Col. Lander, mentioned above, after whom a street in Pocatello has been named, led a government expedition through these parts in 1863, and F. V. Hayden, whose name has been given to Hayden street, Pocatello, conducted a United States geological and geographic survey in this country in 1872. “Since then, however, the area has decreased in importance. The railroads have passed it by; other salt works--those of the Great Salt Lake region--have taken its markets on account of easier railroad connection. “Interest in these salt deposits has recently been revived, owing to the discovery of rock salt beneath some brine springs. James Splawn and H. Hokanson, in deepening these springs in 1902, encountered a formation of rock salt six feet below the surface and this has been penetrated for a thickness of twenty-six feet without reaching the bottom. The exceptional purity of the salt, its cheapness of production, and the probability of railroad connections in the near future, lend interest to the deposits of the entire district. “As to quality, salt can be easily obtained here which is above the average in chemical purity. This salt could be produced most cheaply and with the maximum of cleanliness by a process of solar evaporation. “At present the market for the salt of the area described is limited to the immediate vicinity. It could, however, command the markets of eastern Idaho, western Wyoming, and much of Montana. The vicinity adjacent to Pocatello is rich in mineral deposits, but most of them lie on the Indian reservation upon which white men are not allowed to trespass. In his “History of Idaho,” Mr. Hiram T. French speaks as follows of the mining resources of Bannock county: