A. ASSESSMENT WORK SUSPENDED. This amendment simply suspends the time for the performance of the assessment work, and the claim is not subject to relocation where the assessment work is suspended by this act. De Lamar's Nevada Gold Min. Co. v. Nesbitt, 177 U. S. 523, p. 526. See Royston v. Miller, 76 Fed. 50, p. 52. This act suspended the provisions of section 2324 during the year 1894. Peachy v. Frisco Gold Mines Co., 204 Fed. 659, p. 666. Where the locator had the proper notices filed and recorded, declaring his intention in good faith to hold and work a mine, such mine is not subject to relocation for failure to do the assessment work for the years 1893 and 1894, where such assessment work was done in each of the subsequent years 1895, 1896, and 1897. De Lamar's Nevada Gold Min. Co. v. Nesbitt, 177 U. S. 523, p. 526. In order to secure the provisions of this amendment the locator or owner of a mining claim must file the good faith notice as required, and such notice is sufficient to justify the allowance of an entry. Hughes v. Ochsner, 26 L. D. 540, p. 543. AMENDMENT 7. 30 Stat. 651, July 2, 1898. AN ACT To relieve owners of mining claims who enlist in the military or naval service of the United States from performing assessment work. Be it enacted, etc., That the provisions of section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which require that on each claim located after the 10th day of May, 1872, and until patent has been issued therefor, not less than $100 worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year, shall not apply to claims or parts of claims owned by persons who may enlist in the Volunteer Army or Navy of the United States for service in a war between this country and Spain, so that no mining claim or any part thereof owned by such person which has been regularly located and recorded shall be subject to forfeiture for nonperformance of the annual assessments until six months after such owner is mustered out of the service, or if he should not survive the war, then six months after his death in service. SEC. 2. That those desiring to take advantage of this act shall file, or cause to be filed, a notice in the clerk's office where the location certificate of said mine is recorded before the expiration of the assessment year, giving notice of his enlistment, and of his desire to hold said claim under this act. SEC. 3. That if any such enlisted soldier or sailor has a coowner or coowners in any mining claim, and who are not in the Army or Navy, and such coowner or coowners fail to do such a proportion of $100 worth of work per annum as the interest of such nonenlisted person or persons bears to the whole claim, then such interest shall be open to relocation by any other qualified person or persons by their doing the necessary work thereon and filing an affidavit of labor showing the forfeiture, and that the relocators had done the annual work required of such nonenlisted persons and succeeded them in right under this act, which work may be done at any time after the expiration of the assessment year and before the former owners resume work thereon. The work and affidavit aforesaid shall operate as a transfer of said forfeited interest from the former owners to said relocators. A. ENLISTED PERSONS EXEMPT FROM ASSESSMENT WORK. An enlisted person being an owner of a patented mining claim, who files in the proper clerk's office the notice required by this act, is relieved of the necessity of doing the annual assessment work required by section 2324, R. S., and the filing of such notice is equivalent in all respects to, and is attended with, the same consequences that result from the actual performance of the work. Field v. Tanner, 32 Colo. 278, p. 283. A mining claim owned by an enlisted person is not subject to relocation for failure to perform the annual assessment work for the year 1899, where the owner was mustered out in March of that year, and where in August of the same year the owner in good faith took steps to perform the annual assessment work for that year, and found the claim in possession of another. Field v. Tanner, 32 Colo. 278, p. 286. AMENDMENT 8. 