E 
 
 78 
 II8W7 
 
BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 0- 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
f <~ 
 
 THE NAMPA IMAGE: 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO ITS DISCOVERY WITH EX 
 PLANATORY COMMENTS, ETC. 
 
 [From the PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY OK NATURAL HISTORY.' 
 VOL. xxiv, 1889.] 
 
From the PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
 VOL. xxiv, 1889.] 
 
 GENERAL MEETING, JANUARY 1, 1890. 
 
 The President, Prof. F. W. PUTNAM, in the chair. 
 
 The President announced that the evening would be devoted to 
 a discussion of the Climatic Condition of the Glacial Period to be 
 considered in relation to the existence of man at that time. 
 
 He called upon Prof. G. Frederick Wright, who had obtained 
 important information in relation to the " Nampa Image," to open 
 the discussion. 
 
 Professor Wright read letters relating to the Nampa Image, 
 which Are given below, and spoke of the probable climatic condi 
 tions at the time of the deposition of the deposits from which the 
 image was obtained. 
 
 THE NAMPA IMAGE. 
 
 View from front, back and side (natural size). 
 
 Professor Wright said : I can best perform my duty to the public 
 in reference to the image found by Mr. M. A. Kurtz of Nampa, 
 Idaho, by simply submitting the entire correspondence respecting 7~ /?? h/*/* 
 
 (424) 
 
5KT 
 
 Wright.] 425 [Jan. 1, 
 
 it, with sucli connecting comments as may be necessary for expla 
 nation. The subject was first brought to my notice by the follow 
 ing letter from Mr. Charles Francis Adams, president of the Union 
 Pacific Railroad. 
 
 Boston, Sept. 8, 1889. 
 PROFESSOR G. F. WRIGHT, Oberlin, Ohio. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR : 
 
 During a recent trip to Alaska I was greatly interested in 
 your book on the Ice Age of America^ After my return, and while 
 the subject was still fresh in my mind, I had occasion to stop for 
 a few hours with the party which accompanied me at Boise City, 
 in Idaho. While there I heard various references made to a curious 
 clay image, evidently the work of human hands, which had recently 
 been found while boring for artesian water. 
 
 As you are aware, this is a lava region, and the image in ques 
 tion was found at a depth of some three hundred and twenty feet 
 below the surface. 
 
 The day after the image was thrown up by the borer, Mr. dim 
 ming, the general manager of the Union Pacific lines in that dis 
 trict, chanced to be in Boise City, and saw it. Mr. Gumming is a 
 graduate of Harvard College, and a thoroughly trained man.. His 
 evidence I should take as conclusive in regard to the facts. Think 
 ing the matter may be of interest to you, I send you the inclosed 
 memorandum in relation to this image. It was taken down by me 
 on the spot while examining the image, which is now in the pos 
 session of Mr. M. A. Kurtz, of Nampa, Idaho, who picked it up 
 when thrown out of the pipe. 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 CHARLES F. ADAMS. 
 
 MEMORANDUM OF IMAGE FOUND AT NAMPA, IDAHO. 
 
 Material, baked clay ; size, about an inch and a half long ; un 
 mistakably made by human* beings. 
 
 It was found about the first of August, 1889, at Nampa, in Ada 
 County, Idaho, under the following circumstances : 
 
 M. A. Kurtz was engaged in boring an artesian well. The image 
 was brought to the surface through the pipe in the usual way among 
 some heavy, coarse sand, from a depth of three hundred and twenty 
 feet from the surface. 
 
1890.] 426 [Wright. 
 
 The different strata which had been bored through were as fol 
 lows : 
 
 Sixty feet of soil. 
 
 Twelve to fifteen feet of lava rock. 
 
 One hundred feet of quicksand. 
 
 Six inches of clay. 
 
 Forty feet of quicksand. 
 
 Six feet of clay. 
 
 Thirty feet of quicksand. 
 
 Twelve to fifteen feet of clay. 
 
 Then clay balls mixed with sand. 
 
 Then coarse sand in which the image came up. 
 
 Then vegetable soil. 
 
 Then the original sandstone. 
 
 Upon receipt of this letter, I at once requested to be put in com 
 munication with Mr. Kurtz, and upon receiving a letter from Mr. 
 Adams introducing me to him, immediately wrote Mr. Kurtz making 
 inquiries about the general aspect of the country, and requesting 
 a photograph of the image. The following letter is his reply. 
 
 Nampa, Idaho Territory, Sept. 27, 1889. 
 PROF. G. F. WRIGHT. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 In reply to your favor of the 23rd inst. I would submit the 
 following : 
 
 1. The elevation of Boise City is about 2875 feet and Nampa 
 nearly 2,500. Boise City is on an air line twenty miles from Nampa 
 in a northeasterly direction. 
 
 2. The nearest point to the Boise river is seven miles. The 
 foot hills begin from one-half to two miles from the river and it is 
 some seventy-five miles to the top of the range. 
 
 The nearest point to the Snake river is twelve miles, the foot 
 hills skirt the river bank. It is fifty miles to the top of the range 
 from Nampa. 
 
 3. The valley from Boise City due south to the Snake river is 
 about thirty-five miles and from our place about twenty miles. From 
 Boise City to the junction of the Boise and Snake rivers fifty-five 
 miles. The valley that forms the Boise river bottom is from two 
 to five miles in width and its formation is a sandy gravel, is very 
 
Wright.] 427 [Jan.l, 
 
 productive and sub-irrigates. The foot lulls show some signs of 
 lava. The first plateau is some sixty feet higher than the river, 
 from five to eight miles in width, is a rich, sandy loam soil with strata 
 of heavy gravel and bowlders underlying it at a depth of from ten 
 to thirty feet. It contains several dry creeks with sandy bottoms, 
 but which contain plenty of water at a depth of from two to four 
 feet. These creeks rise at the foot of the mountain range more 
 than one hundred miles east of here and flow through the second 
 plateau. 
 
 The second plateau is some thirty feet above the first and em 
 braces the balance of the valley. The soil same as first and extends 
 to the lava flow which seems to be uniform at a depth of say sixty- 
 five feet ; it sometimes contains a heavy coarse sand. This plateau 
 is much broken with hilly elevations of lava rock, which contains 
 caves and dark subterranean passages, that are full of strong cur 
 rents of air. 
 
 4. We found no evidence of bowlders anywhere. I will inclose 
 with the image some of the pebbles taken out at different times, 
 although we did not find any deposit of them. The large clay ball 
 may be of some interest to you, it stuck to the bottom of the sand 
 pump ; it and many of the smaller ones were found about the same 
 time as the image and on top of the primitive formation. We have 
 no means here of having the image photographed so I will send it 
 by express, hoping it will interest you. Please examine and at 
 your earliest convenience return to me. The image was dropped 
 and the head broken and we fastened it on as well as we could. 
 
