SECTION 2337, REVISED STATUTES. Where nonmineral 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 nonadjacent 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 to veins or lodes; but no location hereafter made of such nonadjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the same must be made at the same rate as fixed by this chapter for the superficies 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. Same as section 15, act of May 10, 1872 (17 Stat. 91, p. 95), p. 683. A. CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION OF SECTION. B. MILL-SITE LOCATIONS, p. 595. C. APPLICATION FOR PATENT FOR MILL SITE, p. 597. D. ADVERSE CLAIMS, p. 606. E. MILL SITE WITHIN LIMITS OF RAILROAD GRANT NO PATENT, p. 607. F. CORPORATION'S RIGHT TO PATENT FOR MILL SITE, p. 607. G. SURVEY OF MILL SITE-SUFFICIENCY, p. 607. A. CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION OF SECTION. 1. PURPOSE OF SECTION. 2. PURPOSE OF FIRST CLAUSE OF SECTION. 3. CONSTRUCTION OF SECOND CLAUSE OF SECTION. 4. MEANING OF "VEIN OR LODE" IN THIS SECTION. 1. PURPOSE OF SECTION. This section makes specific provision for the sale of public lands for mill-site purposes. Phoenix Gold Min. Co., In re, 40 L. D. 313, p. 314 The purpose of this section is to grant an additional tract to a person who expects to use it in connection with a lode claim, and where he needs more land for working his claim or reducing his ores than the law gives him in his mining claim proper; and if an applicant is not actually using the land he must show such an occupation by improvements or otherwise as evidences an intention to use the tract in good faith for mining or milling purposes. Lennig, In re, 5 L. D. 190, p. 192. This section evidently intends to give to the operator of a lode claim a tract of land not exceeding five acres for the purpose of conducting mining or milling operations thereon in connection with such lode and excludes the idea that the mill site is to be used in connection with other lodes, and the object of the mill site is to subserve the necessities of the lode to which it is attached for mining and milling purposes. Mint Lode & Mill Site, In re, 12 L. D. 624, p. 625. Gold Springs & Denver City Mill Site, In re, 13 L. D. 175, p. 177. One object of this section in giving the right to appropriate a mill site on nonmineral lands and not contiguous to a lode claim was to prevent the acquisition of any additional part of the vein or lode on which the claim was predicated; but the location of a mill site upon nonmineral land does not come within the prohibition where it is in contact with the side lines of a lode claim. Yankee Mill Site, In re, 37 L. D. 674, p. 677. Overruling Brick Pomeroy Mill Site, În re, 34 L. D. 320. This section permits two classes of claims to be entered-one is of nonadjacent surface ground used or occupied by the proprietor of a vein or lode for mining or milling purposes. Eclipse Mill Site, In re, 22 L. D. 496, p. 497. This section authorizes the issue of patents for nonmineral lands not contiguous to a vein or lode which is used or occupied by the proprietor of a vein or lode claim for mining or milling purposes, and it also permits the owner of a quartz mill or reduction works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, to receive a patent for his mill site; and a person having a possessory right to a vein or lode and to a piece of nonmineral land not contiguous thereto used for mining or milling purposes may include such nonmineral tract with his application for a patent to the lode claim. Bailey, In re, 11 C. L. O. 277, p. 278. Whether or not the land entered as a mill-site claim is subject to disposal under the mining laws and whether or not the statutory requirement in respect to the publication notice was complied with are questions which concern the Government. Reed v. Bowron, 32 L. D. 383, p. 384. See Adams v. Quijeda, 25 L. D. 24, p. 26. The object of this section is to permit title to land to be acquired for mill sites to be located on mineral lands which do not contain valuable mineral-bearing veins or mineral deposits, and there is no reason for a distinction on account of the character of ore or the ownership of nonownership of a mine in connection with a mill site. Cleary v. Skiffich, 28 Colo. 362, p. 367. This section clearly recognizes a valid mill site as a mining possession. 