MINING LAWS.

CHAPTER 6,

ENTITLED MINING LANDS AND MINERAL RESOURCES," RESERVED FROM SALE

UNDER THE PRE-EMPTION ACTS.

[From Revised Statutes of the United States and the Statutes of Colorado, being a full text of all the laws now in force concerning mining rights.]

SEC. 2318. In all cases land valu- or lode by the customs, regulations. able for minerals shall be reserved and laws in force at the date of their from sale except as otherwise express- location. A mining claim located ly directed by law. Sec. 5, July 4, after the tenth day of May, eighteen 1866. hundred and seventy two, whether SEC. 2319. All valuable mineral de-located by one or more persons, may posits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and purchase, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the United States and those who have declared their intention to become such, under regulations prescribed by law, and according to the local customs or rules of miners in the several mining districts, so far as the same are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States.-Sec. 1, May 10, 1872.

LENGTH AND WIDTH OF CLAIM,

SEC. 2320. Mining claims upon veins or lodes of quartz or other rock in place bearing gold, silver, cinnabar. lead, tin, copper, or other valuable

equal, but shall not exceed one thousand five hundred feet in length along the vein or lode; but no location of a mining claim shall be made until the discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the claim located. No claim shall extend more than three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, nor shall any claim be limited by any mining regulation to less than twenty-five feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse rights existing on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventytwo, render such limitation necessary. The end-lines of each claim shall be

parallel to each other.-Sec. 2, May 10, 1872.

PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP.

deposits heretofore located, shall be SEC. 2321. Proof of Citizenship governed as to length along the vein under this chapter may consist, in the The Kansas Pacific Road offers superior inducements to Shippers of Machinery, Cattle or Bullion.

vertical planes drawn downward, as above described, through the end lines of their locations, so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins or ledges; and nothing in this section shall authorize the locator or possessor of a vein or lode which extends in its downward course be

case of an individual, of his own affidavit; in the case of an association of persons unincorporated, of the affidavit of their authorized agent, made on his own knowledge or upon information and belief, and in the case of a corporation organized under the laws of the United States, or of any State or Territory thereof, by the filing of a certified copy of their charter or cer-yond the vertical lines of his claim to tificate of incorporation.-Sec. 7, May enter upon the surface of a claim 10, 1872. owned or possessed by another.- Sec. 3, May 10, 1872.

TUNNELS.

SEC. 2323. Where a tunnel is run for the development of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, the owners of such tunnel shall have the right of possession of all veins or lodes within three thousand feet from the face of such tunnel on the line thereof not previously known to exist, discovered in such tunnel, to the same extent as if discovered from the surface; and locations on the line of such. tunnel of veins or lodes not appearing on the surface. made by other parties. after the commencement of the tunnel, and while the same is being prosecuted with reasonable diligence, shall be invalid; but failure to prosecute the work on the tunnel for six months shall be considered as an abandonment of the right to all undiscovered veins on the line of such tunnel-Sec. 4, May 10, 1872.

SURFACE, DIP AND SIDE VEINS. SEC. 2322. The locators of all mining locations heretofore made, or which shall hereafter be made, on any mineral vein, lode or ledge situated on the public domain, their heirs and assigns where no adverse claim exists, on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, so long as they comply with the laws of the United States, and with State, Territorial, and local regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United States governing their possessory title, shall have the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, lodes, and ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside of such surface lines extended downward vertically, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicular in their course downward as to extend outside the vertical lines of such surface locations; but their right of possession to such outside parts of such veins or ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie between ing district may make regulations not The Kansas Pacific Railway makes close connections with the Denver and Rio Grande Road to all points in the Mountains.

DISTRICT RULES, LOCATION AND AN-
NUAL LABOR.

SEC. 2324. The miners of each min

claim.

heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, have not resumed work upon the claim after failure and before such location. Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners to contribute his proportion of the expenditures required hereby, the co-owners who have performed the labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration of the year, give such delinquent co-owner personal notice in writing or notice by publication in the newspaper published nearest the claim, for at least once a week for ninety days, and if, at the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing or by publication, such delinquent should fail or refuse to contribute its proportion of the expenditure required by this section, his interest in the claim shall become the property of his co-owners who have made the required expenditures.

in conflict with the laws of the United States, or with the laws of the State or Territory in which the district is situated, governing the location manner of recording, amount of work necessary to hold possession of a mining claim, subject to the following requirements: The location must be distinctly marked on the ground, so that its boundaries can be readily traced. 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 On each claim located after the tenth of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and until a patent has been issued therefor, not less than one hundred dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improvements-Sec. 5, May 10, 1872. made during each year. On all claims located prior to the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, ten dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made by the tenth day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and each year thereafter, for each one hundred feet in length along the vein until a patent has been issued therefor; but where such claims are held in common, such expenditure may be made upon any one claim, and upon a failure to comply with these conditions, the claim or mine upon which such failure oc curred shall be open to re-location, in the same manner as if no location of the same had ever been made; Provided, That the original locators, their For Fort Garland, Cucharas, Trinidad, El Moro, Pueblo, Canon City and the San Juan Mines, take the Kansas Pacific Railway.

APPLICATION FOR PATENT.

SEC, 2325. A patent for any land claimed and located for valuable deposits may be obtained in the following manner: Any person, association or corporation authorized to locate a claim under this chapter, having claimed and located a piece of land for such purposes, who has, or have, complied with the terms of this chapter, may file in the proper land office an application for a patent, under oath, showing such compliance, together with a plat and field notes of the claim or claims in common, made by or under the direction of the United States Surveyor General, showing accurately the boundaries of the claim

at the expiration of the sixty days of publicatior, it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the proper officer of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse claim exists, and thereafter no objection from third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the terms

PLACERS.

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 circum

or claims, which shall be distinctly the claim during such period of pubmarked by monuments on the ground, lication. If no adverse claim shall and shall post a copy of such plat, have been filed with the Register and. together with a notice of such appli- the Receiver of the proper land office cation for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land embraced in such plat previous to the filing of the application for a patent, and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons that such notice has been duly posted and shall file a copy of the notice in such land office, and shall thereupon be entitled to a patent for the land in the manner following: The Register of the Land Office, upon the filing of of this chapter.-Sec. 6, May 10, 1872. such application, plat, field notes, notices and affidavits, shall publish a notice that such application has been made, for the period of sixty days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as published nearest to such claim; and he shall also post such notice in his office for the same period. The stances and conditions, and upon simclaimant, at the time of filing this application, or at any time thereafter, within the sixty days of publication, shall file with the Register a certificate of the United States Surveyor General that five hundred dollars' worth of labor has been expended on improvements made upon the claim. SEC. 2330. Legal subdivisions of by himself or grantors; that the plat forty acres may be subdivided into is correct, with such further descrip- ten-acre tracts, and two or more pertion by such reference to natural sons or associations of persons, having objects or permanent monuments as contiguous claims of any size, alshall identify the claim, and furnish though such claims may be less than an accurate description, to be incor- ten acres each, may make joint entry porated in the patent. At the expi- | thereof; but no location of a placer ration of sixty days of publication the claimant shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on

ilar 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 subdivision of the public lands.— Sec. 12, July 9, 1870.

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

The Denver & Rio Grande Railway is now in operation to Veta, but ninety

three miles from Del Norte.

persons, which location shall conform 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 ab

to the United States surveys; and nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bona fide preemption or homestead claim upon ag-sence of any adverse claim; but nothricultural lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements of any bona fide settler to any purchaser.-Sec. 12, July 9, 1870.

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 Ask the timid Ute which is the best route, and he will tell you to go via the Kansas Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande Railways.