
Fort Knox. You've definitely heard about it before but how much about it do you really know? Here's the
KMG Gold rundown of one of the world's famous gold depositories that continues to drum up hype and excitement every few years.
For starters, Fort Knox is located adjacent to Fort Knox, Kentucky and is officially called the United States Bullion Depository. It was built in 1936 by the US Treasury Department on military land and cost less than $1 million to construct, about $10 million in today's dollars. The reason why Fort Knox was built so quickly was because of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 6102 in 1933, an order which forced American citizens to sell all their gold to the government. Between 1933 and 1937, the federal reserve of gold grew from $4 billion to $12 billion! With a huge growth in the amount of government-owned gold, a secure building was needed to store it.
Below the fortress-like structure of Fort Knox lies the gold vault, a room encased in 17,000 square feet of granite and protected by a blast-proof door that weighs 22 tons. It is also made of 4,500 square years of concrete, 775 tons of reinforcing steel and 700 tons of structural steel. In addition these high levels of physical security, Fort Knox is equipped with alarms, video cameras, minefields, barbed razor write, electric fences, closed circuit cameras and heavily armed guards and army units. To access the vault, staff members must dial individual combinations that are known only to them and no visitors are ever allowed in.
The first shipments of gold to Fort Knox began in 1937 and included everything from gold bullion to new gold bars made from old gold coins. The shipments were gradually made and were sent by 500 rail cars and by mail which were protected by the US Postal Inspection Service and US Treasury Department Agents.
Throughout history, other precious items have been housed in Fort Knox for safekeeping. The Articles of Confederation, Lincoln's Gettysburg address, three volumes of the Gutenberg Bible and Lincoln's second inaugural address have all seen the inside of Fort Knox. During World War II, Fort Knox held the US Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and reserves of European countries and key documents from Western History. The crown of St. Stephen and some of the Hungarian crown jewels were also held there.
It's estimated that Fort Knox holds nearly 3% of the world's mined gold, 147.3 million ounces. The price of a troy ounce of gold in 1934 was about $20 and in 1980 it was between $350-$450. Its current price is more than $1,200.
But gold hasn't been transferred in or out of Fort Knox in many years. The only time gold will leave the vault is to be tested for purity during annually scheduled audits. And some people believe that Fort Knox is actually empty! If Fort Knox is empty, what's in it and where is the real gold reserve? This would raise a lot of very interesting questions and we at
KMG Gold would love to know more about it.
If you like conspiracy theories, Fort Knox is one topic that will definitely keep you busy for awhile!