Victorio Peak treasure

File:Doc Noss.JPG

The treasure was allegedly found in 1937 by American businessman and gold prospector Milton Ernest "Doc" Noss.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116476495/the-missing-treasure-of-victorio-peak/ |title=The Missing Treasure of Victorio Peak |first=Marsha D. |last=Phillips |newspaper=El Paso Times |page=16 (Borderlands) |date=May 1, 1988 |accessdate=January 14, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}{{efn|Noss was born on July 3, 1905, in Taloga, Oklahoma.{{cite web |url=https://www.fold3.com/image/539394766 |title=Draft Registration Card |publisher=Selective Service System |via=fold3.com |url-access=subscription |date=October 1940 |accessdate=January 14, 2023}}}} While there have been multiple documented expeditions to the peak, no gold has been officially recorded as being recovered from the site.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116476753/victorio-peak-treasure-part-iii/ |title=Victorio Peak Treasure (part III) |first=Nancy |last=Johnson |newspaper=Deming Headlight |location=Deming, New Mexico |page=4 |date=August 12, 2009 |accessdate=January 14, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}} Noss was ultimately killed by an associate, Charley Ryan, in 1949 after Ryan accused Noss of fraud and Noss allegedly threatened to kill Ryan and his family.{{efn|Noss died on March 5, 1949, in Hatch, New Mexico.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116481562/hunt-for-fabulous-cache-of-gold-lands-in/ |title=Hunt for Fabulous Cache of Gold Lands in Court |newspaper=Albuquerque Journal |page=1 |date=April 23, 1949 |accessdate=January 14, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}}}

A 1961 search by the U.S. Army—the peak lies within White Sands Missile Range—was stopped following a request to state officials by Noss's first wife, Ova. She later was part of an unsuccessful 1963 search. During the 1970s, lawyer F. Lee Bailey represented clients who claimed to know where the treasure was located.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116484680/victorio-treasure-searchers-prepare/ |title=Victorio treasure searchers prepare |agency=AP |newspaper=The Santa Fe New Mexican |page=12 |date=October 11, 1976 |accessdate=January 14, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}} By 1992, a grandson of Ova formed the Ova Noss Family Partnership to finance additional searching.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/29/us/following-1937-story-of-buried-gold-family-searches-new-mexico-s-sands.html|title=Following 1937 Story of Buried Gold, Family Searches New Mexico's Sands|date=29 July 1992|author=Dirk Johnson|work=The New York Times |accessdate=12 May 2019|via=NYTimes.com}} The partnership conducted unsuccessful searches until March 1996, when the Army suspended their access.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116485779/seekers-of-fabled-southern-nm-treasure/ |title=Seekers of fabled southern N.M. treasure sue Army |agency=AP |newspaper=The Albuquerque Tribune |page=D6 |date=April 19, 1997 |accessdate=January 14, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}

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.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116479384/victorio-peak-treasure/ |title=Victorio Peak treasure |first=Nancy |last=Johnson |newspaper=Deming Headlight |location=Deming, New Mexico |page=4 |date=July 29, 2009 |accessdate=January 14, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}

The reported treasure and efforts to find it have been covered in books and on television, including:

• a September 1977 segment of 60 Minutes by Dan Rather, who also interviewed Ova Noss{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116486412/off-the-beaten-path/ |title=Off the Beaten Path |first=Howard |last=Bryan |newspaper=The Albuquerque Tribune |page=A-6 |date=September 21, 1977 |accessdate=January 14, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}

• the 1978 book 100 Tons of Gold by David Leon Chandler{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116476120/100-tons-of-gold/ |title=100 Tons of Gold |first=Alice |last=Bullock |newspaper=The Santa Fe New Mexican |page=81 |date=April 2, 1978 |accessdate=January 14, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}

• the television show Unsolved Mysteries; originally on May 10, 1989, and an update on February 11, 1990[https://unsolved.com/gallery/victorios-peak-treasure/ Victorio's Peak treasure], Unsolved.com. Retrieved 19 January 2020.

• a 2008 book co-authored by Robert Boswell, titled What Men Call Treasure{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116477673/authors-re-examine-victorio-peak-storya/ |title=Authors re-examine Victorio Peak story – and think gold really may be there |first=Ramon |last=Renteria |newspaper=El Paso Times |page=2F |date=September 21, 2008 |accessdate=January 14, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}

• a six-part television series titled Gold, Lies & Videotape, which debuted on Discovery Channel in January 2023{{cite web |url=https://extratv.com/2022/12/13/gold-lies-and-videotape-is-a-shocking-true-story-of-hidden-treasure-watch-the-promo/ |title='Gold, Lies & Videotape' Is a Shocking True Story of Hidden Treasure |website=extratv.com |accessdate=January 14, 2023}}

• Battle of Hembrillo Basin, an 1880 battle between the U.S. Army and Apaches led by Chief Victorio
• Executive Order 6102, a 1933 action that limited gold ownership in the United States

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• {{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-16-vw-1352-story.html|title=Treasure or Treachery?: Did 'Doc' Noss Really Find Caverns of Gold or Did He Pull Off a Hoax That Has Plagued His Kin for Years?|first=Robin|last=Abcarian|date=16 June 1991|newspaper=LA Times}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-01-28-9001080490-story.html|title=Quest for Fabled Gold Starts Anew |first=James|last=Coates|date=January 28, 1990|work=Chicago Tribune|accessdate=12 May 2019}}
• Jameson, W.C. (2014). Treasure Hunter: A Memoir of Caches, Curses, and Confrontations Taylor Trade Publishing, Lanham, MD. {{ISBN|978-1-58979-992-9}}

• [https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4880 The Treasure of Victorio Peak] at the Skeptoid Podcast

Category:New Mexico folklore

Category:Treasure of the United States