The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1880-03-20
THE "sQUARE LOCATION MIN
ING LAW.
Virginia Chronicle.l

T.e.su,,, .su,,ofHfttiol, Httii OF the present mifihg
law, and the substitution of square
location system, as proposed by the
Public Land Commission, is radical
change which should not be heartily made
by Congress.
The principal argument used against
the present law is that it leads to much
litigation; but the law has been already
settled by judicial decisions on many i'm
portant points, and if it were amended
so that stricter regulations were pre-
scribed for the recording Of an accurate
survey and marking prominently the
boundaries of claims on the ground, the
bulk of the present litigation would be
avoided.
The square-location scheme, so far as
developed, proposes to give the discoverer
of a mineral deposit the right to l,5OO
feet by 1900 of surface ground and the
exclusive right to all mineral found di-
rectly underneath such surface ground to
the center of the earth. this would be
about So acres of surface ground, or two
and one half times the amount allowed to
locator under the present law. Even
this excessive width-which would en-
able a few individuals to monopolize a
whole mining district-would only allow
vein which dips the same as the Com
stock to be worked to depth of about
1900 feet before it would pass beyond
the lines of the location. Such a law
would work injuriously to the interests
of deep mining, such as prevails on the
Comstock, and which in the near future
will prevail in all other districts having
fssure veins.
Let us reflect upon what the condition
of things would have been here if the
Comstock claims were held under such a
law. Take the case of the Sierra Ne
vada- Union ore body, which now gives
vitality to the district. That ore body
lies about 5000 feet eastward of the crop.
pings-nearly 1900 feet to the east Of
of what would be the Sierra Nevada
claim under "square-location" law
Under such a law the Sierra Nevada ant
Union ground would have been aban
doned years ago, as well as most of the
other claims on the Comstock lode, al
no company with an insecure title coult
raise money to prospect through twelv'
or fifteen hundred feet in depth of barrel
ground.
What induces the working of the Utal
or Bullion mines to-day? Neither Of thes
companies has found ore in milling quan
titles from the surface down, althoug
the present workings of both are far be
yond any width that could be reasonabl
assigned to a square location. The il
ducement to continue prospecting is tha
the next hundred feet of exploration ma
show up an ore body in either of thes
mines, or it may be the next five hu,
dred feet; and in case they do find a
ore body they will be reimbursed for a
their outlay from the beginning Und
square-location law when they hs
reached their side-lines they would ha'
to stop, and all their labor would be 10
irrevocably. 1t is hard, indeed, to s
how such claims as the Bullion or Ut
would have been able to secure title
any ground under a square-location law
The present mining law permits a
Gator to secure the government title te
mineral-bearing ledge, although he m
not have an ore body of industrial val
only assays or good indications; a
under this law the Utah, the Bullion, t
scorpion, the Capital, the Sullivan a
many other claims, can secure Unit
States patent And no injustice is the
by done to any one because each paten
is only allowed to work veins the ape,
of which falls within the lines of his
cation. He is not allowed to sink throu
his own ledge of uncertain value, a
work upon valuable vein known to
tend under his claim, but under a SOU
location he would be allowed to do thi
As practical application, the Sc
pion and North Con. Virginia clai
would embrace the Sierra Nevada I'm