The Arizona sentinel., 1878-07-13
ARIZONA SENTINEL.
and Boundaries of Min
 ing Claims.

ing Claims.
 1 Upon this subject the New York Engi- neering and Mining Journal has some judi cious and we'll timed remarks, recommend ing, in view of the ruinous litigation that 1 has grown out of our former uncertain methods of fixing the exterior limits of mining locations, that we hereafter dis pense with our present modes of descrip- ton, saying nothing about the dips, spurs, angles, courses, strikes, etc, of lode, and reduce all claims to a square surface loca- ton and not to be owned or worked be yond. In further dicussing this subject the Journal very justly remarks: " It seems as if it were impossible for any profitable gold or silver mine to escape the blight Of lawsuit, and certainly no greater blessing could be brought to mining interests gen. would make it impossible to misinterpret the limits of mining claims. The ques-
 
 limits of mining claims?' are the bottom of the lawsuits which have ruined so many has been so enlarged by the Eureka Rich mond decision that an equally perpleXing of What is nOt vein:' And, no doubt, efforts will be made to show that any min What the limits of lode are, will proba- bly, become more and more obscure as our becomes more and more perfect, until, in a system of Assures such as those in the ore is disseminated ill the altered country rock, it will be impossible 10 determine interesting veins.
 We believe it is absolutely impossible or vein as to prevent these endless litiga- tions, and even the rights which are ac- quired by patent are very uncertain by reason of our ignorance at times of what constitutes the outcrop or apex of a vein With the experience of countless lawsuits before us, it seems almost incredible that laws which make such state of things possible should not have been changed long ago, and especially when the remedy is so simple and so apparent as it is. Had our laws been based on the old Spanish mining code, with such modified, tions only as were necessary from the fact that under Spanish law all minerals belong to the crown, no conflict in titles could possibly have occurred. There seems in ! fact no way of preventing conflicts of this i kind, eXsept 5y making the boundaries o; claim the limits in every direction to which mineral deposit may be followed. It will necessarily follow from this that the area taken up must be larger than at pre- sent We would suggest ,5O0XS00 feet as $ sufficient area. The corners should be marked with permanent stone monuments, and the patentee should be entitled to all the minerals found within the lines, to any depth, but could not follow them beyond the same limits. He should be obliged to do certain amount of bona ide work on his claim every year or every six months, ! in default oi which his rights would cease, and any one else could re-euter the claim. The anomaly Of local laws and customs in every district should be abolished, and this one simple and comprehensive law govern in all cases. Of course, it would be i'm possible to change established locations. but claims located subsequent to the pas sage of the law, and especially all new mining distrlcts, should be governed by it, It would be impossible to have any con- flicts of title, and this most fruitful source of misfortune in mining enterprises would ce ase. It would then be of no conse- quence what meaning should be applied | to the term vein or lode, nor would the difficult problem of which lode holds, at intersections and unions of veins, the united vein, any longer trouble anxious mine owners. The problem would be as simple as determining the ownership of | town lot, ald the change, though it might be objected to by the lawyers, would be d i blessing to miners and mine owners"