The mineral character of the land having been determined by a discovery, the next step toward a complete appropriation is designating the surface area sought to be claimed. This is accomplished by marking the claim sought to be appropriated, so that its boundaries can be readily traced upon the ground. The marking consists of placing properly marked stakes or monuments, or marking blazed trees, at each corner of the claim, and at such other points along the boundary lines as may be required by local rules or regulations and the statutes of the State or Territory in which the location is sought to be made. The claimant on a lead, lode, vein or ledge is allowed a surface area of 600 by 1,500 feet-1,500 feet along the course or strike of the vein, and 300 feet wide on each side from the center of the vein. An ideal location, therefore, is a parallelogram 600 by 1,500 feet, with the vein running through the center from end to end. The lines which mark the width of the claim and cut the course of the lead or vein are denominated "end lines"; those which mark the length of the claim, and, theoretically, run parallel to the course or strike of the vein, are denominated “side lines.

The next step in the appropriation of the claim is the posting of a notice upon the claim (unless some local rule, regulation or custom, or the statute of the State or Territory requires it, this need not be done). This notice, when required, usually contains a statement that the locator or claimant is a citizen of the United States, or has declared his intention to become such: that he has complied with the provisions of the Act of Congress, and the local rules, regulations and customs of miners, and the statutes of the State or Territory; that he claims a certain distance along the vein or lode, each way from the point of his discovery, not exceeding '1,500 feet in all, with a width of not exceeding 300 feet on each side of the center of the lode or vein; it then gives a general reference to the locality in which the claim is located; then follows a specific description of the markings of the boundaries of the claim; it concludes with the date of the location and the name of the claimant. This notice should be posted at or near the point of discovery, so that any other prospector will be able to see it, and ascertain therefrom that a certain portion of the public domain has already been appropriated, and govern himself accordingly.

Congress authorizes the miners of the district, or the Legislature of the State or Territory, to require a record of the location to be then made, and provides that if such record be required it

shall contain the name of the locator, the date of the location, and such a reference to some natural object or permanent monument as will identify the claim. Such record is usually required and when required it is one of the steps necessary to be taken in completing the location. The record is made by recording in the office of the Register of Conveyances in the county where the claim is situated, or if there be no county organization, with the District Recorder, a notice or declaratory statement of the location, containing the matters required by Congress and the local rules or statutes, to be stated therein. The effect of a valid location is to segregate the area located from the public domain, and the claimant acquires a species of title therein which is denominated real-estate. Indeed, it has all the attributes of real-estate. It may be conveyed, seized and sold under process, and descends to the heirs. So long as the claimant complies with the conditions of continued possession prescribed by the law, even the government itself cannot oust him or forfeit his right. True, the legal title is in the government until patent is issued, but it is held in trust for the locator, and relates back, upon the giving of patent, to the date of location.

The condition of continued possession and ownership is, that the claimant, until final entry in the Land Office upon application to purchase, shall perform at least one hundred dollars' worth of work on the claim each year. This may be done at any time from January 1st to December 31st of each year. If it is not done, or not fully done, the location and all the rights of the claimant therein are forfeited. The land reverts to the public domain, and again becomes open to location by any qualified person. The law, however, gives the claimant one further opportunity, by providing that no forfeiture shall take place if the claimant, before other rights intervene, recommences on the claim in good faith. But he must then complete at least one hundred dollars' worth of work upon the claim.

The process by which patent is obtained, in the absence of adverse claims, is very simple, and it would serve no useful purpose to go into detail in regard to it.

THIRD: THE EXTRALATERAL RIGHT.

One peculiarity of a vein, lode, lead or ledge, is that it almost always, on its descent into the earth, departs from the perpendicular, the angle of departure so varying as to leave the vein in any position from one almost perpendicular to one almost horizontal. This departure is called, in mining parlance,

the "dip" of the vein or lode. The run or length of the lode horizontally is called its "strike" or "course." The top of the vein or lode, or that portion next the surface of the earth, is denominated its "apex."

