, 1888-12-06


mense glaciers thirty to forty feet higl
which will also attract the curiosity of th,
traveller and take him thither and on thu
summit of the Cascades near by ricf
mines have been discovered.
I'VE have very tine stock ranges, too
Bunch grass knee deep the year around is
the history of the country. One thousand
head of Okauogan steers were sold this
! fall at 895 and $40 per head which was
said to be unusually good price for beef a,
the time"
In any new country, more especially in
mining section, there are always certain
laws or local regulations which govern the
community or locality. A custom estab.
lished in mining camp for the protection
of its miners Ia q local law and has just as
much force and strength as any United
States law, go long as 1t does not conflict
with the latter. All mining men are cog
infant of this fact and are very careful to
see that all men not acquainted with this
System shall soon become SO.
The principal law In our territory is the
United States law or the fundamental Law
of all the states and territories IN the
union. This law is too general In its ap-
plication to be practical in any special sec
tion and for this reason states and terri.
tories have or should have some mining
law of their own to govern the .peculiari-
ties of the lodes, lodges and precious met
ais within its borders.
Prospectors and mining men are always
too loose ond careless in the preliminary
work Of their locations. take this posi-
ton in reference to the matter-that any
lode or ledge that is worth locating and
holding is worthy of special care and at
tention at the beginning. It is to this
point 80 many can trace their first lawsuit
aok ne Inpep n nd tQdiOI1Q
litigation, all of which could have been
avoided had their claims been properly se-
cured ut their inception, and without FUR
ther cost to the locater.
To illustrate-it is the general custom
of the miners of this district to set their
corners and end center stakes and inscribe
them with the name OF their lode or
ledge, aud when they Ale their certificates
to say the course o. their lode IL north
easterly. or southwesterly, or north.
westerly, or vice versa, as the case
may be. Now IL every man was an hon
est man aud believed In protecting the
rights of others rather than his own, this
might possibly answer the purpose, but
this is where portion Of the carelessness
originates that we wish to call your atten-
tion to. Have all of you seriously con-
sidered how much of an arch the end line
Of q claim can swing on and still come
within the circumscribed limits OF the
reading of your instruments when you
saw the course of your lode is northeastern
ly? No one can positively say lode is
not northeasterly at any point between a
due east and due north point In other
words, you might swing your center
end twenty degrees and still coin.
eide with the description of your
certificate. l am willing to admit
this would be an extreme case. but "
will demonstrate more forcibly the idea
wish to convey. Now il a prospector does
not wish to 20 to the expense OF employ
ing surveyor, which is universally done
in the older mining sections. he should at
least use pocket compass. and beginning
at the end of his claim nearest the point
of discovery, and after determining the
strike of his ledge and fixing the course on
his compass, carefully continue this course
through to the opposite end, giving spe-
cial attention to the measurement, remem-
bering that the nearer horizontal the
claim on top is beld the more accurate it
will be and the more territory will it en-
brace.
Another point entirely disregarded In
this section, and one which is not demand.
ed by any law of this territory or district,
la the setting of center side stakes-a mat
ter of much importance and great conven-
ience to prospectors--in fact, of the two
centers, end and side, the side stakes are
by far the most important, inasmuch as
the distance from end to end of the claim
is 80 much greater than from side to side,
it is rarely, if ever, the side line can be de-
termined by going on the ground. The
absence of the center side stakes, together
with the absence Of any development work
of any description. as is so often the case,
makes it next to impossible for any one to
ascertain with any degree of accuracy what
is taken up and legally located. d.-Daven-
port Free Press.