There’s gold in them thar courthouse.
Or, rather, there was -- until thieves broke in and stole the majority of the historic collection from its display case.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s office says thieves entered the county courthouse in Yreka early Wednesday and broke into a case displaying nuggets from a variety of the county’s Gold Rush-era mines.
The entire collection’s worth is estimated at around $3 million dollars. Local officials and historians say they’re worried the thieves will melt it down, destroying a piece of California’s history in the process.
“It was just a really unique collection,” said Claudia East, board vice president for the Siskiyou County Historical Society.