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 twentysixth, 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 purposes 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, meluding 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 superficies of the lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction works, not owing 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. Approved May 10, 1872.

MINERAL LANDS OPEN TO EXPLORATION, OCCUPATION, AND PURCHASE.

1. It will be perceived that the first section of said act leaves the mineral lands in the public domain, surveyed or unsurveyed, open to exploration, occupation, and purchase by all citizens of the United States and all those who have declared their intention to become such.

STATUS OF LODE CLAIMS PREVIOUSLY LOCATED.

2. By an examination of the several sections of the foregoing act it will be seen that the status of lode claims located previous to the date thereof is not changed with regard to their extent along the lode or width of surface, such claims being restricted and governed both as to their lateral and linear extent by the State, territorial, or local laws, customs, or regulations which were in force in the respective districts at the date of such locations, in so far as the same did not conflict with the limitations fixed by the mining statute of July 26, 1566.—(14 Stat., 251.)

3. Mining rights acquired under such previous locations are, however, enlarged by said net of May 10, 1872, in the following respect, viz: The locators of all sneh previously taken veins or lodes, their heirs and assigns, so long as they comply with the laws of Congress and with State, territorial, or local regulations not in conflict ther with, governing mining claims, are invested by said act with the exclusive possessory right of all the surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, lodes, or ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which 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 such locations at the surface, it being expressly provided,

however, that the 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 end lines of their locations so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins, lodes, or ledges; no right being granted, however, to the claimant of such outside portion of a vein or ledge to enter upon the surface location of another claimant.

4. It is to be distinctly understood, however, that the law limits the possessory right to veins, lodes, or ledges other than the one named in the original location, to such as were not adversely claimed at the date of said act of May 10, 1872, and that where such other vein or ledge was so adversely claimed at that date, the right of the party so adversely claiming is in no way impaired by said act.

5. From and after the date of said act of Congress, in order to hold the possessory title to a mining claim previously located and for which a patent has not been issued, the law requires that ten dollars shall be expended annually in labor or improvements on each claim of one hundred feet on the course of the vein or lode until a patent shall have been issued therefor; but where a number of such claims are held in common upon the same vein or lode the aggregate expenditure that would be necessary to hold all the claims, at the rate of ten dollars per hundred feet, may be made upon any one claim; a failure to comply with this requirement in any one year subjecting the claim upon which such failure occurred to relocation by other parties, the same as if no previous location thereof had ever been made, unless the claimants under the original location shall have resumed work thereon after such failure and before such relocation. 6. Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners of a vein, lode, or ledge, which has not been patented, to contribute his proportion of the expenditures necessary to hold the claim or claims so held in ownership in common, the co-owners who have performed the labor, or made the improvements as required by said act, 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 upon the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing, or upon the expiration of one hundred and eighty days after the first newspaper publication of notice, the delinquent co-owner shall have failed to contribute his proportion to meet such expenditure or improvements, his interest in the claim by law passes to his co-owners who have made the expenditures or improvements as aforesaid.

PATENTS FOR VEINS OR LODES HERETOFORE ISSUED.

7. Rights under patents for veins or lodes heretofore granted under previous legisla tion of Congress, are enlarged by this act, so as to invest the patentee, his heirs or assigns, with title to all veins, lodes, or ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies within the end and side boundary lines of his claim on the surface, as patented, 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 the claim at the surface. The right of possession to such outside parts of such veins or ledges to be confined to such portions thereof as lie between. vertical planes drawn downward through the end lines of the claim at the surface, so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins or ledges, it being expressly provided, however, that all veins, lodes, or ledges, the top or apex of which lies inside such surface locations, other than the one named in the patent, which were adversely claimed at the date of said act, are excluded from such conveyance by patent.

8. Applications for patents for mining claims pending at the date of the act of May 10, 1872, may be prosecuted to final decision in the General Land Office, and where no adverse rights are affected thereby, patents will be issued, in pursuance of the provisions of said act.

MANNER OF LOCATING CLAIMS ON VEINS OR LODES AFTER THE PASSAGE OF THE ACT OF MAY 10, 1872.

