United States Bullion Depository

United States Bullion Depository

The United States Bullion Depository is widely known as Fort Know and is vault that is heavily fortified and located near Fort Know, Kentucky. The Depository is used to store many different things including a large amount of the United States official gold reserves. There are also other items that are in the vault including items belonging to the federal government. Currently the United States Bullion Depository holds around 4,603 tons of gold bullion, which is around 143.399 million troy ounces. This is only second to the largest amount of gold in trust for foreign nations because of the underground vault in Manhattan of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which holds around 5,000 metric tons of gold in trust.

One of the most famous aspects of Fort Know or the United States Bullion Depository is the high levels of security that is used to protect the contents of the vault. For example, the walls are lined with granite and are protected with what is considered to be a blast proof door that is around 22 tons in weight. There are also other security precautions that take among the smaller rooms and internal cells of the vault for further protection. The only way to open the vault door is to have many different members of the Depository staff dial separate numbers that are only known by them. Its things like this that has made Fort Knox or the United States Bullion Depository famous for being one of the most secure vaults in the country controlled by the government. During World War II the vault held many famous pieces of American History including the original U.S. Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. It also was where many documents of importance to Western history were kept during this time as well.