page_title: United States Bullion Depository
section_title: Construction and security
hierarchical_section_title: United States Bullion Depository / Construction and security
caption_attribution_description: English: An UH-1 Iroquois helicopter flies over the US Gold Bullion Depositiory.
context_page_description: The United States Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox, is a fortified vault building located next to the United States Army post of Fort Knox, Kentucky. It is operated by the United States Department of the Treasury. 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 147 million troy ounces 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 and Philadelphia, 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, totaled roughly 417 million troy ounces, almost two-thirds of the total gold reserves of the United States.
context_section_description: The building measures 105 feet (32 m) by 121 feet (37 m) and is 42 feet (13 m) above ground level. Materials used to construct the building include 16,500 cubic feet (470 m³) of granite (quarried at the North Carolina Granite Corporation Quarry Complex), 4,200 cubic yards (3,200 m³) of concrete, 750 short tons (680 metric tons) of reinforced steel and 670 short tons (610 metric tons) of structural steel.  The outer wall is made of granite lined concrete. At each corner of the structure are four guard boxes. Sentry boxes are located at the entrance gate.  The words "United States Depository" is 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-beams and steel cylinders laced with hoop bands and encased in concrete. It is less than 4,000 square feet (370 m²) 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 21 inches (53 cm) thick and made of the latest torch-and-drill-resistant material of the time. The main vault door weighs 20 short tons (18 metric tons), and the vault casing is 25 inches (64 cm). The vault door is set on a 100-hour time lock 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 and minefields.  These grounds are monitored by high-resolution night vision video cameras and microphones.  The depository is equipped with its own emergency power 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 in 1943. A second inspection was made by members of the United States Congress and the news media on September 23, 1974, led by the Director of the United States Mint, 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 Jovita Carranza, and other staff accompanied Senate Majority Leader and Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, 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.
caption: Aerial view, 1989
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