 Any further information I can give will be cheerfully given. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 M. A. KURTZ. 
 
 Upon receipt of this I addressed another letter to Mr. Kurtz to 
 draw out from him such explicit statements as should enable us to 
 determine whether or not the image might have fallen in from the 
 top, or been thrown in by some bystander. The letter of October 
 llth answers these inquiries. I would add that the " clay balls" 
 referred to which came up in the pump are larger than the image, 
 and equally fragile. They seem as I remember them to be of the 
 same material with the image, but were coated over with a film of 
 oxide of iron. 
 
1890.] 428 [Wright. 
 
 Nampa, Idaho Ter., Oct. 11, 1889. 
 PROP. G. F. WRIGHT. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 Your letter of the fifth at hand and contents noted. In re 
 ply would say that the well is tubed with a heavy six-inch pipe 
 from the top and any light substance thrown in would float on the 
 water and be ground to pieces by the sand pump. 
 
 We had been getting some of the clay balls and the character 
 of the sand was changing. I had been at the well for several days 
 and ran the contents of the sand pump through my hand as it was 
 pumped out. I had the clay image in my hand and supposed it 
 was a twig. I dipped it into a barrel of water standing near, 
 washed it oft' and saw at once what it was. 
 
 Mr. Duffes, a prominent citizen of our town, happened to be 
 standing by and saw it all. The driller and helper were the only 
 other persons present. If convenient for you, I would be glad to 
 have a brief opinion from you as to your idea of it. 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 M. A. KURTZ. 
 
 My third letter to Mr. Kurtz answered his inquiry about the 
 possible conditions under which the image may have been buried, in 
 which I suggested that an overflow of lava in the lower part of the 
 Snake river may have obstructed the water so as to make a tem 
 porary lake, in the vicinity of Nampa, which was filled with sedi 
 ment, perhaps from melting glaciers in the head waters of the river 
 near Yellowstone Park, and that subsequently a lava overflow 
 had occurred near Nampa and so sealed the whole up. I also 
 asked more particularly about the mode of drilling the well and 
 about the size of the pump. The letter of the twenty-first is his 
 reply. 
 
 The image itself has been submitted to Profs. H. W. Haynes 
 and F. W. Putnam, with what results they can answer for them 
 selves. 
 
 Nampa, Idaho, Oct. 21, 1889. 
 PROF. G. F. WRIGHT. 
 
 DEAR SIR: 
 
 Your kind favor of the sixteenth just received. We did 
 not use the drill after we went through the lava rock. With our 
 
Wright.] 429 [Jan.l, 
 
 machinery we had a fishing tool with jars and the party drilling 
 the well welded a piece of sharp, broad iron on the bottom of it 
 which he used only when in the clay. The sand pump with the 
 coupling at the top is a little over five inches in the chamber. The 
 sand pump proper is 4tj- inches on the outside and the valve is 
 about 3 inches on the inside. Anything put in from the top 
 would have floated on top of the water and been ground to powder 
 by the action of the sand pump. If there is any way to remove 
 the implied doubt in your letter as to the genuineness of the im 
 age please inform me. You can have the affidavits of the only four 
 persons present, any time you may think them necessary. 
 
 The obstruction noted in your comments in the lower part of the 
 valley are not difficult to trace, and a gentleman of some scien 
 tific information and well informed as to this country made a state 
 ment to me several months ago that this wash or fill in the valley 
 had occurred since the Spanish conquest of Mexico and that it was 
 a matter of record. 
 
 Hoping to hear from you again, I am, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 M. A. KURTZ. 
 
 In order to get information in regard to the geological horizon 
 of the beds from which the image was taken I made inquiries of 
 Prof. S. F. Emmons and received the following reply. 
 
 Department of the Interior, 
 United States Geological Survey. 
 
 Washington, D. (7., Oct. 21, 1889. 
 PROF. G. F. WRIGHT. 
 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 My reply to your letter of Oct. 9, asking information with 
 regard to the geological horizon of the beds, from which the image 
 from Nampa, Idaho, is said to have been obtained, has been de 
 layed from day to day in the hopes that I might obtain additional 
 information either by records or personal communications from 
 fellow geologists that would supplement the rather meagre data 
 which I myself possess. As I have as yet been unable to obtain 
 any further knowledge on the subject, I must needs content my 
 self with the surmises I was able to make during a visit of a few 
 
1890.] 430 [Wright. 
 
 days to the Boise region, in the summer of 1887, made for the pur 
 pose of looking into the merits of a scheme for diverting the wa 
 ters of the Boise river at a point about ten miles above Boise city, 
 where it emerges from the Upper Boise basin through a canon in 
 the basalt, so as to irrigate a triangular area of country between 
 Boise and Snake rivers, some fifty miles in length from the junc 
 tion of these rivers southeastward, and thirty miles wide at its base 
 or southeastern end. To the engineers of the Irrigation Company, 
 Messrs. A. D. Foote and C. H. Tompkins, jr., I am indebted for 
 valuable topographical data with regard to this area. 
 
 Nampa, where the boring was made from which the image is said 
 to have been obtained, is a station on the Oregon Short Line R. R. 
 about midway in this area and, as you state, about twelve miles 
 north of the Snake river and seven miles south of the Boise river. 
 It was obtained, you tell me, from a bed of coarse sand 320 feet 
 below the surface after passing through beds of quicksand divided 
 by thin beds of clay and one bed of lava ten to fifteen feet thick, 
 and below this coarse sand was found vegetable soil and then what 
 is described as the " original sandstone." 
 
 My experience with data given by persons sinking drill holes as 
 to the material passed through leads me to accept with consider 
 able reserve the descriptive names they give to this material unless 
 I have an opportunity of verifying it by personal observation, yet 
 those given by you accord very well with the general idea I was able 
 to form of the material underlying the Boise region. Stream ero 
 sion has been very slight in this region, and its topographical form, 
 characterized by a succession of broad, level terraces descending 
 in gentle steps, shows that it is underlain by practically horizontal 
 deposits of recent age. Owing partly to the character of the ero 
 sion and partly to the loose, crumbly nature of the beds themselves 
 no good cliff exposures were found where I could obtain a continu 
 ous section of these beds. The important point in the section, 
 namely, whether the definition of the lowest stratum, as vegetable 
 soil, is well taken or not, it would have been impossible to verify, 
 since it must be at a lower level than the beds of either the Snake 
 or Boise rivers at any point within the region. 
 
 I could see that the basin, in which these beds were deposited, 
 extended for a considerable distance to the south and west, but to 
 the north it was bounded by a mountainous country not far beyond 
 the Boise river. As to how far it extended eastward toward the 
 
Wright.] 431 [Jan. 1, 
 
 great lava plains of the Snake river I could form no idea, since 
 unfortunately both eastward and westward-going trains pass over 
 that country in the night. 
 
