Today I was blessed with the privilege of being able to interview the man who discovered and mined the world famous Owyhee Picture Jasper. This afternoon I met up with Bruce Markus of Nampa Idaho and talked rocks. Not just any type of rocks but Owyhee Jasper. The conversation started off with a few stories of him exploring in the Owyhee Mountains back in the 1960’s in his VW Bug. That’s right Bruce used a Volkswagon Bug to go everywhere in the rugged Owyhee’s. Bruce was explaining to me that the discovery of Owyhee Picture Jasper was just a stroke of good luck.
 

The story started off by Bruce explaining that back in the 1960’s the Owyhee Mountains had a very large population of wild horses, there was at least 100 bands of horses just in the Three Fingers Butte area alone. One day Bruce and a friend of his were driving around the Three Fingers area and came across a group of horses and just for fun decided to chase them with there VW Bug. The chase ended at the top of a hill since Bruce’s friend was a little worried that if they went down the other side they would not make it back up.
 
 
Deciding to get out of the car and stretch there legs, Bruce started doing what most Rock Hounds do, look on the ground for rocks of course. After walking around for a few minutes they started to find chunks of Jasper everywhere. At this point you could just feel the excitement that was in Bruce’s voice as he was telling me this. Bruce explained that in about an hour of collecting they fill the back seat of the VW Bug with about 300 pounds of what would be Owyhee Picture Jasper.
 
 
Bruce also explained to me that he was relatively new to Rock Hounding and knew very little about rocks. See you don’t have to be an expert to find nice rocks! Back to the story, since neither Bruce or his friend really knew what they had found they decided to venture to Stewart’s Gem Shop in Boise Idaho and ask Gene. The first thing Gene ask Bruce was where did he find this jasper. Gene stated that for years he had found pieces of this jasper but could never pin point it’s source.
 
 
Gene asked if he could buy some so Bruce sold him a box for $80 dollars. Gene then asked for more and a couple of days later Bruce showed up with if I’m correct a couple hundred pounds and sold it for around $1000. At this point Bruce decided that he should probably stake a mining claim.
 
 
After the mine opened Bruce began the digging process and explained that the seam at the top of the hill was no more than 2 feet wide. Also it was stated that the cherished red and white Owyhee Jasper was actually at the top of the vain. Bruce said that they were after the stuff with the blue sky and had absolutely no interest in the red stuff. In another breath he said that what he was about to say was going to make me cry. Well what he said did almost make me cry, he said that almost all of the red and white jasper from the mine was considered waste and pushed over the edge of the mountain into the tailings pile.
 
 
Bruce also said that he made a few mistakes in the beginning due to his lack of experience and knowledge of mining. One of the mistakes was he used to break up the chunks of jasper with a sledge hammer which intern fractured the stone. Another mistake was he wished that he would have kept the nice pieces as specimens and not made cabs out of them.
 
 
At the height of production Bruce had around 20 slab saws running at all times. They had so much material and slabs they had to venture over to Germany and have custom calibrated cabbing machines made to keep up with production. They were producing around a 1000 cabs a day and there is a good chance if you have a Owyhee cab from the 70’s it probably came from Bruce.
 
 
After 20 or so years of mining the Owyhee Jasper claim Bruce handed over his claim to a friend of his and called it a day. He says that the Owyhee’s blessed him and put him where he is today.
 
 
One last thing Bruce also still has rough at his house for sales. He has Owyhee Picture Jasper, Blue Mustang Jasper, and Painted Desert Jasper for $5 a pound. I know for a fact you can not find a better deal anywhere else. Another thing Bruce said he would possibly be willing to do mail order. If you want to pick your own you need to set up an appointment.
 
 
Bruce can be reached at (208) 466-6542 Email at nancysalisbury@gmail.com
Please be considerate and call at reasonable hours of the day.
 
 
I know I left a few details out of his story and if I can remember any I will update this. I would again like to thank Bruce for his time to talk with me about his experience’s. If anybody that reads this and purchases some Jasper please tell him I sent you.
 
 
I think my next field trip is with the Owyhee Gem Club to the Pink Plume Claim.