quired to be made in this section by the claimant for such patent may be made by his, her, or its authorized agent, where said agent is conversant with the facts sought to be established by said affidavits. Amendment of Jan. 22, 1880, 21 Stat., 61.]

Description of claim in patent.

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. (As amended April 28, 1904; 33 Stat., 545.)

Placer claims.

SEC. 2329. 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.

Size of placer claim.

SEC. 2330. Legal subdivisions of forty acres may be subdivided into ten-acre tracts; and two or more persons, or associations of persons, having contiguous claims of any size, although such claims may be less than ten acres each, may make joint entry thereof; but no location of a placer claim, made after the ninth day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for any one person or association of persons, which location shall conform to the United States surveys; and nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bona fide preemption or homestead claim upon agricultural lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements of any bona fide settler to any purchaser.

Conformity to surveys.

SEC. 2331. Where placer claims are upon surveyed lands, and conform to legal subdivisions, no further survey or plat shall be required, and all placer-mining claims located after the tenth day of May,

eighteen hundred and seventy-two, shall conform as near as practicable with the United States system of public-land surveys, and the rectangular subdivisions of such surveys, and no such location shall include more than twenty acres for each individual claimant; but where placer claims can not be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands; and where by the segregation of mineral lands in any legal subdivision a quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres remains, such fractional por-. tion of agricultural land may be entered by any party qualified by law, for homestead or preemption purposes.

Period of possession required.

SEC. 2332. Where such person or association, they and their grantors, have held and worked their claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations for mining claims of the State or Territory where the same may be situated, evidence of such possession and working of the claims for such period shall be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto under this chapter, in the absence of any adverse claim; but nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to impair any lien which may have attached in any way whatever to any mining claim or property thereto attached prior to the issuance of a patent.

Payment and proceedings for patent.

SEC. 2333. Where the same person, association, or corporation is in possession of a placer claim, and also a vein or lode included within the boundaries thereof, application shall be made for a patent for the placer claim, with the statement that it includes such vein or lode, and in such case a patent shall issue for the placer claim, subject to the provisions of this chapter, including such vein or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre for such vein or lode claim and twenty-five feet of surface on each side thereof. The remainder of the placer claim or any placer claim not embracing any vein or lode claim shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, together with all costs of proceedings; and where a vein or lode, such as is described in section twenty-three hundred and twenty, is known to exist within the boundaries of a placer claim, an application for a patent for such placer claim which does not include an application for the vein or lode claim shall be construed as a conclusive declaration that the claimant of the placer claim has no right of possession of the vein or lode claim; but where the existence of a vein or lode in a placer claim is not known, a patent for the placer claim shall convey all valuable mineral and other deposits within the boundaries thereof.

Survey of claim.

SEC. 2334. The surveyor-general of the United States may appoint in each land district containing mineral lands as many competent surveyors as shall apply for appointment to survey mining claims. The expenses of the survey of vein or lode claims, and the survey and subdivision of placer claims into smaller quantities than one hundred and sixty acres, together with the cost of publication of notices, shall be paid by the applicants, and they shall be at liberty to obtain the same at the most reasonable rates, and they shall also be at liberty to

employ any United States deputy surveyor to make the survey. The Commissioner of the General Land Office shall also have power to establish the maximum charges for surveys and publication of notices under this chapter; and, in case of excessive charges for publication, he may designate any newspaper published in a land district where mines are situated for the publication of mining notices in such district, and fix the rates to be charged by such paper; and, to the end that the Commissioner may be fully informed on the subject, each applicant shall file with the register a sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by such applicant for publication and surveys, together with all fees and money paid the register and the receiver of the land office, which statement shall be transmitted, with the other papers in the case, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

Verification of affidavits.

SEC. 2335. All affidavits required to be made under this chapter may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claims may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be taken before any such officer, and, when duly certified by the officer taking the same, shall have the same force and effect as if taken before the register and receiver of the land office. In cases of contest as to the mineral or agricultural character of land, the testimony and proofs may be taken as herein provided on personal notice of at least ten days to the opposing party; or if such party can not be found, then by publication of at least once a week for thirty days in a newspaper, to be designated by the register of the land office as published nearest to the location of such land; and the register shall require proof that such notice has been given.

Rights where veins intersect.

SEC. 2336. Where two or more veins intersect or cross each other, priority of title shall govern, and such prior location shall be entitled to all ore or mineral contained within the space of intersection; but the subsequent location shall have the right of way through the space of intersection for the purposes of the convenient working of the mine. And where two or more veins unite, the oldest or prior location shall take the vein below the point of union, including all the space of intersection.

Mill sites.

SEC. 2337. 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.

1

Lands containing salt deposits.

Act of January 31, 1901 (31 Stat., 745).