 On the banks of the Boise river, just below where it emerges 
 from the canon I observed that the gravels, which form the first 
 bench to the south of the river, rest on an eroded, white sandstone, 
 which might correspond to the " original sandstone" struck at the 
 bottom of the drill hole and form part of the bottom of the lake in 
 which these beds were deposited ; this assumes a descent of about 
 700 feet in twenty miles giving a rather unusual but not impossible 
 slope to the bed of the lake, and makes it probable that the canon 
 of the Boise is near the northern shore line of this lake. 
 
 I had been unable to find any fossil evidence of the age of these 
 beds, but on other grounds had assumed that they were late Ter 
 tiary or early Quaternary. They had a younger appearance than 
 the pliocene deposits of Nevada, and on the other hand looked 
 older in some respects than the Quaternary deposits of Lakes 
 Bonneville and Lahontan. 
 
 The character of the Snake river valley in this region was of 
 special significance to me. Instead of meandering to and fro in a 
 broad alluvial bottom with large cottonwood trees along its banks, 
 as is usually the case with such large streams, it runs in a compar 
 atively straight course through a slightly rolling sage bush country, 
 filling its bed from bank to bank with a swift, deep, turbid stream, 
 with only a scanty growth of young willows along its shores, which 
 are being constantly undermined and carried away. This, to me, 
 was an evidence that, at some point below this, its bed had been 
 lowered in recent geological time by the breaking of some barrier 
 that had formerly held it back, and that it was now rapidly cutting 
 back and deepening its bed in an endeavor to reach a baselevel of 
 erosion. Its slope from the base of the mountains in eastern Idaho 
 is very rapid for so large a river. It lias not been surveyed so Unit 
 it cannot be accurately determined, but if it ran in a straight line 
 its descent would be ten feet to the mile, and, as its course 
 through the lava beds is generally direct, it can hardly be less than 
 seven or eight feet, making allowance for its meanderings and the 
 falls it passes over. Of these there are several, the greatest being 
 the Shoshone Falls which are 212 feet high. 
 
 It is also significant that after its junction with the Boise river 
 it bends abruptly and runs due north for about 250 miles, leaving 
 
1890.] 432 [Wriffht. 
 
 the open country, which stretches westward through southern Idaho 
 and Oregon to the base of the Cascade mountains, to make its way 
 through the more mountainous region at the east base of the Blue 
 mountains around which it flows. I know of no scientific explo 
 rations of this portion of the Snake valley, and the Oregon Short 
 Line Railroad avoids it by crossing the Blue mountains, but the 
 accounts of earlier explorers represent the mountain ridges as com 
 ing close to the river, and the latter as running through precipitous 
 canons deeper and more inaccessible than those of the lava plains 
 of the Upper Snake valley. It seems probable that the cutting 
 down of some barrier in this northern course very likely as you 
 suggest some lava flow that stretched across its valley would ac 
 count for its present relatively rapid slope. 
 
 The so-called placer bars which are found along its present course, 
 often considerably higher than the present stream, not only in this 
 region, but at various points above, also point to a recent rapid 
 deepening of its bed. They carry gold in an extremely fine state 
 of division and their material is generally much finer than the or 
 dinary placer gravel, containing but few pebbles and these not en 
 tirely of quartz but sometimes of slate. They have evidently been 
 brought from the mountains to the eastward at a much higher stage 
 of the river, where its stream was ledger and more rapid than at 
 present. 
 
 The Nampa beds are, however, older than these gold-bearing 
 gravels and probably older than the ancient gravels of the Upper 
 Boise basin at the southwest base of the Sawtooth mountains, which 
 Mr. Becker, in his report on precious metals for the tenth census, 
 compares with the deep gravels of California, from the fossil plants 
 which they contain, from their great depth of 250 feet, and because 
 they are said to be capped by basalt flows. I did not visit this basin 
 but assume that the gravels are younger than the Nampa beds be 
 cause of the higher levels which they occupy. I must confess that 
 at present I see no evidence which would decide whether the Nam 
 pa beds are late Tertiary or early Quaternary except that furnished 
 by the drill hole, which if authentic would be in favor of the latter. 
 To the west of this region in southern Oregon, and along the Des- 
 chutes and John Day valleys at the east base of the Cascades, both 
 Pliocene and Quaternary deposits are found. The latter in the 
 Harney lake and Christmas lake basins are at a much higher level 
 2 
 
Wright.] 433 [Jan.l, 
 
 than these being 500 to 1000 feet above the lava plains of the 
 Snake river. 
 
 The fact that basaltic lava flows cover these beds is not decisive 
 for either age. In the valleys of eastern Idaho, whence come some 
 of the tributaries of the Snake, basaltic lavas both of Tertiary and 
 of Quaternary age occur. Some of the latter fill present valley 
 bottoms, extending up a short distance into the mouths of side 
 canons in the adjoining ridges. These flows have had some influ 
 ence upon the direction of the present drainage, and it seems prob 
 able that before their eruption the Bear river flowed through the 
 Portneuf valley into the Snake river, instead of into Salt Lake as 
 it does now. 
 
 Gilbert has shown that Lake Bonneville, the quaternary tenant 
 of the Salt Lake valleys, once overflowed into the Snake river, but 
 whether this overflow was contemporaneous with the existence of 
 the lake in which the Nampa beds were deposited, or accompanied 
 the freshets which brought down the Snake river gold-bearing grav 
 els, only a systematic study of the whole Snake river region can 
 finally determine. Such a study ought to establish the time rela 
 tions of the Bonneville and Nampa beds, and a still more definite 
 determination of the age of the latter might be afforded by a care 
 ful study of the canon of the Snake river below Shoshone Falls, 
 and by a tracing of the upper limits of the lake in which the Nampa 
 beds were deposited, and the relation of the Nampa beds to the 
 last basaltic overflow of the Snake river plains. In a visit to the 
 Shoshone Falls, in 1868, Mr. Clarence King found that the river 
 above the falls runs in a canon about four hundred feet deep cut in 
 the upper sheet of basalt which covers the present surface of these 
 plains, but that the canon below the falls discloses an underlying 
 mass of trachyte or andesite, which is probably of much earlier 
 date. If, as seems not improbable, the basalt flows which cover 
 the Nampa beds in the Boise region were contemporaneous with 
 those which cover the Snake plains in the vicinity of Shoshone 
 Falls, at some point in the canon of the Snake river these beds will 
 be found resting on the underlying trachyte or andesite body, and 
 separating it from the overlying basalt flow. It will then be proved 
 that the cutting of the canon of the Snake river below the surface 
 of the basalt flows has been accomplished since the drainage of the 
 Nampa lake, and it will only remain to estimate the time required 
 
1890.] 434 [Wright. 
 
 for the cutting of the present canon of the Snake river through 
 these lava flows, by the rate of recession of the various falls. 
 
