In no event can a claimant mining out his vein enter upon the surface of another claim in following his vein, but the vein must be followed on its downward course beyond the vertical planes of the side lines as it is mined out under ground and the operations on the surface must be within the boundaries of the surface location. A vein may thus be fol lowed so long as its identity and continuity can be traced and these are questions of fact that a claimant must establish by proof if his right is controverted. If the end lines of a location are not parallel, or if the vein is flat, or what is known as a broad vein, the locator loses this extralateral right. Placer Claims. Placer claims may include all forms of deposit except veins of quartz or other rock in place. In locating placer claims the legal subdivisions of 40 acres may be sub dividend into 10-acre tracts. A single claimant may not make a location in excess of 20 acres: but an association of two or more persons may make a location in extent equal to 20 acres for each member of the association; but an associa tion location is limited in any event to 160 acres, this being the largest area that can be embraced in any placer claim. Two or more persons having contiguous claims of any size though less than 10 acres may make joint entry thereof. Placer claims when on surveyed lands shall conform to the legal subdivisions, and no further survey or plat is required. such location shall include more than 20 acres for each individual claimant?' The land embraced in a placer claim must be paid for, if patented. at the rate of $2.50 per acre. Where a vein or lode is known to be within the limits of a placer claim, the claimant must, on application for a patent for his placer, include such known vein or lode, or the patent will not embrace such known vein or lode and it is subject to loca tion by any other discoverer, except the width of the lode claim throughout the placer can not exceed 25 feet on each side of the vein. But a placer patent includes all veins and lodes within its limits that are not known to exist at the time the patent issues.
Mill Sites. The owner of a mining claim worked as a mine may appropriate and patent a tract of non-mineral and non-contiguous land, not exceeding five acres, for a mill site on dr same conditions as he may obtain patent for his claim. So the owner of a quartz mill or re duction works not owning a mine in connection therewith may have a patent for his mill site as for a mining claim.
Patent. If a qualified locator desires a patent for his claim he may file in the General Land Office his application under oath,giving an accurate description with a plat and field notes, showing the boundaries and monuments. He must file proof of the posting and publica tion of notice of the application and a certifi cate of the surveyor-general to the effect that $500 worth of labor has been expended or im provements made on the claim. He is required
to pay $5 per acre for the land covered by his lode claim. Any person having an adverse claim or superior right to that of the applicant must adverse the application by filing a state ment of his claim in the Land Office. Upon the filing of an adverse claim, the adverse claimant must within 30 days begin proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction to determine his right to the claim. The judgment of the court determines the relative nghts of the parties and the successful claimant must present a certified copy of the judgment to the Land Office. A court of competent jurisdiction is within the statute an ordinary State court or a Federal court, if the other necessary jurisdic tional requirements are present such as the proper amount in controversy or diverse citizenship.
By special provision a patent may issue for a mining claim in the -absence of an adverse claim, if the locator or if the locator and his successors have held and worked the ground as a mining claim for a period equal to the Statute of Limitations of the State in which the claim is situated. This provision was to obviate the difficulty or impossibility of making the required proof in patent proceedings in cases of claims of long standing.
Mining Statutes Supplemented. The United States statutes governing the location of mining claims have stood for practically a half century with few amendments and no sub stantial changes. The defects in the original enactments have not been so pronounced as to induce Congress to attempt their general re vision. The several States by permission of these Congressional enactments have adopted local mining codes supplementing and improv ing the United States laws, Both Federal and State courts in the heart of the mining country and in sympathy with the prospector and the miner have so interpreted these laws as to make them practicable and workable. Under the stimulus of these benign statutes the golden treasure has been mined from the valleys and mountains and the country has been enriched beyond the most fantastic dreams of those who placed these laws upon the statute books. Con sult Barringer and Adams, (Mines and Mining> (Boston 1897) ; Clark, H. F., Manual' (Chicago 1898) Copp, H. N., Min ing Code> (19th ed., Washington 1910) ; Costi gan, Geo. P., on American Mining Law> (Saint Paul 1908); Lindley, Curtis H., (American Law Relating to Mines and Mineral Lands) (3rd ed., San Francisco 1914) ; Morri son, R. S., (Mining Rights' (14th ed., Denver 1910); Snyder, W. H., (Mines and Mining' (Chicago 1902) Thompson, J. W., (United States Mining Statutes Annotated> (Washing ton 1915) White, E. J., of Mines and Mining Injuries' (Saint Louis 1903).