Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-05-01

were not supposed to be mineral
lands but which were covered with
forests to supply the wants of miners
and smelters, have been reserved
from sale ''for mining and smelling
purposes = Many tracts of land not
reserved have been entered, that is
purchased at the land office. Be-
fore entering tract of land pur-
chaser was sometimes required to
make oath that he knew of no min
eral having been discovered upon it..
II the miner discovers valuable lead
opon Congress land. and the discov-
cry is known to no other person, the
lnducement to perjury by taking the
oath required at the land office, and
purchasing the soil in fee simple at
one dollar and quarter per acre. is
great. Perhaps some frauds upon the
Government have been thus COM
mitted. No patents for these lands
have yet been issued if such frauds
have been committed, they may be-
come the subject of legal investiga.
ton. Mineral lands thus purchased
are of course leased by the proprie-
tors upon such terms as they please
to establish. A great part of the
lands reserved from sale have, by a
kind of prescription, become also the
property of claimants in the following
manner: They were at first farmed
out to miners in small lots, by an
agent Of government. The miner
WAS allowed to stake out his lot which
he was then authorized by "permit"
from the agent to occupy, upon the
condition of his mining upon the lot
five days in every week, &c. Few,
if any, of the miners compiled with
the condition of their permits but
the miners were indulgent towards
one another, and each respected the
claims of the rest ; so that although
the lots were forfeited, no complaint
was made to the agent. Permits soon
began to be transferred by sale, like
leases and every purchaser Of a
mineral lot held it by title deemed
even better than that by which the
first claimant held !; because valua-
BILE consideration had been paid. The
revenue for the mines was collected
from the smelter, who purchased his
ore of the miner. Each smelter re-
ceived license from the government
and was required to pay over to the
agent one-tenth part of all the lead
be manufactured. Thus the revenue
was paid indirectly by the miner.
Many valuable leads were discov,
cred upon lands which had been en-
tered at the land office. The pro-
prietors Of such lots were of course
under no obligations to pay rents to
the government. They required the
smelter to pay them the full value
for their mineral. But the smclter
was bound to pay over tenth
part of the lead manufactured by
him as revenue to the government,
whether manufactured from ore
raised upon reserved" lands or Gen
tered" lands. The smelter could
not ascertain whether the mineral
brought to him was raised on govern
ment land or not. If he had been
allowed to attempt a dissemination, it
would have been unavailing; since
nothing could be easier than tor a
miner upon government land to sell
his ore to neighbor who owned a
mineral lot in fee simple, and who
would sell the ore as his own, with
out any deductions for rent. The
revenues for rent naturally soon be.
came nearly nominal. The smelters
were environed with difficulties In
the year 1886, the whole system
went down; every smelter refusing
to pay rent. The agency ceased,
and government was fairly "elbow-
ed" out of the mining district. The
possession of such reserved mineral
grounds as had been claimed by mi
ners under the old regulations by
virtue of permits was left undisturb
ed. The proprietors, as they con-
slider themselves, lease these lands to
miners upon such terms as they
deem most profitable; some taking
one-fourth, others one fifth of the
mineral raised. A great number of
mineral lots are in many instances
the property of the same landlord,
some successful Spectator in lead
perhaps, who has bought up, at a
bargain, the claims of many poorer
men. Whether these tenures were
exactly honest in their origin or re.
publican in their tendency will not
here be made a subject of inquiry.
No doubt the most profitable dispo-
sition Congress could make of their
mineral lands would be to sell them
in small lots to the highest bidders
By such sale large sum of money
would accrue to the treasury, as
great, perhaps, in the aggregate as
the lands are intrinsically worth; and
more profit would thus be derived
from them than could be derived
from the best system of renting and
leasing that could be devised. The
expense and endless perplexities
arising from the establishment and
support of agencies for leasing the
lands and collecting the rents would
thus be avoided, and Congress would
be saved from the odium always in
our country attached to the charac.
ter of landlord exacting his rents.
The mineral resources of the lead
district, or at least those which are
accessible to the labor and industry OF
the small capitalists have been exag
Grated Most of the leads near the
surface of the ground have been dis.
covered. That there are large bodies
ofcopper as well as of lead ore in these
mines, buried deep in the bowels OF
the earth, such bodies OF mineral as
have been found in the Cornish
mines is quite possible, but the work
ing of mines to any considerable
depth requires the investment OF
large capital in machinery, &c, and
is not likely to be undertaken until
the mines become the exclusive prop
erty of those who have capital 10 in
vest in working them. II Congress,
in its wisdom, should deem it incon-
sistent with the rights of the parties
concerned, and the greatest good to
the greatest numoer, to sell these
mines to private purchasers, it might