New Mexico does not have a sales tax. They also were given and passed lie detector tests. They believe that sophisticated equipment like devices to take soundings showing whether there are underground caves will help this search succeed where other ventures failed. Anyone can read what you share. 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. However, with the discovery of gold, the treaty was broken in 1878, and Victorio went on the warpath. Shriver also said that he had copies of other presidential messages, several initialed by LBJ, dealing with the clandestine, illegal removal of the gold. 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. Reportedly the military was able to penetrate one of the caves and inventory the contents. 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. Ryan hinted that if Noss did not reveal the whereabouts of the gold, Doc would not live to enjoy it. 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. 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. All told, he reportedly found 27 human skeletons in the caverns of the mountain. Setting up camp on the desert floor at the base of Victoria Peak, the men headed into the wilderness while their wives stayed at camp. An affidavit dated October 28, 1961, was signed to this effect, also claiming to have seen a military jeep and a weapons carrier on the mountain. 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. Now, researchers say the bar was. ): GSA Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, USA, Luterbach, T. and McLemore, V.T., 2016, Trace element analysis of placer gold samples: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, 2016 Annual meeting. One group of claimants took the flashlight and provided the photo as evidence that they knew the location of the treasure. But when the Army; Air Force; the White House; Congressmen; New Mexico's Governor and F. Lee Bailey and dozens of other lawyers get into a single treasure saga, only confusion and rumors remain cheap. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. After 35 years of localized dispute, the Great White Sands Missile Range Lost Gold Treasure Affair has blossomed into a national mystery. But in 1977, the Army agreed to allow some searchers with competing claims, including Mrs. Noss, to search the grounds. Near the bottom, he encountered a huge boulder hanging from the ceiling, almost blocking his way. 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. This was one of Apache Chief Victorios hideouts and was the site of a battle in 1880 between Victorios warriors and the U.S. Army Ninth Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers.. They come in a variety of weights, fineness and designs. If the treasure was real, Noss had poor timing. Many hieroglyphs have been found in New Mexico near his home, according to treasure hunters from the area. Ova convinced Doc to return to the big cave and bring one of the heavy bars back up. 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. The cave was covering a small tunnel, originally thought to be an abandoned mineshaft. The horde of an Apache chief? Sometime around the year 1830, travelers were trying to find a new way to reach California from the newly opened route of Santa Fe. A treaty was reached between the tribe and the Federal government in Washington that the Indians could stay upon the land in New Mexico. Hiring a mining engineer S.E. Many years later, a man named Milton Ernest Doc Noss spent some time exploring Victorio Peak while on a deer hunt. Speaking to a Noss family member, he stated that he had been the Chief of Security in 1961 and was sent to inspect the report made by Airman Berlett and Captain Fiege. American and foreign car makers have rented land at the installation to test new air bags. Doc Noss spent the next 10 years in intermittent efforts to regain access to the hoard, in vain. 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. Still another source reported knowledge of aircraft movements of the gold from Chihuahua to Vancouver, British Columbia, during the period of Johnsons presidency. They believe that if the Lue Map and the hieroglyphs could be deciphered then the gold bars could be found. 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. [5] She later was part of an unsuccessful 1963 search. 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. Howard, E.V., 1967, Metalliferous occurrences in New Mexico: Phase 1, state resources development plan: State Planning Office, Santa Fe, 270 p. Johnson, M.G., 1972, Placer gold deposits of New Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey. 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. 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). Now, instead of having thousands of gold bars to draw from, Noss had only a few hundred that he had hidden in the desert. Its occasional visitors included hunting parties, and Doc Noss and his wife, Ova, were on one such expedition in search of deer. some of the gold to Mexico, in light planes. That I knew E.M. Guthrie had taken an active personal interest in the fate of gold located in Victorio Peak by Doc Noss. 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. 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. Over the weekend, he said, someone found the chest he had buried with gold nuggets, coins, gems and artifacts. But even the nicest people we'd take in, they'd see gold and go berserk.. The Army says the gold was never found. Part II: The bizarre history of Victorio Peak continues to unravel as the Army, the Treasury Department and the Secret Service authorize a top secret operation aimed at locating and bringing out the gold. The 1.93-kilogram. However, Terry Delonas, her grandson, continued the family tradition and formed the Ova Noss Family Partnership. Victorio Peak, located in northern Dona Ana County, now lies within the White Sands Missile Range in south-central New Mexico. Reaching down, he could not budge it, but after digging around the rock, he got his hands under it. His wife and his two school-age children had also abruptly left. In September 1961, Berlett and Fiege swore to the specifics of their discovery in detailed affidavits provided to federal officials. 