captain Swanner, who was stationed at White Sands Missile Range in the early 1960s, came forward. Mrs. Ova Noss said she shad filed papers retaining mineral rights in case the area opened up again. 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. The economic potential of placer deposits in New Mexico is unknown and most known economic placers in the state have been worked. Most deposits are thin and less than 45 ft below the surface, but thicker deposits are found in the Elizabethtown-Baldy district (up to 275 ft) and in the Rio Grande Valley district (up to 370 ft). By James P. Sterba Special to The New York Times. One man, a Mr. MEXICO CITY 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 . 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. Still another source reported knowledge of aircraft movements of the gold from Chihuahua to Vancouver, British Columbia, during the period of Johnsons presidency. Attacking wagon trains, settlements, mail coaches, and churches, he took anything from them that they valued. Leon Trabuco's Gold A Mexican businessman buries 16 tons of gold in the New Mexico desert and then dies before telling anyone where it is. Montgomery, the two went into the mountain to blast out the shaft. Now, scientists confirm it was part of a plunder by Spanish conquistador Hernn. 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. 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. Seeking out the Seven Cities of Gold, Onate was said to have been a cruel man, brutally subjugating the Indians to do his bidding by beating and torturing them. In November 1958, a team of four weekend gold seekers rediscovered the hoard. Ova Noss took up the search, without success. Doc later brought one of the eerie things out.2. 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. The rate of this tax varies from 5.125% to 8.8675% depending on where the business is . 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. "We're treating the gold searchers just like any other client," said Jim Eckles, a spokesman for the White Sands range. 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. Babe then began a regular correspondence with the military requesting permission to work her claim, but she was always denied. 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. Topic at Watergate Hearings. But before that happened, he must have hauled 500 or 600 bars of gold out of there and hid them, contended Mrs. Guthrie. Passing through the large cavern, he came to a series of smaller caves rooms, he called them. In a four-page confidential report entitled Field Examination of Noss Mining Claims, Hembrillo District, Herkenhoff recorded a description: Dr. In 1963, the Army allowed a group of searchers, including Mrs. Noss, to search for the gold. Forrest Fenn, a New Mexico art collector, created a treasure hunt in 2010. A prospector made an extraordinary discovery yesterday, when he found an "incredibly rare" 12-pound (5.5-kilogram) gold nugget under only 23 inches of dirt. ", According to the family, Mr. Noss took some gold bars when he found the cavern in 1937, and planned to return for the rest. Reaching down, he could not budge it, but after digging around the rock, he got his hands under it. Recreational mining continues intermittently in the White Oaks, Pittsburg, Hillsboro, Orogrande and Jicarilla districts to the present day. Did they even exist at all? 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. now. Though caught trespassing and escorted from the area, the men reported observing several men in Army fatigues upon the peak. That about a month after that, I heard E.M. had been beaten to death in California. Our Mineral Museum Porter subsequently brought the gold bar to the close friend, who was an Army major. The secret stash of a gold mine owner? 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. Estimates vary on the number of bars removed, ranging up to 350 or so. 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. 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. Instead, it has a "gross receipts tax." This is a tax levied on the business rather than the consumer, like in most states. Ova convinced Doc to return to the big cave and bring one of the heavy bars back up. 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