Thank you for your letter of November 8, concerning allegations of violation of Commission rules by Fremont Energy Corporation and several individuals. I have referred your letter to Mr. Richard Rowe, Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, and Mr. Stanley Sporkin, Director of the Division of Enforcement, and asked them to look into the questions you raise. You may be sure I shall be in further contact with you as soon as I have their report. With best wishes. Sincerely, Harold M. Williams U.S. Statutes at Large vol. 17 FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS. SESS. II. CH. 149, 152. 1872. 91 sum and for what fied person: Provided, That all the persons availing themselves of the Fivo per cent Settler, trans another tract, if, &c. Certain restric SEC. 3. That the sale or transfer of his or her claim upon any portion of CHAP. CLIL-An Act to promote the Development of the mining Resources of the United May 10, 1972. &c. veins or lodes; Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all valuable mineral deposits Valuable minin lauds belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are public lands and eral deposits in hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and purchase, aud the the lands to be lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase, by. citizens of open to citizens, the United States and those who have declared their intention to become such, under regulations prescribed by law, and according to the local customs or rules of miners, in the several mining-districts, so far as the same are applicable and not inconsisteut with the laws of the United States. SEC. 2. That mining-claims upon veins 95 lodes of quartz or other rock. Length of minin place bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable ing-claims upon deposits heretofore located, shall be governed as to length along the vein or lode by the custoins, regulations, and laws iu force at the date of their location. A mining-claim located after the passage of this act, whether located by one or more persons, may equal, but shall not exceed, one thousand five hundred feet in length along the vein or lode; but no location of a mining-claim shall be male until the discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the claim located. No claim shall extend more than three width; hundred feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, nor shall any claim be limited by any mining regulation to less than twentyfive feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse rights existing at the passage of this act shall render such limitation necessary. The end-lines of each claim shall be parallel to each other. end-lines. Locators of where there is no SEC. 3. That the locators of all mining locations heretofore male, or which shall hereafter be male, on any mineral vein, lode, or ledge, mining locations situated on the public domain, their heirs and assigus, where no adverse adverse claim, daim exists at the passage of this act, so long as they comply with the &c., to have what laws of the United States, and with State, territorial, and local regulations ossession and exclusive rights not in conflict with said laws of the United States governing their posses- enjoyment. sory title, shall have the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, lodes, aud ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which sive rights to Jocators of mining claims. Limitations. FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS. SESS. II. Cn. 152. 1872. Certain exclu- lies inside of such surface-lines extended downward vertically, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicular in their course downward as to extend outside the vertical side-lines of said surface locations: Provided, That their right of possession to such outside parts of said veins or ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn downward as aforesaid, through the endlines of their locations, so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of said veins or ledges: And provided further, That nothing in this section shall authorize the locator or possessor of a vein or lode which extends in its downward course beyond the vertical lines of his claim to enter upon the surface of a claim owned or possessed by another. Owners of tunnels to have what rights of possession of certain veins or Ilites. What to be deemed an aban donment of right by owners of tunnels. Miners may make certain rules as to locations, &c., of mining-claims. Requirements as to locations; records; amount of to hold sion. posses SEC. 4. That where a tunnel is run for the development of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, the owners of such tunnel shall have the right of possession of all veins or lodes within three thousand feet from the face of such tunnel on the line thereof, not previously known to exist, discovered in such tunnel, to the same extent as if discovered from the surface; and locatious on the line of such tuunel of veins or lodes not appearing on the surface, made by other partics 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 as an abandonment of the right to all undiscovered veins on the line of said tunnel. SEC. 5. That the miners of cach mining district may make rules and regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United States, or with the laws of the State or Territory in which the district is situated, governing the location, manner of recording, amount of work necessary to hold poзsession of a mining-claim, subject to the following requirements: The location must be distinctly marked on the ground so that its boundaries can be readily traced. All records of mining-claims hercafter made shall contain the name or names of the locators, the date of the location, and