Wright.] 
436 
[Jan. 1, 
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- 
five 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. 
