Gov. Olene Walker received a letter containing a rudimentary incendiary device Thursday, but no one opened it because her staff was on the lookout for the envelope, which had been sent by a Nevada State Prison inmate.

The letter is one of six sent to governors across the West, including those in Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, and Washington, as well as one sent to the director of the Nevada Department of Corrections, Las Vegas FBI field office spokesman Todd Palmer said.

FBI offices in all six states are investigating the letters along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The letter received Thursday by Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's office ignited when it was opened, the Associated Press reported.

No such ignition occurred with Walker's letter, which contained several pieces of blank paper, a match and some sort of striking mechanism, Utah Department of Public Safety Sgt. Wade Brier said.

Bomb technicians from the Salt Lake City Fire Department cut open the envelope from the bottom without incident.

"It was very rudimentary," Breur said of the device.

The Department of Public Safety is investigating the mail in conjunction with U.S. Postal Service investigators, Breur said.

Walker was not at the Capitol when the letter arrived shortly before noon, her spokeswoman, Amanda Covington, said. Staff was watching for suspicious mail after the governor's office was notified of the other letters Thursday morning by the National Governors Association.

Nevada corrections officials have identified two inmates from a maximum security prison in Ely, Nev., as the source of the letters. Those people are being questioned, assistant corrections director Glen Whorton said.

"We are talking to those folks, and we are making no assumptions about their complicity," said Whorton, who declined to identify either of the inmates or say why either is incarcerated.

Corrections officers at the Ely prison inspect all mail leaving the correctional facility for return address information, including inmates' names and identification numbers, as well as "contraband or other inappropriate things," but the staff must have probable cause in order to confiscate and open any mail.

"About the best thing I can tell you is that from the device we received here at our headquarters, there was nothing that would have aroused any suspicion," Whorton said.

In Helena, Mont., the envelope contained a fuse and a small plastic bag. Parts of the Montana Capitol were evacuated, but no explosives were found by investigators, the Associated Press reported.

Covington said Walker has not spoken to the governors from any of the other states where letters were sent. Breur said he knew of no other time that any Utah governor had received a threat by mail.

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E-mail: jdobner@desnews.com