Over the weekend, he said, someone found the chest he had buried with gold nuggets, coins, gems and artifacts. While waiting for the rain to subside, he noticed a stone that looked as if it had been worked somehow. They even brought in their own security guards, he added. 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. Later, Fiege would take a lie detector test, which would allow Fiege back on the missile range. Jan 20, 2020 Ian Harvey. On the night of March 4, 1949, I went with Doc Noss and dug up 20 bars of gold at a windmill in the desert east of Hatch, New Mexico, and reburied them in the basin where Victorio Peak is. Ova Noss, Leonard Fiege and others dont listen when they are told to shut up and they pay the price. They insisted they were photographed, finger printed, harassed and not al lowed to go near the search area. The fortune of a Mexican emperor? 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. 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. Los Angeles Times The flamboyant lawyer F. Lee Bailey once said he represented 50 unnamed clients. After the discovery, Fiege told several people that he had caved in the roof and walls to make it look like the tunnel ended. hell, I'll get Eleanor.. 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. Doc thought that he had discovered an old abandoned mineshaft. On the night of March 4, 1949, I went with Doc Noss and dug up 20 bars of gold at a windmill in the desert east of Hatch, New Mexico, and reburied them in the basin where Victorio Peak is. Two local ranch workers stumbled upon the search and notified Mrs. Noss. Sometime around the year 1830, travelers were trying to find a new way to reach California from the newly opened route of Santa Fe. Kathy Weiser-Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2021. 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. Doc attempted illegally to sell his gold for nine years, but it wasnt easy finding buyers. Lack of water has hampered mining in many districts and new technology, which minimizes water usage, may stimulate activity. They believe that if the Lue Map and the hieroglyphs could be deciphered then the gold bars could be found. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. 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. One group of claimants took the flashlight and provided the photo as evidence that they knew the location of the treasure. Mrs. Ova Noss said she shad filed papers retaining mineral rights in case the area opened up again. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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. 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.. Noss agreed with Ryan to exchange some of the gold bars for $25,000 to reopen the shaft. 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. 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). He told this writer that the gold bars in the cave were stacked like cordwood.. In one of the most closely guarded crimes of recent history, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tons of gold bullion were secretly and illegally removed from caverns on White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the beneficiaries allegedly including former President Lyndon Johnson and individuals connected with the U.S. Army, the Central Intelligence Agency and organized crime. 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. South Pass City - A Look into Wyoming's Past. But while trying to blast his way to the gold in 1939, he accidentally closed the hole. This theory explains the thousands of gold bars, antiquities, and artifacts dating more than 100 years later. "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. There are four major stories on the treasure's origin, said Mr. After the death of Doc Noss, Ova and her family continued efforts to regain access to the big treasure room. Case 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. Meanwhile, Babe Noss had filed a counter-claim on the entire area. ", According to the family, Mr. Noss took some gold bars when he found the cavern in 1937, and planned to return for the rest. 2003-2008 Church of Scientology International. Docs object at the time of discovery, of course, was more than old bones. 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. Doc returned with a gold bar, presented it to his wife, Babe, and the couple soon dedicated their lives to exploring Victorio Peak, living in a tent at the base of the mountain in search of 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. Some believe that Doc Noss found the Casa del Cueva de Oro, Spanish for the House of the Golden Cave. By James P. Sterba Special to The New York Times. The buying entity was a Middle Eastern principal, Shriver said. When Docs story eventually hit the headlines, scholars began speculating on how the enormous treasure could have come to be stashed inside Victorio Peak. He was shot to death in 1949, but his first wife, Mrs. Ova Noss, now 77years old, insists she was with him. 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. Babe then began a regular correspondence with the military requesting permission to work her claim, but she was always denied. Lucky Gold Miners hit it Big in Downieville. The charges concerning LBJs involvement included the following: According to this same source, Victorio Peak was just like a private vault to certain high-ranking people. They would go in periodically and get what they wanted. The room had been undisturbed for so long that the dust, according to Berlett, lay several inches thick. [7], Theories abound on the origins of the alleged treasure, including that it was pilfered from Mexico during the reign of the Austrian puppet Emperor Maximilian, or through collusion between Pancho Villa and Germany prior to World War I.[8]. Lost Treasures, Recent Posts. We all dream of stumbling onto a map or riddle that will lead us on an adventure to find a treasure of glittering gold and jewels, but most of those tales only exist in bedtime stories and movies. 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. A treaty was reached between the tribe and the Federal government in Washington that the Indians could stay upon the land in New Mexico. Now there were two military commands involved. New York Times, July 29, 1992 In 1963, the Army allowed a group of searchers, including Mrs. Noss, to search for the gold. The gold was then shipped to Switzerland and sold in a new form in Zurich. Just 12 years after discovering the treasure, Doc Noss died with just $2.16 in his pocket. In 1948, Doc met Charles Ryan, a Texan involved in drilling operations and oil exploration in West Texas. Did they even exist at all? 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. Berlett and Fiege had found a different passage into Victorio Peak, leading into a different chamber. 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). This was shortly before a much-publicized expedition, entitled Operation Goldfinder, took place at the site in March 1977. The peak is riddled with a network of tunnels. Begrudgingly, he did so. A new scientific analysis of a large gold bar found decades ago in downtown Mexico City has confirmed it was part of the plunder Spanish conquistadors abandoned as they beat a temporary. 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