 While I am, as you see, unable to give any definite estimate of 
 the age of the beds from which the image is supposed to have been 
 derived, I regard them as probably of far greater antiquity than 
 any deposits in which human implements have hitherto been dis 
 covered. If, as I am now inclined to think, they antedate the 
 cutting of the present canon of the Snake river through the great 
 lava plains, their antiquity at once becomes very great, as is shown 
 by a comparison of the conditions which prevail there with those 
 of the Niagara river, whose rate of recession has been so closely 
 determined. The gorge of the Niagara has been cut through lime 
 stone and shale for seven miles to a depth of not over three hundred 
 feet. The Snake river from its entrance into the lava fields at Amer 
 ican Falls to Shoshone Falls, a distance of one hundred to one hun 
 dred and twenty miles, has cut a gorge in hard basalt from seventy 
 to four hundred feet deep, and below Shoshone Falls, for an un 
 known distance, a gorge six hundred feet deep in similar material. 
 
 In the present state of our knowledge I find it difficult to insti 
 tute any comparison whatever between these deposits and the gold- 
 bearing gravels underlying the lava flows of California. Compar 
 ison between so widely separated regions are hypothetical, unless 
 based on such an intimate knowledge of the geological structure 
 of the intermediate region as can hardly be arrived at in the pres 
 ent generation. That instituted by Mr. Becker with the gravels of 
 the Upper Boise basin has a slight basis of probability if his prem 
 ises are reliable, but the connection between these and the Nampa 
 beds remains yet to be determined. 
 
 Regretting that I am not able to give a more satisfactory answer 
 to your question, I am 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 S. F. EMMONS. 
 
 In reply to a letter requesting through Mr. Kurtz a statement 
 from Mr. Duffes, and making other inquiries, I received the follow 
 ing : 
 
 Nampa, Idaho Ter., November 7, 1889. 
 PROF. G. F. WRIGHT. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 Yours of Nov. 2, just received. I enclose letter from Mr. 
 Duffes as requested. 
 
Wright.] 435 [Jan. 1, 
 
 When the head of the image was broken off I took my knife and 
 cut into it between the shoulders in order to stick the head on 
 again. 
 
 The head was not touched at all with the knife, but head and 
 face are just as they were when taken from the sand. 
 
 I shall be very glad of the half dozen photographs you speak 
 of sending, and any further information I can give will be given 
 
 with pleasure. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 M. A. KURTZ. 
 
 Nampa, Idaho, Nov. 7, 1889. 
 M. A. KURTZ, ESQ. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 In reply to your inquiry of this date in regard to the facts 
 as regards the finding of the "Baby image" in the Nampa Arte 
 sian well, I beg to state the following : 
 
 I was present at the well along with yourself and saw you pick 
 it out of the sand as it was discharged from the sand pump. 
 
 There were no others present except two men attending the en 
 gine and sand pump. And they could not by any means get it 
 into the place where found, and were just as much astonished as 
 ourselves at seeing the find. These are the facts of the case, to 
 which I hereby certify, trusting this will thoroughly quiet all doubts. 
 
 I am yours truly, 
 
 ALEX. DUFFES. 
 
 It having been suggested that the image might have been inserted 
 in the pump during the night, Mr. Kurtz wrote me again in an 
 swer to inquiries as follows : 
 
 Nampa, Idaho Ter., Nov. 18, 1889. 
 PROF. G. FREDERICK WRIGHT. 
 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 Your favor of thirteenth inst. reed, this morning. I fear lean- 
 not answer it satisfactorily. We paid no attention to the different 
 strata more than to make a note of them, and all was dumped on 
 one pile. Much of the dirt was hauled away in wagons, and the 
 school children made it a play ground for some time so it is im 
 possible to comply with your request. 
 
 All the specimens I send you to-day came out of the well ex- 
 
1890.] 436 [Wright. 
 
 cept the lava rock which came from a well they are now blasting 
 some three blocks from the artesian well and must be of the same 
 character. 
 
 You will readily understand that with the heavy bit we used, 
 ours came out of the well only in black powder and none of it was 
 saved, neither was the vegetable soil, but was poured out with the 
 rest. It impregnated the water so that it was of a stringy nature, 
 very dark or deep brownish color. The package of sand marked 
 from the bottom of the well may or may not be from that partic 
 ular place, but I selected it from what I think came up last. I can 
 not tell from what particular place in the well the clay and other 
 sand package came. 
 
 In order to handle the pipes we dug a regular well, about twenty- 
 ilve feet deep. The coarse gravel and hard pan are out of that por 
 tion of the well and from under the surface from six to twenty feet. 
 
 The pieces of clay I had to pick up from the sand, and you un 
 derstand it has all been exposed to the weather from three months 
 to one year. 
 
 The person who suggested to you that it might have been put in 
 the sand pump never saw one or he would know that one descent 
 of the jars would have ground it into powder. 
 
 I found the image between eleven and twelve o'clock in the 
 morning. I had handled almost every pumpful of sand for several 
 days, as the driller expected to strike sandstone at any moment. 
 
 I was sent here three years ago by P. P. Shelby, then assistant 
 general manager of the Union Pacific R. R. to investigate the coun 
 try. I did so. He then employed me to go east and deliver a series 
 of lectures on Idaho in Pennsylvania and New York which I did. 
 I had parties near here at that time watch this point, and when the 
 Idaho Central R.R. was located here I came on, took up 800 acres 
 of land and own some of the town site. I am the manager and one 
 of the owners of the artesian well, I have a letter from Mr. 
 Adams asking me to give the image to Harvard, but have not yet 
 decided what I shall do. 
 
 Thank you for your kindness in sending "The Independent" con 
 taining your article. If you wish to send some person here I shall 
 take pleasure in giving him all information possible and he might 
 find something of importance in the large pile of sand that still 
 remains at the well. 
 
 As ever, very sincerely yours, 
 
 M. A. KURTZ. 
 
Wright.] 437 [Jan. 1, 
 
 Nampa, Nov. 30, 1889. 
 PROF. G. F. WRIGHT, 
 Oberlin, Ohio. 
 
 DEAR SIR: 
 
 Your letter of the twenty-fifth inst. at hand. We commenced 
 work at 7 A. M. and the sand pump made a trip every six or eight 
 minutes. Our sand pump is about eight feet in length and is worked 
 very rapidly by steam. 
 
 The suction valve is attached to two steel rods, attached to a 
 bent rod of steel at the top, the whole forming what is called jars. 
 Now the valve fits and works so nicely on the inside of the pump 
 that if you were to throw a pin in it while at rest, the quick and 
 sudden raising of the jars would throw it out at the top, and if 
 the image had been thrown in as you suggest, it would have 
 bounded out at the top, in good shape. The only other possible 
 way would have been for the helper to have put it in after he had 
 emptied the pump, and the only result would have been that on 
 the descent of the jars, the valve would have knocked the image 
 into pieces. I hope you may understand what I mean. 
 
