2. The district shall embrace the following described and bounded
territory: commencing at the easterly end of the ---- ---- Mine, and
running west of north along the eastern boundary of the ---- Mining
District to the western end of the ---- Mine, in the ---- Mining
District, ---- ---- Mountains.
3. The County Recorder of ---- County, by virtue of his office, shall
be, ex-officio, recorder of this district.
4. Chapter six, of title thirty-two, revised statutes of the United
States, is adopted as this article.
5. In the location of mines in this district, copies of the notices of
location must be placed on the mines before any legal record of the
same can be made by the recorder. Any location not so made shall be
null and void.
6. All location notices must be filed in the office of the recorder
within thirty days after the actual date of location.
7. The County Recorder shall be entitled to a fee of two dollars for
each and every notice recorded by him.
8. The records of ---- County are hereby adopted as the bona fide
records of this district.
9. The annual meeting of the voters of this district shall take place
and be holden on the first Monday in May in each year.
10. Ten days prior to the date of holding the annual meeting, the
Recorder shall place, or cause to be placed or posted, in three of the
most conspicuous places in said district, a notice stating the time
when, and the place where, said meeting shall be holden, and shall
designate in such notice that the meeting shall be holden for the
purpose of transacting all and every kind of business which may be
properly brought before it.
11. At each annual meeting, the voters of the district shall elect
their chairman and secretary, who shall hold office for one year, or
until their successors are appointed.
12. The chairman and secretary of this meeting shall hold office from
the ---- day of ---- for one year, or until their successors are
elected.
13. The secretary of each meeting shall keep full and complete records
of the minutes and proceedings of their respective meetings, and cause
the same to be placed on record in the office of the County Recorder.
14. These rules, regulations and by-laws shall not be altered, or in
any way changed, except at a regular annual meeting of the miners of
said district, and then only by a legal vote of two-thirds of all the
voters present and voting.
15. Any and all persons who are citizens of the United States of
America, or who have declared their intention to become such, and own
shares of stock or interests in any mine in the district, or who has
worked in any mine in the district for the twenty days preceding such
meeting, shall be considered a legal voter, and entitled to vote at a
miners’ meeting.
16. Five dollars per day shall be allowed for each and every eight
hours’ work performed upon a mine for the purpose of holding title,
or performing the necessary amount of work for a patent, and no other
expenses shall be considered as expended for the purpose of holding or
perfecting title.
17. All mines hereafter located in this district shall be marked by
end and corner monuments or stakes, at least eighteen inches in height
above ground, with sufficient marks placed in or upon them to show
which end or corner of the claim they designate; if stakes are used,
they must be sunk at least six inches in the ground, and have a blaze
and figures upon one side.
18. All locations made and recorded previous to the adoption of these
rules, regulations and by-laws are hereby legalized, so far as they may
not conflict with the same.
19. These rules, regulations and by-laws shall be filed and recorded in
the office of the County Recorder of ---- County, and shall be in full
force and effect from and after this ---- day of ---- 1877.
20. The above proceedings, and the proceedings of any subsequent
meeting, shall be signed by the chairman and secretary, and transmitted
by them to the County Recorder without delay.
[Signed.]
---- ---- Miner.
---- ---- Miner.
---- ---- Miner.
---- ----
---- ----
I certify that the foregoing is a correct statement of the proceedings
had, and of the laws adopted for the ---- Mining District, this ----
day of ---- 1877.
---- ---- Secretary.
Water Rights.
The United States Revised Statutes provide:
1. That as a condition of sale in absence of legislation by Congress,
the legislature of a State or Territory may provide rules for working
mines, involving easements, drainage, and other necessary conditions;
these to be expressed in the patent.
2. That all prior rights, arising from possession, in the use of water,
and recognized by local laws, etc., or judicial decisions, shall be
regarded as vested, and shall be protected. This right of way is also
granted and confirmed. Damages are to accrue if a land-settler’s rights
are interfered with.
3. All land patents shall be subject to vested and accrued water
rights, including ditches and reservoirs.
Officers of United States Land Offices are required to file with the
General Land Office, the local laws on such matters. The following is a
summary of those passed by the legislature of Arizona.