9. From and after the date of said act, any person who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his intention to become a citizen, may locate, record, and hold a mining claim of fifteen hundred linear feet along the course of any mineral vein or lode subject to location; or au association of persons, severally qualified as above, may make joint location of such claim of fifteen hundred feet, but in no event can a location of a vein or lode made subsequent to the act exceed fifteen hundred feet along the course thereof, whatever may be the number of persons composing the association. 10. With regard to the extent of surface ground adjoining a vein or lode, and claimed for the convenient working thereof, the act provides that the lateral extent of locations of veins or lodes made after its passage shall in no case exceed three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, and that no such surface rights shall be limited by any mining regulations to less than twenty-five feet on each side of

the middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse rights existing at the date of said act may render such limitation necessary, the end lines of such claims to be in all cases parallel to each other.

11. By the foregoing it will be perceived that no lode claim located after the date of said act can exceed a parallelogram fifteen hundred feet in length by six hundred feet in width, but whether surface ground of that width can be taken, depends upon the local regulations or State or territorial laws in force in the several mining dis tricts; and that no such local regulations or State or territorial laws shall limit a vein or lode claim to less than fifteen hundred feet along the course thereof, whether the location is made by one or more persons, nor can surface rights be limited to less than fifty feet in width, unless adverse claims existing on the 10th day of May, 1872, render such lateral limitation necessary.

12. It is provided in said act that the miners of each district may make rules and regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United States, or of the State or Territory in which such districts are respectively situated, governing the location, manner of recording, and amount of work necessary to hold possession of a claim. It likewise requires that the location must be so distinctly marked on the ground that its boundaries may be readily traced. This is a very important matter, and locators cannot exercise too much care in defining their locations at the outset, inasmuch as the law requires that all records of mining locations made subsequent to its passage 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 permanent monument, as will identify the claim.

13. The said act requires that no lode claim can be recorded until after the discovery of a vein or lode within the limits of the ground claimed; the object of which prov1S ion is evidently to prevent the encumbering of the district mining records with ul locations before sufficient work has been done thereon to determine whether a vein o. lode has really been discovered or not.

14. The claimant should therefore, prior to recording his claim, unless the vein can be traced upon the surface, sink a shaft, or run a tunnel or drift, to a suflicient dept. therein to discover and develop a mineral bearing vein lode, or crevice; should determine, if possible, the general course of such vein in either direction from the point of discovery, by which direction he will be governed in marking the boundaries of h claim on the surface, and should give the course and distance as nearly as practicab from the discovery shaft on the claim, to some permanent, well known points or objects, such, for instance, as stone monuments, blazed trees, the confluence of streams, point of intersection of well known gulches, ravines, or roads, prominent buttes, hills, &c. which may be in the immediate vicinity, and which will serve to perpetuate and tx the locus of the claim and render it susceptible of identification from the description thereof given in the record of locations in the district.

15. In addition to the foregoing data, the claimant should state the names of adjo,” ing claims, or if none adjoin, the relative positions of the nearest claims; should drive a post or erect a monument of stones at each corner of his surface ground, and at the point of discovery or discovery shaft should fix a post, stake, or board, upon which should be designated the name of the lode, the name or names of the locators, the number of feet claimed, and in which direction from the point of discovery; it beg essential that the location notice filed for record, in addition to the foregoing descrition, should state whether the entire claim of fifteen hundred feet is taken où one side of the point of discovery, or whether it is partly upon one and partly upon the other side thereof, and in the latter case, how many feet are claimed upon each side of sucu discovery point.

16. Within a reasonable time, say twenty days after the location shall have been marked on the ground, notice thereof, accurately describing the claim in manner aforesaid, should be filed for record with the proper recorder of the district, who will thereupon issue the usual certificate of location.

17. In order to hold the possessory right to a claim of fifteen hundred feet of a vein or lode located as aforesaid, the act requires that until a patent shall have been issued therefor, not less than one hundred dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made thereon during each year, in default of which the claim will be subject to relocation by any other party having the necessary qualifications, unless the orige al locator, his heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, have resumed work thereon after such failure and before such relocation.

