gold bars found in new mexico

[5] She later was part of an unsuccessful 1963 search. In 1961, he returned to the desert and claims to have found 10 . Even though the military refused any of Babes efforts to work her claim, it did not refuse other military personnel from exploring portions of Victorio Peak. All Rights Reserved. There is evidence to indicate that many gold bars were removed from Victorio Peak a short time after Lynn Porter brought the bar to the Fort Bliss provost marshals office. 'Like Any Other Client'. 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. Lack of water has hampered mining in many districts and new technology, which minimizes water usage, may stimulate activity. and Montana Ave. in El Paso, Texas, to visit with a friend, Frank Foss, owner of the station. WHITE SANDS, N.M. Lost treasure stories are a dime a dozen in the Southwest. Passing through the large cavern, he came to a series of smaller caves rooms, he called them. Four major groups of claimants accuse the oothers of trying to cheat them out of it. Begrudgingly, he did so. However, the business often passes the tax onto the consumer by adding it to the selling price. Letha told Freedom that she herself handled 12 to 15 of the bars, and I even put one up and hid it for four days.. At least one close relative was convinced that Atkins death was not accidental and that it was directly related to his getting too close to the true story of Victorio Peak. Doc Noss spent the next 10 years in intermittent efforts to regain access to the hoard, in vain. 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. Jan 20, 2020 Ian Harvey. Try as he would, Captain Fiege could not penetrate the opening he had used just three years earlier. That three or four weeks later Frank Foss told me that E.M. had called him and said he was in Central America. Two local ranch workers stumbled upon the search and notified Mrs. Noss. 7 Louisiana Ghost Towns Hidden Deep in the Bayou. In addition, Victorio Peak lay on land owned by the state of New Mexico, and removal of gold without permission of the state violated New Mexico law.4. Victorio Peak, located in northern Dona Ana County, now lies within the White Sands Missile Range in south-central 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. 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. He also told his wife that there were enough gold and silver coins to load 60 to 80 mules.. Doc tried several times to regain entry into his mine, but the shaft was sealed with tons of debris. 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 . [5] During the 1970s, lawyer F. Lee Bailey represented clients who claimed to know where the treasure was located. Mr. Delonas said the legend of the buried treasure obsessed the family for generations. The two decided to keep the discovery between themselves and return to inspect the shaft later. This was shortly before a much-publicized expedition, entitled Operation Goldfinder, took place at the site in March 1977. Through the years, soldiers at White Sands have spent weekends looking for the gold. In all, eight persons told this writer they had received direct threats against their lives or against the lives of their families. At one end of the chamber, the shaft continued downward. A treaty was reached between the tribe and the Federal government in Washington that the Indians could stay upon the land in New Mexico. The cave was covering a small tunnel, originally thought to be an abandoned mineshaft. But the legend of the hidden gold was fueled again during the Watergate hearings in 1973. It would also explain the presence of the Wells Fargo bags, packsaddles, letters, and other artifacts dating to Victorios time. The buried cache was said to have been stolen from the Chihauhua-Spanish by the Indians during the Indian uprisings. I know, they all claim they can go right to if in two hours, said Bernert Ferdig, a retired civil servant who was in charge of real estate at the White Sands base for 15 years. The fortune of a Mexican emperor? As a child, he said he remembered his grandmother, Ova Noss, talking about it ceaselessly. This theory explains the thousands of gold bars, antiquities, and artifacts dating more than 100 years later. 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. The engineer suggested eight sticks of dynamite, to which Noss heatedly disagreed, claiming the mountain was too unstable. 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. 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. 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. Lyndon Johnsons name loomed large in the information that Freedom uncovered, with various sources claiming that the president was instrumental in the planning and execution of the removal of the gold. Most placer deposits in New Mexico had been discovered by 1900. This writer conducted extensive interviews with Thomas Berlett. 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 remained steadfast in his belief that the treasure remained, according to family members. 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. However, the Army placed a two-week time limit on the group, and they had hardly started before they were forced to leave, without finding anything. Noss traveled down, passing caverns with Native American designs until he reached a room with hoards of gold, jewels, pouches, documents and 27 skeletons. 2003-2008 Church of Scientology International. Sam Scott, for example, a retired airline pilot, was warned in 1977 to keep clear of anything regarding Victorio Peak for at least five years under pain of having his home firebombed and his wife and daughter killed. Peering into the darkness, Doc saw an old man-made shaft with a thick, wooden pole attached at one side. He carries in his wallet a photograph of gold bars and old coins next to a flashlight he provided. Mr. Mitchell is said to have forwarded the matter to the White House. This has led to charges that military officers have stolen, are stealing, or are preparing to steal the treasure for themselves. The whole truth will probably never be known, but there is no doubt that a treasure existed. A small town was built near the place Becoming desperate for cash, Doc and a man named Joseph Andregg transported gold bars, coins, jewels, and artifacts into Arizona, selling them on the black market. McLemore, V.T., 2001, Silver and gold resources in New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Resource Map 21, 60 p. Luterbach, T.D., and McLemore, V.T. 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). Fueled by suspicions that the military was working her claim, Babe Noss hired four men to enter the range secretly. 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. Suddenly, a host of people surfaced to lay claims on the legendary gold treasure. 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. Fearing Doc was getting a gun, Ryan fired a warning shot in Docs direction, demanding that Noss back away from the vehicle. 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. Now there were two military commands involved. The U.S. Army, which gained control of the area when it was converted to a bombing range during the Second World War, refused her request to bring in an excavation firm and ultimately ordered the Nosses to stay out of the area. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Trace element analysis of placer gold can be used as a valuable exploration tool in order to determine the original deposit source and locating lode gold deposits. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. ", According to the family, Mr. Noss took some gold bars when he found the cavern in 1937, and planned to return for the rest. This Massive Mine in Utah Has Produced More Gold than Most States! 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. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. As Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH . In the meantime, Mrs. Noss said her spies, illegally visited the peak and found military men excavating it. Placer gold collected from multiple districts in New Mexico, coupled with a broad database of previously analyzed placer gold samples indicate correlations between chemical signatures (especially gold, silver, and copper) and type of deposits (i.e., Au-rich copper porphyry deposits, Au porphyry deposits, and epithermal deposits). After determining the accuracy of the two mens reports, the entire area was placed off-limits until an official investigation could be conducted. The affidavit states: I, Thayer Snipes, first being duly sworn, on my oath state: That in the latter part of 1972, I had stopped by the Airport Chevron Station at the corner of Airway Blvd. Anyone can read what you share. 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. In November 1937, Doc, Babe, and four others left on a deer hunt into the Hembrillo Basin. Meanwhile, Babe Noss had filed a counter-claim on the entire area. Noss divorced her, charging desertion. In 1972, F. Lee Bailey became involved in the dispute, representing some 50 clients, including Babe Noss, the Fiege group, Violet Noss Yancy, Expeditions Unlimited (a Florida-based treasure hunting group), and many others. In 1979, he sold a small mail-order business to devote full time to the search. Denied entry by the courts until legalities could determine the legal owner of the mine; Doc feared Ryan would back out of the deal. Because of this natural concentration, some placers are richer in gold than the original lode deposits. I was just a kid, about 13 or 14 years old, he told this writer. Noss soon deserted Babe, and in November 1945, a divorce was granted. 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. After more than a year's effort, he took five bars to the Denver Mint. A jury ruled that Mr. Ryan had acted in self-defense. Ferdig, adding, The trouble with treasure stories is that there's always a little truth in them.. If the treasure was real, Noss had poor timing. 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. 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