Water Rights in the Territory.--All rivers, creeks, and streams
of running water in the Territory of Arizona are deemed public,
and applicable to the purposes of irrigation and mining. All the
inhabitants of the Territory who own or possess arable or irrigable
lands shall have the right to construct public or private acequias,
and obtain the necessary water for the same from any convenient river,
creek, or stream of running water.
All damages arising from construction of the acequias shall be assessed
by the Probate Judge of the county in a summary manner.
No inhabitant of the Territory shall have right to erect any dam or
build a mill, or place any machinery, or open any sluice, or make any
dyke, except such as are used for mining purposes, or the reduction of
metals, that may impede or obstruct irrigation.
When any ditch or acequia shall be taken out for agricultural purposes,
the person or persons so taking out such ditch or acequia shall have
the exclusive right to the water, or so much as may be necessary for
such purpose; and it at any time the water so required shall be taken
for mining purposes, the damages shall be assessed and paid.
All owners and proprietors of arable or irrigable land bordering on, or
irrigable by, any public acequia, shall labor on such public acequia,
whether such owners or proprietors cultivate the land or not; and all
persons interested in a public acequia, whether owners or lessees,
shall labor thereon in proportion to the amount of the land owned or
held by them, and which may be irrigated or subject to irrigation.
In all districts or precincts, the owners or proprietors of land
irrigated by public acequias are annually called together by the
Justices of the Peace, to elect one or more overseers for the
acequias--and it is the duty of said overseers to superintend the
opening, excavations and repairs of said acequias; to apportion the
number of laborers furnished by the owners and proprietors; to regulate
them according to the quantity of land to be irrigated by each one
from said acequia; to distribute and apportion the water in proportion
to the quantity to which each one is entitled according to the land
cultivated by him; and in making such apportionment, he shall take into
consideration the nature of the seed sown or planted, the crops and
plants cultivated; and to conduct and carry on such distribution with
justice and impartiality.
If any owner or proprietor of land irrigated by such acequia shall
neglect or refuse to furnish the number of laborers required by the
overseer, he shall be fined, and all fines shall be applied to the
benefit of said acequia.
Water privileges are, since the United States Act of May 10th, 1872,
located in the same manner as mines, subject to local regulations, i. e.
by definitely locating the five acres by monuments, and recording with
the District or County Recorder. If the local rules and decisions of
the Courts make the privilege forfeitable for non-use, another party
may come in and claim the water right.
The Federal Courts have decided that the right of way to construct
flumes or ditches, over the public lands, is unquestioned. It has
also been decided that the miners’ right to water, within “reasonable
limits,” is not to be questioned. “It must be exercised,” however,
with due regard to the general condition and needs of a community, and
cannot vest as an individual monopoly.
Mill Sites.
Land non-mineral in character, and not contiguous to the vein or lode,
used by the locator and proprietor for mining or milling purposes, can
be included in any application for patent, to an extent not to exceed
five acres, and subject to examination and payment as fixed for the
superficies of the lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction, not
a mine owner in connection therewith, may also receive a mill-site
patent. Such sites are located under the mining act, and in compliance
with local law and customs as recognized. Such possessory rights give
title also to all growing timber thereon. There must in every case be
given satisfactory proof of the non-mineral character of the site, and
the improvements thereon must be equal to $500 in value. A mill passes
to a railroad, if located after a land grant inured to the road.
Homestead and Pre-emption.
Homesteads.--Every head of a family, widow, single man or woman of the
age of twenty-one years, who is a citizen of the United States, or who
has declared his or her intention of becoming so, can enter upon 80
acres of government land within the limits of a railroad grant, or 160
acres outside said limits; and after a continuous residence upon it
and cultivation for five years, an absolute title to the land will be
given by the United States government, at a total cost of about $9 on
80 acres, or $18 on 160 acres.
Soldier’s Homestead.--Any soldier or sailor who served during the
rebellion not less than 90 days, and was honorably discharged, can
homestead 160 acres, either within or outside of the limits of a land
grant, and his term of service will be deducted from the five years’
residence required upon the land; but in any event he must reside one
year upon it. Thus, if he served three years, he would have to reside
upon the land two years; and in the event of his having served four or
five years, one year’s residence would be necessary.