2. PURPOSE OF FIRST CLAUSE OF SECTION. The purpose of the first clause of this section is to permit the proprietor of a lode mining claim to acquire a small tract of noncontiguous, nonmineral land as directly auxiliary to the prosecution of active mining operations upon his lode claim, or for the erection of a quartz mill or reduction works for the treatment of the ore produced by such operations, but the area of such additional tract is restricted to 5 acres, creating the inference that the mill-site provision is intended to subserve a recognized practical necessity, contemplating the acquisition for a specified purpose in connection with mining rights, and is not a provision for the acquisition of merely additional superficies in connection with a lode location. Alaska Copper Co., In re, 32 L. D. 128, p. 129. Under the first clause of this section it is not necessary that the land applied for be actually a mill site, but the use or occupation of it for mining or milling purposes is a prerequisite to a patent. Lennig, In re, 5 L. D. 190, p. 192. 3. CONSTRUCTION OF SECOND CLAUSE OF SECTION. The right to a patent for a mill site under the second clause of this section depends upon the existence on the land of a quartz mill or reduction works. Helca Consol. Min. Co., In re, 12 L. D. 75, p. 77. Lennig, In re, 5 L. D. 190. Cypress Mill Site, In re, 6 L. D. 706. Two Sisters Lode & Mill Site, In re, 7 L. D. 557. Le Neve Mill Site, In re, 9 L. D. 460. Gold Springs & Denver City Mill Site, In re, 13 L. D. 175, p. 177. Brodie Gold Reduction Co., In re, 29 L. D. 143, p. 144. The second clause of this section makes the right to patent a mill site depend upon the existence upon the site of a quartz mill or reduction works, but under the first clause it is not necessary that the land be actually a mill site, but it must be used or occupied for mining or milling purposes as the only prerequisite for patent; and the proprietor of a lode claim is using noncontiguous land for mining or milling purposes if he has a quartz mill or reduction works thereon, or if he uses it for depositing tailings, or storing ores, for shops, or houses for his workmen, or for collecting water to run his quartz mill. Lennig, In re, 5 L. D. 190, p. 192; 13 C. L. O. 197. 4. MEANING OF VEIN OR LODE" IN THIS SECTION. Constructing this section with other sections of the mining statutes the words "vein or lode" are intended to be understood in each instance in a larger sense, indicating the location rather than in the restricted sense of indicating a body of mineral or mineralized rock in place, technically known as a vein or lode. Brick Pomeroy Mill Site, In re, 34 L. D. 320, p. 323. Montana-Illinois Copper Min. Co., In re, 42 L. D. 434, p. 436. B. MILL-SITE LOCATIONS. 1. LOCATION AS MINING CLAIM-RIGHTS OF LOCATOR. 3. ADJACENT AND NONCONTIGUOUS-MEANING. 4. MILL SITE ON CONTIGUOUS LAND-EXCEPTIONS. 1. LOCATION AS MINING CLAIM-RIGHTS OF LOCATOR. While the statute is silent as to the location of mill sites, yet such locations must be made substantially as that of a mining claim. Hargrove v. Robertson, 15 L. D. 499, p. 502. Mill sites must be located upon nonmineral land. See Alta Mill Site, In re, 8 L. D. 195. A mill site location must be made by the owner or proprietor of a lode or a quartz mill or reduction works, and the letter of the statute would seem to require that such mill site ought to be used in connection with such lode for mining or milling purposes before a legal location can be made. Rico Town Site, In re, 1 L. D. 556. The location of a mill site, perfected according to law, like that of a quartz lode mining claim, operates as a grant by the United States of the present and exclusive possession of all surface ground included within its limits, and can not be included in a subsequent town-site entry and patent. Hartman v. Smith, 7 Mont. 19, p. 29. The locator of a mill site prior to that of a conflicting lode claim is entitled to all the surface area embraced within the exterior boundaries of his survey which is not included within the limits of the mineral claim, if such mill site does not lie contiguous to the lode or vein. Long, In re, 9 C. L. O. 188. Under this section nonmineral land may be patented as a mill site, subject to the same requirements as to survey and notice as are applicable to veins and lodes. Snyder v. Waller, 25 L. D. 7, p. 8. 