The daily enterprise. [volume] (Livingston, Mont.) 1883-1884, 1884-08-08
I,,apo rtant Mining Decision.


made for years has just been rendered
by Hon. III. NJ. Teller. secretary OF
the interior, reversing the ruling or
the commissioner OF the general land
office. and all previous decisions on
the same point. The decision in gen.
eral terms reads: The survey OF q
lode claim need not he in the form or
parallelogram as has been held Oy
the commissioner OF the general lana
office for the past few years. but may
lie Of any shape or form so us to EN-"
brace therein the lode and not to ex-
ceed the width of the surface ground
allowed by law" The case originated
In the Leadville district. A location
of a mineral claim WAS made and sur
veyed. running westerly S75 feet,
measured along the line marked ''cen-
tre Of vein;'' thence southeasterly, at
a right angle with it's former course.
45O feet; thence northeasterly parallel
with its original course, l15 feet. The
lode thus located was irregular, not
assure vein, and made two an.
giles, hut was 1900 feet long, was not
more than 500 feet wide on each side
of the centre OF the vein, and IN all
other points confirmed to the letter OF
the law of 1872, regulating quartz 10
cations. All former decisions have
been that lode claim must be paral-
lelogram-tha is, its side lines must
follow Il straight course along their
whole length. Secretary Teller says
he sees no reason for any such con-
struction. even if the statute did not
preclude it. A length of l.5OO feet
along the vein is allowed by the Unit
ed States il one location, and there is
no reason why, if the vein deviated at
all angle, the locator should be COM
pelled to make two locations for the
l 800 feet. The point OF middle
measurement is tbe centre OF the vein;
800 feet along that vein is allowed,
and ii the measurements do not ex-
ceed 800 feet on each side, the law is
! satisfied. Precisely the same guam
tity Of land and Of lode is approprl-
ated by an IL" shaped, us by an Il
shaped location, where the length
and width are determined from
the middle of the vein.
Saws Secretary Teller: The language
of the statute precludes the concluslt n
that it contemplated Il paralielogra-
matte location. The requirement OF
such a shape might be inferred, If the
language had been mo claim shall ex-
ceed 1900 feet in length by 6OO !"
width;;'' but the introduction OF the
provisions requiring measurement OF
length "along the vein' and OF width
from ..the middle of the vein. plainly
poin1s to Il reason for the selection or
the central line of the location instead
Of the side line, and that reason must
have been the possible tortuous course
of the vein. There could be no prac-
tjcal purpose in selecting the middle
of the vein rs the place of measure
ment, except to provide for an. appro'
priation of the same quantity OF sur
face by DETECTING as Ivy straight
!; location. Since the statute authorizes
} an ~ shaped or other irregularly
shaped location in the case OF assure
, vein, it must authorize 1t III the case
of a horizontal deposit. such us Is
] found in this case, if the reason OF the
thing does not forbid.
4 The Starving Piegans.
: Indpnenlpnt: At it's meeting last