18. The importance of attending to these details in the matter of location, labor, and expenditure will be the more readily perceived when it is understood that a failure to give the subject proper attention may invalidate the claim.

TUNNEL RIGHTS.

19. The fourth section of the act provides tl at where a tunnel is run for the develog – ment of a ven or lede, or for the discovery of wines, the owners of such tunnel ska s

PUBLIC LANDS.

have the right of possession of all veins or lodes withARY

51

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 ocations on the line of such tunnel of veins or lodes not appearing on the suffage made by other parties 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 abandonmaninof the fish to all undis

covered veins or lodes on the line of said tunnel.

20. The effect of this section is simply to give the proprietors of a mining tunnel run in good faith the possessory right to fifteen hundred feet of any blind lodes cut, discovered, or intersected by such tunnel, which were not previously known to exist, within three thousand feet from the face or point of commencement of such tunnel, and to prohibit other parties, after the commencement of the tunnel, from prospecting for and making locations of lodes on the line thereof and within said distance of three thousand feet, unless such lodes appear upon the surface or were previously known to exist.

21. The term "face," as used in said section, is construed and held to mean the first working face formed in the tunnel, and to signify the point at which the tunnel actually enters cover, it being from this point that the three thousand feet are to be counted, upon which prospecting is prohibited as aforesaid.

22. To avail themselves of the benefits of this provision of law, the proprietors of a mining tunnel will be required; at the time they enter cover as aforesaid, to give proper notice of their tunnel location by erecting a substantial post, board, or monument, at the face or point of commencement thereof, upon which should be posted a good and sufficient notice, giving the names of the parties or company claiming the tunnel right, the actual or proposed course or direction of the tunnel, the height and width thereof, and the course and distance from such face or point of commencement to some permanent well known objects in the vicinity by which to fix and determine the locus in manner heretofore set forth applicable to locations of veins or lodes; and, at the time of posting such notice they shall, in order that miners or prospectors may be enabled to determine whether or not they are within the lines of the tunnel, establish the boundary lines thereof by stakes or monuments placed along such lines at proper intervals to the terminus of the three thousand feet from the face or point of commencement of the tunnel, and the lines so marked will define and govern as to the specific boundaries within which prospecting for lodes not previously known to exist is prohibited while work on the tunnel is being prosecuted with reasonable diligence. 23. At the time of posting notice and marking out the lines of the tunnel as aforesaid a full and correct copy of such notice of location defining the tunnel claim must be filed for record with the mining recorder of the district, to which notice must be attached the sworn statement or declaration of the owners, claimants, or projectors of such tunnel, setting forth the facts in the case, stating the amount expended by themselves and their predecessors in interest in prosecuting work thereon, the extent of the work performed, and that it is, bona fide, their intention to prosecute work on the tunnel so located and described, with reasonable diligence, for the development of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, or both, as the case may be.

24. This notice of location must be duly recorded, and, with the said sworn statement attached, kept on the recorder's files for future reference.

25. By a compliance with the foregoing much needless difficulty will be avoided, and the way for the adjustment of legal rights acquired in virtue of said fourth section of the act will be made much more easy and certain.

26. This office will take particular care that no improper advantage is taken of this provision of law by parties making, or professing to make, tunnel locations ostensibly for the purposes named in the statute, but really for the purpose of monopolizing the lands lying in front of their tunnels to the detriment of the mining interests, and to the exclusion of bona fide prospectors or miners, but will hold such tunnel claimants to a strict compliance with the terms of the act; and, as reasonable diligence on their part in prosecuting the work is one of the essential conditions of their implied contract, negligence or want of due diligence will be construed as working a forfeiture of their right to all undiscovered veins on the line of such tunnel.

MANNER OF PROCEEDING TO OBTAIN GOVERNMENT TITLE TO VEIN OR LODE CLAIMS.

27. By the sixth section of said act authority is given for granting title for mines by patent from the Government to any person, association, or corporation having the necessary qualifications as to citizenship, and holding the right of possession to a claim in compliance with law.

