|
Victorio Peak, a craggy outcropping of rock barely five
hundred feet tall, lies in the center of a dry desert lake known as
the Hembrillo Basin. Beyond the Hembrillo Basin is a hundred
mile stretch of desert known as the Jornada del Muerto. Victorio
Peak, located in northern Dona Ana County, now lies within the White
Sands Missile Range in south central
New Mexico.
However, long
before Victorio Peak was encompassed by the government, a man by the
name of Milton Ernest "Doc” Noss spent some time exploring Victorio
Peak while on a deer hunt.
Doc Noss was
born in
Oklahoma and traveled all over the Southwest seeking excitement. In 1933, he married Ova "Babe” Beckworth and the two settled down in
Hot Springs,
New Mexico,
which later changed its name to Truth or Consequences.
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 and 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.
|
