The Oregon State Capitol vault has a secret. Do you know what it is? If you don’t already know, then you’ll probably never guess. Here’s a question for you: How much money is in the Oregon State Capitol vault? Once you know the answer, you can ask other people that question and see how close they get. Read on to find out!

The Oregon State Capitol in Salem is the building that houses the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer.
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In other words, it's the main office of the Oregon state government. Everything that pertains to the operation of the state government happens there. Decisions are made. Laws are passed. Important people meet.
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It's a beautiful building that was built in 1938 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
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In the basement, there's a vault. This vault has a secret.
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It's empty! There's nothing in there.
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Well, no money anyway. The Capitol does use it for storage.
Until the 1990s, cashier checks for investments and money for the state payroll were stored in the vault. Today, everything is digital so that's no longer necessary.
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In fact, no one even knows all the combinations to all the safes inside the vault anymore, rendering them useless. There are six safes in the vault that no one has been able to open for who knows how long. In 2011, the state called in expert safe crackers to open them, but they failed.
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No one knows what's inside those six safes, but they don't think it's anything valuable.
The Oregon State Capitol's vault is only 11 paces long by 6 paces wide, so it's unlikely that it will be used for anything but storage from this point forward.
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So, the secret of the Oregon State Capitol vault is simply that it’s empty. That secret may not be as exciting as you’d hoped, but it certainly is interesting!

Want to learn more about the Oregon State Capitol building? Check this out: The Quirky Story Behind This Famous Oregon Landmark Will Fascinate You

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