The ordinance of 1785, for the sale of the Western Territory, reserved one-third part of gold and silver from the public lands. The present gold and silver regions of the West were then in the province of Spain. The laws of the United States, excepting the comprehensive word "mineral," as applied to reserved lands, and the pre-emption act of September 4, 1841, the Oregon act of September 27, 1851, and other incidental mention prior to that time, were silent as to gold, silver, and cinnabar.

The act of March 3, 1853, creating the office of surveyor-general of California, excepted, in express terms, mineral lands from lands subject to entry under the preemption act of September 4, 1841, and no person was to have the benefit of the act by settlement or location on mineral lands.

The act of July 22, 1851, relating to the surveyor general's office in New Mexico, &c., provided by the fourth section for the exemption of mineral lands from the operations of the acts named. This was the status at the period of the passage of the first general mining law of the United States, July 26, 1866.

THE CONDITION OF THE PRECIOUS-METAL BEARING REGIONS PRIOR TO 1866. In the precious-metal-bearing regions on the public domain in California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, and the Territories, there had grown up a system of local regulations governing the location, size, and possession of mining claims, with water rights appurtenant thereto. These regulations were not uniform, but varied with different localities, and at first related only to placer claims. Quartz mining was a secondary stage, and regulations for this system were established as soon as required. Mineral districts were organized by the miners of each particular locality at meetings held for the purpose, and for each district an officer, known as the recorder, was elected, whose duty it was to record, in a book kept for that purpose, all notices of mining locations or claims filed with him. It was generally made essential to the validity of a claim that it should be recorded. These regulations at first rested entirely upon the consent of the miners; but they became recognized as customs by the courts, and were held to be binding in all matters relating to the possessory title to mining claims. In the civil codes enacted by the State or Territorial legislatures these local rules were respected and generally specitically recognized. They sprung from the sterling good sense of the American miner, and were adapted to the wants and necessities of a great industry for which there would otherwise have been no protection. They protected millions of property and aided in opening up a region of incalculable wealth. Prospectors, under this code of laws, with pick, pan, and shovel, on mountain side, amidst winter's rugged grasp, on the plains, under sunny skies, in the quiet nooks and flowery ravines of the lower slopes of the Sierras, lifted from the matrix of nature the golden treasure, and toiled on as safely protected in their property as if in the midst of the highest civilization.

These laws protected and controlled the possession, and provided for the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars of property, and affected the people of a half million square miles of territory. (For a list of mining districts, deputy mineral surveyors, &c., see Preliminary Report Land Commission, 1880, and Reports General Land Office from 1866 to 1880.)

The Congress of the United States by the act of general mining, July 26, 1866, and the supplemental act of May 10, 1872, confirmed these local usages.

THE MINING ACT OF JULY 26, 1866.

The act of July 26, 1866, ordered that "the mineral lands of the public domain, both surveyed and unsurveyed," were "to be free and open to exploration and occupation by all citizens of the United States, and those declaring their intention to become citizens, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by law," and "subject also to the local customs or rules of miners in the several mining districts, so far as the same may not be in conflict with the laws of the United States."

The second section of this act provided "that whenever any person or association 21 L O-VOL III

of persons claim a vein or lode of quartz, or other rock in place, bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, or copper, having previously occupied and improved the same according to the local custom or rules of miners in the district where the same is situated, and having expended in actual labor and improvements not less than $1,000," such claimants, where there is no conflict, after filing in "the local land office a diagram of the same," according to local laws, customs, and miners' rules, can "enter such tract and receive a patent therefor, granting such mine, together with the right to follow such vein or lode, with its dips, angles, and variations, to any depth."

The other sections of the law prescribed with specialty the mode of consummating individual rights, surveys, &c.; also in reference to conflicts, rights of way, priority "of possession," right to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes; to homesteads existing prior to the date of the act, which are used for agriculture, on which valuable mines are not discovered, the law conferring authority on the Secretary of the Interior for setting apart, after survey, the agricultural lands so as to subject them to pre-emption and sale.

PLACER-MINING ACT, JULY 9, 1870.

July 9, 1870, Congress provided for a class of "placer" mining not recognized in the lode act of July 26, 1866 (see Stats. at Large). This act provided for the survey and sale of the placer-mining lands of the United States at $2.50 per acre.

THE MINING ACT OF MAY 10, 1872.

The mining act of May 10, 1872, amended the original mining act of 1866, and constituted mineral lands a distinctive class subject to special conditions of sale and affixed prices differing wholly from the requirements in these respects as to other lands. It provided for the survey and sale of mineral lands, fixing the price of placer lands at $2.50 per acre and $5 for lode claims, and repealed, in effect, the ditch and water rights' act of July 26, 1866. The present laws for the disposition of of the mineral lands of the United States are found in chapter 6, of the Revised Statutes, title "Mineral Lands and Mining Resources," and in the Regulations of the General Land Office of date April 1, 1879.