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. In 1981, a construction worker discovered the gold bar, weighing 4.25 lbs. Estimates vary on the number of bars removed, ranging up to 350 or so. Reportedly, he amassed a treasure of gold, silver, and jewels before being ordered back to Mexico City in 1607. McGuires Place 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. Before leaving, both men had observed an old wooden cross on one of the walls. Mrs. Noss believes Mr. Bailey's clients to be mili tary officers and perhaps some of her husband's old partners. 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.. The buried cache was said to have been stolen from the Chihauhua-Spanish by the Indians during the Indian uprisings. Try as he would, Captain Fiege could not penetrate the opening he had used just three years earlier. He said I'll get F.D.R. In 1979, Babe died without ever finding the treasure. He also told his wife that there were enough gold and silver coins to load 60 to 80 mules.. 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. The whole truth will probably never be known, but there is no doubt that a treasure existed. 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 . 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. Mr. Bailey, who represents 50 unidentified claimants, says that with a helicopter and a half an hour he can lead officials to 292 gold bars, for openers. A number of sources also independently named Major General John G. Shinkle, the commander of White Sands Missile Range from June 1960 to July 1962, as knowing about the movement of tons of gold from Victorio Peak. The gold bar had disappeared without a trace. Dangerous unexploded 20mm shells from Phantom jet target practice dot the range, the Army insists. Victorio knew how much the white man valued gold and had little use for it himself; he amassed vast amounts of treasure by attacking the white settlers. Now, scientists confirm it was part of a plunder by Spanish conquistador Hernn. 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. Years later, in 1946, Doc discussed his exploration with Gordon E. Herkenhoff, field representative of the New Mexico State Land Office.1. When the rain finally stopped, Doc returned to camp, telling Babe of the discovery. The Army then shut down all operations stating that no additional searches would be allowed. On the night of September 1, 1968, Porter drove to the peak with a friend and a civilian security guard from White Sands Missile Range named Clarence McDonald. Through the years, soldiers at White Sands have spent weekends looking for the gold. In the meantime, Mrs. Noss said her spies, illegally visited the peak and found military men excavating it. He bolted from the Mescalero reservation in 1879 and camped near Victoria Peak while plundering the countryside and raiding Wells Fargo stagecoaches. Finally reaching the bottom, Doc stepped into a chamber the size of a small room. 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. 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. 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. That about a month after that, I heard E.M. had been beaten to death in California. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. In 1979, he sold a small mail-order business to devote full time to the search. Congress had just passed an act outlawing the private ownership of gold, meaning he had no buyers for his supposed stash (via Unsolved ). 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. Parts of White Sands are sometimes leased by private corporations and foreign governments for experiments. After determining the accuracy of the two mens reports, the entire area was placed off-limits until an official investigation could be conducted. Later, Fiege would take a lie detector test, which would allow Fiege back on the missile range. Now, scientists confirm it was part of a plunder by Spanish conquistador Hernn. And a fourth story, pieced together recently by Howard Bryan, a reporter for The Albuquerque Tribune, centers on another Apache war chief named Victorio. The two decided to keep the discovery between themselves and return to inspect the shaft later. After much searching, he finally found a small iron bar to carry back through the narrow passageway. 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. Another concerns renegades who robbed the Monterey Mint in 1743 and were in turn attacked by Apaches. Forrest . 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. 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.. Four major groups of claimants accuse the oothers of trying to cheat them out of it. 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. November 16, 2015. 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. You just couldn't trust anybody and still can't, she said. 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. 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). Two airmen from nearby Holloman Air Force Base would later say that they had found the gold cavern from another natural opening in the side of the peak. Discovered by a . 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? Case Reaching a compromise, the military allowed Expeditions Unlimited, representing all of the claimants, to excavate the peak in 1977. Victorio used the entire Hembrillo Basin as his stronghold, refusing to live on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona, where the government wanted to banish him. There were 110 gold bars moved that night, according to an affidavit obtained by this writer and sworn to by Jolley. In 1937, the peak was miles from nowhere. The Mystery Of The Lost Victorio Peak Treasure, a group of researchers who published their findings. 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. 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