Mr. J. B. Buck narrates the following:—

"Joe Smith was here lumbering soon after my marriage, which was in 1818, some years before he took to 'peeping,' and before diggings were commenced under his direction. These were ideas he gained later. The stone which he afterwards used was then in the possession of Jack Belcher, of Gibson, who obtained it while at Salina, N. Y., engaged in drawing salt. Belcher bought it because it was said to be ' a seeing stone.' I have often seen it. It was a green stone, with brown, irregular spots on it. It was a little longer than a goose's egg, and about the same thickness. When he brought it home and covered it with a hat, Belcher's little boy was one of the first to look into the hat, and as he did so he said he saw a candle. The second time he looked in he exclaimed, ' I've found my hatchet!'—(it had been lost two years)—and immediately ran for it to the spot shown him through the stone, and it was there. The boy was soon beset by neighbors far and near to reveal to them hidden things, and he succeeded marvellously. Even the wanderings of a lost child were traced by him—the distracted parents coming to him three times for directions, and in each case finding signs that the child had been in the places he designated, but at last it was found starved to death. Joe Smith, conceiving the idea of making a fortune through a similar process of 'seeing,' bought the stone of Belcher and then began his operations in directing where hidden treasures could be found. His first diggings were near Capt. Buck's saw-mill, at Red Rock; but, because his followers broke the rule of silence, 'the enchantment removed the deposits.'"