Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1874-08-13
LOCATION OF LODE ClAIWS-IM.
f'ORTANT 'rsD llARTZ MINERS.


In rendering decision the other day. Chief
Justice Wade commented as follows upon the
location Of lode claims:
bv virtue Of the act Of Congress of May
10. 1872. citizens of the United States. and
those persons wLo have declared their inten-
ton to become such. are authorized and
licensed I" enter upon and explore the min
eral lands OF the United States. both surveyed
and unsurvcyed. and ty complying with GER
tain conditions such persons can take pos
session Of portions Of such lands, and he
come the owners thereof. The lands thus
taken up arc either placer mining claims or
lode mining claims. And applying the law
to lode mining claims. that being the Charac-
ter Of the claim involved in this controversy.
il will bc found that the first condition. and
the one from which acCrucs all tho subsequent
rights Of possession, location and ownership
of lode claim. is the discovery Of vein or
lode within the limits Of the location. After
making such discovery. the person making it
is entitled to claim 1900 feet in length by
yided his discovery is within such boundary.
and hc is also entitled to all the veins and
lodcs which may he situated within the linn
lis Of his lines aforesaid. and such location
particularly marked and bounded constitutes
a mining lode claim. The act of Congress
expressly provides that no location of such
mining claim can lie made until tho discovery
Of a vein or lode within the limits Of the
claim located A location without such dis
covcry is absolutely void, and no rights arc
acquired thereby. The discovery of vein
or lode alone entities 4 person to make To-
cation. and location without such discovery
is trespass The discovery is the essential
thing it is the condition precedent to the
acquisition of any rights to lode claim.
There may be Il discovery without location.
but there can bc no location without dis
covery, and such location is utterly void
and Invalid as against subsequent location
made upon tho actual discovery OF a vein or
lode within the same boundaries.
1t being essential to discover 4 vein or
claim. 1t becomes necessary to define what is
meant by the terms vein and lode as used in
the act of Congress. What is a vein or lode
of quartz within the meaning Of the law?
A valuable mineral deposit may be vein
or lode or it may not. Such deposit under
the law might entitle the person discovering
it to locate placer mining claim, while it
would not authorize him to locate a lode
claim. One primary essential condition must
lie performed before lode claim can be
legally located, viz: The discovery of vein
or lode within the limits of the proposed
claim. 1t therefore becomes of vital i'm
portancc to determine fairly and conclusively
what vein or lode is, for upon such deter
minati0n the result of this case must finally
depend.
In speaking of veins ana lOdcs, VIC con-
firm what is said to be veins and !odes of
quartz rock, the same being applicable to the
case in hand. Quartz rock bearing valuable
mineral deposits does not alone constitute
vein or lode, but in order to he thus dcSigna-
ted such rock must bc found in its proper
place. The act Of Congress speaks Of rock
in place when describing veins and lodes. and
the object of this inquiry is to ascertain
when quartz rock may I've said to he in place,
because wh,n found in place ii indicates the
existence of vein or lode In the mineral
and quartz districts of the Territory quartz
rock bearing valuable mineral deposits may
be found scattered here and there and almost
everywhere. and ye. such finding may no! 10y
any means even indicate the existence OF q
vein or lode. such indication may show
simply that by some slide, cOnvulsion or other
operation of nature such rock has been moved
from its proper and natural position. Quartz
rock is a wanderer. and often gets away from
home and out Of place, and where its pro