The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-01-26
Case Involving Valuable Butte
Property Decided in the
Local Land ONCE.
It 10 the Old Question, What Con-
etitutes a Valuable Min
eral Claim.
The Helena Omolais Hold That the Quartz
Location Wa not sufficiently VAL
uabio to Make 1t Hold.

land OtiiC0 have rendered 4 decision INVOLVING
a portion OF the and In Butte on which the
Montana Central and Northern Pacific de-
pots are built. The case 10 entitled Albert
7. Nickel Of al. VI. Wesley p. Emery Ct al,
and IL for the ownership Of lots no. A n
b, SOC. 10, 8 H., z ". In 1881 Emery and
others filed a mineral applicntion for tho
lots, the Oneida lode and the Emery placer.
In 1882 tho application an9 various adverse
claims wore rent TO Washington. whore they
were mislaid. In 1891 Emery's application
vas returned to the Helena Office. In No
vsmber, 1891, Nickel and others filed in the
local land office . protest against the nprli-
cation, alleging themselves the owners OF
the Annie Mo. lode; hat the claim WAS
within the boundaries of the Emery placer
claim; that tho lode WAS we'll known by the
claimants Of the placer to exist at the date
OF their application for patent. and that the
lode was known to exist many years prior
to the application for the patent for the
placer claim. AhearinR was asked for and
granted. The testimony submitted covers
1927 pages. The local officers. in summing
up the case and rendering their decision,
say:
From the testimony IL appears that the
Annie Nc. IL located upon q ound first
located in 1878 as the Alb tino lode. Then
In July, 1881, as the Terry lode, it. ths
Annie No lode. having been located after
the placer application was fled. or IN Janu-
ary, 1887. When tbs placer application was
filed, Oct. q, 1881. there was a ledge OF rock
or outcroppinGs exposed on this portion OF
the placer where in great measure the sur
face deposit (placer1 had been woIhea on:
in length, and was from four to six feet in
width. The only work that had been done
was a shallow hole or shaft two or three
feet deep dug while subject to the Alber-
tino location. and q trench about ten feet
long: four feet vide and three feet deep dug
by the Terry locatoys. These groupings
are deooml osed vein matter-quartz, oxI-
died iron and other matter. In these
were ore groupings. or q vein OF from SIX to
eight inches, as testified to BY Anderson.
who examined it with . view OF purchase In
1873. to one foot, as testified to by Boiler.
one of the ~locators of the Tory. Tho
Whole outcrop containing these smaller ore
outcroppiDgs Or vein was from foar to six
feet wide. Walls on each side appear to
have been fairly we'll defined.
Both the Albsrtino and Terry iodes seem
to have been abandoned. though Boiler.
one OF the Terry locators, claims to have
''represented'' his quarter interest every
year unit the claim was jun ped" in 1885.
Such partial compliance with the statute
requiring annual expenditure 10 unknown
to the law.
No ore was taken out and shipped for
treatment. nor was any work or labor PEI
formed thereon save the slight superficial
prospecting set out above. Nothing is said
by the plaintiff of the value of suCh ore as
was exposed in these shallow excavations
on the outcrop, save by Meikleiohn. who
intimates he had assays made from the
Terry. which asssyed very good and fair
prospects in silver and gold" not the facts
developed BY the assay, but in his opinion
il was Every good and fair prospects:" by
Anderson as TO what another man told him,
and by Boiler. who first says he had some
assayed from the Terry. which he knows
went about twenty-seven ounces in silver
and some gold, then that he hoard the stuff
carried silver; IL was simply what be was
told, but knows tho rock carried gold, Tor
he saw the gold in the rock.
During the submission of testimony
plaintiffs placed one Steiger on the stand
who testiaes to having sampled the vein in
same condition as it was Oct. q, 1881. or
slightly enlarged, and from tests made from
the samples and the general appearance of
the vein which he examined in several
shafts from eight to eighteen feet deep
sunk since Oct. q. 1881, he would advise
and would be pretty certain OF finding cop
per there at q certain depth. ut might ba
ten feet. II might be 500 feet" Liable TO-"
He does not give the result of the tests
OF the samples. and as in forming
his opinion he evidently took into consider
development work lone since Oct. 81, 1881,
his opinion 10 not admissible, for it is
largely, II not wholly. drawn from matter
not admissible in evidence.
Dsfendants submit the results of assays
from the Terry cut or trench Of the ore
-A~.@ ~ -Asn khn ua1n ontk mr. - ..I-1~
and also of the walls or country rock"
These assays range from 4-1O ounces silver
and = trace of gold from the outcroppings
and ore outcEop or vein, and 2-1O ounces
silver and trace of gold. ing the walls or
country rock" average BY hand from cut.
pears the location 10 a low fiat. and that in
1881. and until q much later period the
flat was not looked upon as of much value
for quartz mining. Plaintiffs witness,
Short, stating he knew of these outorop-
pings or ledge Of rock in 1880 and 1881. but
did not think 1t worth bothering with for
quartz"
No mines then producing or capable of
producing were in that vicinity, but were
upon the hills to the moth from a half to
one and and a half miles, the only ones on
the fiat being nearly half a mile west of
this. Water existed close to the surface on
this ground in volume so great that plain
"" AsASO Au AohAuJohLs ptukCh - BooE
man could have done nothing with il. No
railroad had yet arrived in Butte IN the
suburbs of which Is this ground. on Oct.
q. 1881. There were no smelters and the
mills charged $45 per ton for treating o @,
these Groupings or veins being of the ma
ture OF smelling ores. Silver was then
worth $l.13 per ounce. Labor was then
as now, though eli supplies and spplian ces
were necessarily much higher in price. In
1881, plaintiffs witness, Anderson, states
it would not have paid to work, that he
could see no profit in working it ut that
time, on account of high cost OF labor and
milling. difficulty of extracting what ore
there was, and water.
That this outcropping contained I ON
six to eight inches of ore, and that ten
inches OF ore coming to the ~srrfnce in that
locality. the carrying 125 pun ces of silver,
could not have been worked at that time at
. profit.
Most Of plaintiffs witnesses are of the
opinion in 1881. tho showing would have
justified a reasonable man in ~expending
labor ia further tx loitation.
All Of defendants witnesses are of a con-
tray opinion, even at the present time AZ
pectinR done since October, 1881, and proof
Of very valuable mines on IN fiat in the
immediate vicinity and cast of th,s. though
concedinR this u vein or strong indication
of = vein; plaintiffs witnesses would oun-
Nidef his n vein in 1881, such ae should
have been expected fiom the placer sppli-
cation.
Defendants Witnesses would not con.
slider IL so even to-day.
The facts as We have given them are
found from the evidences of both parties