One essential difference, however, may be noted: A pre-emption claimant under the agricultural land laws could not assign his rights prior to final entry; a coal claimant may so assign at any stage of the proceedings. The only feature in common between the coal-land system and the general mining laws is, that in both discovery is required as a condition precedent to the acquisition of title.

The extralateral right has no place in the coal laws. Although many coal veins occupy a more or less inclined position, the only class of entries allowed is by government subdivisions, and the entryman obtains title only to whatever lies within vertical planes drawn through his surface boundaries.

In the case of mining claims, certain prescribed work must be performed annually in order to perpetuate the estate acquired by location. A locator need never apply for a patent. Under the coal laws, no particular amount of expenditure is required, except where an association of not less than four persons seeks to enter six hundred and forty acres, when it is required that they must produce proof of improvements to the extent of five thousand dollars. A patent must be applied for within a year from the filing of the declaratory statement, in case of preferential rights, under section twenty-three hundred and forty-eight of the Revised Statutes. In the case of private entries under section twenty-three hundred and forty-seven, the first step is the application for patent.

As the regulations of the department on the subject of coal are clear and specific, it is not deemed necessary to enter further into the details. We think this and the preceding article present the salient features of the system, and are sufficiently comprehensive for all practical purposes.

CHAPTER VI.

SALINES.

513. Governmental policy with reference to salines.

514. The act of January 12, 1877-Territorial limit of

its operation.

§ 514a. The act of January 31, 1901.

515. What embraced within the term "salines."

513. Governmental policy with reference to salines. -Salt is essentially a mineral,1 and salt lakes and salt springs legitimately fall within the designation of mineral substances.2

Prior to the passage of the act of January 31, 1901, to be hereafter referred to, lands of this character were classed by themselves, and were not subject to entry under any law operative throughout the public land states. The policy of the government since the acquisition of the Northwest territory and the inauguration of the federal land system, and until the passage of the act referred to, had been to reserve salines and salt springs from sale. The object of this reservation was to preserve them for future states. A brief reference to the legislation in this behalf may be of historical value.

514. The act of January 12, 1877-Territorial limit of its operation.-Some of the states, upon their admission to the union, received grants of a certain

'Garrard v. Silver Peak Mines, 82 Fed. 578, 589, S. C. on appeal, 94 Fed. 983; Eagle Salt Works, Copp's Min. Lands, 336.

'State v. Parker, 61 Tex. 265.

'Morton v. State of Nebraska, 21 Wall. 660; Salt Bluff Placer, 7 L. D. 549; Cole v. Markley, 2 L. D. 847; Southwestern M. Co., 14 L. D. 597; Garrard v. Silver Peak Mines, 82 Fed. 578, S. C. on appeal, 94 Fed. 983; In re Geissler, 27 L. D. 515; Oklahoma Territory v. Brooks, 29 L. D. 533; In re Territory of New Mexico, 31 L. D. 389; Hall v. Litchfield, Copp's Min. Lands, 333; Utah Salt Lands, 13 Copp's L. O. 53.

quantity of saline lands, to be selected usually within a stipulated time. Among these we note Oregon,1 Colorado,2 and Utah.3

Prior to the act of 1901, there was no authority for the disposal of lands chiefly valuable for their salt deposits or salt springs belonging to the United States, except the act of January 12, 1877.4

5

This act provided for their sale at public auction at not less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, or at private sale at the same minimum rate, in the event sales were not effected at public auction; but the operation of the act was confined to states which have had grants of salines which have been fully satisfied, or under which the right of selection might expire by efflux of time. The act, therefore, did not apply to the territories; nor did it apply to Mississippi, Louisiana, California, Nevada, North and South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Utah, or Wyoming, none of which received a grant of such lands.

6

This legislation, however, has been superseded by the act of January 31, 1901, which inaugurates a distinct change of policy.

514a. The act of January 31, 1901.-On January 31, 1901, congress enacted the following law:

1 State of Oregon v. Jones, 24 L. D. 116.

2 State of Colorado, 10 L. D. 222.

For list of the states admitted prior to 1877, see Hall v. Litchfield, 2 Copp's L. O. 179.

28 Stats. at Large, p. 107, § 8.

Hall v. Litchfield, Copp's Min. Lands, 333; Salt Bluff Placer, 7 L. D. 549; Southwestern M. Co., 14 L. D. 597; In re Geissler, 27 L. D. 515. 19 Stats. at Large, p. 221.

Utah Salt Lands, 13 Copp's L. O. 53; Circ. Instructions, Apr. 10, 1877, 4 Copp's L. O. 21; In re Geissler, 27 L. D. 515; Oklahoma Territory v. Brooks, 29 L. D. 533.

Southwestern M. Co., 14 L. D. 597; Public Domain, 696.

On Utah's admission as a state she received a donation of all saline lands within the state. 28 Stats. at Large, p. 107, § 8.

"That all unoccupied 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 pro"visions of the law relating to placer mining claims; "provided, that the same person shall not locate or 66 enter more than one claim hereunder."1

Upon the passage of this act, the secretary of the interior promulgated the following circular instructions:

"1. Under this act the provisions of the law relating "to placer-mining claims are extended to all states and "territories and the district of Alaska, so as to permit "the location and purchase thereunder of all unoccu"pied public lands containing salt springs, or deposits "of salt in any form, and chiefly valuable therefor, with "the proviso, 'That the same person shall not locate or "'enter more than one claim hereunder.'

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"2. Rights obtained by location under the placer mining laws are assignable and the assignee may make "the entry in his own name; so, under this act, a person holding as assignee may make entry in his own name, "-provided, he has not held under this act, at any

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time, either as locator, assignee or entryman, any "other lands; his right is exhausted by having held "under this act any particular tract, either as locator, assignee, or entryman, either as an individual or as a "member of an association. It follows, therefore, that no application for patent or entry, made under this act, shall embrace more than one single location.

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"3. In order that the conditions imposed by the pro"viso, as set forth in the above paragraph, may duly

appear, the notice of location presented for record, "the application for patent, and the application to pur"chase must each contain a specific statement under "oath by each person whose name appears therein that "he never has, either as an individual or as a member

131 Stats. at Large, p. 745. Lindley on M.-55

"of an association, located, applied for, entered, or held "any other lands under the provisions of this act. Assignments made by persons who are not severally qualified as herein stated will not be recognized."1

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Henceforward, except in such states as Utah, to which all salt lands therein have been previously ceded, the general mining laws applicable to the discovery and location of placers apply, with one marked exception, that the same person may not locate nor enter more than one claim, thus placing the location of salt lands in this behalf on the same plane with coal and homestead entries. The right to locate is exhausted by the entry of an individual claim. The rules in this regard with reference to coal land apply by analogy to some extent at least.

This act would from its phraseology seem to be operative in the states which have heretofore been excepted from the operation of the general mining laws,—viz., Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, and Alabama.2 In other words, the general mining laws, so far as they are applicable to the appropriation of saline lands, are in force in all the public land states and the continental territories enumerated in a previous section,3 wherein there are unoccupied public lands of the United States containing salt springs or deposits of salt in any form.

515. What embraced within term " salines."-Deposits of rock salt fall within the designation of salines, as do salt springs and salt beds, although Commissioner McFarland entertained the view that a ledge of rock salt might be located under the lode laws."

131 L. D. 131.

Ante, § 75.

3 Ante, § 20. Circulars, Nov. 14, 1901, 31 L. D. 130, 131.
Southwestern M. Co., 14 L. D. 597.

In re Megarrigle, 9 Copp's L. O. 113.