All Proof, except of Citizenship, must be made within the District where the Land is Situated. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 1873. Messrs. HOYT, SEARS AND MCKEE, San Francisco, California: GENTLEMEN: Referring to your letter of the eighteenth instant, I have to state, that it is the intention of this office to so construe the mining acts of Congress as to enable applicants for patents, who are in the actual and rightful possession of mining claims by virtue of compliance with the local laws and regulations and the Congressional enactments, to make the proof required before patents can issue at the least expense and with as little inconvenience as possible. To this end this office has uniformly permitted the proof of citizenship required to be filed in the case of applications for patents for mining claims, to be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths. All other proofs and affidavits should be made before some officer authorized to administer oaths in the district where the lands are situate. Very respectfully, WILLIS DRUMMOND, Commissioner. Where all but One of Several Co-tenants withdraw Protest, the Courts must Decide. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., Feb. 12, 1873. Register and Receiver, Central City, Colorado Territory: GENTLEMEN: * * * On the nineteenth April, 1872, Wm. H. Pier filed an adverse claim to said application for patent, alleging in his sworn statement that the premises described in said application for patent embrace and include the Harris lode, owned in equal and undivided interest by J. P. Arey, James A. Varnes, Philip Paul and myself, "by right of discovery, location and purchase;' that no discovery was made and that no work was done by the said William A. Hamill upon said premises, as described in said diagram of said so-called Old Missouri lode, until after the said Horriel lode was discovered, its discovery shaft sunk to a depth of eleven feet, and recorded in accordance with the laws of said mining district and of Colorado Territory;" that the open cut claimed as the discovery of said Old Missouri lode, is upon the Horriel lode, and was excavated by one of said adverse claimants. Wm. H. Pier filed proof of citizenship and an abstract of title from the office of the County Clerk and Recorder of Clear Creek County, Colorado, by which it appears that seven persons located fourteen hundred feet of the Horriel lode, and made record thereof on the sixth May, 1869, and that the record title to said premises is now in Wm. H. Pier, Philip Paul, James A. Varnes and J. P. Arey. On the sixth December, 1872, the attorneys for the applicant for patent filed with their argument several inclosures. One of these inclosures is signed "Philip Paul," and after reciting the circumstances attending the filing of the adverse claim, concludes as follows, viz: "I, the said Philip Paul, do hereby withdraw the said adverse claim so filed, and declare it to be my intention not to any longer contest the right of the aforesaid Wm. A. Hamill to a United States patent to his said claim," etc. A similar withdrawal, signed "James A. Varnes, by John Fillins, attorney in fact," is also on file. Pier, having made out a prima facie adverse showing to said application, cannot be denied his right and privilege, under the mining acts of Congress, of having his adverse right adjudicated in a court of competent jurisdiction, by reason of two of his co-tenants having declared their "intention not to any longer contest the right of the aforesaid William A. Hamill to a United States patent to his said claim." You will therefore inform all parties in interest that thirty days from the date of your notification will be allowed the said Wm. H. Pier et al. to institute proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction to determine the right of possession to the premises in dispute. * * * Very respectfully, WILLIS DRUMMOND, Commissioner. Applications in Case of Divided and Undivided Interests in Mining Claims. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., Feb. 18, 1873. WILLIAM SINGER, Esq., Marysville, Cal.: SIR: Referring to your letter of the 27th ult., I have to state that where several parties own undivided interests in a mining claim, it is necessary that all the owners should join in an application for patent. Where several parties own separate and distinct portions of a claim, application for patent may be made by either of said parties for that portion of the claim owned by him if he desires. ་ Very respectfully, etc. WILLIS DRUMMOND, Commissioner. Adverse Claim Rejected because not Sworn to within the District where the Land is Situated. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C., March 7, 1873. Register and Receiver, Carson City, Nevada: GENTLEMEN: Upon examination of the papers transmitted with your letter of the 24th January last, I find that on the 22nd of Oct., 1872, the Dardanelles Mining Company, filed in your office an application for patent for twelve hundred linear feet of the Bosphorus lode, with surface ground four hundred feet in width, situated in Gold Hill mining district, Storey County, Nevada. On the 20th day of December, and before the expiration of the sixty days publication required by law, the California Silver mining company by its president, A. K. P. Harmon, filed a protest against the issuance of patent for the premises described in said application. This protest was sworn to by Mr. Harmon, before "P. O. Wegener, Notary Public and Commissioner of Deeds, for the State of Nevada, in the city and county of San Francisco, California." The seventh section of the mining act of May 