MINING LAW BY THEO. F. VAN WAGENEN, E. M. PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER THE AMERICAN POTASH CO., DENVER, COLO. FIRST EDITION MCGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC. LONDON: HILL PUBLISHING CO., LTD. PREFACE Practically all the raw material in this volume was collected primarily for the purpose of enabling the author to form an intelligent opinion as to whether the American Federal Mining Law was in need of revision, and if so, in what respects. To accomplish this two kinds of information on the subject appeared to be necessary. First, a knowledge of the mining laws of other countries, for the purpose of being able to compare them with our own and to note the points of difference; and second, the statistics of production in the principal metal-mining regions of the world, so as to be in a position to judge of the comparative worth of each law by the results obtained under it. As the investigation advanced it was found desirable as well as interesting to take note of the salient features of the history of the industry in each principal field. This naturally led to an inquiry into ancient and repealed mining legislation and customs, the better to understand those now in force; which, in its turn, called for a study of the beginnings, rise and growth of the occupation of mining. And now, in putting together the results obtained, the steps taken are naturally reversed in the act of publication. It is hoped that the arrangement adopted will prove a suitable one from the point of view of the reader. Mining law is a broad subject. In the digests of laws given, with a view to confining the investigation within reasonable limits, the attempt has been made to give only those parts of each which referred to metal mining, omitting wherever possible those having to do with coal, iron, and the non-metallic substances. Naturally the statistical tables have been prepared on the same plan. A considerable number of the laws abstracted were found to be of only moderate assistance to the inquiry; either because of their comparative antiquity or crudity, or for the reason that V |