Archeologist finds trunk linked to Death Valley '49er expedition

Among the treasures was a letter 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 ended up in the merciless valley.

"I was just blown away," archeologist Jerry Freeman said Monday. "Nothing prepared me for this."

Freeman, a semi-retired substitute teacher with a degree in archeology from California State University, Long Beach, said he has always been fascinated with 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 archeological team, including his two adult daughters, to follow the pioneers' route in December. He made his discovery in November during a reconnaissance hike.

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. "Knowed, now we should have gone arownd. ... Ifen I don't raturn by end of fifty I wont never come."

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 laid down to nap and never awakened.

Freeman believes the pioneers would have tried to escape Death Valley through snowcapped Pinto Peak at 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 pulled 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 holstered pistol, a handmade wooden powderhorn, and a locket adorned with pearls. Photographs, china bowls and well-worn baby shoes were also inside the chest. A knitted shawl covered the items.

The items have been turned over to the National Park Service for authentication. Freeman hopes to donate the findings to a museum in Death Valley.

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.

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