General Pattons lost gold

gollum

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I like treasure stories as much as anyone, but Patton did not leave any cache of gold anywhere. There are many different types of vehicles that Patton buried all the way from the Chocolate Mountains to Death Valley (including several places in the Mojave).

Move on to something that actually existed. If Patton had a bunch of gold he wanted to hide, he was a wealthy man from a wealthy family (VMI is not cheap). He could have just dropped it off with his family to watch.

Mike
 

gollum

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Better chance. Of finding black gold nuggets from the Salton sea to octillo .

There are a few treasure, lost mine, black gold nuggets, etc stories that have a little backbone to them in the area.

Mike
 

Frankn

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There are a few treasure, lost mine, black gold nuggets, etc stories that have a little backbone to them in the area.


Mike
Hay, I went looking for Pegleg's black nugget patch about 16 years ago. I red all the tales and noted all the comments I could find and they all pointed to a place just west of Plaster City. I arrived there and found a BLM offroad vehicle area. All I found were nuts and bolts the ATV's dropped. lol

Later that year, I was working a GPAA claim above El Paso and ran into an old prospector. I invited him to share coffee and a meal. I told him about looking for the magnanese coated black gold nuggets. He laughed and said you, You were looking in the wrong area. Go down to the Imperial dam, face north and note the mountain range north west of there. That's the area to search. He said they were blasted out by a volcanic eruption a long time ago. Well, you never know. Frank five star.png
 

1krazeepolack

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The last time I camped @ Niland, it was so filled w/peoples leftover junk, I decided I would not return. A metal detector there would be two steps above useless.
 

1krazeepolack

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Anyone you know ever used the nearby "NATURAL SHOWER" ?? I have !!!! It's cool, IF you know where to find it !!!! Absolutely great during summers !!!! (YES, IT IS THERE) Actually, it's an "underground" shower, rather thn natural- but boy, does it feel good during hot weather-- & it's FREE!!!!
 

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Hobo

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Black nuggets can be found in many different areas where there is manganese, I have one in my collecrion that l found back in the 80s.
 

Siegfried Schlagrule

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Yes Patton did have gold and artwork that his troops captured in a salt mine. The amount he turned over was valued in excess of
$400 Million and if you look in the back issues of Look magazine you can see photos and read all about it. That true story - along
with the true story of buried equipment for whatever reason I believe was combined into one story. Lots of gold was smuggled out
of Europe by the military and tarring Patton with accusations of the same thing would be appropriate for the people who hated him.
I'd guess it was 50-50 and you either loved him or you hated him. The people who fought under him included many folks who hated
him. He fared better with civilians. Glory feels different to those who talk about it and those who are waist deep in it and trying to
stay alive. Slapping a guy who was in it for too long and cracked made many soldiers who almost cracked from the strain hate him
even more. That said he should not have been murdered to keep him quiet and appease the russians.
 

gollum

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Yes Patton did have gold and artwork that his troops captured in a salt mine. The amount he turned over was valued in excess of
$400 Million and if you look in the back issues of Look magazine you can see photos and read all about it. That true story - along
with the true story of buried equipment for whatever reason I believe was combined into one story. Lots of gold was smuggled out
of Europe by the military and tarring Patton with accusations of the same thing would be appropriate for the people who hated him.
I'd guess it was 50-50 and you either loved him or you hated him. The people who fought under him included many folks who hated
him. He fared better with civilians. Glory feels different to those who talk about it and those who are waist deep in it and trying to
stay alive. Slapping a guy who was in it for too long and cracked made many soldiers who almost cracked from the strain hate him
even more. That said he should not have been murdered to keep him quiet and appease the russians.

Problem there, is that Patton used the Cali Deserts BEFORE heading to North Africa. From Africa, his troops went on to invade Europe via Sicily. They never got back to the Socal Deserts after the war. They came back from Europe on Troop Ships and weren't required to head back into the desert. I have been all through many of the mountain ranges from The Mexican Border up to the Stanislaus Natl Forest North of Yosemite. Any of the mountain ranges North or East of Joshua Tree will yield a ton of artifacts. I find old food tins, .50 cal bullets, chunks of bomb shrapnel, etc, all the time.

It was proven that a bunch of soldiers stole artifacts found in Nazi Treasure Hoards in Europe. Lots is still unaccounted for.

Mike
 

grantler

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I know it is an old Thread ,
Last week I got a interesting book about Gen.G.S.Patton
maybe a small link to Death Valley??:dontknow:

Titel:
Dokumentary
Gen.George S. Patton,Jr.;
The OSS,
Lt.Peter R.Bonano and
An Intriguing Nazi Gold Saga
By Joseph Sprouse



Has Chapters about finding Gold and the Shipping out of Germany
 

clv

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So tell me how did Patton get these gold bars in the first place?

Now I do know a story about a bunch Tanks ande a huge horde of gold bars.
About the only clue I have found is FORT KNOX. Anybody know about this hidden treasure?:treasurechest:
 

Holyground

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Just prior to Patton and his troops leaving for Europe, They buried almost all of their equipment out there in the desert where they trained. If you look closely, on Google Earth, you can still see the old camps and you can tell they buried it. They buried Jeeps, halftraks, trucks and all sorts of stuff. I wouldn't get caught digging it up though. I have heard of people getting into Fed Trouble out there. My grandfather lived out there, and some other family, and I been around there off and on for 60 years, but I never heard of Patton having gold like that. It doesn't make sense why he would, and why he would bury it?
 

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motel6.5

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There is a story about 17thcenturary gold bars buried somewhere close to Hyder ,Arizona. Has to do with WW2 soldiers training out in the desert and finding them. Possibly the two storys got mixed in together. I think,without proof, that some of the bars were located. Patton was run down by a vehicle in Europe. The concenius is he was killed on puropse...My dad ,who was in the infantry dureing WW2,in Europe told me Patton allowed his solders to take home what they captured because they put their lives on the line for America.
 

Curtis

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I am not doubting the stories, just asking why they would bury their stuff in the sand when they needed it over in north Africa where he was going after the training? Why not at least park it there on a base if you weren't taking it to N. Africa?
 

Dr. Syn

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If you bury it, you don't need troops to stay there and guard it, nor maintain it. And costs were part of the equation, look at what they did at the end of the war. There are photos of stacks of P-38 Lightnings at Clark AF base being bulldozered into pits rather than spend the money to crate them up and ship them back to the U.S.

My Dad ran tanks at Death Valley, and at Fort Knox, they used old vehicles for targets, and buried all kinds of junk/ammo/supplies in those places, rather than haul it back to base.
 

Holyground

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Get on Google Earth and find the old site of Rice, California. You will see one of Pattons old airstrips. Then move about six miles to the west and you will see one of his old camps. From there you can find several places they trained. Back in the 90's, we were south of this location riding bikes, when we came upon one of their bunkers, well hidden on the side of a mountain. There is a lot of stuff out there. People have found skeletal remains of soldiers that were left by accident. If you metal detect out there, and find dog tags, dig a little more to see what they were attached to.
 

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