such a description of the claim or claims located by reference to some natural object or permaneut monument as will identify the claim. On cach claim located after the passage of this act, and until a patent shall work necessary have been issued therefor, not less than one hundred dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year, On all claims located prior to the passage of this act, ten dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made each year for each one hundred feet in length along the vein until a patent shall have been issued therefor; but where such claims are held in commou such expenditure may be made upon any one claim; and upon a failure to comply with these conditions, the claim or mine upon which such failure occurred shall be open to relocation in the same manner as if no location of the same had ever been made: Provided, That the original locators, their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, have not resumed work upon the claim after such failure and before such location. Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners to contribute his proportion of the expenditures required by this act, the co-owners who have performed the labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration of the year, give such delinquent co-owner personal notice in writing or notice by publication in the newspaper published nearest the claim, for at least once a week for ninety days, and if at the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing or by publication such delinquent should fail or refuse to contribute his proportion to comply with this act, his interest in the claim shall become the property of his co-owners who have made the required expenditures. Mine to be open to relocation, if, &c. Rights of co owners. Interest of delinquents after notice, &c., to belong to co owners. Patent for land valuable de SEC. 6. That a patent for any land claimed and located for valuablo claimed, &c., for deposits may be obtained in the following manner: Any person, associposits, how to be ation, or corporation authorized to locate a claim under this act, having claimed and located a piece of land for such purposes, who has, or have, obtained. FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS. SESS. II. CH. 152. 1872. complied with the terms of this act, may file in the proper land-office an Patent for land claimed, &c., for application for a patent, under oath, showing such compliance, together valuable depeswith a plat and field-notes of the claim or claims in common, made by or its, how to be under the direction of the United States surveyor-general, showing accu- obtained. rately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and shall post a copy of such plat, together with a notice of such application for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land embraced in such plat previous to the filing of the application for a patent, and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons that such notice has been duly posted as aforesaid, and shall file a copy of said notice in such land-office, and shall thereupon be entitled to a patent for said land, in the manner following: The register of the land-office, upon the filing of such application, plat, field-notes, notices, and affidavits, shall publish a notice that such application has been made, for the period of sixty days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as published nearest to said claim; and he shall also post such notice in his office for the same period. The claimant at the time of filing this application, or at any time thereafter, within the sixty days of publication, shall file with the register a certificate of the United States surveyor-general that five hundred dollars' worth of labor has been expended or improvements made upon the claim by himself or grantors; that the plat is correct, with such further description by such reference to natural objects or permanent monuments as shall identify the claim, and furnish an accurate description, to be incorporated in the patent. At the expiration of the sixty days of publication the claimant shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during said period of publication. If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the register and the receiver of the proper land-office at the expiration of the sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the proper officer of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse claim exists; and thereafter no objection from third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with this act. is filed. tained. After judg SEC. 7. That where an adverse claim shall be filed during the period Proceedings of publication, it shall be upon oath of the person or persons making the if adverse claim same, and shall show the nature, boundaries, and extent of such adverse claim, and all proceedings, except the publication of notice and making and filing of the affidavit thereof, shall be stayed until the controversy shall have been settled or decided by a court of competent jurisdiction, or the adverse claim waived. It shall be the duty of the adverse claimant, Judgment of within thirty days after filing his claim, to commence proceedings in a court to be obcourt of competent jurisdiction, to determine the question of the right of possession, and prosecute the same with reasonable diligence to final judg ment; and a failure so to do shall be a waiver of his adverse claim. After such judgment shall have been rendered, the party entitled to the posses- ment, patent to sion of the claim, or any portion thereof, may, without giving further titled to posses issue to party ennotice, file a certified copy of the judgment-roll with the register of the sion upon, &c. laud-office, together