Of the surface inclosure, and of “all veins, lodes, and ledges
which lie under the top or apex of such lines, extended downward
vertically,” even though they in their descent extend outside the
“side-lines of such surface locations.” The right to such outside parts
of veins or ledges is confined to all that lies between “vertical
planes drawn downward,” as described, so continued that these planes
“will intersect” the exterior parts of the said “veins or ledges.”
The surface of another’s claim cannot be entered by the locator or
possessor of such lode or vein.
What Constitutes a Deposit.
The word “deposit” has always been construed by the Land Office to be
a general term, embracing veins, lodes, ledges, placers, and all other
forms in which the valuable metals have ever been discovered. Whatever
is recognized as a mineral by standard authorities, where the same
is found in quality and quantity sufficient to render the land sought
to be patented more valuable on this account than for purposes of
agriculture, is treated by the Land Office as coming within the meaning
of the act. Lands, therefore, valuable on account of borax, carbonate
of soda, nitrate of soda, sulphur, alum, and asphalt, it is held may
be patented. The first section of the Act of 1872 says, “all valuable
mineral deposits.” The sixth section uses the term “valuable deposits.”
Deposits of fire-clay may be patented under the act, and so may iron
deposits, which may be patented as vein or placer claims. Lands, more
valuable on account of deposits of limestone, marble, kaoline, and mica
than for purposes of agriculture, may be patented as mineral lands.
Miners’ Form of Notice.
We hereby give notice that we have this ---- day of ---- A. D., 187-,
located this, the (“Centennial”) lode. We claim 1,500 feet in and along
the vein, linear and horizontal measurement.
We claim 1,200 feet along the vein, running in a northwesterly
course from the discovery shaft, and 300 feet running along the vein
southeasterly from the discovery shaft. We also claim 150 feet on each
side of the vein from center of crevice as surface ground.
W. ---- M. ----, } Locators.
H. ---- C. ----. }
The Act of 1872 provides that no lode-claim can be recorded until
after the discovery of a vein or lode within the limits of the ground
claimed. The claimant should, therefore, prior to recording his
claim, unless the vein can be traced on the surface, sink a shaft, or
run a tunnel or drift to a sufficient depth therein to discover and
develop a mineral-bearing vein, lode or crevice; should determine, if
possible, the general course of such vein in the direction from the
point of discovery, in which direction he will be governed in making
the boundary of his claim on the surface; and should give the course
and direction as nearly as practicable from the discovery shaft on the
claim to some permanent, well-known points or objects, such as, for
instance, stone monuments, blazed trees, the confluence of streams,
etc., which may be in the immediate vicinity, and which will serve to
perpetuate and fix the locus of the claim, and render it susceptible
of identification from the description thereof given in the record of
location in the district. He should drive a post, or erect a monument
of stones at each corner of his surface ground, and at the point of
discovery or discovery shaft, should fix a post, stake or board, upon
which should be designated the name of the lode, the name or names of
the locators, the number of feet claimed, and in what direction from
the point of discovery; it being essential that the location notice
filed for record, in addition to the foregoing description, should
state whether the entire claim of fifteen hundred feet is taken on one
side of the point of discovery, or whether it is partly upon the other
side thereof; and in the latter case, how many feet are claimed upon
each side of such discovery point. The following diagram of surface
boundaries, etc., of a lode, will aid the locator in this work:
[Illustration]
Post. Post. Post.
O---------------------------------O----------------------------------O
| |
| VEIN. |
|...... † Location Stake. .......................... |
| \........................./ \........|
| O Discovery Shaft. |
| |
O---------------------------------O----------------------------------O
Post. Post. Post.
Parties locating a lode are entitled to all the dips, spurs, angles,
variations, and ledges of the lode coming within the surface ground.
The disordered condition of Arizona consequent on the Civil War and the
continued hostilities of the Apaches, so impeded mining enterprises,
compelling the abandonment of valuable mines and preventing full
compliance with the conditions of the preceding acts, from no lack of
diligence or skill on the part of miners, that some legislation seemed
to be necessary to protect them from the injustice which a strict
enforcement of the law would necessitate. The following acts were
accordingly passed and approved on the dates specified.
