Arizona citizen., 1876-04-01
Amending the Mining Law.

TIE CITIZEN has already called tn,
 attention of its readers to the effort nov
 being made in Congress to amend tn,
 labor requirement of the mining law
 of May 10, 1872. The clause which tn,
 amendment proposes to alter is in sec
 tion ) of the mining act, and reads a. | follows:
 "On each claim located after the pas
 sage of this act, and until patent shal
 have been issued therefor, not less thar S1OO worth of labor shall be performed
 or Improvements made during eacl year. On all q aims located prior Co th,
 passage of Sis act, ten dollars wortl of labor shall e. performed or improve
 ments madIon l. year for each 100 fee
 in length son Sie vein until paten shall hav busEn issued therefor; bu
 where suces isaims are held in common
 such exIense s,re may be made upon any one C. c.L-,S
 It is prog Jed to amend these require
 ments as follows:
 Where the words ''until patent has issued therefOrn first occur in the said section, the same shall be stricken
 therefrom, and there shall be inserted
 in their stead the following: Until
 an application for patent therefor and
 final proofs and payment for the claim
 have been made, as required by the
 terms of this chapter" And where the
 words until a patent has issued there for" occur the second time in said sec tlon, the same shall be stricken there from, and there shall be inserted in their stead the following: "Untll ar application for patent therefor, and final proofs and payment for the claim have been made, as required by the terms of this chapter: Provided, That where an application for patent has been filed in the manner prescribed by this chapter, and an adverse claim as- serted against the same and suit com menced thereon, the annual expenditure for labor or improvements hereinbefore prescribed shall not be required until the right and title to such claim shall have been finally determined 5y Court of competent jurisdiction"
 By the above it will be seen that when mining claimant has done, in good faith, all that the law virtually asks or requires him to do towards ob- tanning a patent, 1t is the intention of the amendment to release him from continued requirement of expenditure upon his claim while the government does its part of issuing patent or the courts adjudIcate upon a possible ad- verse claim. The remarks of Congress man Durham of Kentucky, upon the presentation of this matter before the House by its committee clearly repre- sent the views of those agitating this subject and we give those remarks herewith. MT Durham said:
 Upon the reading of the bill it might seem to the House that the question in volved in 1t was of a somewhat cOmpli- cated character; but il is very simple, ls gentlemen will see when I explain it. The law, as it now stands, provides that before any persons can make en- tries on mining lands they must use al certain amount of labor and work, for $500 worth. They must then take surveyor and lay off the bOun- 1aries, and then, under a section of the Revised Statutes, they are obliged to dol s100 worth of work per year until their patents are issued. Now, those gentle men who live in the Territories and these large mining districts say that this in many instances works very great hardship, that controversies arise about the patents, and even wherel there is no controversy, under the most favorable circumstances, where a man has made his application, has had hIs survey made, and performed everything required of him under the statute, his lies in the Land Office twOI Ong years before the patent can be is- sued. In the meantime he is required o do one hundred dollars worth of work per year under the statute. Now, the object of the substitute is simply this: O provide that if the person who pro- poses to patent mining lands shall in he first place have done his five hun fred dollars worth of work, has had hIs made and his lands surveyed, l md has made all thes pecificatiOns and when he has filed them n the Land Office under the statute, he ,an then stop doing hIs one hundred lollars worth of work year until the patent is issued. That is the sum and substance of the whole substitute, and hat is the object and purpose of the Jill. Itis simply to provide that where l man undC 5rtes to get his patent, pays his mo. o'nenas his surveys made, | performs az, hiuties under the statute, le may ce1,N SC is one hundred dollars worth of wtoA rka year and not await the low process ! oprocuring his patent.
 In many Finances many grave ques- ions arise. Ehre are conflicts growing put of these NPatent rights which are sometimes held in the Court for five 7earS, and the man under the existing statute is required to perform his one dollars worth of work per year md is finally ejected from this claim md gets nothing for his time, trOubleI md expense. But the object of his bill s to say that after he shall have paid his money and filed his survey, then he shall cease performing his one hundred dollars worth of work per year until his application for patent has been de ermined in the Land Office, or in the Court where the litigation may spring ID,