Original Owyhee

Original Owyhee or Owyhee Gem picture jasper is a classic old-stock material from Eastern Oregon. The patterns often resemble the rolling desert hills and blue sky of the desert in which it originates. Here is the story of its discovery as told to me by a good friend, fellow rockhound and well-known miner of the area. It was discovered in the late 60's by Bruce Markus and Ralph Fuson and brought to market by Dudley Stewart at Stewarts Gem Shop. Bruce and his buddy Ralph were out in the Owyhee mountains one day chasing a herd of wild horses on the only dirt road that traveled from fisherman's road to Leslie Gulch road (near three fingers rock). They happened to be driving a Volkswagen bug. They came to a dirt ridge that had veered off the road and the horses, trying to get away from these two nuts, took the ridge away from the road hoping to lose them. Bruce was not to be outdone so he went off the road and kept following the herd. He saw brush but no rock and thought he could do it ev