with the certificate of the surveyor-general that the requisite amount of labor has been expended, or improvements made thercon, and the description required in other cases, and shall pay to the receiver five dollars per acre for his claim, together with the proper fees. whereupon the whole proceedings and the judgment-roll shall be certified by the register to the commissioner of the general land office, and a patent shall issue thercon for the claim, or such portion thereof as the applicant shall appear, from the decision of the court, to rightly possess. If it shall appear from the decision of the court that several parties are entitled to separate and different portions of the claim, each party may are several par pay for his portion of the claim, with the proper fees, and file the certifi- different portions cate and description by the surveyor-general, whereupon the register shall of clain. Where there ties entitled to 94 Proof of citizenship. 1866, ch. 262. Vol. xiv. p. 251. 1870, ch. 2:15. Vol. xvi. p. 217. Alienation of title by patent. Description of vein claims on surveyed lauds location; FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS. SESS. II. CH. 152. 1872. certify the proceedings and judgment-roll to the commissioner of the general land office, as in the preceding case, and patents shall issue to the several parties according to their respective rights. Proof of citizenship under this act, or the acts of July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and July niuth, eighteen hundred and seventy, in the case of an individual, may consist of his own affidavit thereof, and in case of an association of persons. unincorporated, of the affidavit of their authorized agent, made on his own knowledge or upon information and belief, and in case of a corporation organized under the laws of the United States, or. of any State or Territory of the United States, by the filing of a certified copy of their charter or certificate of incorporation; and nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the alicnation of the title conveyed by a patent for a mining-claim to any person whatever. SEC. 8. That the description of vein or lode claims, upon surveyed lands, shall designate the location of the claim with reference to the lines how to desiguate of the public surveys, but need not conform therewith; but where a patent shall be issued as aforesaid for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the surveyoron unsurveyed general, in extending the surveys, shall adjust the same to the boundaries of such patented claim, according to the plat or description thereof, but so as in no case to interfere with or change the location of any such patented claim. lands. Repeal of §§ 1, 2, 3, 4 & 6, of act of 1866, ch. 262. Vol xiv. pp. 251, 252. Existing rights not affected. SEC. 9. That sections one, two, three, four, and six of an act entitled "An act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes," approved July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, are hereby repealed, but such repeal shall not affect existing rights. Applications for patents for mining-claims now pending may be prosecuted to a final decision in the general land office; but in such cases where adverse rights are not affected thereby, patents may issue ́· in pursuance of the provisions of this act; and all patents for miningPending appli- claims heretofore issued under the act of July twenty-sixth, eighteen huncations and patents heretofore dred and sixty-six, shall convey all the rights and privileges conferred by issued. this act where no adverse rights exist at the time of the passage of this Proceedings to obtain patents under act of 1870, chap. 235, vol. xvi. p. 217, to be had according to this act. act. SEC. 10. That the act entitled "An act to amend an act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes," approved July ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy, shall be and remain in full force, except as to the proceedings to obtain a patent, which shall be similar to the proceedings prescribed by sections six and seven of this act for obtaining patents to vein or lode claims; but where said placer-claims shall be upon surveyed lands, and conform to legal subdivisions, no further survey or plat shall be required, and all placer mining-claims hereafter located shall conform as near as practicable with the United States system of public land surveys and the rectangular subdivisions of such surveys, and no such location shall include more than Placer-claims twenty acres for each individual claimant, but where placer-claims cannot upon surveyed be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands: Provided, That proceedings now pending may be prosecuted to their final determination under existing laws; but the provisions of this act, when not in conflict with existing laws, shall apply to such cases: And provided also, That where by the segregation of mineral land in any legal subdivision a quantity of agricultural laud less than forty acres remains, said fractional portion of agricultural land may be entered by any party qualified by law, for homestead or pre-emption purposes. lands. l'ending proceedings. Certain agricultural lands may be entered för homestead, &c., purposes. Proceedings for patent for placer-claim which includes vein or lode. SEC. 11. That where the same person, association, or corporation is in possession of a placer-claim, and also a vein or lode included within the a boundaries thereof, application shall be made for a patent for the placerclaim, with the statement that it includes such vein or lode, and in such case (subject to the provisions of this act and the act entitled "An act to amend an act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over |