10, 1872, requires "That where an adverse claim shall be filed during the period of publication, it shall be upon oath of the person, or persons, making the same," etc. And the thirteenth section of the same act declares that "All affidavits required to be made under this act, or the act of which it is amendatory, may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claim may be situated," etc. By the foregoing it will be seen, that the law requires that an adverse claim should be sworn to before some officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claims may be situated. In the case under consideration the provision of the law was disregarded, and the papers constituting the adverse claim were sworn to, not in the Carson City land district, but in the city of San Francisco, California. It seems to be the letter and the spirit of the law to bring parties, who desire to assert to an adverse claim to an application for patent under the act of May 10, 1872, within the jurisdiction of the courts where the claim is situated. In view of these facts, you will inform all parties in interest that the adverse claim of the California silver mining company is rejected. You will allow sixty days from the date of your notification in which an appeal may be taken to the Hon. secretary of the Interior; should no appeal be taken within the time prescribed, you will allow the applicants for patent to complete their proceedings. In case an appeal should be taken from this decision you will not allow the applicants to complete their proceedings until the matter shall have been reviewed by the appellate authority. Be pleased to acknowledge the receipt hereof. Very respectfully, etc., WILLIS DRUMMOND, Commissioner. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, WASHINGTON, D. C., October 28, 1873. SIR: I have considered the case of The Dardanelles Mining Company v. The California Mining Company, on appeal from your decision of March 1st, 1873. On the twenty-second October, 1872, the Dardanelles mining company filed, in the local office at Carson City, an application for patent for twelve hundred linear feet of the Bosphorus lode, Gold Hill, Nev., with surface ground four hundred feet in width. Before the expiration of the sixty days publication required by law, the California Silver mining company filed a protest, which was verified by oath of its president, before a commissioner of deeds for the State of Nevada, in the city and county of San Francisco, California. The Dardanelles mining company, before the local officers, moved to dismiss the protest, on the ground that it was not made in conformity to the act of May 10, 1872 (7 record, 13th section), which provides that affidavits in all matters arising under this act, may be verified before "any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claims may be situated." The local officers referred the question to your office for instructions, and March 7th, 1873, you held that the protest should have been verified before an officer authorized to administer oaths in the Carson City land district, and that the verification before a commissioner of deeds for Nevada in California was not in compliance with the act. You accordingly granted the motion and dismissed the protest. Your construction of the act in this particular is, in my opinion, the correct one, and I affirm your decision. The instructions issued under the act of July 26, 1866, required all affidavits to be made before the Register or Receiver. The acts of July 9, 1870, and May 10, 1872, authorize them to be made before any officer within the land district who has authority to administer an oath. This was done, doubtless, for the convenience of applicants, and the authority was limited to the land district, so as to make it practicable to punish those who might be guilty of perjury in making the oath. The papers transmitted with your letter of July 22, 1873, are hereby returned. Very respectfully, B. R. COWEN, Acting Secretary. Hon. WILLIS DRUMMOND, Com'r General Land Office. Proceedings to have Patent Issue to Party who Buys Mine from Applicant. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., March 8, 1873. Gen. LLOYD ASPINWALL, 54 South street, New York: SIR Referring to your letter of the twenty-eighth ultimo, I have to state, that patents for mining claims are issued to the parties named in the Register's certificate of entry. If the applicants for patents for the mines referred to, sold to you the premises described in their applications, after they had commenced proceedings to obtain patents, but before the entry was made at the local office, the Register's certificate and the Receiver's receipt should have been made out in your name. Upon your filing a deed from said applicants to you, in this office, the Register and Receiver will be instructed to have their certificates and receipts made out in your name. If, however, you became the purchaser since the date of entry, an indorsement should be made upon the duplicate receipts by the applicant for patent, assigning all their right and title in and to the premises described therein to you, in which event the patent would issue in your name. Very respectfully, etc., WILLIS DRUMMOND, Commissioner. Clause Inserted in Patents Issued for Claims on or near the Comstock Lode, Nevada. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., March 8, 1973. ADOLPH SUTRO, Esq., Washington, D. C.: SIR Referring to your letter of the twenty-seventh ultimo, I have to state, that the Register and Receiver at Carson City, Nevada, were instructed, on the twenty-ninth July, 1870, of the construction which has been given the |