The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-11-15
RULINGS.

1M1 AN AS ~
In The October number of Cops Land
Oyner appears the decision of the Commis-
sioner Of the Department of the Interior in
the matter of the refusal of Mr.. II. II. Mason,
late Surveyor General of this Territory, to
approve the survey of the Monarch Of the
North mining claim. Mr.. George B. Foote
was the attorney for the claimants, aud in his
appeal cited eight points of objection to Mr..
Mason's ruling. In his rulings the Commits
sioner says First, the insent of the Mining
Act is obviously that the position of the vein
shall be determined or assumed throughout
its whole extent, and that the Survsyor-Gen-
eral has the power or authority to p%re-suppose
the point Of departure of the vein from the
boundaries of the location when the same is
not shown by actual development. Though
the law provides the width of a claim shall
not exceed three hundred feet on each side
of the middle of the vein at the surface, it
depends upon the local regulation, State or
Territorial law whether surface ground to
this extent can be taken. 1t is also held by
the Commissions that in the absence of ex-
ploration and development, the discovery
shat. must, for executive purposes, be as
sumed as the centre OF the lode Or vein, and
that it is the duty of the Surveyor.General to
refuse to approve any survey until the course
of the vein is actually determined or else ad-
mitted by the claimants to lie in some stated
and probable direction. Second, the form Of
a survey may take any shape provided it is
made within the lines of the location, with
two parallel end lines or vertical
| planes established to define, govern
and control the direction and extent
to which the vein can be fol-
lowed and worked on Its dip, and is in other
respects in accordance with law and regula-
ton. But the end lines, or the end lines
produced, NUT intersect the lode at or with
in the extremities thereof as located; it is
not enough that the distance between the end
Third: An end line may make a right ALL
| gle, or any other angle, with the general d.
rection of the vein. 1t is the claimants
privilege to assn me his end lines to be i'll any
direction whatever: the law simply requires
them TO be parallel. The extremitles Of the
lode shall be fixed and bounded by the end
lines, and not by a side line. The law gives
a locator the exclusive right of possession
and enjoyment of all veins throughout their
entire depth, the top or apex of which lies
within his surface lines, and provides for the
prosecution OF tile vein beyond the side lines
indefinitely, limited only by the vertical
planes drawn downward through the parallel
| end lines of the location. The Surveyor
General can require all amendment of a sur
vey where such survey embraces an excess of
the lode not included in the location, and
may also point out how such amendment
might be made, but he cannot exact obedi-
| ence to his suggestions when a satisfactory
one in lieu thereof is offered by the claim
ant, which be prefers.
Fourth the Su1veyor-G General has no ju-
risdiction whatever in the matter Ct conflicts;
he las only to survey claims in accordance
with the law and regulations, and within or
according TO the limits located. If a claim
ant complies with the provision of the Statute
with regard to making the claim upon the
ground and recording it the Surveyor-Gener
al shou Id not decline TO issue an order for an
Official survey. The Commissioner sees no
reason why all applicant should not
be granted an order for a sur
vey upon a new application, without
any showing whatever, save that he has a
claim, provided he pays for it. Lastly, al
though the law provides that an official SUR
vey must be made by or. under tho direction Of
the Surveyor General, it does not give him
tn right in the event Of all erroneous sur
yey, TO order an amendment or a re survey
without first consulting the wishes of the ap-
plicants for the survey. In case of error by a
deputy the Survey or-General should require
him at his own expense to correct it. On his
appeal from the rulings Of MIR. Mason, Mr..
Foote was sustained in all his Joints of OBJ
jec ions save one.