An act approved March 1st, 1873, amends Section 5 of the Act of 1872,
above referred to, so as to read as follows: “That the time for the
annual expenditure on claims located prior to the passage of said act,
shall be extended to the 10th day of June, 1874.”
An act approved June 6th, 1874, made a further extension to January
1st, 1875.
An act approved February 11th 1875, so amends Section 2324, Revised
Statutes, as to provide that where “a person or company has or may run
a tunnel for the purpose of developing a lode or lodes owned by said
person or company, the money so expended on said tunnel shall be taken
and considered as expended on said lode or lodes, whether located prior
to or since the passage of said act; and such person or company shall
not be required to perform work on the surface of said lode or lodes in
order to hold the same, as required by said act.”
Recording Location.
Within a reasonable time, after the location shall have been marked on
the ground, notice thereof, accurately describing the claim in manner
aforesaid, should be filed for record with the proper recorder of the
district, who will thereupon issue the usual certificate of location.
The district regulations or customs are followed in this regard. Within
ninety days after location, a location certificate must be filed in the
office of the Recorder, in the county in which the lode is situated,
which should be in the following form:
TERRITORY OF ARIZONA, } ss.
County of ---- }
Know all Men by these Presents, That ---- the undersigned, ha---- this
---- day of ---- A. D. 1877, located and claimed, and by these presents
do locate and claim, by right of discovery and location, in compliance
with the Mining Acts of Congress, approved May 19th, A. D. 1872, and
all subsequent Acts, and with the local customs, laws and regulations,
---- feet, linear and horizontal measurement, on the ---- Lode, along
the vein thereof, with all its dips, angles and variations, together
with ---- feet on each side of the middle of said vein at the surface;
and all veins, lodes, ledges and surface ground within the lines of
said claim ---- feet, running ---- from center of discovery shaft. Said
discovery shaft being situate upon said lode, and within the lines of
said claim in ---- Mining District, county of ---- and Territory of
Arizona, and further described as follows:
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Said lode was located on the ---- day of ---- A. D. 1877.
-------- --------
-------- --------
Attest: -------- --------
-------- -------- --------
Date of certificate, ------------ A. D. 1877.
Labor and Expenditures.
In order to hold the possessory rights to a claim of 1,500 feet of a
vein or lode located as aforesaid, the Act requires that until a patent
shall have been issued therefor, not less than $100 worth of labor on
the basis adopted by the local mining regulations shall be performed,
or improvements made thereon, during each year; in default of which
the claim will be subject to re-location by any other party having
the necessary qualifications, unless the original locator, his heirs,
assigns or legal representatives have resumed work thereon after such
failure and before such re-location. The importance of attending to
these details in the matter of location, labor and expenditure will be
the more readily perceived, when it is understood that a failure to
give the subject proper attention, may invalidate the claim.
Adverse Claims.
The seventh section of the United States laws provides for adverse
claims; fixes the time within which they shall be filed to have legal
effect, and prescribes the manner of their adjustment. An adverse
mining claim must be filed with the register of the same land office
with whom the application for patent was filed, or in his absence,
with the receiver, and within the sixty days’ period of newspaper
publication of notice. It must be duly sworn to by the party or parties
filing the adverse claim, and not by an attorney, before a officer
authorized to administer oaths within the land-district, or before
the register or receiver; fully set forth the nature and extent of
the interference or conflict; whether the adverse party claims as a
purchaser for valuable consideration, or as a locator; if the former,
the original conveyance, or a duly certified copy thereof, should be
furnished; or if the transaction was a mere verbal one he will narrate
the circumstances attending the purchase, the date thereof, and the
amount paid, which facts should be supported by the affidavit of one
or more witnesses, if any were present at the time; and if he claims
as a locator, he must file a duly certified copy of the location from
the office of the proper recorder. It will be incumbent upon the
adverse claimant to file a plat showing his claim, and its relative
situation or position with the one against which he claims, so that the
extent of the conflict may be the better understood. This plat must
be made from an actual survey by a United States deputy surveyor, who
will officially certify thereon to its correctness; and in addition
there must be attached to such plat of survey a certificate or sworn
statement by the surveyor, as to the approximate value of the labor
performed or improvements made upon the claim of the adverse party, and
the plat must indicate the position of any shafts, tunnels, or other
improvements, if any such exist upon the claim of the party opposing
the application. Upon the foregoing being filed within the sixty days
as aforesaid, the register, or in his absence, the receiver, will give
notice in writing to both parties to the contest that such adverse
claim has been filed, informing them that the party who filed the
adverse claim will be required within thirty days from the date of such
filing to commence proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction,
to determine the question of right of possession, and to prosecute the
same with reasonable diligence to final judgment; and that, should such
adverse claimant fail to do so, his adverse claim will be considered
waived, and the application for patent be allowed to proceed upon its
merits. When an adverse claim is filed as aforesaid, the register
or receiver will indorse upon the same the precise date of filing,
and preserve a record of the date of notifications issued thereon;
and thereafter all proceedings on the application for patent will be
suspended, with the exception of the completion of the publication and
posting of notices and plat, and the filing of the necessary proof
thereof, until the controversy shall have been adjudicated in court, or
the adverse claim waived or withdrawn.