 No clay balls of any kind are found on the surface here. We 
 went through them for a distance of twenty-five feet before getting 
 the image and brought a great many to the surface in all sorts of 
 shapes, many of them being cut by the driving of the pipe. Will 
 be pleased to see you here at any time. Now is as good as any 
 time of the year. Our winters are very mild. Please return 
 "image," etc., as soon as convenient. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 M. A. KURTZ. 
 
 The following is the letter of Mr. Gumming, in reply to one of 
 my own. 
 
 Green River, Wyoming. Dec. 2, 1889. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 Your letter of the 25th ult. has been forwarded to me here 
 from Salt Lake City. 
 
 I appreciate the importance of weighing the evidence carefully 
 before accepting the Nampa image as genuine, and I understand 
 of course that a discovery of this sort is so extraordinary that one 
 is reluctant to accept even the strongest circumstantial (indirect) 
 evidence as conclusive. 
 
1890.] 438 [Wright. 
 
 As I was not present when the image is said to have been dis 
 covered, my own evidence is of no value whatever except as to 
 the character and intelligence of Messrs. Kurtz and Duffes. I have 
 known these gentlemen for some time and in the case of Mr. 
 Kurtz for several years. They are intelligent and well-informed 
 men of the highest character and no one of their acquaintance 
 would hesitate for a moment to accept and believe their testimony 
 on any question of business. In the case of the Nampa image, 
 they would have no motive to mislead the public, even if they 
 were willing to do so, unless the}'' were seeking a cheap notoriety 
 or wished to play a practical joke. From my knowledge of these 
 gentlemen, however, I cannot believe that they would lend them 
 selves to a fraud of any kind, even by way of jest, and I think 
 you may safely rely upon their statements as being correct in all 
 respects. 
 
 The only other evidence which I can furnish on the subject is 
 wholly circumstantial and that has already been communicated to 
 you. 
 
 In conclusion I may say that Messrs. Kurtz and Duffes exhib 
 ited the image to me at Nampa on the day after its alleged dis 
 covery and their manner and actions at that time convinced me 
 that their statement, however incredible it might seem, was neither 
 a joke nor a fraud. 
 
 So far as my own opinion is concerned, I am prepared to ac 
 cept the image as what it purports to be, namely, as having been 
 found at a depth of more than three hundred feet beneath the lava 
 beds of the Snake River valley. 
 
 I remain, very respectfully yours, 
 
 G. M. GUMMING. 
 
 G. FREDERICK WRIGHT, D.D., LL.D., 
 Oberlin, Ohio. 
 
 The only other letter of Mr. Kurtz which it is necessary to sub 
 mit is dated Dec. 17, 1889. 
 
 Nampa, Idaho Ter., Dec. 17, 1889. 
 PROF. G. F. WRIGHT. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 In reply to yours of the thirteenth inst. would say : First, af- 
 ter a we reached the depth of sixty feet we struck water and it has 
 
Wright.] 439 [Jan. 1, 
 
 remained at that distance from the top of the well, except when it 
 was shut off fora short time as we went through the clay beds. 
 
 Second. We purchased the entire well-boring outfit new at 
 Utica, N. Y. 
 
 Third. The engineer's name is H. Grumbling, a Pennsylvania!!, 
 who has sunk a good many oil wells in Pennsylvania. He lives 
 here, but is now employed at Boise City. The helper's name I 
 do not know. He was a common laborer who had been work 
 ing on an irrigating ditch. I do not know where he is now. 
 
 Fourth. The engineer is a capable man in his line. You ask if 
 he would have been capable of making an image of this sort. He 
 might if his attention had been called to the matter, if he had 
 had a model and if he had known the clay from the small balls 
 would have made such an image, and had he had some unobserved 
 place to have made and burned it, but I think not. 
 
 The helper would not have been capable of the thought or the 
 execution. 
 
 Fifth. My recollection is that we found the clay balls the day 
 before we found the image. The largest I took to my home. I 
 did the cutting on the largest one myself. 
 
 Sixth. A letter directed to H. Grumbling here or at Boise City 
 would reach him at any time. If I could have a few minutes' con 
 versation with you I could explain the matter to your satisfac 
 tion ; also why I cannot afford to give the image to Harvard or to 
 any institution at present. 
 
 As ever, very truly yours, 
 
 M. A. KURTZ. 
 
 The image was in my own hands nearly three months in all, so 
 that we had ample opportunity to examine it. I placed it in the 
 hands of my associate Albert A. Wright, professor of natural 
 history at Oberlin and a most skilful and careful observer. I sub 
 mit his report which you will perceive is perfectly unbiassed. It 
 was also carefully examined by F. F. Jewett, professor of chemis 
 try, and I submit their opinions. 
 
 AN EXAMINATION OF THE NAMPA IMAGE. 
 
 BY ALBBHT ALLEN WKIGIIT. 
 
 Professor G. F. Wright has submitted to me, for examination, 
 the little image from Nampa, Idaho, which is said to have been 
 
440 [Wright. 
 
 pumped up from an artesian boring. The results of my examina 
 tion are given herewith. 
 
 I must premise that in order to make the report as definite as 
 is desirable, it will be necessary to mention some details which can 
 not be fulty appreciated without an inspection of the objects dis 
 cussed. 
 
 DIMENSIONS. 
 
 The total height of the image is just one and one-half inches 
 (1.5)=48 mm. A few other measurements are : 
 Width at the shoulders . . . . 0.54' (in.) = 14 mm. 
 
 Width at the hips . . . . 0.43' = 11 mm. 
 
 Thickness of body, breast to back . 0.25' = 6.5 mm. 
 
 Thickness at hips . ., . . 0.35' 9mm. 
 
 Width of head . . , . ... 0.80' = 7.5 mm. 
 
 SHAPE, FEATURES, ETC. 
 
 It represents a human body ; and from the slight depression be 
 tween the breasts it is evident that a female figure is intended. 
 
 As to the quality of the modelling, it may be said that, with the 
 exception of the head, the general proportions of the body are 
 harmonious, showing a good degree of approach to a correct 
 model. The work upon the back side of the body is especially 
 good, and the natural bending of the arms at the elbows, together 
 with the easy manner in which they rest at the side of the hips, 
 make the nearest approach to an artistic touch. It could not 
 have been the work of any child or mere novice. The surface is 
 not smoothed nor polished, but is, for the most part, of a rough, 
 granular nature. The strokes of the graving tool can be easily 
 recognized in many places, and the whole gives the impression at 
 once, that it was moulded from clay, the work having stopped 
 as soon as the principal parts of the body were outlined. There 
 are no. hands nor feet, and I think there never were any. The 
 left leg is preserved in nearly its whole length, while the right leg 
 is missing from a point above the knee. Neither of these was 
 broken at the extremity by any recent fracture. If the short leg 
 was ever of equal length with the other, it was broken and rounded 
 before it came up from the well. The head is large and pushed 
 to one side. It was never carved into any good shape. There 
 are three rude depressions upon the face, suggesting the eye-or 
 bits and mouth. 
 3 
 
Wright.] 441 [Jan. 1, 
 
 COLOR. 
 
