The student of mining law should bear in mind the statement of Mr. Justice Field, one of the ablest interpreters of mining law, that "the mining laws are to be read in the light of matters of public history, relating to the mineral lands of the United States," a history of sixty years, comprehending a change from a remote unpopulated wilderness to a comparatively well settled country, where the prospector in many cases has been driven by the advancing farmer and cattleman to the highest and steepest mountain-sides or the sheltering depths of the Forest Reserves; a change from the simple idea of the true-fissure quartz vein to orebodies of every conceivable form and degree of intricacy; the exploitation of almost every known mineral, where formerly only a few were contemplated; and, incidentally, the greatest mineral development in the history of the world, much of which must be credited to the fostering spirit of the mining laws. The student who carefully considers the subject is filled with a deep respect for the framers of the Act of 1872. He realizes that suitable laws could not have been adopted immediately as new conditions and requirements arose, without making the statute books a chaos of premature and relegated laws. Furthermore, that whereas the laws of human affairs have been studied thousands of years from unchanging fundamental facts, the laws of mining as applicable to the United States, are of comparatively recent origin and have been subject to newly arising basic facts, with which the Land Department and courts have had to struggle while the statute-makers have without doubt remained too apathetic.

To the miner, in many cases, the mining law is full of unknown terror, for the reason that he does not understand its origin, purpose, and methods; consequently he is obsessed by his fear of the unknown. It is recommended that he endeavor to understand, not so much the letter of the law, as its principles, its scope, and its limitations. This can best be accomplished by acquiring a clear idea of its source and method of application, and the functions of its adjudicators. He should obtain a good conception of the Federal Statutes and the relation of all other law to it, and of the workings and jurisdiction of the Land Department. After obtaining an idea of the Federal

Statutes and General Land Office regulations, he should be able to differentiate them from the State statutes and any local district requirements. He must discriminate between the Land Department and the courts. Finally, he should familiarize himself with the specific requirements of the statutes of the State in which he is operating, for unfortunately the State statutes are not uniform. Where the locality is subject to district rules, these also must be obeyed, though district rules have generally been abandoned.

CHAPTER II

Public Land and Its Survey

All the land, together with the mineral underneath, within the United States and including Alaska, is owned by the United States as a sovereign power, except that land to which patent or title has been acquired from the United States or its predecessors, or that which, though unclaimed by private parties, never passed to the Government, but remained in the possession of the individual States. This Government land, the 'public domain,' and including mines, is under the jurisdiction, survey, and disposal of the Land Department, or as it is better known, the General Land Office, which is a branch of the Department of Interior and presided over by the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

The public domain is segregated into land districts, in which are located the local land offices under charge of two resident officers, the register and the receiver. These offices are established that the public may be able to learn just what public land is open to occupation and entry, what kind of entries may be made thereon, and to receive filings and entries. These officers also receive protests against entries, which may result in hearings before the register and receiver, who will render decisions thereon; these decisions being subject to the contestants' right of appeal to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and from his decision to that of the Secretary of the Interior.

Closely associated with the local land offices are the offices of the surveyors-general, who have charge of surveying the public domain into townships and sections preliminary to its entry by homesteaders and other claimants of public land for agricultural purposes, and the direction of the deputy mineral surveyors in the making of patent surveys of mining claims neces

sary before applying to the local land office for patent or title to the land embraced by the claims; also the approval and official filing of such surveys. The surveyors-general are under the jurisdiction of and report directly to the General Land Office at Washington. Likewise closely associated with the local land offices, are the offices of the Field Service or Field Division of the General Land Office, under the direction of local Chiefs of Field Service. The employees of the Field Service are generally termed Special Agents, and make field investigation of all entries of public land and matters concerning the public lands, reporting confidentially to the Commissioner of the General Land Office. Mineral entries and entries involving the mineral character of the land are investigated by Agents usually called Mineral Inspectors or 'Practical Miners,' who are versed in land and mineral law, and with practical and technical experience in mining.

The Land Department, being vested with the care and disposal of the public lands, including mines, has the authority to formulate and enforce regulations for such care and disposal. It also has the authority to render decisions on questions regarding public land over which it may exercise control; but the Land Department is bound to act according to and within the Federal Statutes in all its regulations and decisions. The Land Department does not concern itself with any land until it is filed or entered for patent, except in flagrant cases of the land being wrongly occupied to the exclusion of bona fide appropriators or against good public policy. It retains control over public land subject to its care up to the time it issues patent and passes the title or ownership from the Government, after which it has lost its jurisdiction to the land, and all questions thereafter raised should be taken into the courts. It is almost impossible to take questions affecting the character of public lands, which may be under the consideration of the Land Department, into the courts before patent is issued or refused. The courts look with favor upon the Land Department as a brother tribunal, and, though not bound by its constructions of the Statutes, are loath to interfere. After patent is issued or refused, the action of the Land Department may be attacked in

the courts on grounds that it exceeded its jurisdiction, acted fraudulently, or misinterpreted the law, but not for the continued litigation of the facts that have been or should have been presented to the Land Department. Since the subject of mining law is largely concerned with obtaining title to mineral land, and this title is obtained through and under the supervision of the Land Department, the miner should clearly understand the functions and workings of that department.

The States which are spoken of as the mining-law States, for the reason that the mining law is in daily use in them and that they are generally assumed to be the whole field of American mining law, are California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and the District of Alaska. It will be noticed that they include, besides the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States, the Dakotas and Alaska. Of the remaining States, many never had any public domain; to others the mining laws were not extended or were subsequently repealed. The law has some force and utility in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and parts of Oklahoma, but owing to the almost total absence of public mineral land in those States, they will not be considered. Texas having joined the United States as a sovereign power, retained possession of her unoccupied unclaimed land, enacting a State code of mining laws to govern them. For the Philippine Islands special mining laws have been provided. The possessions of the United States outside of Alaska and the Philippines have no mining laws.

Besides knowing whence and how title is derived to mineral and other public land, it is highly important to know how this land is mapped and designated, and how it is marked in the field. In making a mineral location upon public domain, it is usually not necessary to know upon what section of land it is, or to tie the location to a land survey monument, possibly excepting placers; but with agricultural and other entries and patents rapidly encroaching on mineral lands, it is often necessary in trying to keep clear of them, or in the case of disputes, to be able to find tracts of land in the field by their markings. In case of a contest between mineral and agricultural claimants,