The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1886-01-02
ANNUAL ASSESSMENT WORK.
Some Useful information for Miners
n this Time.

at this Time.
fscientifc Press.
For the past month or two miners
In all the camps have been actively At
work on their claims in fulfilling the
requirements of the United States laws
regarding annual expenditures on min
ing claims. In some cases this
assessment work" has resulted in
mines being developed out of pros
poets. In Others, it has served only to
continue the ownership Of~undevelopsd
claims. The law, s = whole, has
worked we'll, and has prevented, in q
measure, one or two men holding q
whole string of claims fer an indefinite
period without doing any work on
them. 1t has, moreover, decided
definitely s to abandonment, which
was formerly NJ of the vexed law
questions. Now, if a mar does not do
his assessment work, the claim is
legally abandoned and may be reloca-
ted by any one who chooses to do so.
All unpatented claims on which 800
worth of work was not done before
January /, 1886, wers forfeited and
subjected to relocation, according to
tile old ruling of the Commissioner of
Public Lands. A more recent ruling
provides that in cases where owners
or locators of mining claims are actu-
ally engaged in doing their annual
work on January 1st, such claim isnot
subject to relocati0n, providing the
owner puts in the full amount of labor
required by law during said month.
There are several points in connec-
ten with this subject, to which it is
proper to call the attention of miners
at the present time. For instance.
Congress has expressly provided that
money which has been expended in
running a tunnel for the purpose of
developing one or more lodes owned
by certain persons of a company is
considered rs expended on the lode.
The person or company is not there
fore required to perform work on the
surface of the lodes, in order to hold
them. In other words, the work may
be from the surface or by tunnels, as
the o wner desires.
Expenditures may be, of course,
made By an agent, and not necessarily
by the owner or owners of the claim.
1t must be remembered also that
the fact that a large expenditure has
been made On n claim in the past will
not relieve a claimant from the ne
c~essity Of performing the required an
nual labor.
A party alse contributes bis proper
ton of the required (~annual cxpendi-
ture) expenditures can retain his inter-
est in the mine. Ii a party fails to
contribute his proportion of The actual
expenditures upon a claim, the remedy
u be sought outside the Land De-
partm ent.
The land Office has ruled that the
claim is not subject 10 relocation as
abandoned ground, until the expira-
ton Of the year next succeeding that
for which annual expenditure has been
made.
1t is held that labor performed or
money expended upon a mining claim,
prior to the first day of January suc-
ceeding the date of location thereof,
will not be considered as a part of or
applied upon the first annual expsndi-
ture required by law. Thus, upon =
claim located AZ any time during the
year 1884. the period within which the
labor must be performed commences
January /, 1885, and during the calen-
der year 1885 the expenditures must
be made, or the claim will be subject
to rsiocation on and after January l,
1886. The expenditures must after
wards be done annually by the ealsn-
dar year.
Ii must also be remembered that if
the assessment work is not done with
in the year, the claim is subject to
relocation by any one, provided that
the original locators, their heirs, as
signs or legal representatives, have not
resumed work upon the claim after
failure and before such location. In
other words, if the original locators or
n have begun work on the LIST of
January, before Others have located
the claim, they can, of course, held
it.
By decision of the Honorable Secre-
tary of the Interior, dated March 4,
1879, annual expenditures are not re-
quirsd subject to entry for patent, the
date of issuing patent certificates being
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