25. The claimant is required, in the first place, to have a correct survey of his claim made under authority of the surveyor general of the State or Territory in which the claim lies; such survey to show with accuracy the exterior surface boundaries of the

claim, which boundaries are required to be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground.

29. The claimant is then required to post a copy of the plat of such survey in a conspicuous place upon the claim, together with notice of his intention to apply for a patent therefor, which notice will give the date of posting, the name of the claimant, the name of the claim, mine, or lede; the mining district and county; whether the location is of record, and if so, where the record may be found; the number of fect claimed along the vein and the presumed direction thereof; the number of feet claimed on the loce in each direction from the point of discovery, or other well-defined place on the claim; the name or names of adjoining claimants on the same or other lodes; or if none adjoin, the names of the nearest claims, &c.

30. After posting the said plat and notice upon the premises, the claimant will tile with the proper register and receiver a copy of such plat, and the field notes of survey of the claim, accompanied by the atidavit of a least two credible witnesses that such plat and notice are posted conspicuously upon the claim, giving the date and place of such posting; a copy of the notice so posted to be attached to, and form a part of, said affidavit.

31. Attached to the field notes so filed must be the sworn statement of the claimant that he has the possessory right to the premises therein described, in virtue of a compliance by himself (and by his grantors, if he claims by purchase) with the mining rules, regulations, and customs of the mining district, State, or Territory in which the claim lies, and with the mining laws of Congress; such sworn statement to narrate briefly, but as clearly as possible, the facts constituting such compliance, the origin of his possession, and the basis of his claim to a patent.

32. This affidavit should be supported by appropriate evidence from the mining recorder's office as to his possessory right, as follows, viz: Where he claims to be locator, a full, true, and correct copy of such location should be farnished, as the sane appears upon the mining records; such copy to be attested by the seal of the recorder, or if he has no seal, then he should make oath to the same being correct, as shown by his records; where the applicant claims as a locator in company with others, who have since conveyed their interests in the lode to him, a copy of the original record of location should be filed, together with an abstract of title from the proper recorder, under seal or oath as aforesaid, tracing the colocator's possessory rights in the claim to such applicant for patent; where the applicant claims only as a purchaser for valuable consideration, a copy of the location record must be filed, under seal or upon oath as aforesaid, with an abstract of title certified as above by the proper recorder, tracing the right of possession by a continuous chain of conveyances from the original locators to the applicant.

33. In the event of the mining records in any case having been destroyed by fire or otherwise lost, affidavit of the fact should be made, and secondary evidence of possess ory title will be received, which may consist of the affidavit of the claimant, supported by those of any other parties cognizant of the facts relative to his location, occupancy, possession, improvements, &c.; and in such case of lost records, any deeds, certificates of location or purchase, or other evidence which may be in the claimant's possession, and tend to establish his claim, should be filed.

34. Upon the receipt of these papers the register will, at the expense of the claimant, publish a notice of such application for the period of sixty days, in a newspaper published nearest to the claim, and will post a copy of such notice in his office for fue same period.

35. The notices so published and posted must be as full and complete as possible, and embrace all the data given in the notice posted upon the claim.

36. Too much care cannot be exercised in the preparation of these notices, inasmuch as upon their accuracy and completeness will depend, in a great measure, the regularity and validity of the whole proceeding.

37. The claimant, either at the time of filing these papers with the register, or at any time during the sixty days' publication, is required to file a certificate of the surveyor general that not less than five hundred dollars' worth of labor has be on expended or improvements made upon the claim by the applicant or his grantors; that the plat tiled by the claimant is correct; that the field notes of the survey, as filed, furnish such an accurate description of the claim as will, if incorporated into a patent, serve to fully identify the premises, and that such reference is made therein to natural objects or permanent monuments as will perpetuate and fix the locus thereof.

38. It will be the more convenient way to have this certificate indorsed by the surveyor general, both upon the plat and field notes of survey filed by the claimant as aforesaid.

39. After the sixty days' period of newspaper publication has expired the claimant will file his athidavit, showing that the plat and notice aforesaid remained conspicuously posted upon the claim sought to be patented during said sixty days' publication.

40. Upon the filing of this affidavit the register will, if no adverse claim was filed in