Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-07-29
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Important Mining Law.


Silver Mining Company VS.. Pendegrast ct
ais, tried in Lander county in the Dis
trict Court, before Judge W. H.: Beatty,
the following rules of law, among other
instructions, were given to the jury:
Prior possession Of a mining claim gives
prior right to the prior possession, OF
which the party cannot be Invested. ex.
cept by his own act, or by abandonment
or forfeiture, or the lapse Of time, or BY
the superior owner or landlord of the
soil.
Where On abandonment is sought to be
established by. the. act of the party, the in
tentiop alone governs. II a party leave a
claim with the intention not to return, his
abandonment is as complete, if it exist for
a minute or a second. as though it contin-
ued for years; but If he left with the in.
tention of returning, he might do so al.
any time within two years; provided
there was no rule, usage or custom OF
miners, of such q notorious character az
to. raise q presumption of an intention to
abandon land provided the claim was not
forfeited for want Of compliance with the
mining lawsl.
Mining laws cannot operate RETROSPECT
lively so as to affect and take away vested
rights. If, when q claim is located under
the then existing mining law, there is
nothing in the mining laws requiring work
to be done on the claim, no subsequent,
law enacted by the miners can require
work to be done on such claim, and affx
the penalty of forfeiture for not so work.
ing the claim.
If a person enters upon mining ground
with a view to the appropriation thereof,
and does not make claim thereto in &C.
cordance with the mining rules, his RICH,
can extend no further than his actual pos.
session. If a person enters upon mining
ground, making a location thereof in due
form. as required blythe mining rules and
CUSTOM, and enters upon a portion Of such
claim with a view bona tide to work the
claim as required by the rules, then in law
his possession Of part is possession of the
whole claim, and his possession in law
extends to the limit of the claim.
Where the mining laws Of q district re-
quire certain amount Of work to be done
on mining claims for stated periods, as for
example, one days work for each month
for each claim Of two hundred feet, this
requirement is obligatory upon the miners
and claimants Of mines within the dis.
trict, and such claimants of mines in or.
der to preserve and continue alive their
right to mines in such district must com
ply in good faith with such requirements;
if they fail thus to comply they would
lose their right by such failure even with.
out any actual intention on their part to
abandon.
The mining rule relating to the eapen-
diture Of. $1,000 upon q mine is complied
with BY the expenditure Of that amount
in the lawful currency Of the: United
States. go ="
The doing Of. work on a mining claim
is, in law, equivalent TO the expenditure
Of 20 much money on the mine as the
work is worth.
Where money has been expended upon
a mining claim for work done thereon,
and the company claiming the same seeks
to take advantage of the provisions of the
mining laws, providing, that in case 81. 900
are expended upon a claim the same shall
not be subject to relocation except by an
acknowledged abandonment, the amount
of money that may be regarded as ex-
pended upon the mine under said mining
rule, is the amount. in dollars of the money
expended and the work done by the COM
pany OF its agents. II said money was
expended in United States gold coin, the
amoun that is to be regarded as expend.
ed upon the mine can not be increased
beyond the amount in dollars 40 actually
expended by adding to the said amount
the premium on gold-in other words. by
estimating the value Of such gold, as a
commodity, in legal tenders.
A days work, within the meaning OF
the mining rules, means q substantial
days work done in good faith for the
purpose of prospecting or developing.