PROVISIONS OF THE EXISTING MINING LAW.

Under section 2318, Revised Statutes, lands valuable for minerals are reserved from sale except as otherwise expressly directed by law. Section 2319 provides for their location by citizens of the United States or those who have declared their intention to become such. The law covers claims for lands bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable deposits, and for the above and other valuable and economic minerals, found in lodes of quartz or other rock in place, titles can be obtained from the United States under the existing laws at $5 per acre.

Claims cannot exceed 1,500 feet in length along the vein or lode, and 300 feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, the end lines of the claims to be parallel.

No vein or lode claim located after May 10, 1872, can exceed a parallelogram 1,500 feet in length by 600 in width. The size below this maximum may be regulated by State or Territorial laws or the rules of the several mining districts.

No local regulation or State or Territorial law can limit a vein or lode claim located since May 10, 1872, to less than 1,500 feet along the vein or course thereof, whether the location is made by one or more persons, nor can surface rights be limited to less than 50 feet in width, unless adverse rights existing on the 10th day of May, 1872, render such lateral limitations necessary. This saving clause is essential from the fact that in many of the mining States and Territories, the local rules did not permit the location of surface ground. There are now three classes of location recognized-those made prior to July 26, 1866; those between that date and May 10, 1872; and those made since May 10, 1872. The variety in size and quantity of locations cannot here

be detailed at length. Under the United States mining law, the maximum of a quartz lode or vein claim is 1,500 by 600 feet, and the minimum 1,500 by 50 feet, being about 20.66 acres maximum, or 1.72 acres minimum. Cost of surveys, &c., are paid by the claimants, and the land is paid for at $5 for each acre or fraction of an acre.

Locations are made 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 inconsistent with the laws of the United States. The United States has the authority and can provide a general and uniform system of location, areas, &c., entirely superseding the various State, Territorial, and district laws. Some of the mining States and Territories have adopted the United States mining law of May 10, 1872, as to area; others protect other forms and areas of location by law. (For a full statement of the various methods of locations, holdings, miners' rules, &c., see Preliminary Report of Public Land Commission and Testimony, 1880, which gives the methods prevailing, and the legal status in California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Dakota, Arizona, Montana, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and New Mexico.)

COST OF PATENTS TO THE UNITED STATES AND CLAIMANTS.

It costs the United States on an average $20 to patent each mining claim. During the year ending June 30, 1880, there were issued 886 patents to mining claims. All of the work appertaining thereto, involving an examination of the evidence accompanying the entry papers, including that relating to contests, was executed by the mineral division of the General Land Office, at a cost to the government for salaries of $17,600, an average of about $20, in each case. Where the survey and papers have been properly prepared, and no controversy exists, the cost in a particular case will not exceed $3.

The cost to the claimant is as problematical as that of a lawsuit. He is required to pay the expense of survey, including platting and other office work of the surveyorgeneral's office, which will average about $160; also, fees to the register and receiver, $10, and expense of publication of notice, averaging $30; in all, $200. Practically, however, it is estimated that the average cost to the claimant falls but little, if any, short of $1,000 in each case.

PLACER CLAIMS-PATENTS THEREFOR.

The proceedings to obtain patent for placer claims, including all forms of deposit, are essentially similar to the proceedings prescribed for obtaining patents for lode or vein claims. But placer claims, when on surveyed lands and conforming to legal subdivisions, require no further plat or survey, and 40-acre subdivisions may be cut into 10acre lots and sold as placer claims. Where placer claims cannot be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat must be made as on unsurveyed lands; but where such claims are located previous to the public surveys, and do not conform to legal subdivisions, survey, plat, and entry thereof may be made according to the boundaries thereof, provided the location is in all respects legal.

These lands are sold at $2.50 for each acre or fraction of an acre.

No location of a placer claim made after July 9, 1870, can exceed 160 acres for any one person or association of persons.

All placer-mining claims located after May 10, 1872, must conform as nearly as practicable with the United States system of public surveys and the subdivisions of such surveys, and no such locations can include more than 20 acres for each individual claimant. The act of July 9, 1870, absolutely required locations made after its passage to conform to legal subdivisions, but the act of May 10, 1872, modified this requirement by making such conformation necessary only where practicable.

The foregoing provisions of law are construed to mean that after the 9th day of July, 1870, no location of a placer claim can be made to exceed 160 acres, whatever may be the number of locators associated together, or whatever the local regulations of the district may allow; and that from and after May 10, 1872, no location made by

an individual can exceed 20 acres, and no location made by an association can exceed 20 acres for each person. In order to locate 160 acres, eight bona-fide locators are required. No local laws or mining regulations can restrict a placer location to less than 20 acres, although the locator is not compelled to take so much.

