The Nevada journal., 1858-03-19
OBJ Nebaoa youtnal.
FRIDAY MoRN1HG.sMARcH1sth 1858
FRpMoNr's RIGHTS TO THE GOLD on


important decisions that ever emanated
from tn at tribunal. 1t may be said to
settle the question decisively whether
the gold upon private land claims in this
State belongs to the owner of the soil or
not The case arose in the manner we
are about to describe. Biddle BOggs
leased portion of the claim OF Ere
mont in Mariposa county at the rate OF
81, 900 per month. The Merced Mining
Company had entered upon the lands
leased to Boggs by Col. Fremont and
expending a large sum of money were
extracting the metals from quartz VEINS.
Boggs brought suit in the DistrictCourt'
18th District, to recover possession
of the property and obtain damages for
detention since the commencement of his
lease. The case was decided in favor
of the plaintiff in the District Court
The defendant appealed, and the Su-
preme Court revnrses the decision and
orders judgment rendered in favor of
defendants Judges Burnett and Terry
render the decision Field dissenting
The Court takes the ground that un-
der Mexican law the ownership of the
gold never passed by the terms of the
original grant now possessed by Col.
Fremont, to the grantee along with the
fee simple to the soil. The Court does
not allow that the ownership of the gold
was transferred to the grantee by any
subsequent act of the Mexican govern
nent, but that at the time of the acqui-
sition of California it passed from the
Mexican TO the T. S. government which
has never yielded it to the proprietor OF
the soil, and that therefore the mineral
on the Mariposa claim is subject to be
searched for and dug, in like manner as
on any of the public lands of the min
ing region.
The claim of Col. Fremont is an ex-
tensive one of ten square leagues, and
rich in mineral wealth. 1t has been
supposed that the mines upon the
claim were a part and parcel of the
grant. The opinion Of the Court is 9th
wise, making a vast difference between
the former suppositive wealth OF Col
Fremonts claim and that allowed by
the Supreme Court.
The decision claims, in effect, that an
individual and the L. S. government
may own property together; the lndl-
vidual owning the soil and the govern
ment the mineral in it and the right to
search for and dig it. The decision ad-
mits that under the process Of mining
property is continually and rapidly
wasting away until all that is OF any
value in the estate itself is gone 1t
follows, then, that the government may
sell the fee simple to portion Of land to
a person taking what it deelcs full
equivalent therefor, and Immediately
grant a licence to another to dig up and
destroy the entire property sold, The
Court holds that the right to the gold
carries with it the right to search and
dig. AS gold is not known to exist to
certainty in any place till found, it
seems to follow that miners, who by this
decision are pronounced to have gene
raj license to dig for gold, have right to
commence and carry on operations any
where. We know of no act Of Congress
by which the right to the gold, or the
right to search for and dig it, has passed
from the government expressly to the
owners of lots in this city.
What is there to prevent company
of miners from immediately washing up
Main street under which gold is strongly
supposed to exist, but that mob force the
Democratic party so much deprecates !
have been purchased for the value of
the soil alone and for which a good price
has been paid, and utterly destroy that
soil which is as much property as any
thing can be, why may they not upturn
buildings and carry destruction every
where searching and digging for gold
wherever they suspect it to be but where
It is no; ! 1t seems that the entire
claim of Col Fremont estimated to be
worth several millions of dollars, is liza
BILE to be wholly upturned and rendered
worthless by miners searching for gold,
and he is without a remedy of any kind
at law. It's possible, then. that private
property can be taken for prica'e uses
without compeusation-a new principle
of law recently discovered.
TIE Kansas ResolatiOas.-The Sen