in Wyo. Stat. § 30-6 (1957) is completed;

(c)

work program is in effect for the area claimed;

an overall

(d) such

work program is being diligently pursued, i.e., a significant number of exploratory holes have been systematically drilled; and (e) the nature of the mineral claimed and the cost of development would make it economically impracticable to develop the mineral if the locator is awarded only those claims on which he is actually present and currently working.

Plaintiff

is entitled to the future exclusive possession thereof so long as he, or his successors in title, remain in possession thereof, working diligently towards a discovery.

9. Since Plaintiff's entry upon the land covered

by the Sturgis claims, Defendants have not been in possession thereof and have not been working diligently towards a discovery relative to said claims, and therefore are not entitled to the exclusive possession of any such claims.

10. No conspiracy or unlawful combination existed

The above entitled matter came on for trial before the above entitled Court pursuant to setting on the 3rd day of May, 1971, plaintiff and the additional defendants on counterclaim being present and represented by their attorneys Houston G. Williams and Kent R. Olson, and the defendants Sturgis and Thayer being represented by their attorney Robert C. McCain, and the defendant Cotter Corporation being represented by itš attorney William E. Barton, and the parties having announced themselves ready for trial the Court proceeded to a hearing and trial of the above entitled matter without a jury, continuing on the 3rd, 4th and 5th days of May, 1971. Upon motion of plaintiff and the additional defendants, the default of the

defendant Cotter Corporation was entered by the Court. The Court, after having heard the evidence produced by and on behalf of the plaintiff the defendants Sturgis and Thayer,

and the additional defendants on counterclaim, and being fully advised, has entered herein its findings of fact and conclusions of law, and it appearing that a judgment thereon should be entered herein, the Court having found generally in favor of the plaintiff and the additional defendants on counterclaim and against the defendants;

WHEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED:

1.

That this Court has jurisdiction over the parties

and the subject matter of the action.

2. That the defendants take nothing by their counterclaim herein filed as against the additional defendants Continental Oil Company, Natrona Service, Inc., Ray Allemand and Allemand, Inc., and that judgment in favor of the said additional defendants on counterclaim and against the defendants be and the same hereby is granted and entered.

the

3. That plaintiff, having complied with the laws of the State of Wyoming and of the United States respecting location of lode mining claims, has the right to possession and is in possession of the eight groups of lode uranium mining claims described in the findings of fact and conclusions of law.

4. That the mining claim location certificates recorded in the office of the County Clerk of Converse County, Wyoming; ́ by defendants and the physical acts performed by or on behalf of defendants upon portions of the lands covered by plaintiff's said claims vested no rights of any kind or nature, nor do any rights exist, nor were any rights created thereby in the defendants in and to any portion of the lands covered by plaintiff's said claims.

5. That plaintiff's possession as against defendants is

exclusive so long as plaintiff continues to work toward discovery as disclosed by the evidence in this case, and that the defendants be and they hereby are enjoined and restrained from entering upon the said claims of plaintiff above described or interfering in any way with the rights of plaintiff in . and to the same for so long as plaintiff continues in possession working toward discovery.

costs.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the parties shall pay their own

Jena, Louisiana
September 28, 1977

I, Elmer L. Gibson, make the following voluntary statement to Richard A. Frandsen and Benjamin M. Smethurst, who have identified themselves to me as representatives of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, U. S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

I am 63 years old and a native of Louisiana. Prior to 1968, I was employed as a rough neck doing offshore oil field work. I worked for several companies including Global Marine, Cdeco, Kerr-licGee, Penrod and Loffland Brothers during a period of over 20 years.

Sometime in the spring of 1968, Lavern R. Hatlock, a relative of mine by marriage, came to Louisiana and hired me to go to work for him staking uranium lode mining claims in the Red Desert area of Wyoming. Matlock was the field foreman for Ralph Schauss of Casper, Wyoming, who was ny employer and who paid my wages. I was hired at the rate of $20 per day, plus room and board. I was hired as a contract laborer and had never staked a mining claim before--in fact, I didn't know what a claim was at that time.

I moved my family to yoming and rented a house for them in Casper; however, I lived in a trailer located in the Red Desert area for the next

2 1/2 to 3 years. I started staking claims for Schauss in the Red Desert in the summer of 1962. At that time, Matlock had staked approximately 2,000 claims in the area, including the RE claims, which were generally east of Hadsell Crossing in Townships 25 and 26 Worth, Ranges 91-94 West.

Among the first claims I helped stake were the Hat and Rob claims. A few months after I began working for Schauss, Matlock quit over a disagreement with Schauss. Schauss told me to take over the claim staking operations in the Red Desert. As had been done with all the previous claims, I continued to stake in the following manner: I would shoot a discovery monument (DM) line with a compass and walk that line putting in location monuments and one corner post per claim. None of the claims were properly surveyed, nor did I use a transit or a chain in marking off the distances. I would simply walk off approximately 300 feet and put in a location monument, then walk off another 300 feet and put in a corner post, and so on for a distance of maybe five miles at a time. No side centers or the other two corner posts were put in. This is the way I staked approximately 13,000 claims in the Red Desert of Wyoming with the following clain names: Pic, Fal, Cow, M, Poco, II, Poe, Zig, lat, Rob, R, Ben, C, Charley, SL, Bill, Joe, RK, To, Dii, Red, Bad, Bud, Oil, Ted, Hat, Dot, Ned, Cap, Mice, 300, Pes, Fete, Box, Pen, Reg, Girl, Kate, Tad, Boot, Jack, King, Queen, Blus, Don, Ace, Bob, Jim, Pink, Hazel, Ruth, Sam, Tom, Gib, Hutt, Ess, Jeff, Flu, Fay, Dogy, Tip, Deb, Abe, Kay, Mach, Ray, John, Key, Oly, Fat, Gon, Art, Dan, Joe, Mark, Luke and Rat.

Schaurs told me not to worry about the side center stakes and the other ture and posts which I knew were required by the Wyoming law. He said that e ould put those in later, but we never did. He was worried about major oil companies coming in and staking the Red Desert area and told me to "set the wood in the ground," meaning the location monumento and one corner stake. lie told me to cover as much ground as possible, as quickly and as cheaply as I could.