Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-10-04
rHE MINING BILL,

mine owners-many people have Won
dered and vainly inquired as to the real
cause Of this singular kind of Legisla'
ton. Recent advices received by us
from Nevada county, CAL, confirm US in
an opinion long since entertained, that
the object to be accomplished by the bill
referred to was the clean sweep Of titles
to rich mining ground within the length
of their cable, by the Dutch Flat Rail
road Company. Let the law be-we
suppose it to have been said-let thu
law be so complex and involve so much
of litigation as to deter miners gene
rally from resorting to it, in fact let i
be to the common miner q statute be
yond his reach for use, and yet Sc
framed that when the Railroad paten
cannot be made to neatly cover mining
ground, an agent for the Railroad Com
pany a work round and over the de
sired claim with the s'mining law" w
speak from alleged practical operation
in California-along the line of thu
Dutch Flat Railroad.
The Colorado Mining Journal Of Jul!
9th, 1866, said:
eve suppose our habitual readers
noticed the second communication o
Cosmos on Senator Stewards amend
ment. We still think the Senator
course inerpiiea6k, but that it would b
idle to protest against it. When th'
leading representatives Of the mining
interests in Congress propose sucf
measures, what have we
None that we can see but to evade the
law"
Senator Williams, of Oregon, who il
everywhere, among intelligent acquaint
ances, recognized as a man of first-clas'
ability, called Stewards amendment
patchwork )" said that he Stewart
was only laying the foundation for in
terminable mining legislation and liti
cation. And Senator Williams spok,
truly.
Speaking of Senator Williams actor
on this very bill, and the batch of Stew
art amendments, the Meadow Lake Su,
says:
ave congratulate the miners Of th,
Pacific coast that among their repre-
sentatives there was one of suficien'
honesty and independence to raise hi
voice against this outrageous monopoly
su~gar-coated by those in the interest o
shoddy contractors. We have hereto
fore urged as one Of our objections Il
the measure, that it contained no pro
vision whatever guarding against mo
nopoly, and that the inevitable tendenc.
Of the law was to give powerful corpo
rations of capitalists a monopoly Of the
mineral lands of the country"
But here is something still more di
rect and quite explicit in prophecy o
the practical effects of the Stewart
amendment portion of The Mining Bill
The San Francisco Spirit Of the Times
OF July 18th, said that the Mining Bill
was, in its opinion, I" a scheme to assis
monopolists in obtaining possession o
the best mineral lands in the State, q
a mere nominal figure that the man o
limited means will be swallowed up il
the result; and that should the bill il
question become q law it will be fount
that 'the niger in the wood pile i
branded with the cabalistic letters G. P
R. R. The people Of Placer, Sierra ant
Nevada should look we'll to their house
and lands, or in less than two year
Government troops will be protecting
the Central Pacific Railroad Company ii
the possession Of the mining tceaith Of tn
counties ue hare named. Let the mine!
alone, and they will yield more I,
the Government without being taxed Of
Sold"
And We find, on looking over oul
files, that contemporaneous with the
Times article, just quoted, our OWE
paper said, under the head of "ThinS
ofit:".
"The Dutch Flat Railroad Company
have grants covering mineral lands,
Can't bear them down in patents under
the Pacific Railroad Bill. But if the
Stewart-amended mine bill passes Con.
gress, cannot that company gobble up
all the mineral lands within twenty-five
miles, each side Of the track? Will the
miners in the State Of Nevada Don be
at the mercy Of that company"
Were we at all out of the way of YER
ity, the other day, when we said thai
Bill Stewart had "6otehed' every matter
of home legislation which he had
touched? Senator Williams said, or
juno 18th, '66, that Stewards Bill, (his
amendments was the commencement
of the "tinkering" business with the
mines, by legislation. He said 'thsr
that when Congress once "commenced'
in this direction
ait will be compelled to tinker with
its legislation from time to time unit
the whole system of mining regulations
which has grown up from time and e1.
perience, and which is now well adapted
to the wants and interests of miners
will be thrown into ineztriea6k confusion
and made the means Of endless controversy
and litigation"
We have not the space to-day to make
full quotations from many other sources
of authority in the premises, d~enounc.
ing tinker Bilrs Mine-Law-amend.
ment, and indicating its object or re.
suit as we new charge it to be: to
enable the Dutch Flat Railroad Com.
pany to gobble up all the mineral land,
they may covet, within the prescribed
cable length from their track. Such was
undoubtedly the object Of the bill: and
though perhaps even too bungling a
measure. to easily gain that object, it is
evidently Of no benefit to any other than
the monopolist named. It was intend
ed to suit q hidden and bad purpose;
and if too clumsy for that purpose, it