ther 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 twenty acres for each individual claimant; but where placer claims cannot 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 land 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.

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 boundaries thereof, appli-. cation shall be made for a patent for the placer claim, 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 the public lands, and for other purposes," approved July ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy), a patent shall issue for the placer claim, including such vein or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre for such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of surface on each side thereof. The remainder of the placer claim, or any placer claim not embracing any vein or lode claim, shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents. per acre, together with all costs of proceedings; and where a vein or lode, such as is described in the second section of this act, is known to exist within the boundaries of a placer claim, an application for a patent for such placer claim, which does not include an application for the vein or lode claim, shall be construed as a conclusive declaration that the claimant of the placer claim has no right of possession

of the vein or lode claim; but where the existence of a vein or a lode in a placer claim is not known, a patent for the placer claim shall convey all valuable mineral and other deposits within the boundaries thereof.

SEC. 12. That the surveyor-general of the United States may appoint, in each land district containing mineral lands, as many competent surveyors as shall apply for appointment to survey mining claims. The expenses of the survey of vein or lode claims, and the survey and subdivision of placer claims into smaller quantities than one hundred and sixty acres, together with the cost of publication of notices, shall be paid by the applicants, and they shall be at liberty to obtain the same at the most reasonable rates, and they shall also be at liberty to employ any United States deputy surveyor to make the survey. The commissioner of the general land office shall also have power to establish the maximum charges for surveys and publication of notices under this act; and, in case of excessive charges for publication, he may designate any newspaper published in a land district where mines are situated, for the publication of mining notices in such district, and fix the rates to be charged by such paper; and, to the end that the commissioner may be fully informed on the subject, each applicant shall file with the register a sworn statement, of all charges and the fees paid by said applicant for publication and survey, together with all fees and money paid the register and the receiver of the land office, which statement shall be transmitted, with the other papers in the case, to the commissioner of the general land office. The fees of the register and the receiver shall be five dollars each for filing and acting upon each application for patent or adverse claim filed, and they shall be allowed the amount fixed by law for reducing testimony to writing-when done in the land office, such fees and allowances to be paid by the respective parties-and no other fees shall be charged by them in such cases. Nothing in this act shall be construed to enlarge or affect the rights of either party in regard to any property in controversy at the time of the passage of

this act, or of the 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; nor shall this act affect any right acquired under said act; and nothing in this act shall be construed to repeal, impair, or in any way affect the provisions of the act entitled "an act granting to A. Sutro the right of way and other privileges to aid in the construction of a draining and exploring tunnel to the Comstock lode, in the State of Nevada," approved July twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six.

SEC. 13. That all affidavits required to be made under this act, or the act of which it is amendatory, may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claims may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be taken before any such officer, and, when duly certified by the officer taking the same, shall have the same force and effect as if taken before the register and receiver of the land office. In cases of contest as to the mineral or agricultural character of land, the testimony and proofs may be taken as herein provided, on personal notice of at least ten days, to the opposing party; or if said party cannot be found, then by publication of at least once a week for thirty days in a newspaper, to be designated by the register of the land office as published nearest to the location of such land; and the register shall require proof that such notice has been given.

SEC. 14. That where two or more veins intersect or cross each other, priority of title shall govern, and such prior location shall be entitled to all ore or mineral contained within the space of intersection; Provided, however, that the subsequent location shall have the right of way through said space of intersection for the purpose of the convenient working of the said mine: And provided, also, that where two or more veins unite, the oldest or prior location shall take the vein below the point of union, including all the space of intersection.

SEC. 15. That where non-mineral land, not contiguous

to the vein or lode, is used or occupied by the proprietor of such vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such non-adjacent surface-ground may be embraced and included in an application for a patent for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject to the same preliminary requirements as to survey and notice as are applicable under this act to veins or lodes; Provided, that no location hereafter made of such non-adjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the same must be made at the same rate as fixed by this act for the superfices of the lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, may also receive a patent for his mill-site as provided in this section.

SEC. 16. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed; Provided, that nothing contained in this act shall be construed to impair, in any way, rights or interests in mining property acquired under existing laws.

The following is an act of Congress, approved June 6, 1874:

An act to amend the act entilled "An act to promote the development of the mining resources of the United States," passed May tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two.

That the provisions of the fifth section of the act entitled "an act to promote the development of the mining resources of the United States," passed May tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, which requires expenditures of labor and improvements on claims located prior to the passage of said act, are hereby so amended that the time for the first annual expenditure on claims located prior to the passage of said act shall be extended to the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-five.*

*The requirements in regard to expenditures upon claims located since May 10, 1872, are in no way changed by the above amendatory act.

FORMS.
Notice of Location.

Notice is hereby given that the undersigned, having complied with the requirements of the mining act of congress, approved May 10, 1872, and the

local customs, laws, and regulations, has located fifteen hundred linear fee on the.... 1ode (twenty acres of placer mining ground) situated in .... mining district, .... county, ..., and described as follows: (Describe the claim accurately, by courses and distances, if possible; by legal subdivisions, if a placer claim is located on surveyed land.)

Located.... 187..

Recorded.... 187..

....

(Name of locator.)

[NOTE. Record of location notices, in absence of a district recorder, should be made with the proper recorder of deeds for the county wherein the claim is situated. The affidavits of at least two disinterested persons that all the requirements of the congressional and local laws have been complied with should also be recorded, substantially as follows:

.... und.

.....

each for himself, and not one for the other, being first duly sworn, deposes and says, that he is of lawful age, and a citizen of the United States; that he has read the notice of location of fifteen hundred feet on the .... lode, by Richard Roe; that the description of said lode, viz: (Give description) as therein given is true and correct; that the said Richard Roe has, in every respect, fully complied with the requirements of the mining act of congress, approved May 10, 1872, and the local customs and laws regulating mining locations.

........

Esq., U. S. Surveyor-general.

SIR: In accordance with the provisions of the mining act of May 10, 1872, I have the honor to apply for an official survey of the mining claim known as the ..... mine, situated in .... mining district, .... county, in Township.... of Range meridian, .... of ...., and request and request an estimate of the amount to be deposited for the work to be done in your office.

.........

Thereafter I have to request that you will issue the necessary instructions to..., Esq., U. S. Deputy Surveyor, with whom I have made satisfactory arrangements for field work in surveying the premises.

[NOTE.-Survey is not required when placer claims embrace legal subdivisions.]