 The general color of the image is a fulvous or reddish brown. 
 The departures from this general color are in two different direc 
 tions. First, to a deeper reddish upon the back side of the body, 
 and upon the left arm. Upon the top of the head also there is a 
 distinct layer of darker rusty color, in which some grains of quartz 
 are imbedded. Secondly, some parts have a blackish or smoked 
 appearance. This is seen upon the leg, thigh and breast. 
 
 The color of the interior of the image has been revealed by ac 
 cidental fractures of the neck and of the longer leg since it was 
 taken from the well. It is a yellowish fulvous, quite uniform, and 
 distinctly lighter than the exterior. It is precisely the color now 
 presented by the face of the image ; from which fact I am confi 
 dent that the face has been recarved recently, after the image 
 was first finished, and before it came into my hands for examina 
 tion. I scarcely need to say that while the object was in my pos 
 session, no reagent nor test nor tool was applied to it, which could 
 in the slightest degree affect its color or external appearance. 
 
 The interior color of the short leg differs from that of the body, 
 in being of a distinct dark gray, without any of the fulvous ele 
 ment. I think I shall be able to account for this difference of col 
 or in a later part of this report. 
 
 THE MATERIAL : WAS IT RIGID, OR PLASTIC? 
 
 The image was moulded out of a plastic, gritty clay, and af 
 terwards burned in a fire. 
 
 The evidence for the previous plasticity of the material is so 
 strong, that I am confident that any who have come to a contra 
 ry opinion, as, for example, that it was carved from a tufaceous 
 or pumiceous rock would, if they could have the ample opportuni 
 ties for examination which have been accorded to me, recall that 
 conclusion. A detailed study of the surface will show that the 
 graving tool sometimes took long, sweeping strokes, leaving a 
 plane surface with sharply defined margins. Moreover, the di 
 rection of the strokes can, in some instances, be determined by 
 the transverse, minute crevasses left in the substance under the tool, 
 such as one sees when a glazier spreads his putty. Thus, the 
 strokes in the crevice between the right arm and the body, on the 
 front side, were downward, while those in the corresponding crev 
 ice on the left side were upward. 
 
1890.] 442 [Wright. 
 
 Again, we know that whenever a pointed stylus or tool is 
 drawn along a plastic surface, so as to plow a furrow in that sur 
 face, the material upon each side of the furrow will be thrown up 
 into an elevated ridge, and if the substance is gritty, the ridges 
 will have a ragged summit. There are many such ragged-topped 
 ridges along the margins of the strokes upon this image, espec 
 ially in the protected hollows, where some of them are as sharp 
 and distinct as if freshly made. 
 
 And still again, there are certain excavated, V-shaped troughs 
 or grooves between the members of the body, as between the arms 
 and the trunk, which had once been moulded into final form ; but 
 into these excavations there were afterwards pushed out, by mala 
 droit strokes of the tool, ridges of the material which partially 
 roofed over the cavity, yet leaving the original excavation under 
 neath plainly discernible. To specify, this may be seen in the 
 grooves behind the right arm, both forearm and upper-arm, and in 
 the space between the lower limbs. It is a disposition of material 
 that could not have been left in a brittle substance. Finally, there 
 are some cuts left by the tool, so sharp and clean and deep, as to 
 demonstrate that the material was not brittle, but which at the 
 same time give us a record of the exact dimensions of the tool that 
 was used. At the junction of the limbs there is one such stroke, 
 which left a gash only one seventy-fifth of an inch wide, by meas 
 urement, though many times as deep and long. The margins are 
 perfectly sharp and parallel and smooth, and show that some tool, 
 like a knife blade or piece of tin, must have been used. The crev 
 ice will just admit a thin knife blade. 
 
 I regard the external markings, therefore, as sufficient to show 
 the original plasticity of the material, but it will be seen that all 
 the subsequent steps of the examination also confirm this theory. 
 
 MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION OP THE MATERIAL. 
 
 The unaided eye readily, distinguishes two elements in the mate 
 rial of the image. The first is the fine-grained, homogeneous, ful 
 vous powder that constitutes the principal part of the whole. By 
 a little boring with a knife blade at the fracture of the leg, this 
 material was found to break down with greater facility than would 
 be experienced with an ordinary red brick. The tenacity of the 
 material is not great. The powder was too fine to be called sand 
 and yet not so fine as the elements of porcelain clay. When moist- 
 
Wright.] 443 IJan. 1, 
 
 ened, the particles adhered together with much less tenacity than 
 is seen in the common, sticky drift clays, yet there was enough ad 
 hesion to form a plastic mass. 
 
 The second element in the material consisted of grains of quartz 
 and possibly of other minerals, scattered at random through the 
 finer substance. In size, these will measure from one-sixteenth to 
 one thirty-second of an inch and smaller. They are sufficiently 
 numerous to make the whole material gritty and to account for the 
 roughness of some of the tool- work. Many of these come just to 
 the surface of the body, as, for example, three on the back between 
 the shoulders, three or four on the inner side of the left leg, and 
 one on the front of the arm at the right shoulder. Upon the right 
 hip is one that projects a little, not having been sufficiently pressed 
 down by the moulding tool. One was taken from the interior of 
 the leg, at a point of fracture, and the rough summit of the head is 
 liberally supplied with them. The loose grains which are lodged 
 in the crevice between the right arm and the body, and which are 
 shown in the photographs and engravings of the image, are of the 
 same sort. These grains were, in my opinion, not accretions from 
 without, cemented there by the slow deposit of ferric oxide, but 
 were constituents of the original material, thrown out by the point 
 of the graving tool and left where they are, either by accident or 
 design. 
 
 The material of the image was so friable that it would have been 
 well nigh impossible to make a thin section for microscopic exam 
 ination. It was not attempted, and it would have been of no value 
 unless the image were carved from a piece of rock. Samples of 
 the finer material of the image, however, in the form of powder, 
 were mounted in balsam and submitted to optical examination. 
 The object in view was to obtain a clew as to the source whence 
 the material of the image was derived. The microscopical exami 
 nation was not made thoroughly exhaustive because, before it was 
 finished, other satisfactory evidence on this point came in. Still, 
 the principal elements of the powder were determined, as follows : 
 
 First, and most prominent, constituting more than half of the 
 material, quartz, in brilliant, sharp-angled fragments. The colors 
 upon revolution between crossed nicols were frequently from bril 
 liant blue to yellow, but for the most part they brightened only in 
 to a cold gray. Quite a number of the larger grains were sketched 
 in outline with a camera and measured, the average mean diame- 
 
1890.] 444 [Wright. 
 
 ter being three one-thousandths of an inch (0.003 inch) = 7G.2 /* 
 (mikrons). 
 
