D. AMENDMENT TO SECTION 2327, REVISED STATUTES. AMENDMENT 1. 33 Stat. 545, April 28, 1904. AN ACT To amend section 2327 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to lands. Be it enacted, etc., That section 2327 of the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows: "SEC. 2327. The description of vein or lode claims upon surveyed lands shall designate the location of the claims with reference to the lines of the public survey, but need not conform therewith; but where patents have been or shall be issued for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the surveyors general, in extending the public survey, shall adjust the same to the boundaries of said patented claims so as in no case to interfere with or change the true location of such claims as they are officially established upon the ground. Where patents have issued for mineral lands, those lands only shall be segregated and shall be deemed to be patented which are bounded by the lines actually marked, defined, and established upon the ground by the monuments of the official survey upon which the patent grant is based, and surveyors general in executing subsequent patent surveys, whether upon surveyed or unsurveyed lands, shall be governed accordingly. The said monuments shall at all times constitute the highest authority as to what land is patented, and in case of any conflict between the said monuments of such patented claims and the descriptions of said claims in the patents issued therefor the monuments on the ground shall govern, and erroneous or inconsistent descriptions or calls in the patent descriptions shall give way thereto." A. AMENDATORY ACT. 1. CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION. 2. SECOND PATENT NOT GRANTED WITHOUT NOTICE. 1. CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION. The amendatory act of April 28, 1904 (33 Stat. 545), is a part of the general mining laws and should be construed if possible to harmonize with the other sections of such laws, and is intended to prescribe the rule or guide whereby to determine the subject matter of mineral patents or the particular tract actually conveyed by any such patent wherever the question will arise, and the provisions of this section in nowise modify or affect any requirement of the mining statutes with respect to notice of an application for a patent, nor are they intended to have the effect to cure or remedy any defect or irregularity in the notice of patent proceedings. Peck, In re, 34 L. D. 682, p. 684. 2. SECOND PATENT NOT GRANTED WITHOUT NOTICE. Where no notice has been published describing the claim as it is actually located on the ground, the Land Department would not be warranted to issue a patent therefor in lieu of one formerly issued without first requiring posting and publication of proper notice as required by law in order to give possible adverse claimants an opportunity to protect and assert their rights. Peck, In re, 34 L. D. 682, p. 684. 56974°-Bull. 94-15- -35 SECTION 2328, REVISED STATUTES. Applications for patents for mining claims under former laws now pending may be prosecuted to a final decision in the General Land Office; but in such cases where adverse rights are not affected thereby, patents may issue in pursuance of the provisions of this chapter; and all patents for mining claims upon veins or lodes heretofore issued shall convey all the rights and privileges conferred by this chapter where no adverse rights existed on the 10th day of May, 1872. This section is the same as that part of section 9 following the repealing sentence of the act of May 10, 1872 (17 Stat. 91, 94), p. 680. A. SCOPE AND APPLICATION OF SECTION. This section does not reserve to the locator of a mining claim any of the provisions of the act of July 26, 1866, on the theory that such locator has a vested right which Congress can not limit or vary. This and the preceding sections relate to mineral lodes or veins and fix the amount or quantity of land which may be acquired under any one claim the maximum of which is 1,500 feet along its length and 300 feet in width on each side, subject to local statutes and the rules and regulations of miners. Reynolds v. Iron Silver Min. Co., 116 U. S. 687, p. 693. 506 SECTION 2329, REVISED STATUTES. Claims usually called "placers," including all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz, or other rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent, under like circumstances and conditions, and upon similar proceedings, as are provided for vein or lode claims; but where the lands have been previously surveyed by the United States, the entry in its exterior limits shall conform to the legal subdivisions of the public lands. This section is the same as the first sentence of section 12, act of July 9, 1870 (16 Stat. 217), p. 670. See 27 Stat. 348, Stone lands taken as placer claims, p. 1328; 29 Stat. 526, Oil lands taken as placer claims, p. 1043; 31 Stat. 745, Saline lands taken as placer claims, p. 1213. A. PLACER CLAIMS. B. NATURE AND FORMS OF DEPOSITS, p. 517. C. APPLICATION FOR PLACER PATENT, p. 521. D. VEINS AND LODES WITHIN PLACER LIMITS OWNERSHIP AND RIGHTS, p. 523. E. PATENT FOR PLACER CLAIM-FORCE AND EFFECT, p. 524. A. PLACER CLAIMS. 1. FORCE AND EFFECT OF SECTION. 2. DEFINITION. 3. ACQUISITION OF PLACER GROUND. 4. APPLICATION OF LODE LAWS TO PLACER CLAIMS. 5. LANDS SUBJECT TO PLACER LOCATION-MINERAL CHARACTER. 6. INSUFFICIENT PROOF OF MINERAL CHARACTER. 7. DISCOVERY ESSENTIAL TO PLACER LOCATION. 8. NUMBER OF DISCOVERIES REQUIRED. 9. BOUNDARIES NOT REQUIRED TO BE MARKED. 10. EXCESSIVE LOCATION-EXCLUDING DISCOVERY POINT. 11. SURFACE LINES ON EXISTING LOCATIONS EFFECT. 12. LOCATIONS CONFORMING TO PUBLIC SURVEYS. 13. IRREGULAR LOCATION-LOCATOR NOT PROTECTED. 14. RELOCATION. 15. RECORD NOT REQUIRED. 16. POSSESSORY RIGHTS. 17. UNPATENTED LOCATION EFFECT. 