'49ER'S OLD GEAR FOUND; HIKERS MOVED BY 1850 LETTER.

Byline: Greg Botonis Daily News Staff Writer

Five hikers are back at home after encountering complications in crossing Edwards Air Force Base during their attempt to retrace the escape from Death Valley by '49ers who had been lost in the desert.

The grueling two-week trek by the five was cut short about two-thirds of the way along a 200-mile course, but their adventure produced a moving discovery: a chest containing a doomed '49er's pistol, hymn book, other belongings and a letter he had written, hidden in a small cave high in the Panamint Mountains when he no longer could carry the trunk.

``It was an incredible find, and the whole team got really emotional,'' said Jerry Freeman, leader of the expedition that included his daughters Holly and Jennifer, photographer Clay Campbell and documentary film producer Allan Smith.

Edwards Air Force Base lies on part of the route the '49ers once trudged, Freeman said, and his party had arranged to cross the base on Sunday. But when the hikers called on Thursday to confirm the arrangements, base officials said they couldn't cross, Freeman said.

The hikers gave up at Last Chance Canyon, which opens into the Antelope Valley east of Red Rock Canyon State Park. They dropped what now is the physically easiest portion of the trip, mainly crossing the valley floor where there are now roads for much of the way.

``All of us were pretty beat up after the trek itself,'' said Freeman. ``The weather was harsh, but we did pretty well.''

They left the old chest and contents as they found them since it is against the law to remove artifacts from inside a national park. They are waiting to hear from Death Valley National Park officials about what will be done with the '49er's belongings.

``I would like for my team and I to have some say as to how and where they are displayed,'' said Freeman. ``These are important things, and they deserve the proper care.''

The chest belonged to William Robinson, the last of the fatalities among a group of miners who stumbled into Death Valley in December 1849 while they were seeking a shortcut to California's gold fields.

Tragically, Robinson made it across the desert only to die at Barrel Springs, just southeast of what is now Palmdale. According to their journals, his companions were unable to wake him from his nap after he drank copiously from the cold water.

Inside the chest, Freeman and the other hikers found a letter dated Jan. 2, 1850, in which Robinson detailed some of the hardships he suffered on the trek and some of the hopes he still felt.

``He hoped to return to claim his belongings later, but of course that proved impossible, because just 26 days later he died,'' said Freeman. ``Robinson was crude, but his letter was poignant and articulate. He didn't waste words.''

Also in the trunk were a holstered pistol that Robinson referred to as his short gun, a handmade wooden powder horn, a hymn book, a woven basket, a locket adorned with pearls, a leather lawbook, a crude canteen, a primitive doll, an engraved telescope that Robinson called a looking glass, china bowls, a metal bowl, a key, an ox horn, lace and a handmade shawl. There also was a manifest listing the contents.

Robinson concluded his letter: ``If I don't return by the end of '50, I won't never come.''

Although the chest has been left where Robinson placed it, Freeman is confident it is safe.

``It took 150 years to find, and I don't think it will be very easily found again,'' said Freeman. ``It's at a very high elevation in a very dangerous area. If an untrained person goes up there, they will die.''

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Map

MAP: Route planned by '49er Expedition Team; Trek ends