A soldier or sailor has the privilege of filing application for
homestead upon the land through an agent or attorney, and need not for
six months commence actual settlement upon it. Absence from a homestead
at any time, for more than six months, works a forfeiture of right to
the land.
Pre-emptions.--Any person qualified under the homestead laws can
pre-empt 160 acres of government land within the limits of a railroad
grant, and after an actual residence upon and cultivation of the same
for at least six months, can obtain title by payment of $2.50 per acre,
or, if outside the limits, $1.25 per acre. It is imperative, however,
that the person so pre-empting shall (with his family, if any) reside
upon the land. The cultivation of a few acres is sufficient. The same
person, after having complied with the requirements of the laws of
pre-emption, can homestead 80 acres within the railroad grant, or 160
acres outside the limits. In this way, a soldier or sailor can secure
320 acres within the limits; and it is open to the _world at large_ for
_any_ man to acquire his 240 acres.
An Additional Homestead.--In addition to the Homestead and Pre-emption
laws, a recent act has been passed, whereby every settler, as the
fruits of his industry, can obtain another freehold of 160 acres under
the following act:
An Act to amend an Act entitled “An Act to encourage the growth of
timber on western prairies.”
“Any person who is the head of a family, or who shall have arrived at
the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States,
or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such,
who shall plant, protect and keep in a healthy, growing condition for
eight years, 40 acres of timber, the trees thereon not being more than
twelve feet apart each way, on any quarter section of any of the public
lands of the United States, or 20 acres on any legal subdivision of 80
acres, or 10 acres on any legal subdivision of 40 acres, or one-fourth
part of any fractional subdivision of land less than 40 acres, shall
be entitled to a patent for the whole of said quarter section, or of
such legal subdivision of 80 or 40 acres or fractional subdivision of
less than 40 acres, as the case may be, at the expiration of the said
eight years, on making proof of such fact by not less than two credible
witnesses.”
How To Pre-empt.--When you have selected the land you wish for
pre-emption or homesteading under whatever right, it is better to get
a land attorney or clerk in the nearest land office to make out the
necessary papers. This saves time, and the danger of mistakes.
The Latest Regulations.--Commissioner Williamson, of the General Land
Office, has issued a circular to all registers and receivers throughout
the country, containing instructions requisite to carry into effect two
Acts of Congress, approved on the 3rd of April, relative to homestead
entries. The first provides a new method of making the final proof
in homestead entries. It dispenses with the present necessity of
attendance at the district land office. The person desiring to avail
himself thereof must appear with his witnesses before the judge of a
court of record of the county and State, or district and Territory in
which the land is situated, and there make the final proof required by
law according to the prescribed forms; which proof is required to be
transmitted by the judge or the clerk of the court, together with the
fee and charges allowed by law. The judge being absent in any case,
the proof may be made before the clerk of the proper court. The fact
of the absence of the judge must be certified in the papers by the
clerk acting in his place. If the land in any case is situated in an
unorganized county, the statute provides that the person may proceed
to make the proof in the manner indicated, in any adjacent county in
the State or Territory. The fact that the county in which the land
lies is unorganized, and that the county in which the proof is made
is adjacent thereto, must be certified by the officer. The other law
to which attention is invited by this circular is entitled “An Act
for the relief of settlers on the public lands under the pre-emption
laws.” Under this statute, a person desiring to change his claim under
a pre-emption filing to that of a homestead entry, should be required,
on making the change, to appear at the proper land office with his
witnesses, and show full compliance with the pre-emption law to the
date of such change, as has heretofore been required in transmutation
cases. Proof of such compliance must be forwarded with the entry
papers to this office. When the person applies to make final proof,
he must show continued residence and cultivation as required by the
homestead law. In case an adverse claim has attached to the land, due
notice in accordance with rules of practice must be given all persons
in interest, of time and place of submitting proof in support of the
application to make such change. The adverse claimants will be entitled
to the privilege of cross-questioning the applicants’ witnesses, and of
offering counter proof.