270 The American Geologist. April, issa 
Furthermore, not only are the presumptions against the rapid ac- 
cumulations of such beds in Quaternary times removed, but a positive 
argument in favor of such accumulation is furnished by various gen- 
eral considerations. 
1st. The lava-sheet extends only a few miles w^est of Nampa, be- 
yond which sedimentary deposits occupy a basin extending below the 
junction of the Snake and Boise rivers to the long and deep gorge of 
the Snake River valley across the Blue mountains about a hundred 
miles distant. At various points along this gorge there have been lava 
flows whose effect in interrupting drairage 'S but imperfectly under- 
stood. He would be a rash reasoner who should at present make any 
positive assertions in denying the efiect of such agencies in producing 
temporary lakes in the Middle Snake River valley. 
2d. In Mr. Emmons' communication to me he refers to Mr. Gil- 
bert's investigations concerning the emptying of lake Bonneville into 
the Snake River region. Since then Mr. Gilbert's detailed report has 
been published, from which it appears that in Quaternary times a 
volume of water from lake Bonneville was poured into the Snake River 
valley, 250 miles epst of Nampa and 1,975 fc£t above it, equal in amount 
to what would be carried by the Niagara river during twenty-five years' 
continuous flow. All this water was precipitated into Snake River 
valley by the bursting of a 375-foot dirt dam at Red Rock station on. 
the Utah and Northern railroad. What the efifects of this immense 
debacle must have been lower down in the Snake F.iver valley we are 
at present unable to calculate. But the rapid production in Quaternary 
times of such deposits as we find ir. the Nampa valley above Blue 
mountain is perfectly credible. 
There is, therefore, no definite indication of the Tertiary age of the 
Nampa beds; while, on the contrary, their Quaternary age is rendered 
by the evidence altogether probable. Those who positively assert that 
they are Tertiary, apparently do so on purely a priori grounds. 
2. A second erroneous statement in Mr. McGee's report, and one 
which amounts to a gross libel, is that "a well-operator sought to palm 
off this [figurine] on him [major Powell] as a genuine discovery." 
Mr. McGee, who for so long a time occupied the position of literary 
censor in the United States Geological Survey, should know the sig- 
nificance of this language. In literary usage the phrase has but one 
meaning, namely, "to impose by fraud," a charge which should not be 
made except upon the best of evidence. In the present instance, this 
is made in reference to a well-known citizen of high standing whose 
character is entirely above any such imputation. If one wishes to 
challenge the carefulness of his observations, he is at liberty to do so 
after consulting the evidence which I collected and published at the 
time. All the evidence upon this point that major Powell may have re- 
solves itself down to this. Major Powell was passing through the re- 
gion with a party of United States senators to consider the feasibility 
of various irrigating schemes. His report concerning the figurine, 
published in the "Popular Science Monthly" in July 1893, and in a 
