The United States Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox, is a fortified
vault building located next to the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
post of
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold r ...
,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...
. It is operated by the
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
. The vault is used to store a large portion of the United States'
gold reserves as well as other precious items belonging to or in custody of the federal government. It currently holds roughly of gold bullion, over half of the Treasury's stored gold. The
United States Mint Police protects the depository.
The Treasury built the depository in 1936 on land transferred to it from the military. Its purpose was to house gold then stored in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
and
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, in keeping with a strategy to move gold reserves away from coastal cities to areas less vulnerable to foreign military attack. The first set of gold shipments to the depository occurred during the first half of 1937. A second set was completed in 1941. These shipments, overseen by the
United States Post Office Department
The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, in the form of a Cabinet department, officially from 1872 to 1971. It was headed by the postma ...
, totaled roughly , almost two-thirds of the total gold reserves of the United States.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
the signed original
Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
,
Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of ...
,
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...
,
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and drafts of Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the ...
were stored in its vault for protection, as was a
Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed b ...
and an
exemplified copy of ''
Magna Carta
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor, on 15 June 1215. ...
''. After the war, the depository held the
Crown of St. Stephen as well as stockpiles of
opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy '' Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which ...
and
morphine
Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. Ther ...
. Today it is known to hold ten
1933 Double Eagle
The 1933 double eagle is a United States 20-dollar gold coin. Although 445,500 specimens of this Saint-Gaudens double eagle were minted in 1933, none were ever officially circulated, and all but two were ordered to be melted down. However, 20 m ...
gold coins, a
1974-D aluminum penny, and twelve gold (22-karat)
Sacagawea dollar
The Sacagawea dollar (also known as the "golden dollar") is a United States dollar coin introduced in 2000, although not minted for general circulation between 2002 to 2008 and again from 2012 onward because of its general unpopularity with th ...
coins that flew on the
Space Shuttle ''Columbia'', specifically
STS-93 in 1999.
The depository is a
secure facility. Between its fenced perimeter and granite-lined concrete structure lie rings of
razor wire
Barbed tape or razor wire is a mesh of metal strips with sharp edges whose purpose is to prevent passage by humans. The term "razor wire", through long usage, has generally been used to describe barbed tape products. Razor wire is much sharper th ...
. The grounds are monitored by high-resolution
night vision
Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions, either naturally with scotopic vision or through a night-vision device. Night vision requires both sufficient spectral range and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night ...
video cameras and microphones. The subterranean
vault is made of steel plates,
I-beam
An I-beam, also known as H-beam (for universal column, UC), w-beam (for "wide flange"), universal beam (UB), rolled steel joist (RSJ), or double-T (especially in Polish, Bulgarian, Spanish, Italian and German), is a beam with an or -shaped cr ...
s and cylinders encased in concrete. Its torch-and-drill resistant door is thick and weighs . The vault door is set on a 100-hour
time lock
A time lock (also timelock) is a part of a locking mechanism commonly found in bank vaults and other high-security containers. The time lock is a timer designed to prevent the opening of the safe or vault until it reaches the preset time, e ...
, and can only be opened by members of the depository staff who must dial separate combinations. Visitors are not allowed inside. It is so secure that the term "as safe as Fort Knox" has become a metaphor for safety and security.
History
The building was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...
in 1988 for its status as a "well-known landmark that is referred to frequently in factual and fictitious contexts" and its "exceptional significance" in the "nation's economic history". The site is located on what is now the intersection of Bullion Boulevard and Gold Vault Road.
Planning and completion
In June 1935, the U.S. Treasury announced its intention to quickly build a gold depository on the grounds of Fort Knox,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...
. Its purpose was to store gold then kept in the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
Assay Office and the
Philadelphia Mint
The Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia was created from the need to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States. This led the Founding Fathers of the United States to make an establishment of a continental national ...
. This intent was in keeping with a policy previously announced to move gold reserves away from coastal cities to areas less vulnerable to foreign military invasion. This policy had already led to the shipment of nearly of gold from the
San Francisco Mint
The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint. Opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California Gold Rush, in twenty years its operations exceeded the capacity of the first building. It moved into a new one in 1874, now kno ...
to the
Denver Mint. The initial plans were to be completed by August and called for a building costing no more than $450,000 ().
Cited were several military advantages of the location. An army attacking from the
Eastern Seaboard would have to fight through the
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...
, which was considered a reasonable impediment to military forces at that time. It was also isolated from railways and highways which would further hinder an attacking power. Even air travel to the location across the mountains was considered dangerous for a pilot unfamiliar with the territory. Finally, the Army's only completely mechanized cavalry unit was stationed at the adjacent Fort and could readily be deployed to defend the depository.