That all unoccupied public lands of the United States containing salt springs, or deposits of salt in any form, and chiefly valuable therefor, are hereby declared to be subject to location and purchase under the provisions of the law relating to placer-mining claims: Provided, That the same person shall not locate or enter more than one claim hereunder.

Lands valuable for building stone.

Act of August 4, 1892 (27 Stat., 548).

That any person authorized to enter lands under the mining laws of the United States may enter lands that are chiefly valuable for building stone under the provisions of the law in relation to placermineral claims: Provided, That lands reserved for the benefit of the public schools or donated to any State shall not be subject to entry under this act.

Lands valuable for oils.

Act of February 11, 1897 (29 Stat., 526).

That any person authorized to enter lands under the mining laws of the United States may enter and obtain patent to lands containing petroleum or other mineral oils, and chiefly valuable therefor, under the provisions of the laws relating to placer mineral claims: Provided, That lands containing such petroleum or other mineral oils which have heretofore been filed upon, claimed, or improved as mineral, but not yet patented, may be held and patented under the provisions of this act the same as if such filing, claim, or improvement were subsequent to the date of the passage hereof.

Other provisions of the mining laws.

Proof of citizenship. (Rev. Stat., sec. 2321.)

Proceedings on adverse claim. (Rev. Stat., sec. 2326; act Mar. 3, 1881, 21 Stat., 505; act Apr. 26, 1882, 22 Stat., 49.) Pending applications, existing rights preserved. 2328.)

(Rev. Stat., sec. Local legislation for working, drainage, etc. (Rev. Stat., sec. 2338.)

Rights to water and ditches confirmed. (Rev. Stat., sec. 2339.) Patents, etc., subject to vested rights of way and water rights. (Rev. Stat., sec. 2340.)

Homesteads on lands classed as mineral. (Rev. Stat., sec. 2341, 2342.)

Mineral laws not applicable to Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, and Kansas. (Rev. Stat., sec. 2345; act May 5, 1876, 19 Stat., 52.)

Mineral laws extended over Wichita lands, Oklahoma. (Act of Mar. 2, 1895, 28 Stat., 876.)

Expenditures in tunnels applicable to lodes. (Act of Feb. 11, 1876, 18 Stat., 315.)

Mining laws in Alaska.

Mining laws extended; mining districts, records, etc. (Act of May 17, 1884; sec. 8, 23 Stat., 24; act June 6, 1900, secs. 15 and 26, 31 Stat., 321, 326, 330.)

Mining rights extended to native citizens of Canada. (Act of May 14, 1898, 30 Stat., 415.)

Labor and improvements.

(Act of Mar. 2, 1907, 34 Stat., 1243.) Extension of time for filing adverse claims and suits. (Act of June 7, 1910, 36 Stat., 459.)

Amendments and modifications of mining laws in Alaska. Aug. 1, 1912, 37 Stat., 242.)

Rights of locators.

DECISIONS.

(Act of

The Secretary of Agriculture has authority to require the locators of mining claims within National Forests to permit the United States, or its vendees, means of ingress and egress over their claims for the purpose of removing timber, and administering and protecting the National Forests. (Sol. Op., Nov. 4, 1915.)

Under the act of June 4, 1897, authorizing the location of mining claims within forest reserves, the rights of the locator are substantially the same as those of a locator on the public lands under section 2322, Revised Statutes. (United States v. Rizzinelli (C. C. A.), 182 Fed., 675.)

The general mining laws are operative with respect to deposits of gold within the limits of National Forests or power-site withdrawals the same as with respect to like deposits elsewhere on the public domain. (Cataract Gold Mining Co. et al., 43 L. D., 248.)

The owner of a mining claim has the right of exclusive possession and enjoyment, but for mining purposes alone (citations infra.). Prior to patent he can not maintain a liquor saloon on his claim (United States v. Rizzinelli, 182 Fed., 675); or sell timber or hay therefrom (Teller v. United States, 113 Fed., 273; 1 Sol. Op., 188). Nor, on the other hand, can the Secretary of Agriculture authorize any use of the claim, even for purposes foreign to mining, against the objection of the owner, but if the latter waives his right of exclusive possession by arrangement with a power permittee, the power permit becomes effective on the land, and the Government may impose a charge for its use. (2 Sol. Op., 763; see also 2 Sol. Op., 865.)

Where, however, timber on a mining claim, by reason of insect infestation, is a menace to the surrounding National Forest timber, the Government may sell it. (Lewis v. Garlock-United States, intervenor, 168 Fed., 153.)

Powers and duties of Land Department.

The Government is a party in interest in every case involving the disposal of the public lands, and when such lands are sought to be acquired under any of the public-land laws (in this case the mineral laws) it is not only within the power but it is the duty of the Land Department to see that the lands are disposed of according to law, and not in violation or evasion of the law. (Grand Canyon Ry. Co. v. Cameron, 36 L. D., 66.)

Should the question of the character of the land be properly presented at any time before patent, it would manifestly be the duty of