 Second, red-brown scales of biotite, smaller than the quartz 
 scales, averaging about two one-thousandths of an inch (0.0019 
 inch) = 48.26 jy. (mikrons) in diameter. The hexagonal angles are 
 frequently distinct, though usually the margins are ragged. Al 
 though the flakes must all have been basal cleavages, nearly half 
 of them showed some alterations between crossed nicols. 
 
 Third. Small and large colorless flakes, always appearing iso- 
 trope, some of them, possibly, of a volcanic, glassy nature, others 
 showing a few sharp angles of 60 degrees and 120 degrees, doubt 
 less muscovite. 
 
 Fourth. Opaque, red-brown flakes and aggregations of ferric ox 
 ide, showing gradations from a powdery ochre up towards scales 
 of biotite, from which they were undoubtedly derived. 
 
 Fifth. Very fine-grained material, having no distinct optical 
 characters. In the dry powder it forms aggregations of a whitish 
 color. It is, doubtless, kaolinic and forms the cement for the whole 
 image. 
 
 Nothing was detected which seemed to be of the nature of veg 
 etable tissue. 
 
 The above analysis suggests at once, in fact, practically proves, 
 that the material, as a whole, consists of the finer elements result 
 ing from the breaking up of granitoid rocks. 
 
 SOURCE OF THE MATERIAL. 
 
 Upon application to the parties who discovered the image, sam 
 ples were obtained: (1) of the surface soil in the vicinity of the 
 well ; (2) of the sand from various depths in the well, taken, how 
 ever, from the dump heap where it had lain for three months ; (3) 
 of the lava rock, taken from an adjacent well ; and (4) of clay balls 
 which were said to have been first encountered at twenty feet above 
 the depth at which the image was found. 
 
 All of these have been examined to see if any of them could 
 have furnished the material for the image. The surface soil will 
 not make a clay that can be worked, and when burnt it falls to 
 powder. The sand and the lava are also out of the question. It 
 should be remarked, however, that the sand is a clean, whitish-yel 
 low sand, containing some mica scales and gravel, and is also of 
 granitoid origin. The clay balls fit the case precisely, and I am 
 
Wright.] 445 [Jan. 1, 
 
 satisfied that it was one of these, or at any rate clay of identical 
 composition, from which the image was moulded. Under the mi 
 croscope they show precisely the same elements that were detected 
 in the image, and they form, when moistened, a plastic material 
 that can be moulded. 
 
 The clay-balls are in themselves of much interest as a geological 
 phenomenon. The interior of each ball is very different from the 
 exterior. The interior is nearly white and very fine-grained, while 
 the exterior is covered witli coarse sand embedded in rusty-brown 
 material. The largest specimen, which was four inches in diame 
 ter, exhibits upon cross section a series of concentric rusty rings, 
 from one-eighth to one-sixteenth of an inch apart, thus showing 
 that it is composed of a series of concentric layers and was formed 
 upon the concretionary principle, like the nodular iron ore of the 
 coal measures. The interior of the balls furnished the finer ele 
 ments of the image, while the coarse quartz grains came from the 
 exterior, the two being mixed together in the hands of the artisan. 
 
 The material of the clay balls, when subjected to heat, was found 
 to undergo rather complicated changes of color. Moderate heat 
 blackens the exterior without greatly changing the interior, as if 
 organic matter were present. Stronger heat develops the reddish 
 or fulvous color, both internally and externally. Yet, unless the 
 strongest heat is at the same time strongly oxidizing, the result 
 will be a dark gray. If the flame of a Bunsen gas burner is al 
 lowed to play upon a piece, the portion that was in the centre of 
 the flame will be left gray, while only the outer portions will be 
 reddened. It is thus very difficult to produce a uniform reddish 
 color over the entire surface of a moulded specimen. .These facts 
 will, I think, account for the different shades of color observable 
 upon the surface of the Nampa image, to which previous allusion 
 has been made. The dark gray at the end of the shorter leg is 
 due to a lack of oxygen at the time of burning, and the distribu 
 tion of black and red was due to the inequalities of the flame. 
 
 A DUPLICATE OF THE IMAGE. 
 
 Having proceeded thus far with the investigation, it was natural 
 to go a step farther and see if the image could not be reproduced 
 in all its essential features. A clay-ball with a liberal coating of 
 sand was selected, crushed together in a mortar, moistened into a 
 putty and moulded with a knife-blade into some similarity of form 
 
1890.] 446 [Wright. 
 
 to the original. In the process of moulding it was discovered that 
 all the exposed parts of the body inevitabty became smoothed and 
 rounded by the touch of the fingers in holding it, so that only the 
 hollows and crevices retained the marks of the tool in all their 
 sharpness. It was also seen that the gritty material had consid 
 erable tendency to adhere to the graving tool, so that loose sand 
 grains and rough ridges were left along the strokes. 
 
 The burning of the image was accomplished in a porcelain dish, 
 heated from beneath by a Bunsen burner, so that the flame did not 
 come in contact with the material. The gradual steps of its ev 
 olution, through Ethiopian blackness toward Indian red, were ob 
 served, but the process ceased before a suitable redness was pro 
 duced. The object was then supported upon a wire gauze and 
 the flame allowed to play through the gauze, directly upon it. 
 Some improvement was obtained in this manner. But finally, cer 
 tain parts, which retained too much blackness, were brightened 
 up by the oxidizing flame of a mouth blowpipe and the result is 
 what may be seen in the object as it now appears. 
 
 This is the only attempt that was made, and I may say that the 
 success of the imitation was far beyond my anticipations. The 
 general tone and variations of color in the two are exceedingly 
 similar. Whether viewed by the unaided eye, or examined with 
 a Coddington lens, nearly ever} 7 surface feature of the one is re 
 produced in the other. There is a larger supply of quartz and 
 mica grains in the duplicate than in the original, but this depends, 
 of course, upon an arbitrary selection of materials at the begin 
 ning. The interior color of the two is precisely the same and the 
 tenacity of the material is also identical. The duplicate has suf 
 fered the accident of having its head broken off, so that an oppor 
 tunity was afforded of comparing the two side by side. The com 
 parison has been made by a large number of persons, professors 
 in Oberlin College, and others. 
 