The Treasury began construction of the United States Bullion Depository in 1936 on land transferred to it from the
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distin ...
. The Gold Vault was completed in December of that year for $560,000 ().
Early gold shipments
The first wave of gold shipments was made semi-weekly between January 11 and June 17, 1937, and overseen by the
United States Post Office Department
The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, in the form of a Cabinet department, officially from 1872 to 1971. It was headed by the postma ...
.
The gold was transported from the New York Assay Office and the Philadelphia Mint onto trains using
postal trucks and
municipal police
Municipal police, city police, or local police are law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government. This includes the municipal government, where it is the smallest administrative subdivision. They receive fundin ...
escorts.
In the armored train cars, postal workers were accompanied by soldiers,
secret service agents, and mint guards.
Decoy trains were employed.
The gold was transferred from trains onto Army trucks under the protection of soldiers armed with
armor-piercing bullets and
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifl ...
s. The trucks were escorted by combat cars of the
1st U.S. Cavalry Regiment to the depository.
The Post Office Department billed the Treasury Department for transporting the weight of the crates and gold using the fourth-class postage rate with added insurance fees.
A total of were moved to Fort Knox in this wave.
This shipment represented of total U.S. gold reserves, which were at that time. It took over five months and required 39 trains consisting of 215 cars.
On March 1, 1941,
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal ...
Henry Morgenthau Jr. announced the completion of another shipment totaling of gold from the New York Assay office to the depository. The total amount at the vault after completion of the shipment was .
This amount represented of total U.S. gold reserves, which were at that time. This wave of shipments began in July of the previous year and was also overseen by the Post Office.
It took seven months and required 45 trains consisting of 337 cars.
Wider context: Contemporaneous rise of gold reserves in the United States
The building and early operation of the depository occurred at the same time total gold reserves in the United States experienced unprecedented growth. These reserves, which were at the end of 1933 jumped to by the end of 1939.
Factors driving this growth included the
gold price revaluation (dollar devaluation) in 1934 spurring a rise in global gold production, political uncertainties in Europe causing a
capital flight
Capital flight, in economics, occurs when assets or money rapidly flow out of a country, due to an event of economic consequence or as the result of a political event such as regime change or economic globalization. Such events could be an increas ...
to the United States, and rearmament programs in Europe which increased U.S.
net merchandise exports.
By far, most of the increase, , were the result of gold imports from abroad. This consisted of out of foreign mines (mainly from
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
), out of foreign central bank reserves (mostly
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
), with the balance from other sources (principally private holdings in
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
). Only came from gold acquired in January 1934 under the gold-buying program of
Executive Order 6102 (which required individuals and institutions deliver to the government all but a small amount of their gold coin and bullion), and from domestic production and return of scrap gold and coin after January.
By the end of 1940, total Treasury reserves stored at all locations rose to . This accounted for around 80 percent of the entire world's gold reserves.
Total U.S. gold reserves stored at all locations peaked in October 1941 at and ended the year at .
Historic documents
Librarian of Congress
The Librarian of Congress is the head of the Library of Congress, appointed by the president of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, for a term of ten years. In addition to overseeing the library, the Libra ...
Archibald MacLeish expressed concern with the safety of the library's precious artifacts as soon as he took office in 1939. As the
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended ...
was fought during the summer and fall of 1940, MacLeish asked the
U.S. Geological Survey about locating underground storage for "valuable paintings and books" and "within reasonable distance of
Washington." In December 1940, he directed his staff to create a detailed catalog of the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...
's most "irreplaceable" assets, and the space required to store them. Primary attention was given to those items "considered most important for the history of democracy."
When it became clear that Congress would not fund the building of a separate facility, Macleish sought other options. On April 30, 1941, he requested of the Treasury Secretary some thousands of cubic feet at Fort Knox for the most notable items in the library. The secretary replied, offering the librarian ten cubic feet. In July, when the inventory was complete, and it had been determined that some 40,000 cubic feet would be required for the storage of all unique and irreplaceable materials of the library, the original ten cubic feet offer was raised to 60.3 cubic feet.
MacLeish prioritized items to be sent to Fort Knox.
These items were: the
Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
(signed original); the
Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of ...
(signed original);
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (autographed original); Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the ...
(first and second autographed drafts); a
Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed b ...
(
St. Blasius–
St. Paul copy); the
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...
(signed original); and
Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln and sometimes St Mary's Cathedral, in Lincoln, England, is a Grade I listed cathedral and is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. Constructio ...
