The Placer herald., 1870-09-03
SURVEY AND ENTRY OF MINING CLAIMS.
Important Circular from The General Land
Office.

Office.
The following important circular is issued
in relation to the survey and entry OF
mining claims under the provisions of the
Act of Congress approved July 26, 1856,
granting the right Of way to ditch and ca
nal owners over the public lands, and for
other purposes" and the Act amendatory
thereof, approved July 0, 1870:
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
GENERAL LAND OFFICE,
AaguSt Sh, 1870.
GENTLEMEN: The original Mining Act of
July 26, 1866, United States statutes, vol.
XIV, p. 251, having been amended in ad-
ding to its provisions additional sections,
twelve to seventeen inclusive, by the Act
of Congress, approved July 9, 1870, a copy
of which is annexed, it becomes my duty to
prescribe for your information and observ-
ance the following regulations, to-wit:
First-By the twelfth section of the
Amendatory Act, placer claims, including
all forms Of deposit, excepting veins ofquartz
or other rock i'll place, are made suhJtc to
entry and patent under similar circumstan-
ccs, conditions, and like proceedings as con-
iemplated in the original Act for vein or lode
claims. Placer claims on surveyed lands
arc authorized to be entered by legal subdi-
visions, no special survey or plat in such case
being required, at the rate Of two dollars
and fifty cents per acre. In regard to pla-
Ger claims, however, the amendatory law
restricts their extent, in respect to locations
made after the date of its passage, to not
exceeding one hundred and sixty acres fci
any one person or association of persons,
such locations being required to conform to
the Government surveys, and not to inter
fere with any bona 6de pre-emption or home
stead claims upon agricultural lands
Sccond-The Act further provides for the
subdivision Of torty-acre legal subdivisions
into ten-acre tracts, and authorizes two or
more persons or associations Of persons hav-
ing CONTIGUOUS claims Of any size, although
less than ten acres each, to make Joint en-
try Of such minor Subdivisions, all bona fide
pre-emption or homestead claims upon agri-
cultural lands being protected ly law The
Surveyors General are therefore bereby au-
thorized to have such subdivisions into ten
acre tracts made by their deputies when ap-
Piled for by claimants, numbering each ten
acre tract with consecutive numbers of claims
in the township, as in the ease Of other min
eral surveys; and if the service is performed
by county and local surveyors, as authorized
by the 10th section Of the amendatory Act,
it will be the duty Of the Surveyor General
to verify the surveys so executed, and il
correctly done, to adopt the same and certi-
fy the fact, appending his approval as in ca
ses where surveys are made under his own
directions. The expense of such subdivid-
ing is required to be betrayed by the mining
claimants.
Third--In the thirteenth section it is de-
clared that in the absence of any adverse
claim, where said person or association, they
and their grantors, shall have held and work
ed their said claims for a period equal to the
time prescribed by the statute Of limitations
for mining claims of the State or Territory
where the same may be situated, evidence
Of such possession and working Of the claims
for such period shall be sufficient to estab-
'ish a right to a patent thereto, subject to
any lien which may have attached to such
claim prior to the issue of the patent.
The foregoing provision is construed to
apply as well to lode as to placer claims,
and should lessen the amount of proof usu-
ally required to establish right to patent
Fourh-In the fourteenth section it is
provided that all separate afidavits required
under the original and amendatory Act may
be verified before any officer authorized to
administer oaths within the land district III
which the claims are situated.
Fifth-By the fifteenth section it is de-
clared that Registers and Receivers are en-
titled to the same fees for services in mining
cases as are provided by law for like seryi-
ces under other Acts of Congress; the rate
of allowance being specifically given in our
circular dated July 25, 1870.
Sixth-By the sixteenth section the inter
dict placed by the Act of March 3, 1853,
that none other than township lines shall
be surveyed where the lands are mineral, %
is repealed, this provision of law being refer
able to surveys in California only. The ex-
tension of the lines of future surveys over
the lands mentioned in this section applies
exclusively to that State. The require
ments, however, in the last proviso of the
same section, 'that nothing herein contained
shall require the survey of waste or useless
lands, " is principle of general application,
and Surveyors General will refrain from ex-
tending the lines of public surveys over such
waste lands; which are considered to be those
covered by alkali to depth calculated to
prevent the growing of crops, moving sand
or other sandy plains of great extent, and
abrupt or snowy mountoins not known TO