Many years later, a man named Milton Ernest Doc Noss spent some time exploring Victorio Peak while on a deer hunt. On the walls were drawings, some painted and others chiseled, that appeared to have been made by Indians. The. The saga faded back into obscurity until the Watergate hearings, when John Dean, the dismissed White House counsel, testified before the Ervin Committee that F. Lee Bailey had approached John N. Mitchell, then Attorney General, for help in retrieving 292 bars containing 60 per cent gold and 40 per cent copper from the White Sands range. Exploring further, he found even more skeletons stacked in a small enclosure, much like a burial chamber. 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. Thayer Snipes of El Paso, Texas, swore to an affidavit regarding another death. New York Times, July 29, 1992 After he got back to the surface, Doc told Ova what he had seen, and almost as an afterthought mentioned the long row of metal bars. In a special act of Congress passed in 1989, the Hembrillo Basin was unlocked for Terry Delonas and the Noss heirs; however, nothing has been found. The initial soundings appear to indicate a cavern precisely where Mr. Noss described. 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. November 16, 2015. Doc Noss was extremely paranoid and buried everything he took out of the caves, not even trusting his wife, Babe. And we were poor and I guess a little dumb. He has recruited friends and investors to form the Ova Noss Family Partnership, named for his late grandmother, that is financing the new search. That I walked over to E.M. Guthrie on this occasion in 1972, greeted him, and invited him out to dinner with myself and Frank Foss. All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. In 1797, when the work of the Spanish missionaries had almost come to an end, there was an old Spanish soldier who was at his death bed. Though the gold bar was. Reaching a compromise, the military allowed Expeditions Unlimited, representing all of the claimants, to excavate the peak in 1977. She appealed to state officials, who forced the search to stop. The treasure was allegedly found in 1937 by American businessman and gold prospector Milton Ernest "Doc" Noss. He told this writer that the gold bars in the cave were stacked like cordwood.. 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. 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 Army then shut down all operations stating that no additional searches would be allowed. It all started in 1937, when Mr. Noss, who practiced as a foot doctor though it was never clear if he had a medical license, returned from a hunting trip at New Mexico's Victorio Peak with startling news: he had glimpsed a hidden trove of riches, 16,000 gold bars. I was just a kid, about 13 or 14 years old, he told this writer. Parts of White Sands are sometimes leased by private corporations and foreign governments for experiments. 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. While waiting for the rain to subside, he noticed a stone that looked as if it had been worked somehow. 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. 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. That about a month after that, I heard E.M. had been beaten to death in California. Peering into the darkness, Doc saw an old man-made shaft with a thick, wooden pole attached at one side. 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. Reaching down, he could not budge it, but after digging around the rock, he got his hands under it. [1][a] While there have been multiple documented expeditions to the peak, no gold has been officially recorded as being recovered from the site. Mr. Bailey will not say, but Mrs. Noss and, her dozen or so partners have filed a $1billion Federal Court suit charging that the Government, the Secretary of the Army, several military officers and 200 John Does were conspiring to bilk her out of the treasure. 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. After scraping a small section of the bar clean, she exclaimed, Doc, this is gold!. 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. Several sand and gravel operators periodically extract minor quantities of placer gold from their quarries. However, it was a slow process, and in 1955, the White Sands Missile Range unexpectedly expanded their operations to encompass the Hembrillo Basin. 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. 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. Rare Gold Nuggets. Anyone can read what you share. In the Fall of 1939, Doc wanted to enlarge the passageway into Victorio Peak so that the treasures could be more easily removed. He carries in his wallet a photograph of gold bars and old coins next to a flashlight he provided. 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. Noss soon deserted Babe, and in November 1945, a divorce was granted. Still another source reported knowledge of aircraft movements of the gold from Chihuahua to Vancouver, British Columbia, during the period of Johnsons presidency. He also found some old letters, the most recent of which was dated 1880. It is estimated that 662,000 oz of gold have been produced from placer deposits throughout New Mexico from 1828 to 1991. 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. That while visiting Foss, a man we both knew, E.M. Guthrie, drove in to the station in a late model Ford Thunderbird. Two local ranch workers stumbled upon the search and notified Mrs. Noss. 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. 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. We wanted to lay the matter to rest once and for all, said General Shinkle, who is now tetireil and lives in Cocoa Beach, Fla. We gave him a lie detector test beforehand and it was apparentiy, successful but he couldn't find anything.. 