Students Discover Sunken Treasure While Cleaning Oakland's Lake Merritt

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A group of sixth-graders has discovered sunken treasure in Oakland's Lake Merritt.

The students from St. Paul's Episcopal School were cleaning the lake on Thursday when they came across two canvas bags filled with antique jewelry, gold and silver chains, pocket and wrist watches, foreign coins and other metal treasure.

Richard Bailey, executive director of the Lake Merritt Institute, said the bags were submerged in a few feet of water. One of the students tried to scoop them up with a net she was using to collect trash, but they were too heavy.

So Bailey says he waded in and retrieved them.

One of the bags apparently had the name "Wells Fargo" stamped on it.

They were turned over to police.