Of course the value of the mine is in the veins or lodes, and the surface ground is in the nature of an incident, to enable the claimant to properly carry on his mining operations in connection with his veins or lodes. In many instances the dip of the vein is so great that, in its descent into the earth it soon passes through a plane dropped perpendicularly through the exterior boundary line of the claim, toward which it dips. Under the ordinarily recognized rule of real property the owner of the vein, as soon as it passed through this plane, would lose all right to it, and it would belong to the adjacent proprietor into whose ground it passed. Many veins show but little value before this point of departure is reached, and if the owner of the claim then lost it, and the adjacent proprietor acquired it, the claimant might have spent many thousands of dollars in developing a mine for his neighbor, who, possibly, had made no expenditure.

*

Congress recognized the inequity of such result, and for the purpose of avoiding it, and as a premium to the man who is willing to spend his money in developing his property and adding something to the substantial wealth of the nation, enacted the following as a part of the general mining law: "The locators of all mining locations heretofore made or hereafter to be made on any mineral vein, lode or ledge situated on the public domain, their heirs and assigns Ishall have the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all the 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 location. But their right of possession to such outside parts of such veins or ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn downward as above described, through the end lines of their locations, so continued in their own directions that such planes will interest 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 beyond the vertical lines of his claim, to enter upon the surface of a claim owned or possessed by another.

1 Sec. 2322, Revised Statutes U. S.

"1

One would think that the extralateral right hereby granted was most easy of enforcement; that the statute was plain and required no construction. If all locations were such as the statute contemplated, this conclusion would be correct. Recalling your attention for a moment to an ideal location. You can readily see therefrom what was intended by this section, and appreciate how easily it could be applied. Imagine a rectangular piece of surface ground 600 by 1,500 feet, with a vein, on its course or strike, running lengthwise through the claim from end line to end line, with its center equidistant from the two side lines, as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. No.

Fig. No. 2

Suppose the vein dips to the south; taking a cross-section of the ground we see the vein on its dip, passing through the south side line of the location. Fig. 2.

Under such circumstances the intent of the statute is quite plain and no disputes could arise. The locator having 1,500 feet of the vein on its strike or course would have an equal amount on the dip to an indefinite depth.

Unfortunately, and ideal location is the exception instead of the rule. Indeed, when we consider the existing conditions at the time of location, we must wonder that an ideal location is ever met with. As a rule, wherever veins are found the surface of the ground is rugged and irregular, frequently covered by a dense growth of timber. The apex of the vein at one end of the location may be near the surface, or even exposed, while at the other end it may be buried many feet deep. Again, veins seldom run, on their course or strike, in a straight line. Many conditions may influence this-the contour of the country, such as the hills or the ravines. Natural influences at or after the formative period may have disturbed it. In 1,500 feet, or the length of the location, the course of the vein may change many degrees. So that, without actual exposure of the apex of the

vein for the entire length of the claim, before marking the boundaries of a location, the prospector has no means of being assured that his vein passes through the claim as located, from end line to end line. To expose the vein for the entire 1,500 feet before marking the boundaries of the location would require more time than the statutes usually allow, and, in many instances, more money than the average prospector could possibly expect to obtain during his natural lifetime. The prospector therefore must use his best judgment in laying his location, and must bear the consequences if he makes a mistake. To illustrate the results, even where sufficient unoccupied ground is found to make a full location, consider Fig 3.

Fig. No. 3

SUPPUSED COURSE

Discovery

to obtain an idea of its general direction.

Let the small

square on the vein represent the place of discovery. The prospector traces the vein, we will say, to the east, sufficiently far He then projects this

course to the east and west of his discovery, to the extent of 1,500 feet. He then marks his location upon that theory. If the vein continues in the supposed direction through the claim it might be represented by the two dotted lines. Upon subsequent development, however, the prospector finds that the course of the vein in his location is actually as represented by the black line, the vein passing out of the claim at the east end line and at the south side line.

The effect of such complications, and others, will be called to your attention later on.

Two principles have been announced by the Supreme Court of the United States relative to Section 2322:

First. That wherever a vein cuts the boundary line of a claim on its course or strike, such line becomes an end line, in so far as the application of the law of extralateral rights is concerned, and this irrespective of the designation the locator may have given to the particular line, upon the ground.

Second. That in order that a claim should have extralateral rights, its end lines, as determined by the course or strike of the vein in cutting the boundaries of the claim, must be parallel. Applying these two principles to actual conditions as devel