's
exemplified copy of ''
Magna Carta
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor, on 15 June 1215. ...
'',
which had been on loan to the United States for the
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Pur ...
. The items were packed in four crates and then shipped by train to the depository on December 26, 1941.
While the vault was invulnerable to
bombing attack, it was not
climate controlled, and so the documents were vulnerable to changes in temperature and humidity, as well as insects.
So special precautions were taken. The items were locked in bronze containers that had been heated for six hours to drive off any moisture. The containers were then embedded in
mineral wool
Mineral wool is any fibrous material formed by spinning or drawing molten mineral or rock materials such as slag and ceramics.
Applications of mineral wool include thermal insulation (as both structural insulation and pipe insulation), f ...
and placed in wooden cases
hermetically sealed with lead. An air conditioning unit and calcium chloride
dryers were installed in the vault. Frequent inspections were made. In May 1942, repairs were made to the Declaration. In April 1943, the Declaration and the Constitution were removed from and then taken back to the depository so they could be displayed at the opening of the
Jefferson Memorial
The Jefferson Memorial is a Presidential memorials in the United States, presidential memorial built in Washington, D.C. between 1939 and 1943 in honor of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, ...
. On October 1, 1944, all items were returned to the Library of Congress. The copy of ''Magna Carta'' was returned to England after the war in January 1946.
Other artifacts
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
the depository held the
Crown of St. Stephen, as well as other Hungarian crown jewels including a gold scepter and orb and a gold‐encrusted mantle. They were given to U.S. military authorities by members of the
Royal Hungarian Crown Guard
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a ...
who feared that they would otherwise fall into
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
hands. The items were kept in Germany under U.S. custody for several years before being transferred to Fort Knox. They were returned to Hungary in 1978.
In 1955, the
Defense Logistics Agency
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is a combat support agency in the United States Department of Defense (DoD), with more than 26,000 civilian and military personnel throughout the world. Located in 48 states and 28 countries, DLA provides su ...
began storing
opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy '' Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which ...
and
morphine
Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. Ther ...
at the depository and the
West Point Mint. This was done to ensure the nation had adequate supplies in case of war or supply disruptions from the limited number of poppy exporters. The stockpile grew to , enough to meet the legal painkiller needs of the entire United States for one year if supplies were cut off. As the cold war ended, and more nations began exporting concentrated
poppy straw
Poppy straw (also known as opium straw, mowed opium straw, crushed poppy capsule, poppy chaff, or poppy husk) is derived from opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum'') that are harvested when fully mature and dried by mechanical means, minus the rip ...
, concerns about supply disruptions abated. But the agency could not legally sell its opium or morphine stock without congressional approval. So, in 1993, it converted its remaining opium reserves into morphine sulfate. This was done to extend the life of the stock since morphine has a longer shelf-life than opium.
According to a Public Affairs Questions/Answers and Fact Sheet from the U.S. Mint, obtained through FOIA Request #2017-09-205, the morphine is no longer stored at the depository.
Construction and security
The building measures by and is above ground level. Materials used to construct the building include of granite
(quarried at the
North Carolina Granite Corporation Quarry Complex
North Carolina Granite Corporation Quarry Complex is a historic granite quarry and national historic district located at Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 22 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site, and 8 con ...
), of concrete, of reinforced steel and of structural steel. The outer wall is made of granite-lined concrete. There are guard boxes at each of the four corners of the structure. Sentry boxes are located at the entrance gate. The words "United States Depository" are inscribed over the marble front entrance. Above the inscription is the seal of the Department of the Treasury, in gold. Offices of the
Officer in Charge and the
Captain of the Guard open upon the entrance lobby. At the rear of the building is another entrance used for receiving bullion and supplies.
Below the fortress-like structure lies the gold
vault. The vault is made of steel plates, steel
I-beam
An I-beam, also known as H-beam (for universal column, UC), w-beam (for "wide flange"), universal beam (UB), rolled steel joist (RSJ), or double-T (especially in Polish, Bulgarian, Spanish, Italian and German), is a beam with an or -shaped cr ...
s and steel cylinders laced with hoop bands and encased in concrete.
It is less than in area, and two stories high.
The
Mosler Safe Company made the vault. According to a Mosler brochure, both the vault door and emergency door are thick and made of the latest torch-and-drill-resistant material of the time. The main vault door weighs , and the vault casing is . The vault door is set on a 100-hour
time lock
A time lock (also timelock) is a part of a locking mechanism commonly found in bank vaults and other high-security containers. The time lock is a timer designed to prevent the opening of the safe or vault until it reaches the preset time, e ...
and is rarely opened.