2. POSSESSION OF MILL SITE. A tract of 5 acres claimed for a mill site may be said to be in the possession of the locator when its corners are marked with banded posts, and he has built thereon a house and stable, and constructed a graded wagon road leading from the mill site to the mines of the locator, and a tunnel constructed to increase the flow of water; and such possession is sufficient to enable him to maintain an action of ejectment against an intruder. Valcalda v. Silver Peak Mines, 86 Fed. 90, p. 94. An application for patent for nonmineral land as a mill site is not a mineral location with a view of acquiring title under the mining laws, and possession and occupancy of ground for a mill site can not be regarded as extending beyond the space actually used as such. Burns v. Clark, 133 Cal. 634, p. 636. 3. ADJACENT AND NONCONTIGUOUS-MEANING. The word adjacent, as generally defined and understood, means by, or near, and close, but not actually touching; and nonadjacent, representing the opposite situation, means not near, and not close. Brick Pomeroy Mill Site, In re, 34 L. D. 320, p. 324. 4. MILL SITE ON CONTIGUOUS LAND-EXCEPTIONS. Lands contiguous only to the surface ground of a lode claim are not within the prohibition of this section, and this may be true when the mill site is located contiguous to the side lines of the surface of the mining claim. Freeman, In re, 7 C. L. O. 4. Ground for a mill site can not be patented where it abuts against the end of a lode claim. Freeman, In re, 7 C. L. O. 4. See National Min., etc., Co., In re, 7 C. L. O. 179. A mill site which abuts upon the end of a lode location is not noncontiguous within the meaning of this section, but the fact of a mill site so abutted upon the end of a lode is not conclusive evidence of its mineral character. Long, In re, 9 C. L. O. 188. National Min., etc., Co., In re, 7 C. L. O. 179. A mill-site claim adjoining the end of a lode mining claim may be patented as noncontiguous land, within the meaning of this section, provided it be clearly shown that the lode or vein along which the mining location is laid either terminates before the end abutting upon the mill-site claim will be reached, or that it departs from the side line of the mining claim, and where the ground embraced in such adjoining millsite claim is shown to be nonmineral in character. Montana-Illinois Copper Min. Co., In re, 42 L. D. 434, p. 436. C. APPLICATION FOR PATENT FOR MILL SITE. 1. MILL SITE PATENTED WITH LODE CLAIM. 2. NOTICE-PUBLICATION AND POSTING PROOF. 3. NONMINERAL CHARACTER OF LAND. 4. PROOF AS TO LOCATION OF MILL SITE. 5. MILL SITE-LAND NOT CONTIGUOUS TO LODE CLAIM. 6. PROOF OF USE AS MILL SITE NECESSARY. 7. USE OF MILL SITE FOR MINING PURPOSES-MEANING. 8. IMPROVEMENTS ON MILL SITE-SUFFICIENCY AND PROOF. 9. IMPROVEMENTS-QUARTZ MILL SITE OR REDUCTION WORKS. 10. IMPROVEMENTS INSUFFICIENT. 11. USE OF MILL SITE FOR WATER FOR MINING PURPOSES. a. SUFFICIENCY. b. INSUFFICIENCY. 12. USE OF MILL SITE FOR TIMBER FOR MINING PURPOSES. 13. USE OF MILL SITE IN CONNECTION WITH TUNNEL. 14. QUANTITY OF LAND FOR MILL SITE. 15. NUMBER OF MILL SITES. 16. PERFORMANCE OF STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS-REPRESENTA TION WORK. 1. MILL SITE PATENTED WITH LODE CLAIM. Mill sites are recognized by this section where the land is nonmineral and is used by the proprietor of a vein or lode, and may be patented with a vein or lode claim subject to the same requirements as to survey and notice of application. Rico Town Site, In re, 1 L. D. 556, p. 557. Silver Star Mill Site, In re, 25 L. D. 165, p. 166. A person in possession of a mill site may file an application for patent therefor under this section, and he may avail himself of the alternative method to protect his interest therein under a scrip location. Moore, In re, 11 C. L. O. 326. Under the first clause of this section the application for a mill site must be made with that of the lode claim and the applications must be simultaneous and the claims patented together, while the second clause of the section is clearly distinguished from the first. Eclipse Mill Site, In re, 22 L. D. 496, p. 497. A miner who has constructed valuable improvements and has occupied a tract of nonmineral land for mill site purposes may enter the same with Porterfield scrip. Moore, In re, 11 C. L. O. 326. See Weise, In re, 2 C. L. O. 130. Porterfield Scrip, In re, 3 C. L. O. 83. An application for a mill site may be denied where the applicant does not claim that he is the owner of a quartz mill or reduction works, and he does not own a mine in connection therewith. Hamburg Min. Co. v. Stephenson, 17 Nev. 449, p. 460. |