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. Using ropes for support and guided by his flashlights wavering beam, Doc Noss descended a series of interconnecting chambers which led downward for 186 feet. This time, the military began a full-scale mining operation at the Peak. 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. A third story asserts that Geronimo hid, Apache booty in the area. 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. The flamboyant lawyer F. Lee Bailey once said he represented 50 unnamed clients. Four major groups of claimants accuse the oothers of trying to cheat them out of it. Passing through the large cavern, he came to a series of smaller caves rooms, he called them. 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. Although a suitable path fit for wagons couldn't be found, traces of gold were found somewhere close to Silver City to the north. He also told his wife that there were enough gold and silver coins to load 60 to 80 mules.. 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. Begrudgingly, he did so. Ova Noss took up the search, without success. But the matter would not rest. In November 1937, Doc, Babe, and four others left on a deer hunt into the Hembrillo Basin. Forrest . Doc Noss was born in Oklahoma and traveled all over the Southwest, seeking excitement. Forrest Fenn, a New Mexico art collector, created a treasure hunt in 2010. They bore the Spanish stamp. Ryan hinted that if Noss did not reveal the whereabouts of the gold, Doc would not live to enjoy it. 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. 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. 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. 7 Louisiana Ghost Towns Hidden Deep in the Bayou. 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. Mrs. Noss believes Mr. Bailey's clients to be mili tary officers and perhaps some of her husband's old partners. But in a dispute over the treasure in 1949, the business partner, Charlie Ryan, shot Mr. Noss to death. The fortune of a Mexican emperor? 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. See the article in its original context from. (1.93 kilograms), while digging for the construction of a central bank in Mexico City. 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. Gold also concentrates above cemented gravels and clay layers within gravel deposits, which constrain downward migration of gold particles. Peak and look, accompanied by the missile range commander, Maj. Gen. John G. Shinkle, military pblicemen and Treasury agents. There were 110 gold bars moved that night, according to an affidavit obtained by this writer and sworn to by Jolley. A narrow passage through rocks kept the bulky Porter from following the other two men into the depths of the peak. The NMBGMR is conducting a research project examining the origin, occurrence, trace element composition, and resource potential of placer gold deposits in the state. Doc thought that he had discovered an old abandoned mineshaft. In a four-page confidential report entitled Field Examination of Noss Mining Claims, Hembrillo District, Herkenhoff recorded a description: Dr. Ryan was charged with murder but was later acquitted. He supposedly told his wife: "We can make John D. Rockefeller look like a tramp. A new chemical analysis of a large gold bar found under a Mexico City street in 1981 has shed light on its centuries-old origins. 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. 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. "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. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. One man, a Mr. The Lue Map has very strange symbols. Doc tried several times to regain entry into his mine, but the shaft was sealed with tons of debris. Because of this natural concentration, some placers are richer in gold than the original lode deposits. Recreational mining continues intermittently in the White Oaks, Pittsburg, Hillsboro, Orogrande and Jicarilla districts to the present day. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. One partner, Charles Ryan, shot and killed Doc on March 5, 1949, in Hatch, N. M., after an argument. 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. Suddenly, a host of people surfaced to lay claims on the legendary gold treasure. As the years passed, Babe Noss held onto her claim at Victorio Peak, occasionally hiring men to help her clear the shaft. However, Noss demanded to see the money before revealing the new hiding place. At the same time, he concentrated on the gold coins and bars. Three days later the Nosses went back, and in the months that followed, Noss hauled gold bars, one at a time, with enormous effort up the narrow passageway, according to Mrs. Noss's daughter, Mrs. Letha Guthrie of Clovis, who said she was also there part of the, time. They found nothing. Fueled by suspicions that the military was working her claim, Babe Noss hired four men to enter the range secretly. In 1979, he sold a small mail-order business to devote full time to the search. Representative Harold Runnels, a Democrat whose district includes the White Sands range, has proposed a joint Federalstate search for the treasure. 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. 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. 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. He estimated there were thousands of these bars, each weighing over 40 pounds stacked against a wall. That three or four weeks later Frank Foss told me that E.M. had called him and said he was in Central America. Shriver estimated the total amount of gold removed from Victorio Peak at 25 million troy ounces, of which 10 million came out in 1976. 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