The misleading title was retained because the substituted bill had passed the Senate under that title, and possibly to prevent the bill from being referred to Mr. Julian's committee. But no member of either Senate or House was misled or deceived by the title, and instead of the bill being surreptitiously passed, as some times charged, it was accorded the fullest and freest discussion in both branches of the Con gress and its friends and opponents alike were well informed•as to its contents. This act as passed by Congress and found in Vol. XIV, United States Statutes at Large, page 251, con sists of 11 sections. The purpose of the bill as declared in the first section was that '''the mineral lands of the public domain, both sur veyed and unsurveycd are hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and occupation by all citizens of the United States." It did not purport to be a mining code and its object was not to regulate mining as such, hut to au thorize entry upon the mineral lands and to permit prospectors and miners to discover and possess themselves of the hidden treasure. It was the first mining law enacted by Congress, and it was the first instance in history where a sovereign, as owner of the minerals, broke away from the old regalian rights and made to the citizens an absolute gift of all the mineral wealth without condition and without limitation. The act of 1866 made no provision for the location of placer claims and on 9 July 1870 the act was amended by the addition of six new sections (16 United States Statutes at Large, 217), providing for the location of placer claims and with some detailed provisions as to procedure in the location of mining claims. The original act of 26 July 1866, after a test of six years, was found to be inadequate in that it failed to give the locator of a claim a sufficient quantity of surface ground for the proper working of a claim, and limited the claim along the lode to 200 feet and did not contain adequate provisions for patent Ex perience proved that 200 feet on a vein was in sufficient to justify an investment in mining machinery and property sufficient to properly operate a mine. Accordingly a new act embrac ing all the features of the acts of 1866 and 1870 was passed by Congress, 10 May 1872. This act was entitled, lAn act to promote the de velopment of the mining resources of the United States° (17 United States Statutes at Large, 91). It was subsequently codified and with the addition of an introductory section constitutes sections 2318 to 2346, United States Revised Statutes 1878. On 3 March 1873 Con gress passed an act providing for the entry of coal lands, and this act is a part of the revision of 1878 following the sections relating to minerals, as sections 2347 to 2352.
Location of Claims — Lode Claims.— The law as codified reserves all lands valuable for minerals from sale except as specially directed, and makes all valuable mineral deposits free and open to exploration and provides that the deposits of mineral and the land in which they are found shall be open to purchase by citizens of the United States and by those who have declared their intention to become such.
The statute provides that upon the discovery of valuable mineral deposits a location may be made upon the surface. Location is made upon or along what is termed the °apex° or the out crop of the vein or lode. The side lines of the location must be so laid along the strike of the vein as to include the vein within the boundaries of the location, but cannot extend more than 1,500 feet in length and shall not be more than 300 feet on each side from the centre of the vein at the surface. These lines are re quired to be neither straight nor parallel but may bend or turn with the direction of the vein.
No claim shall be limited to less than 25 feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the sur face. The end lines must be parallel and straight, or the locator is deprived of a valuable right The location on the surface may be in the form of a parallelogram, a square, a trapezium or substantially a triangle.
No notice is required to be placed upon the claim but °the location must be distinctly marked on the ground so that its boundaries can be readily traced.° If a State statute or a miners' rule requires a record of a claim, then such record shall contain the name of the locator, the date of the location and such a description of the claim located by reference to some natural object or permanent monument as will identify the claim. Not less than $100 worth of labor shall be performed or improve ments made during each year so long as a claim is held without patent. Where claims are held in common or where claims are in a group with a common ownership, the work or improvements required for each may be done upon one claim, or outside of all claims, if it tends to facilitate the development and the ex traction of ore from all the claims. The owner of a mining claim may hold his claim in definitely by the performance of the annual assessment work. If he opens and works a mine, and the work and improvements are equivalent to the required amount, the statute is satisfied. The possessory right under these conditions secures for him the same protection that complete title would. The time for the performance of assessment work or for making the improvements for the first year commences the first day of January of the year following the date of location, and closes with the last day of December of that year. After the end of the year in which the location was made the labor must be performed or improve ments made before the end of each year. Upon the failure of a locator to perform the re quired assessment work, within the statutory period, the claim is subject to relocation; and a valid relocation made of forfeiture gives the relocator not only the right to the possession of the ground, but also to all buildings and improvements placed thereon by the original locator. But if a locator has failed to com plete his assessment work before the end of the year and is in the course of its performance, the ground is not subject to relocation. Upon the failure of any co-owner to perform or con tribute to the performance of the assessment work, his interest may be forfeited, on notice. A claim that has been abandoned by the locator or owner is open to relocation at any time after the abandonment is complete.
Where two or more veins intersect or ,ross each other below the surface, the owner of the senior surface location is entitled to all the minerals within the space of intersection, but the owner of the junior location is entitled to a right of way through such point of intersection for the working of his vein below such point. If the two veins unite, the senior surface locator is entitled to the entire vein both at and below the point of union. Authority, is given for discovering veins or developing mines by means of tunnels. The owner of a tunnel is given all veins or lodes within 3,000 feet from the face of his tunnel on the line thereof, not previously known to exist. and is protected against discoveries from the surface, if he prosecutes his tunnel construction with reasonable diligence. A State legislature may enact statutes, or the miners of a mining district may make rules and regula tions, governing the location of mining claims, the manner of recording and the amount of assessment work, hut these must not be in con flict with the United States statutes.