 There is only one point, which seems of any importance, in 
 which the duplicate fails to reproduce the original, and that is a 
 superior tint of redness at one or two points upon the surface of 
 the original, notably upon the back, and at the left hand. This 
 raises the question whether the extremer tint in the original may 
 not be due to a slow deposit of iron rust from external, or even 
 internal sources, and thus furnish evidence of its antiquity. To 
 this it may be replied that the extremer color can be obtained by 
 
Wright.] 447 [Jan. 1, 
 
 using a few drops of hydrochloric acid upon the clay, and the re 
 heating. Even deeper tints than are seen in the original can thus 
 be secured. This process has not been tried upon the duplicate 
 image, but has been upon other portions of the same material, not, 
 however, until after the original had been returned to its owner, 
 so that exact comparisons have been, as yet, impossible, or, it may 
 be said that the extreme color may be due to a different selection 
 of materials, including more iron oxide, for example, or, to some 
 accidental feature in the process of burning. In none of my own 
 experiments, however, has that apparent tint been obtained, ex 
 cepting by the use of an acid. 
 
 IS THE IMAGE AN ANCIENT ONE ? 
 
 Without entering at all upon the other lines of evidence which 
 bear upon the theory of the antiquity of the image, I have only 
 to state in conclusion, that I have not been able to find, in this 
 examination, anything that is satisfactory in confirmation of such 
 a theory. If the image is really older than the three hundred 
 feet of sedimentary and volcanic deposits under which it was 
 buried, its age must at least be many hundreds, and probably 
 many thousands of years. While it would be difficult, even if all 
 the chemical conditions were known, to tell beforehand what the 
 effects of such protracted burial might be, we should still expect 
 that some tangible evidence would appear. As to the proper in 
 terpretation of the characters which the image does present, we 
 might well be uncertain, so long as there was no standard with 
 which to compare it. But when we find that it is possible in a 
 few hours to produce a duplicate which exhibits all the external 
 and internal characters of the original, there is nothing left in the 
 image itself to sustain the theory of its antiquity. Whoever com 
 pares the two will see that the tool marks are as distinct and fresh 
 in the original as in the duplicate. He will see the same corroded 
 surface on the duplicate as on the original. The interior tenac 
 ity, composition and color are the same in both. The variations 
 in the external color have been fully set forth. 
 
 While therefore it would be a great pleasure to be able to con 
 firm the evidence of its antiquity brought forward from other sources 
 by my friend and co-laborer Professor G. F. Wright, I am still 
 compelled to say that I can find no satisfactory marks of the tooth 
 of time upon it. 
 
1890.] 448 [Wright. 
 
 Oberlin, 0., Dec. 25, 1889. 
 PROF. G. F. WRIGHT. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 A careful examination of the Nampa image, and experiments 
 made upon clay taken from the same well, lead me to the con 
 clusion that the image must be of considerable age. I cannot 
 account for the accumulation of the oxide of iron upon the grains 
 of sand, lying between the body of the image and its arms, except 
 by supposing it to have been the result of the slow decomposition 
 of substances containing iron, in its immediate vicinity. Although 
 I have been able to reproduce the color of this oxide tolerably 
 well by heating clay coated with a solution of iron chloride, yet 
 I have not been able to reproduce it by simply heating clay to dif- 
 ferent'degrees of temperature. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 F. F. JEWETT. 
 
 In conclusion I would say that the direct evidence in the case 
 seems to be of as high order as could well be obtained. The char 
 acter of Mr. Kurtz and of Mr. Duffes is amply vouched for, not 
 only byJMr. Gumming, but by other parties whom I have met who 
 personally know them. The whole appearance of Mr. Kurtz's let 
 ters show him to be a genuine man. There was no sensational 
 publication in the papers, nor has there been any suggestion of 
 mercenary motives. There were no archaeologists or scientific 
 men on the ground to be humbugged. Apparently the image would 
 have disappeared and dropped out of notice but for the fortunate 
 chance which brought it to the attention of Mr. Adams, when his 
 own mind was interested in that class of subjects. The evidence 
 is most direct as to the impossibility of the image's having fallen 
 into the well from the surface, or of its having been put in by de 
 sign. 
 
 Professor A. A. Wright's examination, it is true, is not of itself 
 conclusive as to age, but there is nothing in it bearing indubitably 
 against its age ; while the similarity of the material composing the 
 image and that composing the clay balls, seem to me strongly con 
 firmatory of the genuineness. I also attach much weight to Pro 
 fessor Jewett's opinion as to the character of the iron oxide upon 
 the original image. It seems in the highest degree improbable 
 that anyone should have manufactured such an object on the spot, 
 and have been so successful in meeting all the conditions present. I 
 4 
 
Wright.] 449 [Jan. 1, 
 
 am therefore prepared to accept without further question the gen 
 uineness of the image, and shall look for further confirmation as 
 time elapses. 
 
 NOTE. Since the meeting of the society a letter has been re 
 ceived from the engineer, H. B. Grumbley (the only other person 
 from whom information could be obtained), who says, " I was pres 
 ent at the finding of the image. Circumstances were such that 
 there could have been no mistake. I don't think there was any 
 chance for the helper to have placed it in the sand, nor do I think 
 he was capable of so doing." 
 
 President Putnam spoke of the evidences of the age of the image 
 as shown by the deposit of oxide of iron on parts of the image, 
 particularly the cementing of quartz grains by the iron under the 
 right arm, which he considered, as extraneous and not as particles 
 pushed out in carving that part. 
 
 Prof. E. S. Morse made some general remarks on the antiquity 
 of man. 
 
 Mr. S. H. Scudder spoke of errors liable to occur in mistaking 
 natural for artificial forms and exhibited a specimen of rock forma 
 tion from the Silurian which had a remarkable likeness to a fossil 
 beetle. 
 
 Prof. H. W. Haynes said that he regarded the Nampa image as 
 a most important evidence of the great antiquity of man in Amer 
 ica. He presented the following additional documentary evidence : 
 
 Boston, November 6, 1889. 
 
 MY DEAR MR. HAYNES : Professor Wright sends me a note say 
 ing that the first paper will be read on the subject of the Kurtz 
 image before the Boston Society of Natural History this evening. 
 He wishes something said in relation to the opportunities enjoyed 
 by Mr. Gumming to know the facts both about the discovery and 
 about the man who made it. 
 
 I believe Mr. Gumming has been personally communicated with 
 on this subject, I can only say of Mr. Gumming that I should 
 regard his evidence in this matter as entitled to as much consider 
 ation as the evidence of any scientific man would be. He was on 
 the spot the day the "find" was made, and his estimate of it would 
 in my mind carry very great weight. He is, as you are aware, not 
 
1890.] 450 [Wright. 
 
 only a graduate of the college, but he was educated as a lawyer, 
 passed several years of study in Europe, and is a man of the high 
 est personal character, accustomed to weigh evidence, and not 
 likety to be deceived. 
 
 I remain, etc., 
 
 CHARLES F. ADAMS. 
 Adams Building, 23 Court Street.