San Andreas independent., 1857-11-14
For the San Andreas Independent.
Reply to "a Miner"
NoRTH BRANcn. Noyemher 9th. |

80 NaO hOt NA,h, J'SAij W NHtOi
into a controversy on the subject spoken
of by I" A Miner nor do [ desire to
restrict the range of mining operations
But there are certain principles of right,
with which our wishes are not always
consistent; and however we may trans
gress the Decalogue by coveting that
which is our neighbors, both reason and
/ revelation teach us that ''we should do to
others as we would have them do to us y
All that / asked for, was, that those who,
in good faith had made improvements on
land-supposing it valueless for mining
purposes-should not have their improve.
ments destroyed without making them
some remuneration. No one, it is pre-
sumed, would fence in ground for farming
purposes, that he knew to be rich in gold
as it is open to him as to others, and more
could be made by mining than farming.
The Ranch Act comes in for share of
:" \ Miners" Indignation. | do not
short-sighted mortal that | am-perceiye
the serious evils that he finds in that
law. 1t is true that miners are required
to give bonds, but for what Not for
damage done to the land, which by COM
mon law is the ranchman's 5 property, but
for the payment of injury that he may do
to buildings, trees, and growing crops
So far, then, from the Ranch Act being
oppressive to the miners, it is in fact their
only warrant for entering the farmer $
I,nd nc hv oa,,,n,n,, l,,,, a,,, ;n;,,r,, a.,
lands would be trespass, which would
subject him to a fine proportioned to the
extent of damage. The objection, that a
farmer can take up l60 acres, and by
planting out "a few scattering trees, =
prevent the miner from working the land,
is simply ridiculous No matter if the
ground is fenced, the miner can work it
without subjecting himself to any penalty
if he does not injure any of the articles
enumerated in the law We may sup
pose very few scattering trees would
fall on any one mining claim; so few, in
deed, that their value would be no con-
sideration if the claim would pay for
working at all The only real protection
that the farmer can have by the Ranch
Act, is in constant succession of valua-
bic crops Should these, through sick
ness or other misfortune fail, the miner
may enter his enclosure, and by destroy
ing the productivencss of his ground,
render valueless all the improvements
connected with his business There is Il
class of persons-call them not miners
whose strenuous eXertions to avoid labor
afford the only means of estimating their
mental calibre, who take every opportu-
nifty to annoy the farmer. Hanging
around our mining camps, living on the
sins of the people, they work only when
driven to it by dire necessity, and then
only to inveiglc some luckless wight, or
perhaps a score of Cinnamon, into the
purchase of some worthless claim, and
then fall back to their whisky lunches,
getting wonderfully patriotic (when treats
are unusually abundant in their spread
eagle demonstrations of Americanism, and
hatred to other races
Grounds highly productive of food,
aud worthless Tor mining, may have been
destroyed, and a p.rty of disgusting,
thievish Cinnamon left to follow up the
first wrong with perpetual annoyance,
but our uncompromising person, should
an idea of right be presented to him, is
ready with the cogent argument, d-n
the garden, and protests that all his efforts
from time out OF mind, have been to drive
the Chinamen from the country. 1t
would, in my humble estimation, be much
better for Us if all the land in the noun
tains, susceptible of cultivation, and
worthless for mining, were made to pro-
duce the food which we consume.
BY pursuing this course, we should
have our food fresh from the farmer S
hands, and the gold which now flows in
a steady current towards the sea coast,
would be retained here for home I'M
provement. | do not relish " 4 Miners"
sneers at homes in the mountains Even
if we can raise our fruits and flowers be-
you'd the range of mineral lands, in what
he is pleased to consider their proper To-
cation, we should hardly profit by their
flavor or fragrance. l am forced TO one
or two conclusions, by his unwillineness
to allow us to sit under our own vine and
fig tree in these mountains. Either that
gold has become an all-absorbing idea, or
that he believes the mines so near ex-
hausted that the country will soon fall
back to the possession of the Digger In
dian and grizzlies. For my part, / feel
that the air we breathe is of more value
than the gold in our gulchcs, and that
home in the mountains can be made as
beautiful as one in the plains, and just
as capable of inspiring and perpetuating
refined taste and regard for the social
amenities of life. Thousands of such
homes, with all the borrowed graces that
wealth and a genial climate allow, will
stud these mountain slopes long after the
placers shall have ceased to attract the
mere adventurer, whose thoughts rise no
higher than prospects and pay dirt. :"
| have done with the subject, hoping
that the farmer may be lucky with that
krout, and a Miner with his sluiclng.
REsIGNED.-W b. Norman, Senator
E. -. III 1n4lA n..tx,ok aor,priSinr