38 Stat. 235, December 1, 1913. AN ACT To amend section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to mining claims. Be it enacted, etc., That the provision of section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which requires that on each claim located after the 10th day of May, 1872, and until patent has been issued therefor, not less than $100 worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year, be suspended for the year 1913 as to mining claims situated on Seward Peninsular, in the district or Territory of Alaska west of longitude 158 and north of latitude 64, so that no mining claim which has been regularly located and recorded as required by the local laws and mining regulations within such area so described shall be subject to forfeiture for nonperformance of the annual assessment for the year 1913. Provided, That the claimant or claimants of any mining location in order to secure the benefits of this act shall cause to be recorded in the office where the location notice and certificate is filed on or before December 31, 1913, a notice that he, she, or they in good faith intend to hold or work said claim: And provided further, That this amendment shall in no way annul, modify, or repeal said section as to any mining claims, either in the district of Alaska or elsewhere, except those said mining claims with the area herein particularly described. AMENDMENT 9. 34 Stat. 1243, March 2, 1907. See section 162, Alaska Compiled Laws, p. 879. SECTION 2325, REVISED STATUTES. A patent for any land claimed and located for valuable deposits may be obtained in the following manner: Any person, association, or corporation authorized to locate a claim under this chapter, having claimed and located a piece of land for such purposes, who has, or have complied with the terms of this chapter, may file in the proper land office an application for a patent, under oath, showing such compliance together with a plat and field notes of the claim or claims in common, made by or under the direction of the United States surveyor-general, showing accurately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and shall post a copy of such plat, together with a notice of such application for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land embraced in such plat previous to the filing of the application for a patent, and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons that such notice has been duly posted, and shall file a copy of the notice in such land office, and shall thereupon be entitled to a patent for the land, in the manner following: The register of the land office, upon the filing of such application, plat, field notes, notices, and affidavits, shall publish a notice that such application has been made, for the period of 60 days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as published nearest to such claim; and he shall also post such notice in his office for the same period. The claimant at the time of filing this application, or at any time thereafter, within the 60 days of publication, shall file with the register a certificate of the United States surveyor-general that $500 worth of labor has been expended or improvements made upon the claim by himself or grantors; that the plat is correct, with such further description by such reference to natural objects or permanent monuments as shall identify the claim, and furnish an accurate description to be incorporated in the patent. At the expiration of the 60 days of publication the claimant shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during such period of publication. If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the register and the receiver of the proper land office at the expiration of the 60 days of publication, it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the proper officer of $5 per acre, and that no adverse claim exists; and thereafter no objection from third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the terms of this chapter. This section is the same as section 6, act of May 10, 1872 (17 Stat. 91, p. 92), p. 679. A. PATENT PROCEEDINGS CONSTRUCTION OF SECTION. C. APPLICATION FOR PATENT, p. 299. D. SURVEY OF MINING CLAIM, p. 337. E. IMPROVEMENTS AND EXPENDITURES, p. 344. F. NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR PATENT, p. 356. G. ADVERSE CLAIMS—PROCEEDINGS AND SUIT, p. 370. H. PROTEST AND PROTESTANT, p. 385. I. ENTRY, p. 390. J. PATENT ISSUANCE, p. 400. K. AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 2325 R. S., p. 426. A. PATENT PROCEEDINGS CONSTRUCTION OF SECTION. 1. SCOPE AND PURPOSE. 2. NATURE OF PROCEEDINGS. 3. DISPOSAL OF MINERAL LANDS. 4. NATURE AND REGULATION OF CLAIMS BEFORE PATENT. 