claim, and assuming the centre line of the claim passing through this monument as a theoretical lode or lode line. To give color to this form of locating, the discovery work is sometimes performed at the location stake, even though the mineral is elsewhere. This is the plan pursued when there is no mineral on the claim. While there is no real sanction in the law for this method of locating and presuming a lode where none exists, it has become a custom, largely perhaps because in surveying and platting a claim for patent it is always required that a discovery post be placed on the centre line of the claim and this centre line be considered as a lode. The best example of this is seen in examining the plat of a group of claims which have been patented. Each claim is shown with a 'discovery' on the centre or theoretical lode line of the claim. In the field will be found a post or monument at the represented discovery, and often a small shaft, but, in the majority of cases, no mineral. The mineral discovery and discovery work or shaft may be anywhere about the claim and not necessarily at a location stake on the centre line, except where State statutes attempt to require it. Such a requirement of what under the present conditions is inconsistent and almost impossible in the majority of cases, is of doubtful propriety and has been a source of confusion.

The Federal Statutes and Land Department regulations require no development work in the process of locating a claim, but the statutes of all States do, except in California, Utah, and Alaska, in which no such work need be done. This is the discovery shaft or discovery work. Colorado, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wyoming allow sixty days from date of location in which to perform the discovery work. Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Washington allow ninety days. The statutes of those States requiring discovery work, except Arizona, are uniform in stating that the shaft shall be ten feet deep from the lowest part of the collar or rim at the surface, or that an equivalent amount of work shall be done, such as a cut or tunnel equal to such a shaft having a 4 by 4ft. or a 4 by 6-ft. area, and usually requiring that the shaft or equivalent work cut the vein or lode ten feet or more below

the surface. It is immaterial if the work is performed within the required time or afterward, provided no other and adverse location of the claim is made after the expiration of the statutory time and before the completion of the work. The statutes of the particular State should be examined. Each claim must have its own discovery work. The work may be performed by extending the previous work of an abandoning or forfeiting owner. There is no relation between discovery work and assessment work; each is to meet a separate requirement. The discovery work is entirely applicable toward the assessment only when performed within the year following the initial steps of location, but may be applied on the $500 expenditure for patent purposes at any time.

CHAPTER VII

Lode Location-Location Notice

The miner contemplating making a location, may find three distinct but usually more or less allied conditions. He may find an area in which the formation and rock exposures indicate to his experienced eye the likelihood of ore deposits, and within which area he wishes to have the privilege of prospecting until he can determine just what ground he wants. He may find a mineral discovery or vein and wish to locate it, or he may want to take up a certain area left open by other locators.

In the first case, the miner having found a likely spot to pros pect, has some right to have the ground reserved for his location pending his efforts to make a discovery, lay out his claim, and erect the stakes. This right, which is granted by custom and a sense of equity, and not by any Federal or State statute or regulation, can only be contingent upon actual possession and exploration of a small area of ground during the period usually allowed to complete a location, which in some States may be as long as ninety days. To further strengthen this right, a notice should be posted stating that the right to prospect the ground and perfect a location within the statutory length of time is claimed.

In the second case, the miner having made a discovery by finding the outcrop of a vein or other signs of a lode, for the purpose of holding the same until he can determine the course of the vein, decide what ground he wants, and place his corner stakes, may erect a post or monument of stones and place upon it a notice stating that he has appropriated the lode. Such a

notice

may read:

Having discovered this lode, I claim 1500 ft. of it in length, 300 ft. on each side, and the full length of time for perfecting location.

May 19, 1910.

JOHN D. STRANGE.

This notice may be made longer and more complete, and again it is not necessitated by any Federal Act or regulation, though State statutes may require it. However, it is the best method of holding the ground until the location can be perfected, and one that the courts are bound to recognize and protect, for the reason that it is based on an actual mineral discovery. While the above notice presumes that the 1500 ft. will be measured along the general course of the vein, in reality, in most cases, the claim can be swung about the discovery in any direction. Generally such a notice would cause other locators to keep 1500 ft. in all directions from the discovery, though the courts, under a strict construction, would allow only 750 ft. in each direction along the vein or lode line, unless the notice claimed the 1500 ft. differently. The above location claims the maximum area of ground; less can be taken if desired.

Having made a discovery and placed a discovery or location post or monument, either with or without the above preliminary location notice, the next step is to trace the apparent course of the vein and decide what ground is wanted. After this, the miner should stake his claim by placing posts or monuments to mark its position and boundaries, sink a discovery shaft if required by State statutes or district rules, and place his location notice upon the ground and record the same with the county recorder of the county within which the claim lies, and also with the mining district recorder where there is one.

The notice last spoken of is the real location notice. The Federal Statutes do not require a location notice to be prepared, placed on the ground, or recorded, though most of the State statutes do. Nevertheless, the use of the location notice or certificate and the recording of the same has become so universal that custom has almost made it mandatory, even in the face of the ruling of the courts that it is not required in the absence of State statutes or district rules to that effect. Utah and California allow thirty days from date of location within which to record the location notice. Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wyoming allow sixty days. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Washington allow ninety days to three months. The location notice posted upon

the claim needs be a simple notice only, claiming the lode without details, except where State statutes direct more; but the notice filed for record must be more complete, in accordance with section 2324 of the Revised Statutes, which says, "all records of mining claims hereafter made shall contain the name or names of the locators, the date of the location, and such a description of the claim or claims located by reference to some natural object or permanent monument as will identify the claim." The best practice is to word the location notice placed upon the ground the same as the one filed for record. The one filed should contain all the information required by the Federal and State statutes and district rules. The location of the claim and its boundaries should be described as fully as possible, so that it may be easily found and distinguished. It has been held that the requirement that the claim be "located by reference to some natural object or permanent monument as will identify the claim" is met by the claim corner posts or monuments. But the Statute undoubtedly means some more permanent, striking, and immovable monument, and in consequence the claim should be tied to, or located by, some easily identified or well known object. Legal verbiage and provisos in the location certificate should be dispensed with, for it cannot be understood how any greater rights or privileges can be obtained than those given by the simple statement that the ground is located as a lode mining claim. The requirements of all the State statutes have been gathered into the following list:

1. Name of lode or claim.

2. Name or names of locators.

3. Date of location.

4. Length of claim on each side of discovery or location monument.

5. Width of claim on each side of lode or centre line.

6. Course of lode or centre line.

7. Reference to natural object or permanent monument as will identify the claim.

8. Location and description of each corner.

9. Name of mining district, county, and State.

10. Intention to locate as a mining claim (New Mexico only).