Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1876-01-07
A n OFFICE DECISION.
DEPARTMENT or rnR lSrrRIoR.
Ifc & GENIAL LAND OyyicH.
..ur~aro Dee- 90 1875.

A&s1
WASHINGTON. Dec. 20. 1851
REGISTER anu Rscsiper. Carson City. Ne
uuda-.GxSrLxxKx: On the lat Of Oeto-
Der, 1875. an application wa filed In
this Office to revoke the patent issued to
the South Comstock Gold and Silver
Mining Company for their claim on the
Comstock lode.
The facts In the case are shown BY the
records Of this ofios TO be - follows.
viz:
On the 2oth Of May. 1874. the South
Comstock Gold and Silver Mining Com
pany flsl In your ofics an application
Tor patent for certain mining premises,
designated BY the Surveyor General In
his official plat and survey thereof a.
Lot SS, Township 1G north. Range I'll
| rast. Mount Diablo meridian. The no.
tics was published for the tine and In
the n prescribed by law. The mo-
ticrs and diagrams were duly posted
upon the claim and In the Registers Of
Ace, in accordance with the require
msnts Of the Mining Act.
No adverse claim Of any kind was A.
serted against said application for pat
emit. and the Law presumes that no Cd
verse claims exist unlsss the same are
duly flsd with the local officers within
tho period OF the publication OF notice.
The application bases its title upon .
certain location. recorded In the Re
cordsr's once Of Storey county. Nevada,
on the 30th Of April. 1879. This loca-
ton was made BY Richard Mercer and
nine others. each locating two hundred
feet. The notice Of location reads -
follows, viz:
.'Notics 10 hereby given that We. the
undersignsd. have located and claim ten
(l0) claims OF two hundred (2O0) feet
each on this ledge or lode Of precious
bearing metals, running from this no.
tics in q southsrly direction two thou
sand (2.0O0) feet. This company shall
be known a. the South Comstock Gold
and Silver Mining Company. This 10 .
location Of the Lady Adams Company.
dated March %. $780," Then follows
the names OF the l~ocators and the num-
Der Of feet claimed by each.
On the 18th OF May, 1872. said COM
pany was incorporated under tho laws OF
the State Of California, and on the fol-
lowing day George w. Rogers, who had
purchased the entire interests Of his CO.
locators, conveyed said mining premises
to said company. This mining claim IL
situated in Devils Gate Mining District,
Storey county, Nevada.
Al the date Of this location there was
no Congressional enactment regulating
the width Of surface ground which might
BE- taken BY ~locators Of q mining claim.
The act Of July 20, 1866, under which
this location was made provides In It's
first section ''that the mineral lands Of
the public domain, both surveyed and
uusurvsyed, are hereby declared to Be
free and open TO exploration and occu.
patton, subject to such regula-
tons a. may be prescribed BY Law, and
subject also 10 the local customs and
rules Of miners in the several mining
districts 90 far a. the samo may not be
in conflict with tho laws Of the United
States"
There vas no general law in force in
the State Of Nevada at the date Of the
location Of this claim regulating the
width Of surface ground which might bs
included in . location. This being
determined by the local customs or rules
Of miners In the district whore the eiaim
was situated.
The written laws Of the Devils Gate
Mining District are also silent upon the
subject Of width Of surface ground
which iocators could appropriate upon
each side OF their lode. leaving this to
BE- determined BY the customs Of the
miners in this district.
The second section OF the Devils
Gate laws Is % follows, viz:
IAN quartz veins Of gold and silver or
other metals, hereafter located. shall be
two hundred feet N the lead. including
all the dips. angles or spurs."
There are no other provisiens what
svsr relating to the quantity or extent OF
lode claims, and no provision relating In
any way to surface ground. except such
a. ore evidently intended 10 apply TO
placer locations. II IL clear. however.
that II was the custom or rule In this
district to take surface ground with
quartz claims. and this fact Is evidenced
by IN examination OF the proof sub
mittsd with the several applications for
patent from said district.
On the 22d OF March. 1875, the Hon.
Secretary Of the Interior in the case OF
the 40 Mining Company ". the Bull
lion Mining Company. construed the
laws OF the Gold Hill District, which
Laws have tho same provisions In re-
gard TO locations Of mining claims a
those contained In the Devils Gate Dis
trict.
Tho application for patent in ease Of
the Billion Company did not give the
side lines Of the promises for which pa
tent was sought, bat the hnh survey
thereof embraced surface ground ten
hundred and twelve and tvsnty.folr
hundrsdths feet In width along the
northsrly end Of the claim. and thirteen
hundred and siIty-six and sixty-hvs
h~undrsdths feet along the southsrly
end.
In this decision the Hon. Secretary
held that ''ths application under CON.
sideration expressly alleged that the To-
cal laws. customs and rules did not per-
init any surface ground TO be occupied
except the surface Of the vein or lode:
that the walls Of the lode were at that
date unascertainsd and unascsrtainabls,
but that tho surface Of the premises
claimed was the surface OF said lode,
estimated at ono hundred and eleven
acres. The lode itself. 90 far a. known,
was accurately described In both appliea-
ton aud diagram"
He also states that the notice Of
location Of said Bullion mine els
vague. uncertain. and in itself almost
unintelligibls. The only fact Il clearly
shows when considered in connection
with the local laws under which il was
made. il that tho locators intended 10
claim sixteen hundred feet Of the lode"
"Ths subsequent con.
veyances BY the loeaton all describe the
claim more particularly n 10 many feet
upon the lode" I an satisfied upon
full consideration Of all the facts pre-
sented that the real intent Of the loca-
tors Vas 10 claim sixteen hundred feet
Of the lode running south from the
Chollar- Potosi claim. in conformity with
and in the manner prescribed BY the