Gold Bullion Depository at Fort Knox
Fort Knox is located in Kentucky, and was opened in 1937 as a place for the U.S. Government to store gold bars and bullion. Small amounts of gold have been removed over the years to test purity and conduct audits, but no other gold has come into or out of the depository for decades.
In the 20th century, the highest amount of gold holdings in the U.S. depository occurred in 1941, when there were 649.6 million ounces of gold in the reserve. As of 2006, the bullion depository at Fort Knox held 147.3 million ounces of gold, which is valued at $42.22 per ounce while the market price is more than 20 times that amount.
The gold in the Fort Knox Bullion Depository is an asset of the United States, and is treated as such. A standard gold bar in the depository will be about seven inches long, three and five-eighths inches wide, and one and three-quarter inches thick. All bars are measured regularly, ensuring that they keep with the exact standard to make them retain the same value as the rest. The bars are also weighed regularly, and must weigh in at 27.5 pounds, or about 400 ounces. Any gold bars that do not meet these standards are considered to be defective and are melted down and destroyed.
The Fort Knox depository was built to be sturdy and impenetrable, including more than 4,200 cubic yards of concrete, 16,000 cubic feet of granite, 650 tons of structural steel and 750 tons of reinforcing steel. This is where the social connotation of popular phrases such as “locked up tighter than Fort Knox” and “safer than Fort Knox” came from. The depository cost more than $550,000 to build, and was completed in 1936. The first shipment of gold arrived and was stored in the depository in January of 1937. Since then, much more has been added, and some removed, but it has been many years since any gold has left or entered the facility beyond the regular auditing process of the reserve.
Throughout its lifetime, the bullion depository at Fort Knox has been used to store a variety of items. The visiting items include the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, the Gettysburg Address, the Gutenberg Bible in three different volumes, the Magna Carta, Lincoln’s second inaugural address, and the crown, sword, orb, scepter, and cape of the King of Hungary, St. Stephen, until they were returned to Hungary in 1978.
The gold depository at Fort Knox is completely classified, and includes no exceptions. There are no visitors admitted, including anyone within a specific distance radius from the facility. Security is taken very seriously at Fort Knox, and those who breach it are punished severely. There are billions of dollars worth of gold stored at Ft Knox, so everything has to be very secure and very secret.