Treasure Chest

Archaeologist Jerry Freeman, with the help of his daughter Holly, removes a wooden chest he recently discovered in a cave in Death Valley, Calif. The chest, containing gold and silver coins, is in mint condition, and the treasure is worth an estimated $500,000, he said. Also in the chest, which probably was hidden nearly 150 years ago during an ill-fated gold rush expedition, are well-worn baby shoes, a pistol, powder horn, hunting knife, locket, shawl, china bowls, photographs and a letter documenting the Lost Pioneers’ wagon trek of some 100 men, women and children during the 1849 California gold rush. The group, seeking riches in the Sierra Nevada foothills, wound up in the merciless California desert.