ceases to be a lode. Mineralization, moreover, may be sporadic and may come in again beyond a greater or less area of unmineralized rock. The court, as does the miner, only gains his knowledge of the facts by developed workings down the dip or along the strike. The unknown is always ahead. If again, we deal with mineralized and replaced quartzites, or other sedimentary rocks, whose mineralization fades almost imperceptibly into the unaltered phases of the rock, perhaps to reassert itself farther on, the same difficulties in establishing boundaries arises. But, on the other hand, if one endeavors to apply the usual geological conceptions of a vein,-as due to circulations along a line of fracture, to replacement bodies, distributed as they habitually are irregularly throughout a greatly disturbed series of sediments, with cross-fractures, faults, joints, bedding planes, and brecciated areas, it is impossible to assign to each of these lines of circulation preferential importance in the introduction of the original ore-bearing solutions. The ore-bodies themselves are of all manner of shapes, sizes and relations. All the nomenclature of the subject would be of necessity called in. Chimneys, pipes, rake-veins, shoots, bonanzas, etc., would here and there find application. An interpretation of the replacement type of ore-body on the lines of typical so-called fissure-veins soon develops greater difficulties than does one on the "broad lode" basis. Both witnesses and court, endeavoring to testify or to reason with accuracy and candor, almost inevitably are face to face with questions which have to be decided on the basis of judgment rather than scientific accuracy. In consequence much superficial and unwarranted criticism is often directed by half-informed persons against both courts and witnesses, whereas the very general nature of the provisions inevitably admits and involves latitude in interpretation. Of course in this respect the so-called apex law is not unique among laws. As one grows older and experience widens, the impression of the great and endlessly variable nature of human society deepens. A professor in a university only needs to be on a committee whose duty it is to decide questions of eligibility for athletic teams, in order to learn how very complex an apparently simple matter may be.

If, again we consider disputes arising over veins as defined by geologists instead of replacement bodies, we find ourselves in difficulties scarcely less serious. Branching fractures of greater or less size are often present in areas of extended mineralization. Sericitization, pyritization, or other alteration and impregnation of the wall-rocks incident to vein-formation take place in all shades of intensity and with greater and greater inclusion of unaltered wall-rock in their ramifications. To decide where a vein, lode or ledge, under these circumstances ends, and where country-rock begins, is not a matter of scientific accuracy, but the decision must often of necessity be arbitrarily made by the court.

With regard, thus, to titles affecting mining property there is but one logical conclusion, that is, geology is out of place in the law, and ownership should not rest upon it, but upon definite surface monuments and boundaries. The constructive and helpful attitude is one which seeks revision and the establishment of boundaries of ownership capable of exact and not difficult definition. The influence of all well-wishers and friends of the mining industry should be directed to obtaining such revision. As regards present titles under the existing law and the precedents established in the courts, one way out is found in combinations of disputatious holdings into large and comprehensive ownership. Litigious disputes are thus prevented. Many other advantages follow in the way of intelligent and economical development and administration. Butte is an instance in point. As another way out, companies having adjacent properties may of their own accord agree to rights inside vertical planes i.e., to common law rights. Friendly relations then become normal and natural. Experience gained by one company is at the disposal of the other. Bisbee is a case in point.

Some years ago the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America conducted an extremely valuable and suggestive discussion of this subject and exercised much influence on Senators and Congressmen specially qualified to take the matter up. It was the desire of the latter to revise all the laws affecting land ownership, coal-lands, lode-claims and placer claims at once. Before,

however, the matter crystallized into legislation the European war broke out and matters incident to it have ever since occupied the stage. Sooner or later, however, revision as affecting new locations will inevitably come up again. New laws can easily be passed for new locations, but whether legislation can constitutionally be made in any respect retroactive is a question upon which the writer does not feel capable of expressing an opinion. Thus whether a time limit could be set for the assertion of extralateral rights at say ten years ahead, and that at the expiration of the time only developed ore-bodies could be claimed under it; and whether later than a fixed date common law rights would prevail. Prohibition for instance has come in and rightly or wrongly both by constitutional amendment and by statute has destroyed the value of many millions of investment, previously perfectly legal and deserving the protection of the law. The old customs and the theory of ownership of underground waters as in the cases against the City of Brooklyn and its pumping plants for municipal water supply on Long Island have been modified in recent decisions, which greatly curtail the City's right to draw its water from the ground. To the layman it would seem as if considerations believed to be of great public benefit sometimes find expression and sometimes modify old principles. The quieting of titles to mining property is certainly one.

In conclusion, it seems to the writer, that in revision the following principles or practices should prevail for lode-claims.

1. Ownership as in the common law inside of vertical planes passing through surface boundaries, as the legal phrase goes “ab orcu ad cœlum."

2. One claim and only one in each mining district to be located by any one individual and only by him in person, so as to avoid the present abuse of powers of attorney. Claims afterward to be subject to sale like any other property.

3. A claim to be theoretically square in shape, and, in order to conform to the general and well-established practice of the Land Office, to be a quarter mile on a side, i.e., to be one-sixteenth of a section or forty acres, a size not quite twice the full area of a

present-day claim. We compensate in this way for the restriction of each individual to a single claim. The sides should be laid out true north and south and east and west. The main feature of location is to be a central point where lines joining the middle points of opposite pairs of sides would intersect. This point being fixed by the discoverer would make the accurate location and revision of sides possible by a surveyor.

4. Seniority of location to have right of way.

5. Fractional claims necessarily permissible.

6. Annual payments in cash, based on acreage, to be necessary to hold claims and so adjusted as to militate against the speculative and undeveloped holding of claims for long periods. In the absence of development the charges could be increasingly heavy as years passed. The introduction thus of a system of governmental leasing rather than patented ownership.

7. Liberal interpretation of mineralization. Proper provisions regarding timber in conformity with present forest reserves. Other not difficult provisions for prompt registration, annual payment, lapsing of title, etc., incidental to administration.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY,

NEW YORK, N. Y.

J. F. KEMP.

1. Depth of drilling.

2. Possible value of production.
3. Accessibility.

4. Transportation facilities.
5. Operating requirements.

6. Legal status of lands.

Depth of Drilling.-The cost of operation increases rapidly with increasing depth; whenever the depth exceeds 3,000 feet the increase is startling. The writer doubts that a 3,000-foot wild cat well can be drilled in the Rockies for less than $100,000. In North Central Texas a similar hole could perhaps be drilled for one half this amount. In the Gulf Coastal Plains, by using a rotary drill, the cost can probably be reduced to $30,000. Each additional thousand feet will approximately double the cost of the well. Excessive depth to possible oil sands may make a structure unattractive.

Possible Value of Production.-Seeps, outcrops of sands at the surface, records of other wells or other geologic features, may indicate the nature of the production to be expected. Probabilities may be in favor of gas, or black oil, or light paraffin oil. It may also be possible to form a conclusion as to the approximate magnitude of the probable yield. Such conclusions are always dangerous, especially in wild-cat areas, and should only be received with credulence when made by geologists of wide experience and when backed by all the observed facts in the area under investigation. It is not possible to foretell the exact amount of the production to be expected from any well.

Accessibility.-Accessibility to labor markets, to supplies needed in drilling and development, to fuel and water, determine in part the cost of operations. Many areas may be so far distant from markets and supply houses that a great deal of expensive and little used machinery and tools must be kept on hand to provide for possible emergencies that may never arise.

Transportation Facilities.-To some extent transportation facilities and accessibility go hand in hand. The presence of railroad lines lowers the costs. Many of the Western areas favor