Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-06
THE NAMPA IMAGE.
Reiter alton of the Claim That 4, A. q Genu
inc Find.

From the Pttsburg Com merciAi oazett.
IN room In the Seventh Avenue Hotel
inciosed In small wooden box is an image
which has excited much discussion and interest
among scientists since its discovery at the bot
tom OF an artesisR well In Idaho two years ago.
" Is In the Possession OF the finder, Col NJ A.
hurtz. a former Pennsylvanian who served in
Col Tom Bayne's regiment during the war and
went west in is6s
Speaking Of the image. Col. kurtz said that
~ was drawn mp by the sand pump from a
1epth Of S25 feet below the surface Of the
ground He had been drilling for water at
Nampa, twenty miles frcme boise CITY. and
during the last few dave % the operation he
himself had supe-iutended the work Of boring
The strata through which the drill had raised
were composed Of sixty feet Of soil fifteen feet
OF lava rock. quicksand. clay. clay balls mixed
with SAND, vegetable soil and the original sand
stone.
We had been getting some OF the CLAW
balls, said Col Kurt. ''and tho character Of
the sand was changing. had been at the well
Tor several days, and ran the contents Of the
fAnd pump through NV hand ~ u was pumpcd
OUT. fet the Image an NV hand aud sun
posed II was twig. but dipping 10 into bar
rel of water aud washing At Of I found il 10 be
the image evidently OF female figure. Here
II is"
Col: Kurz opened q wooden box and dis
closed the IMAGE
1t is just one inch and half long. 4" he con-
unued, and L. made Of baked CLAW Of the same
material as that pumped from the bottom 81
the well IL Is. ~ You see. carved into the rep
tese ntation OF a human figure. Looking at n
'H4ough microscope YOU wall see that the gen
Graz proportions Of the body are harmonious
anu mat the strokes of the grnying tool can be
easily recognized Ii Is moitea from CLAW An
analytical comparison with the balls of Claw
found with Il proving them OF the same nature
ana You observe that the work was stopped a.
sooh as the principal parts 81 the body were
outlined There are no hands OF feet aud the
fl}'At leg Is missing from the knee down. There
are three rude cepressions upon the face, sug-
costing the eye orbits and the mouth"
me Tact of the discovery of this remnant of
Ptehlttoric art was communicated 90 Prof q.
T. wright q Oherlin by Charles Francis Adams
president OF the mon Pacific railroad who
heard oi the image during visit to Boise CITY
frot Wright became much interested in n ana
entered intoa long correspondence with Mr..
hurtz on the subject
Much doubt Was EXPRESSED at 6rst ss "a
whether the image had really been brought up
from the bottom oi the well Ii Was hunted
that Mr.. Duties. citizen Of Nampa, who was
present when II WAS cast up; Mr.. kurtz OF the
/ engineer might have made u themselves ana
attempted joke. lhis however. after care
tul inquiry into all the circumstances was dis
proved, and at general meeting of the Boston
Society OF Natural History the image was nc-
cepted as yeriiable relic of an ancient civil
ization.
The image is supposed to be many Thousands
OF years old. Ii at least as old as the 325 feet
OF deposit which covered it. and evidence of it's
age Is shown by a deposit OF oxide Of iron over
It's surface. Col. kuriz says that the discovery
interests archGclogists and anthropolocists
because OF the opportunity OF making compare
sons between the civilization Of the ace IA
represents and that OF the funds in Mexico. lie
supposcs there u reason to believe that the
valley in which the image Was found contains
relics OF human beings and houses. lie thinks
that they may have been buried in some up-
heayal of a volcanic nature.
Col. hurtz has refused to give the image 10
any society. and says be viii exhibit it at Chr
cago In 1873.