Mill sites must be located on non-mineral lands not contiguous to the vein or lode, and not exceed five acres, and may be included in the patent for a mine at $5 per acre. (See sec. 2337 R. S.)

Tunnel rights, in tunnels run for the development of a vein or lode or for the discovery of mines, are provided. Proprietors of a mining tunnel, run in good faith, are entitled to the possessory right of all blind lodes cut, discovered, or intersected by such tunnel, which were not previously known to exist, within 3,000 feet of the face or point of commencement of such tunnel, to the same extent as if such lodes had been discovered on the surface, and other parties are prohibited, after the commencement of the tunnel, from prospecting for and making location on the line thereof and within said distance of 3,000 feet, unless such lodes appear upon the surface or were previously known to exist. (See sec. 2323 R. S.)

For requirements necessary to obtain the benefit of this law, see pages 16-17, "Regulations General Land Office, April 1, 1879."

IRON HELD TO BE A VALUABLE MINERAL.

Iron has been held, along with many other minerals when on the public domain, to come within section 2325 of the Revised Statutes, under the denomination of valuable deposits, and can be paid for at the rate of $2.50 or $5 per acre, depending upon whether the deposit is in placer or lode form.

THE POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES IN RELATION TO MINERAL LANDS.

The policy of the United States in relation to the sale and disposition of the mineral lands of the public domain-beginning with its reservation of portions of the metal therefrom, next occupancy rights, then leases, followed by public offering and private entry and sale, thereafter culminating in the several mineral acts of 1866, 1870, and 1872-now permits their free exploration and development by citizens, or persons who have declared their intention to become citizens; and a nominal price for the lands (placer $2.50, and quartz, gold, silver, cinnabar, or other valuable deposits $5 per acre) is charged should the owner of the possessory title desire to procure a fee-simple title. This price barely covers expenses of making title on the part of the United States. The material wealth added to the circulating medium by extraction from the earth through individuals or corporations, together with costs of mining and extraction, and the great and dangerous risks to fortune caused thereby, are considered equivalents for the value of the land. The United States protects exploration and developments by the miner on the public domain. As an evidence of the liberality of the Nation in this respect, coal lands are sold at from $10 to $20 per acre. Twenty acres of coal land at $20 per acre cost the purchaser $400, while 20 acres of lode mineral land on the Comstock lode at $5 per acre are sold for $100, and, as in the case of the Consolidated Virginia and California mines, may yield more than $60,000,000.

NUMBER OF LOCATIONS AND OF PATENTS.

In the twelve States and Territories containing the precious metals and forming part of the public domain there are known to have been made more than 200,000 mining locations, yet the total number to June 30, 1880, of lode, vein, or other valuable deposit claims to which titles have been obtained by compliance with the mining laws is but 3,978, containing 38,435.11 acres at $5 per acre, and for which the United States has received $197,778. The total number of placer-mining claims patented in the same region by the United States is 1,303, containing 110,186.03 acres, at $2.50 per acre, and for which the United States has received $288,767. In all a total number of 5,281 lode and placer claims have been patented to June 30, 1880, containing in all 148,621.14 acres, for which the Government received a total of $486,545.

ESTIMATE OF AREA OF WESTERN PRECIOUS-METAL REGIONS.

The estimated area of the entire precious-metal bearing region of the public domain is 65,000,000 acres, within which lie the veins, lodes, or deposits of precious and valuble minerals. Deducting the 148,621.14 acres already patented, and the grand total remaining, the property of the Nation exceeds 64,800,000 acres, all situated and lying in the States and Territories named in the tables hereto attached, and being south of the Dominion of Canada (British Possessions), west of the Missouri River, and north of the boundary line between Mexico and this country. All of this is independent of the unexplored area within the unorganized Territory of Alaska, which in the future may form no unimportant portion of our precious-metal-bearing country. The above estimate, however, includes a vast number of located claims held and worked under a possessory title alone, there being no statute compelling the claimants to purchase the fee from the Government. For many of these claims applications for patent have been made, but proceedings are suspended either on account of litigation in the courts, initiated in the manner and within the time prescribed by the statute, or by reason of failure of claimants to produce satisfactory evidence of compliance with law and right to purchase and make entry. The difficulties of obtaining patent under existing laws are so great, and the practice of levying blackmail is so extensive, that many mine owners prefer to rely upon their possessory title rather than purchase the fee from the Government.

States and Territories.

California.

Oregon

Nevada

Idaho

Montana

Wyoming

Utah

Colorado
Dakota..

States and Territories.

PATENTS ISSUED.

Statement of the number of placer mining claims patented in the several precious metal-bearing States and Territories of the public domain from 1867 to June 30, 1880, together with the acreage and amount paid therefor, under the several mining acts of July 26, 1866, July 9, 1870, and May 10, 1872.

California

79

Oregon

5

Nevada

No. of

placers.

Acres.

1874.

Amount.