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 Doc
filled his pockets with gold coins, grabbed a couple of jeweled
swords, and laboriously returned to Babe waiting anxiously at the
surface. After telling her of what he had seen and showing her the
loot, she insisted he go back into the mine for one of the iron bars.
After much searching, he finally found a small iron bar that he could
carry back through the narrow passageway. When he reached the
surface, he told Babe, "This is the last one of them babies I’m gonna
bring out." However, when Babe rolled the bar over, she noticed
a yellow gleam where the gravel of the hillside had scratched off
centuries of black grime. What looked to be a piece of iron was
actually a solid gold bar.
After the
discovery of the
treasure,
Doc and Babe spent every free moment exploring the tunnels inside the
mountain, living in a tent at the base of the peak. On each trip, Doc
would retrieve two gold bars and as many artifacts as he could carry.
At one time, he brought out a crown, which contained two hundred
forty-three diamonds and one pigeon-blood ruby. Yet, Doc trusted no
one, not even his Babe, disappearing into the desert, hiding pieces of
the
treasure in places that he never revealed.
Among the artifacts, Doc is
reported to have retrieved were documents dated 1797, which he buried
in the desert in a
Wells Fargo chest along with various other
treasures. Although the originals have never been recovered, a copy of one of the
documents proved to be a translation from Pope Pius III.
Doc Noss cared
little about the historical value of the
treasures
inside Victorio Peak, mostly ignoring the pouches, packs and
artifacts, while he concentrated on the gold coins and bars.
However, Doc was
unable to capitalize on the gold bars, as four years before his
discovery; Congress had passed the Gold Act, which outlawed the
private ownership of gold. Unable to sell the gold bars on the
open market, Noss was stymied, but continued to work steadily to
remove the
treasure.
In the spring of 1938, Doc Noss
and Babe went to
Santa Fe
to establish legal ownership of the find, filing a lease with the State of
New Mexico for the entire section
of land surrounding Victorio Peak. Subsequently, he also filed several
mining claims on and around Victorio Peak, as well as a
treasure
trove claim. With legal ownership established, Noss began to openly
work the claim, but he also became increasingly paranoid, hiding the gold
bars all over the desert.
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