1. SCOPE AND PURPOSE. This, with section 2326, prescribes the procedure which a party or an association seeking a patent must follow. Smelting Co. v. Kemp, 104 U. S. 636. Tilden v. Intervenor Min. Co., In re, 1 L. D. 572. Harper v. Hill, 159 Cal. 250, p. 254. Meyendorf v. Frohner, 3 Mont. 282, p. 323. Silver Bow Min., etc., Co. v. Clark, 5 Mont. 378, p. 410. Mattingly v. Lewisohn, 8 Mont. 259, p. 263. South End Min. Co. v. Tinney, 22 Nev. 19, p. 37. This section points out the only manner in which a patent for mineral lands can be obtained, and the provision that any person authorized to locate a claim and having done so "may file" his application for patent under oath, means that he alone “must file the application," and the authority of the statute extends only to the person, association, corporation, and the coowner must file his own application under oath. Dodge, In re, 6 C. L. O. 122. Igo Bridge Extension Placer, In re, 38 L. D. 281, p. 282. United States v. Fickett, 205 Fed. 134, p. 135. See Kempton Mine, In re, 1 C. L. O. 178. Jefferson Min. Co. v. Pennsylvania Min. Co., 1 C. L. O. 66. This section prescribes the method and the conditions in pursuance of which and in the absence of any adverse claim the possessory rights of the locator of a mining claim may be carried on for legal title. Hidee Gold Min. Co., In re, 30 L. D. 420, p. 425. This and the following sections form part of the general scheme in reference to the mineral lands of the United States. Blackburn v. Portland Gold Min. Co., 175 U. S. 571, p. 586. Lands belonging to the United States can not be lawfully located or title thereto by patent be legally acquired under the mining laws for purposes or uses foreign to those of the mining or development of mineral, as it was never intended that public lands be possessed and held and title acquired under the mining laws for purposes and uses not essential to mining or mining operations. Grand Canyon R. Co. v. Cameron, 36 L. D. 66, p. 71. This section leaves the question of what will support a good possessory title and proceeds to declare the conditions on which the property can be purchased and patent obtained, and the proof as to expenditures under this section does not refer to annual improvements, but are incident to the possessory title, and the conditions on which a patent may issue refers to those conditions only which are essential to the right of purchase. American Hill Quartz Mine, In re, 5 C. L. O. 114, p. 115. The provisions of this section apply to applications for a placer patent. 2. NATURE OF PROCEEDINGS. The proceedings to obtain a patent under this section is in the nature of a proceeding in rem, and is binding upon all the world, so far as any unrepresented adverse claim is concerned. Hamilton v. Southern Nevada Gold, etc., Min. Co., 33 Fed. 562, p. 565. This section prescribes the procedure to be taken to procure patent to mineral land and states the presumption that shall follow if no adverse claim is filed. Behrends v. Goldsteen, 1 Alaska 518, p. 519. Buena Vista Electric Light Co., In re, 18 C. L. O. 208. The proceedings on application for patent to a mining claim before the land department are ex parte unless an adverse claim is filed, and when filed the proceedings are referred to the courts, but in all other cases they are heard and determined in the Land Department. South End Min. Co. v. Tinney, 22 Nev. 19, p. 47 (dissenting opinion). This section prescribes the necessary steps to be taken by an applicant to obtain a patent for mineral land, and in the absence of an adverse claim it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to patent on proof that he has complied with the law. Marshall Silver Min. Co. v. Kirtley, 12 Colo. 410, p. 414. Lee v. Stahl, 13 Colo. 174, p. 176. 3. DISPOSAL OF MINERAL LANDS. The purchase by a mineral claimant of public land under the mineral laws is a preemption. The provision that all lands valuable for minerals are reserved from sale is the perfection of the plan adopted by Congress for the disposal of public mineral lands. Utah v. Allen, 27 L. D. 53, p. 55. This section extends only to the person, association, or corporation qualified to locate a mining claim, who has located a piece of land for such purpose and complied with the terms of the mining laws, and by implication gives the same right to the grantee of the original location, but the applicant or applicants must have acquired full possessory rights or title to come within the provisions of this section. Lackawanna Placer Claim, In re, 36 L. D. 36, p. 38. Provisions for classifications of mineral lands by the laws of Spain and Mexico are similar to provisions of this section, and the disposition of mineral lands under either Government was a matter of revenue. United States v. San Pedro & Cannon del Agua Co., 4 N. Mex. 225, p. 304. This section makes no provision for granting any extralateral rights. Waterloo Min. Co. v. Doe, 82 Fed. 45, p. 49. Under this section the only matters mentioned for examination and consideration relate to the surface of the ground, and there is no provision for any determination of subterranean rights. Lawson v. United States Min. Co., 207 U. S. 1, p. 16. Affirming United States Min. Co. v. Lawson, 134 Fed. 769. Mineral lands located as a mining claim are referred to as "a piece of land." |