reply to post by majestictwo
In November 1937, Doc, Babe, and four others left on a deer hunt into the Hembrillo Basin. 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. Hunting by himself, Doc scouted the base of the mountain. When it
began to rain, Doc sought shelter under a rocky overhang near the summit of the mountain. While waiting for the rain to subside he noticed a stone
that looked as if it had been “worked” in some fashion. Reaching down, he was unable to budge it, but after digging around the rock, he got his
hands under it. Lifting the rock, he found a hole that lead straight down into the mountain.
Peering into the darkness, Doc saw an old man-made shaft with a thick, wooden pole attached at one side. Doc thought that he had discovered an old
abandoned mineshaft. When the rain finally stopped, Doc returned to camp, telling Babe of the discovery. The two decided to keep the discovery between
themselves and return to the inspect the shaft later.
Within just a few days, Doc and Babe were back at the site with ropes and flashlights. Testing the old wooden pole attached to one side of the
passage, Doc rejected the idea of using it dropped into the shaft with a rope instead. While Babe looked on from above, Doc inched his way down the
narrow passageway into the mountain nearly sixty feet. Near the bottom, he encountered a huge boulder hanging from the ceiling, almost blocking his
way.
Finally reaching the bottom, Doc stepped into a chamber the size of a small room. On the walls were drawings , some painted and others chiseled, that
appeared to have been made by Indians. At one end of the chamber, the shaft continued downward. Once again, Doc began to descend, this time about 125
feet before the shaft again leveled off into a large natural cavern. Several smaller rooms had been chiseled from the rock along one wall. Stepping
into the eerie darkness, Doc was alarmed when he saw a human skeleton, kneeling and securely tied to a stake driven into the ground. The skeleton’s
hands were bound behind its back -- apparently, the person had been deliberately left there to die. Within moments he found more skeletons, most of
them bound and secured to stakes like the first. Exploring further he found yet even more skeletons stacked in a small enclosure, much like a burial
chamber. All told, he reportedly found twenty-seven human skeletons in the caverns of the mountain.
As Doc continued to explore the side caverns, he found a hoard of treasure including coins, jewels, saddles and priceless artifacts including a gold
statue of the Virgin Mary. He also found some old letters, the most recent of which was dated 1880. Later, the wealth in the cave would be calculated
to be worth more than two billion dollars.
Today that site is in the middle of "White Sands Missie Range and is off limits to civilians but to we locals it is known as the "Victorio Peak
Treasure"
Wish I was half as lucky as old "Milton Ernest “Doc” Noss"
[edit on 10-3-2009 by DaddyBare]