RESERVATION OF MINERAL LANDS.

I. THE STATUTE. II. DECISIONS.

I. THE STATUTE.

In all cases lands valuable for minerals shall be reserved from sale, except as otherwise expressly directed by law. 14 Stat. 86; 18 Stat. 476; sec. 2318, U. S. Rev. Stat.

II. DECISIONS.

See United States v. Gear, 3 How. 120; Cooper v. Roberts, 18 How. 73; United States v. Gratiot, 14 Pet. 526; Sparrow v. Strong, 3 Wall. 97; Secretary v. McGarrahan, 9 Wall. 298; United States v. Gratiot, 1 McLean, 454; Indiana v. Miller, 3 McLean, 151; 3 Op. Atty. Gen. 277; 5 Op. Atty. Gen. 247; 7 Op. Atty. Gen. 636; 10 Op. Atty. Gen. 184.

The decisions enumerated above, though not forming a part of the present mineralland laws of the country, may be of interest and use as containing a history of legislation upon the subject of minerals in the public domain, and indicating the formation and growth of the policy of the government with relation to the same, prior to the enactment of the general mining laws of 1866 and 1872. Decisions in harmony with the law will be found extending throughout the digest, and particularly under the title of "Character of

Land."

MINERAL LANDS DECLARED TO BE FREE AND OPEN TO EXPLORATION AND PURCHASE.

I. THE STATUTE.

II. DECISIONS.

I. THE STATUTE.

All valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be

free and open to exploration and purchase, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the United States and those who have declared their intention to become such, 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. 17 Stat. 91; 19 Stat. 52; sec. 2319, U. S. Rev. Stat.

II. DECISIONS.

"It is the policy of the country to encourage the development of its mineral resources. The act of July 26, 1866 (14 Stat. at L. 251), declared that all mineral deposits on lands belonging to the United States were free and open to exploration, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the United States and those who had declared their intention to become such, subject to regulations prescribed by law, and to the rules and customs of miners, in their several mining districts, so far as the same were applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States. This declaration of the freedom of mining lands to exploration and occupation was repeated in the act of congress of May 10, 1872 (17 Stat. at L. 91), and is contained in the Revised Statutes, section 2319. Both acts provided for the acquisition of title, by patent, to mineral lands: the first act, to such as constituted lode claims; the second, to such as constituted placer claims." Steel v. St. Louis Sm. Co., 106 U. S. 447.

MINING CLAIMS, ETC.

I. THE STATUTE.

II. REGULATION.

III. DECISIONS.

1. Mining Claims.

2. Veins or Lodes.

(1) Definitions.

(2) Size and Shape of Claim.

Mining claims upon veins or lodes of quartz or other rock in place bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable deposits, heretofore located, shall be governed as to length along the vein or lode by the customs, regulations, and laws in force at the date of their location. A mining claim located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, whether located by one or more persons, may equal, but shall not exceed, one thousand five hundred feet in length along the vein or lode; but no location of a mining claim shall be made until the discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the claim located. No claim shall extend more than three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, nor shall any claim be limited by any mining regulation to less than twenty-five feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse rights existing on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, render such limitation necessary.

The end-lines of each claim shall be parallel to each other. 17 Stat. 91; 19 Stat. 52; sec. 2320, U. S. Rev. Stat.

II. REGULATION.

13. The statutes provide that no lode claim shall be recorded until after the discovery of a vein or lode within the limits of the claim located, the object of which provision is evidently to prevent the appropriation of presumed mineral ground for speculative purposes to the exclusion of bona fide prospectors, before sufficient work has been done to determine whether a vein or lode really exists.

III. DECISIONS.

1. Mining Claims.

1. A mining claim is a located piece of ground including the vein; but it is not the vein, under the act of 1872. Gleeson v. Martin White M. Co., 13 Nev. 442; 9 Mor. Min. Rep. 429.

2. The difference between a location and a mining claim is, that a location is the appropriation according to law of a parcel of mineral-bearing land, while a claim comprises one or more locations. Poire v. Wells, 6 Colo. 406.

3. "A mining claim is the name given to that portion of the public mineral lands which the miner, for mining purposes, takes up and holds in accordance with the mining laws, local and statutory. It must, under the law of congress of 1872 (Rev. Stat., sec. 2320), be located upon at least one known vein or lode, but the vein or lode is not the whole claim." vein or lode, but that with a certain quanA mining claim . . . is not merely a tity of surface ground." Mt. Diablo M. & M. Co. v. Callison, 5 Sawy. 439; 9 Mor. Min. Rep. 616.

4. A mining "claim," as the word is used in the mining laws, may mean a single location

or a consolidation of several locations. S. F.

Mackie, 5 L. D. 199; St. Louis Sm. Co. v. Kemp, 104 U. S. 636; 11 Mor. Min. Rep. 673.

5. The term "mining claim" is used by miners as synonymous with "location." McFetters v. Pierson, 15 Colo. 201; 24 Pac. Rep. 1076.

6. The words "location" and "mining claim" do not always represent the same thing. The distinction discussed, and defi