The hydraulic press., 1859-05-21
MINING REauLATIONs.

, CaIIornla nave been aUle to make their own
laws, with admirable brevity clearness and
adaptability to varied shifting circumstance,
thus solving the problem that threatened to
puzzle legislative wisdom; and that these
laws have been characterised by so little in
justice and observed with so much fidelity,s
severally creditable to our people and illus
trates their capacity for self-government.-
In the early days only a few simple rules,
fixing the size of claims and denoting the
conditions of tenure, were required; but as
mining interests have now become better
understood, more settled and permanent, the
want of system of regulations correspon-
ding to this happy change begins to be felt
and noticed.
The Sierra Democrat remarks, that "a
growing embarrassment to the mining inte-
rest is the loose manner in which the laws of
mining districts are framed and the not over
nice definition Of claim boundaries, until
rich strike has been made" These two
things certainly begin to occasion much
confusion in regard to titles and consequent
costly litigation, both of which could be
largely prevented if the several mining dis
tricts in county, or township, where the
diggings are identical or similar in charac-
ter, would agree upon some more general
and careful system of regulations and sur
veys. In this (BridgeporD township, for in
stance, there are several mining districts,
each with its separate set oflaws resembling
one another in their chief features, the dig
gings being mostly of the same nature. Now
if from all these sets Of local rules could be
framed general code, an organic law so to
speak, it strikes US that much conflicting Of
titles and disputing about jurisdiction, 9TH
erwise sure to occur hereafter, would be
prevented
The miners ought to have, also, some gen.
eral mode Of establishing the metes and
bounds of claims. In this district and in
one or two adjoining districts, the county or
some unofficial surveyor has been employed
to make accurate surveys and plots Of claims,
by means of which much litigation is avoi
ded the records made more definite. and the
conveyancing of such property rendered
more precise and satisfactory. In SanJuan
district, particularly, there are few claims
that have not been thus surveyed and
mapped. But how much better than these
isolated surveys would be a general one, en-
bracing the whole township or any given
number of districts, showing precisely the
several district boundaries, if necessary to
retain them, the topograpl ical features of
the section embraced, and the particular To-
calities and claims A map made from such
a survey would be Of great value. Bymeans
it the exact location of particular plots
could be readily determined, fraud and mo-
nopoly measurably checked, and some aid
afforded to the investigations Of the scien-
tifc
The miners owe it to their own welfare if
they wish to preserve the mineral lands a
free possession as heretofore, to adopt some
such general and systematic regulations as
have been crudely suggested They would
thus remove one great argument in favor of
a sale of these lands, beside more fully Sc
curing their present titles to them and avoi-
ding expensive law suits. Some action to
this end is needed. and will eventually be
had. The sooner the better.