Following is the first article that broke on January 19th, 1999.
You may also want to read the followup article detailing the possibility that the find is not as old as first thought, at http://www.lospadres.info/mirror/sfgt990128state1910EST0099.html
It was like something right out of the movie ''Raiders of the Lost Ark.''
An archaeologist's search of a desert cave yielded a wooden chest filled with gold and silver coins, apparently hidden 149 years ago during an ill-fated Gold Rush expedition across the harsh California desert.
Among the treasures were journals documenting the wagon train trek of '49er William Robinson, who was among some 100 men, women and children seeking the gold-laden foothills of the Sierra Nevada but ending up in the merciless valley.
''I was just blown away,'' archaeologist Jerry Freeman said Monday. ''Nothing prepared me for this.''
Freeman, a semi-retired substitute teacher with a degree in archaeology from Long Beach City College, said he has always been fascinated with the pioneers who left Salt Lake City in an ill-conceived attempt to skirt the south end of the Sierra Nevada and ended up crossing Death Valley in November 1849.
''I consider them some of the most intrepid pioneers in U.S. history,'' said Freeman, 56, of Pearblossom.
Eventually, the pioneers ended up near what is now Valencia in northern Los Angeles County, 300 miles southwest of their original destination.
Freeman organized a five-person archaeological team, including his two adult daughters, to follow the pioneers' route in December. He made his discovery in November during a reconnaissance hike.
Chest in mint condition
The chest was propped up on boulders and a board but remained hidden in mint condition, seemingly unscathed by time.
A hymnal tucked inside the trunk contained a hauntingly poignant letter written by Robinson.
''My Dear Edwin,'' Robinson wrote. ''Note, now we should have gone around . . . if I'm not home by February, then I probably will not make it out . . .''
Robinson died 26 days later on Jan. 28, 1850.
According to journals, Robinson drank too much cold water at the first spring the party came to at what is known today as Barrel Springs near Palmdale. He lay down to nap and never awakened.
Freeman believes the pioneers would have tried to escape Death Valley at snowcapped Pinto Peak through Jayhawker Canyon near what is now Lone Pine, a community on U.S. 395. He hiked to Pinto Peak on Nov. 28 and found a boning knife and oxen shoe that led him to a ridge with some outcroppings.
The chest was unearthed from the deepest of two caves. The team found a manifest of the trunk's contents dated Jan. 2, 1850, along with nearly 80 pieces of currency, including $5 and $10 gold pieces and a number of silver dollars.
None of the money appears to have dates after 1849, Freeman said. He estimated the total worth at $500,000.
Also found inside was a small hymnal, a pistol in a holster, a handmade wooden powder horn and a locket adorned with pearls. Photographs, china bowlsand well-worn baby shoes were also inside the chest. A knitted shawl covered the items.
Park Service holds chest
The items have been turned over to the National Park Service for authentication.
Freeman's fascination with the group took him to the top-secret Air Force base in Nevada known as Area 51 nearly two years ago. He snuck onto the base for a week to follow the trail of the lost '49ers.