1890 .] 
437 
[Wright, 
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. Cumming, 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. 