To open the vault, members of the depository staff must dial separate combinations known only to them.
There is an
escape tunnel from the lower level of the vault to be used by someone who has been accidentally locked in. It can only be opened from inside the vault and only when the vault doors are closed and locked. The tunnel leads into the main building.
The facility is surrounded by fences and is guarded by the
United States Mint Police. Between the outer perimeter and the depository walls lie rings of
razor wire
Barbed tape or razor wire is a mesh of metal strips with sharp edges whose purpose is to prevent passage by humans. The term "razor wire", through long usage, has generally been used to describe barbed tape products. Razor wire is much sharper th ...
. These grounds are monitored by high-resolution
night vision
Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions, either naturally with scotopic vision or through a night-vision device. Night vision requires both sufficient spectral range and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night ...
video cameras and microphones.
The depository is equipped with its own
emergency power
An emergency power system is an independent source of electrical power that supports important electrical systems on loss of normal power supply. A standby power system may include a standby generator, batteries and other apparatus. Emergency ...
and water systems.
For security reasons, visitors are not allowed inside the depository grounds. There have been only three reported occasions when guests outside the Treasury Department have made inspection tours of the vault. The first was by President
Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
in 1943. A second inspection was made by members of the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washi ...
and the
news media
The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), an ...
on September 23, 1974, led by the
Director of the United States Mint
The director of the United States Mint is a presidential appointment that requires a Senate confirmation. The incumbent is Ventris Gibson, who became director of the Mint on June 22, 2022, after serving in acting capacity.
When the position ...
,
Mary Brooks. The tour was in response to a conspiracy theory, circulated by
Peter David Beter, that elites had secretly removed the gold in the depository and that the vaults were empty.
The third inspection tour was on August 21, 2017. Secretary of the Treasury
Steven Mnuchin,
Treasurer of the United States
The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage produc ...
Jovita Carranza, and other staff accompanied Senate Majority Leader and Kentucky Senator
Mitch McConnell
Addison Mitchell McConnell III (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky and the Senate minority leader since 2021. Currently in his seventh term, McConn ...
, Kentucky Congressman
Brett Guthrie, and
Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin.
According to a
tweet by Mnuchin, and an internal email by Chief of the U.S. Mint Police Dennis O'Connor, he was the first Treasury Secretary to visit the depository since
John Wesley Snyder in 1948.
Current holdings
As of 2021, the U.S. gold reserves total 8,134 metric tons. The next highest holdings were Germany's, whose gold reserves were 3,364 metric tons. , Fort Knox holds of gold reserves with a market value of US $ billion, representing of the gold reserves of the United States.
The
gold bar
A gold bar, also called gold bullion or gold ingot, is a quantity of refined metallic gold of any shape that is made by a bar producer meeting standard conditions of manufacture, labeling, and record keeping. Larger gold bars that are produce ...
s held in the depository are approximately seven inches long, three and a half inches wide, and one and three-quarters inches thick. While each of these bars contains the equivalent of about of pure gold, they differ in their composition.
Mint gold bars are a minimum of 99.5% fine gold, while coin bars, which were made from melted gold coins, are the same composition as the coins from which they were made.
The 1934 London Good Delivery List, published by the London Gold Market (a precursor of the
London Bullion Market Association), defined coin bars as "bars assaying 899 to 901 per mille or 915 to 917 per mille and containing between 350 and 420 ounces of fine gold". These two different levels of
fineness
The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hard ...
reflected the composition of gold coins of the day. U.S. coins produced from 1838 through 1933 were made with 90% gold alloyed with 10% copper, while U.K.
crown gold
Crown gold is a 22 karat (kt) gold alloy used in the crown coin introduced in England in 1526 (by Henry VIII). In this alloy, the proportion of gold is 22 parts out of 24 (91.667% gold)—and is appreciably less prone to wear than the softer 23 k ...
coins were minted with a gold proportion of 22 parts to 24 (%). These lower gold ratios contrast to many 99.9% fine gold
bullion coins minted in modern times since older coins were intended for circulation while newer coins are not.
In 2011, the U.S. Treasury's full detailed schedules of gold bars were published by the
U.S. House Committee on Financial Services as part of submissions for its hearing titled "Investigating the Gold: H.R. 1495, the Gold Reserve Transparency Act of 2011 and the Oversight of United States Gold Holdings".
