Worth fighting for?

The chest of gold was light enough for two or three men to lift in the opening scene.

In 1884 the price of gold was $ 20.67 per ounce. And thus $ 330.72 per pound. If there was up to 100 pounds of gold in the chest it would be worth up to $ 33,072.00 in 1884 money, and thus probably a few million dollars in modern money.

The question is what would the US government be doing shipping that much money to a tiny town in New Mexico for? Did the government pay soldiers or other employees in gold or in paper money?