Tunnels.
Tunnels run for the development of a vein or lode, or for the discovery
of mines, give the owner or owners the right of possession of all veins
or lodes within 3,000 feet from the face of the tunnel to the same
extent as if discovered from the surface, _i. e._, 1,500 feet on the
lode; and locations on the line of such tunnels of veins or lodes not
appearing on the surface, made by other parties after the commencement
of the tunnel, and while the same is being prosecuted with reasonable
diligence, shall be invalid; but failure to prosecute the work on
the tunnel for six months shall be considered an abandonment of the
right to all undiscovered veins or lodes on the line of said tunnel.
To avail themselves of the benefits of the law, the proprietors of a
mining tunnel will be required to give a proper notice of their tunnel
location, by erecting a substantial post, bound or monument at the
face or commencement thereof, upon which should be posted a good and
sufficient notice, giving the names of the party or parties claiming
the tunnel right, the actual or proposed course or direction, height
and width. At the time of posting notice and marking out the lines of
the tunnel, as aforesaid, a full and correct copy of such notice and
location must be filed for record with the mining recorder for the
district.
Placer Claims.
The laws of the United States provide, also, that no location of a
placer claim, made after July 9th, 1870, shall exceed 160 acres for any
one person or association of persons, which location shall conform to
the United States surveys. All placer claims located after May 10th,
1872, shall conform as nearly as practicable with the United States
system of public surveys, and no such location shall include more than
20 acres for each individual claimant.
These provisions of the law are construed by the commissioner of the
General Land Office, to mean that after the 9th of July, 1870, no
location of placer claim can be made to exceed 160 acres, whatever may
be the number of locators associated together, or whatever the local
regulations of the district may allow; and that from and after May
10th, 1872, no location made by an individual can exceed 20 acres,
and no location made by an association of individuals can exceed 160
acres; which location cannot be made by a less number than eight _bona
fide_ locators; but whether _as much_ as 20 acres can be located by an
individual, or 160 acres by an association, depends entirely upon the
mining regulations in force in the respective districts at the date
of the location; it being held that such mining regulations are in
no way enlarged by the statutes, but remain intact and in full force
with regard to the size of locations, in so far as they do not permit
locations in excess of the limits fixed by Congress; but that when
such regulations permit locations in excess of the maximum fixed by
Congress, they are restricted accordingly. A local regulation is valid,
therefore, which provides that a placer claim, for instance, shall
not exceed 100 feet square. Congress requires no annual expenditures
on placer claims, leaving them subject to the local laws, rules,
regulations and customs.
District Mining Regulations.
The following will serve as a model for the framing of district laws.
They will vary a little in detail, according to the requirements of the
locality.
Bounds and Laws of ---- District.
By virtue of a notice duly signed and posted, on ---- 1877, a meeting
of miners was held at place of posting notice on the ---- inst., at
which place and time the ---- Mining District was formed. Mr. ----
---- acted as Chairman, and ---- ---- acted as Secretary.
Following are the laws passed to govern the district: