Los Angeles daily herald., 1876-01-15
The Oil Claim Contest.

Commissioner WHITING furnished
the Evening Republican with the fol-
lowing synopsis of his decision on the
oil and wood case, which We publish
for the information of those who have
not heard the details of the trial:
EDITOR EVENING REPUBLICAN,
Dear Sir:-In the casual conversation
you had with me upon the subject of
the San Fernando housekeeping
cases, recently brought before me, you
expressed desire that / should cor
rect some of the misapprehensions of
lished in the Herald of yesterday
morning, and in your paper of last
evening, or else furnish you with the
outlines of the case. 1t would be in
consistent with my past life to enter
into any newspaper controversy, and
especially in relation to my own rul-
ings as United States Commissioner.
| will, however, give you brief text
of the cases that came before me few
days since. Some very respectable
miners from the San Fernando mining
district, in this county, came before me
and complained that a large number
of wood choppers were engaged in cut
ting cord wood on their mining claims
some of which claims were alleged to
have been established in 1865. 1
thereupon issued orders for the arrest
of four of the supposed trespassers. On
the examination it was shown that
about two hundred cords of wood had
been cut in the "Great Eastern" cafIon
and within the San Fernando Mining
District, but it did not appear that
any of 1t was cut within the bounda-
ries of any particular mining claim
location. 1t was shown by the de-
fense that the Superintendent of the
Southern Pacific Railroad Com.
pany entered into contract
with Cyrus Cotton to cut one
thousand cords of wood for the Rail-
road Company, on government land,
adjacent to the San Fernando Tunnel.
That the two hundred cords was cut
under that contract and by the direc-
ton of Cotton. That one hundred and
twelve cords had been paid for by the
railroad company and that the whole
was intended or required for fuel in
running three engines in e,in pump
ing water and hosting dirt, stone &c.
into the tunnel. The wood a ppears
the tunnel, and the contract with Cot
ton embraced an agreement on his
part to build q road from the tunnel
to the wood. There was no evidence
that any of the wood had been con-
verted to any other use, but on the
contrary that none of it had yet been
hauled away. The proofs further de-
velOped that all the mining claims To-
Gated in the San Fernando district
were abandoned soon after they were
first located, and the ground, or con-
siderable portion of it, was located in
1874 and 1875 by other and different
parties. The railroad grant, which
gives the right to take timber, earth,
stone &c. for construction purposes
though subsequent to the mining To-
cations of 1865, were prior to the loca-
tions of 1S74-5. The Plat and survey of
the route were filed April Sd, 1871 and
that is the date when the rights of the
railroad company attached. In emu
merating the odd sections to be grant
ed, as subsidy, to the railroad COM
papy, the mineral lands are expressly
excepted, and the company is allowed
lieu lands therefore, but the right of
way for two hundred feet and the
right to take timber, earth, stone &c.
for construction pur poses, is expressly
given to the company for ten miles on
each side of the line of the road. If
the mining locations of 1866 had rip
ened into perfect title, Congress
could not have interfered with them
further than to give the right of way
as over private lands subject to all
the conditions as in other cases of pri-
vate property taken for public use.
There is no doubt it would be a great
hardship upon the miners who are
endeavoring to develop their claims,
to have the mining lands denuded of
the timber, but can see no way to
prevent the railroad company from
taking sufficient to construct their
road, provided they confine themselves
to the ten mile limit and to the lands
a0hich were public lands at the time
the railroad plat was filed viz: April
Sd, 1871. B. G. WHITING.
L. s. Commissioner.
Los Angeles, December 4th,