Fort Knox Bullion Depository

Fort Knox Bullion Depository

Fort Knox was built using 17,000 ft.³ of granite, 4,500 yd.³ of concrete, 775 tons of reinforcing steel and 700 tons of structural steel.

The facility is surrounded by fences and guarded by the United States Mint Police. Fort Knox is a US Army post of 30,000 soldiers and surrounds the depository and provides an extra level of security to the facility. The vault door and emergency door are both 21 inches thick and made of the latest torch and drill resistant metals.

In addition to the many layers of physical security. There are alarms, video cameras, minefields, barbed razor wire, electric fences, closed circuit cameras, heavily armed guards and army units. There are also Apache helicopter gunships on-site and at nearby Godman Army Airfield. Visitors are not allowed at the facility.

About 3.5 to 4 million troy ounces per year are consumed in the United States for jewelry and industrial machines. The price of gold in 1934 was about $20 and rose to between $320 to $450 per troy ounce in 1980. The current price is more than $1,200 per ounce.

Fort Knox Has Protected More Than Gold

During World War II Fort Knox held the US Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution as well as 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 at Fort Knox.

"In 1935 Congress authorized the transfer of a portion of the property within the Fort Knox Military Reservation in Kentucky to the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury for the construction thereon of a depository for bullion.

The two-story, basement, and attic building is granite, steel, and concrete supported on a 10-foot thick mat of concrete. Its exterior dimensions are 105 by 121 feet and its height is 42 feet above the first-floor level. It was constructed under the supervision of the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department and upon completion was turned over to the Director of the Mint.

Within the building is a two-level steel and concrete vault, 40 by 60 feet, with 14 compartments on the subterranean level and a like number on the ground level. The vault door weighs more than 20 tons. To open it requires the cooperation of different members of the depository staff, who must dial separate combinations. The construction of the vault casing includes the use of steel plates, steel I beams and steel cylinders laced with hoop bands and encased in concrete. The vault roof, of similar construction, is independent of the bombproof depository roof.

The vault is surrounded by a corridor which is so arranged that the guards are able to observe the space between the top of the vault and the roof. Between the corridor and the outer wall of the depository the space is utilized for the offices of the Chief Clerk in charge, captain of the guard, room for bookkeeping, guards, storeroom, and other purposes. The outer walls of the building are of granite lined with reinforced concrete.

Separated from the building on the outside are four guard boxes, one at each corner. A high steel fence marks the boundaries of the site.

Automatic electric-signal systems and telephones, radios, and microphones are part of the mechanical safeguards in the building. It is near the Fort Knox Army post which provides additional protection. The building is equipped with its own emergency power plant, water system, and other facilities. There are living apartments for the guards and in the basement is a pistol range for practice.

The building cost $431,167. The total project cost was approximately $540,000."
(Short and Brown)

"In 1935 Congress authorized the construction of a depository for gold bullion within the Fort Knox Military Reservation. Within the building is a two-level steel and concrete vault, forty feet by sixty feet. The vault door weighs more than twenty tons."
(Flynn and Polese)