From the schedule, it can be seen that roughly 64% of the gold bars at Fort Knox have a fineness between 899 and 901, 2% have a fineness between 901.1 and 915.4, 17% have a fineness between 915.5 and 917, and 17% have a fineness greater than or equal to 995. The average fineness is 916.7.
Under the currency reforms enacted by Roosevelt, the federal government owns the gold and holds it as security for $11 billion in
gold certificates issued, in book-entry form, to the
Federal Reserve Bank
A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total, one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve A ...
s. The Federal Reserve Banks use these certificates as a small fraction of the
collateral
Collateral may refer to:
Business and finance
* Collateral (finance), a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan
* Marketing collateral, in marketing and sales
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Collate ...
for
Federal Reserve Note
Federal Reserve Notes, also United States banknotes, are the currently issued banknotes of the United States dollar. The United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces the notes under the authority of the Federal Reserve Act of 19 ...
s.
In addition to the gold, the depository currently holds ten
1933 Double Eagle
The 1933 double eagle is a United States 20-dollar gold coin. Although 445,500 specimens of this Saint-Gaudens double eagle were minted in 1933, none were ever officially circulated, and all but two were ordered to be melted down. However, 20 m ...
gold coins, a
1974-D aluminum penny, and twelve gold (22-karat)
Sacagawea dollar
The Sacagawea dollar (also known as the "golden dollar") is a United States dollar coin introduced in 2000, although not minted for general circulation between 2002 to 2008 and again from 2012 onward because of its general unpopularity with th ...
coins that flew on the
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
.
Reputation
The term "safe as Fort Knox" has become a metaphor for safety and security in popular vernacular.
As an example,
2020 Democratic Party presidential primary candidate Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a p ...
, when outlining in a
Medium post a plan to make
voting machine
A voting machine is a machine used to record votes in an election without paper. The first voting machines were mechanical but it is increasingly more common to use '' electronic voting machines''. Traditionally, a voting machine has been defi ...
s secure, stated "Our elections should be as secure as Fort Knox. But instead, they're less secure than your
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
account."
Samsung Knox
Samsung Knox is a proprietary security and management framework pre-installed on most Samsung mobile devices. Its primary purpose is to provide organizations with a toolset for managing work devices, such as employee mobile phones or interactiv ...
, part of
Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
s SAFE (Samsung For Enterprise) initiative, was named after Fort Knox, connoting a sense of security.
Given its reputation for securely holding large amounts of gold,
breaking into the depository has been featured in many popular books, movies, games, and television shows.
A well-known example is the 1959
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 19 ...
novel ''
Goldfinger'' by
Ian Fleming,
in which the
eponymous villain steals the gold, but in
the 1964 film executes a convoluted scheme of
irradiating
Irradiation is the process by which an object is exposed to radiation. The exposure can originate from various sources, including natural sources. Most frequently the term refers to ionizing radiation, and to a level of radiation that will serv ...
the vault in order to corner the gold market.
The 1937 film ''
Behind the Headlines'', released the same year as the first wave of gold shipments to Fort Knox, was about
gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix ''-ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
s stealing gold from an
armored car en route to the depository.
In the 1951 comedy ''
Comin' Round the Mountain'',
Abbott and Costello
Abbott may refer to:
People
* Abbott (surname)
* Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist
*Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act
Places Argentina
* Abbott, Buenos Aires United States
* Abbott, Arkansa ...
follow a
treasure map and unwittingly dig into the vault at Fort Knox, where they are immediately arrested.
In the 1952 animated cartoon ''
14 Carrot Rabbit'',
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Mer ...
tricks
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam ( /joʊˈsɛmɪti/ ''yoh-SEM-ih-tee'') is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. He is an adversary of Bu ...
into digging into the vault where he too is immediately arrested.
See also
*
Vaulted gold
*
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building, also known as 33 Liberty Street, is a building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, which serves as the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The building ...
– gold depository for 36 foreign central banks.
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
*
The United States Bullion Depository Fort Knox, Kentucky from the
U.S. Mint
The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; that ...
*
* {{cite journal , title=Steel and Stone Fortress to Guard Our Gold , journal=Popular Mechanics , date=December 1935 , volume= 64 , issue= 6 , page= 837 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x98DAAAAMBAJ&q=Popular+Science+1933+plane+%22Popular+Mechanics%22&pg=PA837 , access-date=18 July 2019
Gold in the United States
Bullion depository
Warehouses on the National Register of Historic Places
Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky
Art Deco architecture in Kentucky
Strategic reserves of the United States
Fort Knox
National Register of Historic Places in Hardin County, Kentucky
1936 establishments in Kentucky
Government buildings completed in 1936