Camp Hell Treasure Mystery Revisited - Colorado Story

Camp Hell Treasure Mystery Revisited
(c) 2004 - 2010 by Anthony M. Belli

EAGLE COUNTY, COLORADO- Officially the military named it Camp Hale, but those elite troops who trained here for severe weather mountain warfare called it Camp Hell. In 1942 the camp became the temporary training facility for the 10th Mountain Division of the 87th Mountain Regiment, during WWII. Their motto: “We Climb To Conquer.” The elite mountain troops took great pride in saying… “Any man who transfers to combat from the mountain troops is yellow.” Sixteen years ago Camp Hell was drawn into the tempest of a buried treasure mystery involving “Tons of Silver!”

First a little history… During the Russian-Finnish war during the winter of 1939-40 Finnish troops used their winter mountain skills to their advantage. Using skis and guerrilla tactics the Russians were quickly brought to their knees, although they did rally during the spring and went on to win the war. Regardless the world had seen what could be accomplished in trench warfare during severe winter conditions.

The U.S. further took notice in the Balkans when the Greeks forced invading Italians into the mountains that winter. In addition to 25,000 battle causalities, 10,000 more Italians died from exposure. So when Charles Monot “Minnie” Dole, founder of the National Ski Patrol, U.S. recommended American Ski troops to the military, Chief of Staff General George Marshall was all ears. On November 15, 1941 as a direct result of Dole’s vision the 87th Mountain Regiment was founded and would specialize in severe weather mountain combat.

Those individuals recruited into the elite 10th Mountain Division may not seem important now, but you will soon learn why it plays a major role. Right off the recruitment effort made it clear that this would be no ordinary regiment. Standards were high, celebrity skiers and climbers were signing up. Some “ivy league college boys” signed up believing the “elite duty” would certainly be a walk in the park. Not so. The end result was that the 10th held the highest number of college-educated men ever assembled in a single division. Two-thirds of the soldiers qualified as officers. Camp Hale was completed in November 1942 consisting of more then 1,000 buildings, which by mid-December housed 14,000 recruits.

For the purpose of this article only, the next significant event, which cast the spotlight upon Camp Hell, came in 1988; 23 years after the facility had been dismantled. A man named Don Alexander published an article entitled; “Tons of Silver” which appeared in Popular Mining Magazine. Alexander claims while researching old mining claims in Eagle and Lake counties he stopped at a Leadville restaurant – bar for dinner and walked in on a reunion of the 10 Mountain Division.

According to Alexander’s article he sat and had a drink at the bar where he overheard a conversation between a number of men who were speaking loudly to overcome the noise from the event. He states he overheard the name Gus who was a silver miner from the Leadville area, another name he heard was Woody who worked as a staff sergeant but was a geologist or mining engineer from Idaho. The third man discussed was Andrew, a chemistry student from Ohio. Alexander wrote that others were involved, a supply sergeant and a few clerks who “juggled paperwork in order that this group always was given some special training assignment to perform in a remote area with no one to observe their real activities.”

Alexander states he believes Gus, Woody and Andrew likely were poking around some of the old mines between Camp Hale and Leadville when they came across a productive silver mine that had been closed by the war act (Regulation L) as being non-essential to the war effort. Since most mine owners hoped to resume operations shortly, all equipment would have remained. According to the story these G.I.’s secretly began mining silver and were able to smelt their own silver bars. With the aid of a supply sergeant they were able to obtain, snow shoes, drills, explosives, and other mining supplies to maintain their illicit operation.

When orders came to ship out to Northern Italy the G.I.’s stacked the silver bars in a hole that was blasted into the rear wall of one of the mining company’s outbuildings, the particular building had been built into the side of the mountain. According to the story the silver would be waiting for the G.I.’s when they returned home.

According to Alexander all but two of the G.I.’s involved with the mining operation were killed in action. The two survivors decided that each would confide in one other friend the details of the mining operation and the location of the silver cache. Later both men were killed, but their two confidants survived. After the war the two confidants returned to Camp Hale and made several searches for the treasure without success. No report of any recovery has occurred to date.

I was able to locate Alexander and requested an interview with him concerning this story and his article “Tons of Silver.” He declined to be interviewed. If Alexander’s story is credible there are several coincidental facts that support it. First the area from Camp Hale to Leadville historically has been a large producing silver and gold region. Second when the war act closed mines throughout the country it was a temporary closure, therefore mine owners never intended to abandon their mines, but closed them to be in compliance with Regulation L. Generally the mining equipment was left intact at the mines waiting for them to re-open. After the war many mines, especially gold mines never did re-open for various reasons, economy and the cost of mining being at the top of that list.

Third is the location of Camp Hale in the Colorado Rockies… remote, isolated, and snowbound during winter months. The chance of the G.I.’s being discovered working a secret mine here is unlikely. Forth is the education factor of the men who trained here, very intelligent, remember two-thirds of the soldiers qualified as officer candidates. Considering all the coincidental facts, which seem to support Alexander’s claims, is it possible such a secret mining operation could have been carried out here?

Alexander gives other clues that with research could confirm the legitimacy of his story. He states two soldiers were killed while working the mine, and believes the deaths would have been written off as training accidents. He said from what he overheard the small group of miners at Camp Hell were known to be very tight lipped who “always drew the same off-camp training assignments,” and managed to get their furloughs together at the same time.

According to records I’ve located it was not uncommon for the ski troops to train at altitudes up to 14,000 feet, and to remain away from camp for weeks at a time. Their backpacks carried provisions and survival supplies often-weighing as much as 60 pounds. If a small group was working a secret mine they certainly could have done so in privacy and with plenty of provisions to remain for weeks at time.

990 U.S. troops from the fighting 10th lost their lives repelling the Nazi infestation from Italy. A few monuments and the site of Camp Hale can be seen at the summit of Tennessee Pass along Colorado Highway 24. The more credibility that can be assigned to Alexander’s story certainly will help establish if such an operation is likely to have actually existed. The National Achieves is the source to acquire military records. Local mining records and old maps of the area between Camp Hale and Leadville will produce a number of possible locations to begin a search. The key here to reduce the number of sites to check is that the silver mine was producing at the time it was closed by the war act, and the G.I.’s involved found the equipment in usable condition.

To read Alexander’s article “Tons of Silver” check out: http://www.cowboyshowcase.com/tons_of_silver.htm

Sources- Alexander, Don, Tons of Silver, (s/a above)

Dawson, Louis, Camp Hale and the 10th Mountain Division, http://www.wildsnow.com/articles/soldiers/10th_mountain_division.htm

National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/feature/va/2001/hale.htm