When the silver certificate was withdrawn and coinage temporarily moved to 40% silver content for only the half dollar, 1963/1964ff timeframe I remember very clearly that there were a number of stories about how much silver the US government held. If I recall correctly the number was 193 million ounces. What I do clearly recall is that supposedly much of the silver was inside mufti-feet think masonry walls at West Point. Apparently, during the depression of the early 1890's the US government stimulated the economy of and the expansion into the west by supporting the mining industry by buying up the silver produced (for example the Comstock load). This was shipped east to New York where a new "mess hall" building was under construction and stacked within one of the inner walls.
I went looking for information on that a couple months ago, not digging long and hard but more than just a casual Google search and I could find nothing about this anymore.
(and yes, I was involved with silver back then :-) and ever since)
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