18. LOCATIONS ON STATE AND SCHOOL LANDS-EFFECT. 19. TOWN-SITE CLAIMANTS- CONFLICTING RIGHTS. 1. FORCE AND EFFECT OF SECTION. The provisions of this section are mandatory and must be strictly complied with. Worthen v. Sidway, 72 Ark. 215, p. 222. See North Noonday Min. Co. v. Orient Min. Co., 1 Fed. 522. Erwin v. Perego, 93 Fed. 608. The effect of this section is to declare that the circumstances and conditions under which vein or lode claims may be entered and patented shall be likewise applicable to placer claims. Carney v. Arizona Gold Min. Co., 65 Cal. 40, p. 41. The placer mining laws were not intended to be a catch-all system of taking public lands and allowing parties to play fast and loose to suit their own caprice. Clark v. Ervin, 17 L. D. 550, p. 552. The circumstances, conditions, and proceedings referred to are thus set forth in all the preceding sections beginning with section 2318, and include discovery, citizenship, marking of the boundaries on the ground, and the performance of the representation work. Donnelly v. United States, 228 U. S. 243, p. 266. 2. DEFINITION. By the term "placer mining claim" is meant ground within well-defined boundarie containing mineral in its earth, sand, or gravel, ground that includes valuable deposits of mineral not in place, nor fixed in rock, but which are in a loose state, and that may usually be collected by washing or amalgamation without milling. San Francisco Chemical Co. v. Duffield, 201 Fed. 830, p. 836. 1. A placer claim is a place near the bank of a river where gold dust is found. 2. A placer claim is a gravelly place where gold is found, especially by the side of a river or in the bed of a mountain torrent. Gregory v. Pershbaker, 73 Cal. 109. Placers are superficial deposits which occupy the beds of ancient rivers or valleys and may be held and worked in accordance with local mining laws adopted and enforced in the mining district where they are located. Conlin v. Kelly, 12 L. D. 1, p. 3. Strang v. Ryan, 46 Cal. 33. Moxon v. Wilkinson, 2 Mont. 421. The common understanding of the term "placer" is deposits of débris or wash here and there upon the earth's surface valuable as a "placer" deposit because carrying gold, but Congress has enlarged upon this understanding of the term and included all deposits excepting quartz or other rock in place. Montague v. Dobbs, 9 C. L. O. 165, p. 166. See Stevens v. Williams, 23 Fed. Cas. 40. This section extends and enlarges the signification commonly given to "placer claims," and makes such locations include all forms of deposit, excepting quartz veins or other rock in place. Freezer v. Sweeney, 8 Mont. 508, p. 513. Claims usually called placers are expressly declared to include all forms of deposit except veins of quartz or other rock in place. Stevens v. Williams, 23 Fed. Cas. 40. Montague v. Dobbs, 9 C. L. O. 165. Gregory v. Pershbaker, 73 Cal. 109, p. 115. Bay v. Oklahoma Southern Gas, etc., Co., 13 Okla. 425, p. 429. 3. ACQUISITION OF PLACER GROUND. The act of July 26, 1866 (14 Stat. 251), was amended by adding this section providing that claims usually called placers, including all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz or other rock in place, could be entered and patented. Webb v. American Asphaltum Min. Co., 157 Fed. 203, p. 204. The location and acquisition of placer mining ground is the same whether the mineral it contains be gold, silver, quicksilver, or petroleum. Gird v. California Oil Co., 60 Fed. 531, p. 541. This section authorizes citizens of the United States to acquire title to placer mines and lands containing deposits of rock and other substances commercially valuable as commodities. Bevis v. Markland, 130 Fed. 226, p. 227. This and the two succeeding sections provide for placer mining locations and the segregation of mineral land from agricultural land. Yard, In re, 38 L. D. 59, p. 62. This section contains no requirement as to the particular nature or character of any location authorized under this section, but groups them all under the general appellation of "placer claims." Freezer v. Sweeney, 8 Mont. 508, p. 514. A placer location is a location in accordance with the statute of a tract of land for the mineral bearing or other valuable deposits upon it or within it that are not found within lodes or veins in rock in place, and is a claim of a tract of land for the sake of the loose deposits on or near its surface. Webb v. American Asphaltum Min. Co., 157 Fed. 203, p. 204. At the time of the enactments of the mining laws, Congress evidently understood that a lode is a vein containing ore and disposed of the placers proper and all forms of mineral deposited not of the character mentioned in section 2320, Revised Statutes, as placers, and these two sections should be construed together, and the phrase "or other valuable deposits," as used in section 2320, and the exception, "quartz or other rock in place," in this section mean rock valuable for deposits of mineral. Montague v. Dobbs, 9 C. L. O. 165, p. 166. Congress has always recognized the distinction between lodes or veins of quartz and placer claims and a possessor of the former could procure title many years before it was legal to grant a patent for the latter; but the act was amended by providing that placer claims, including all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz or other rock in place, should be subject to entry. Moxon v. Wilkinson, 2 Mont. 421, p. 425. Montana Coal, etc., Co. v. Livingston, 21 Mont. 59, p. 69. Unless a vein or lode is metalliferous, or valuable because carrying the minerals named in section 2320, Revised Statutes, location can be made under this section. Montague v. Dobbs, 9 C. L. O. 165, p. 166. 4. APPLICATION OF LODE LAWS TO PLACER CLAIMS. Placer claims may be entered upon similar proceedings as those provided for vein or lode claims. Reynolds v. Iron Silver Min. Co., 116 U. S. 687, p. 694. |