Mohave County miner., 1894-05-12
That Amy. .S,ivsrsmnh Court Decision.

smith mining controversy. has caused
more comment among mining men and
lawyers than anything that has come
from that high tribunal in recent years
The legal profession is nearly unanimous
in its belief that the Supreme Cour,
erred, and has caused great confusion
A great many letters have been received
from Denver appealing to the Montana
bar to secure n rebearing OF the case.
The decision, it is claimed, npsets all
practise that has heretofore prevailed.
Hon. w. w. Dixon, who is now ia Wash.
iDg.on, has prepared very interesting
and pungent brief on application for re.
hearing. that will be read with interest
in mining and legal circles. The salient
points in Mr.. Dixon's application are
here given.
The court says IN its opinion that it
cannot become locator for the claimant
or relocate his claim and make new side
lines or end lines, and yet, with dne
Difference, We submit If that is not Just
what the court has done IN this case.
The claimant OF the Amy made side and
end lines for his location, and the court
has converted his side lines into end
lines, and his end lines into side
lines.
BY the statute the locator has the right
In ALL veina Il urht,.h IN
within the surface lines of his location,
and IL is nowhere provided that to give
ext@rnal rights AS TO any Of these veins
the location must I've laid in the direction
OF the course OF each or all of such veins,
or so that all such veins sbali depart
from the location through The surface end
lines. We take it Tor granted thit the
court understands in thi, case that de
fendant never claimed any right TO fol
low any vein across the Amy surface
side line npon its course or strike, bur
only 5 follow beyond such side line on
its dip vein OF which the Amy had the
spsx within its boundaries. aud to the
extent only that it had such AN apex
When the latter right is denied US We
u deprived, AS We contend, Of u prive-
iege the statue expressly gives us by
reason vi our ownership Of the apex OF
the vein
II, a. is said in the opinion, the end
lines Of the Amy loc zion become it's
side lines as TO the in controversy, il
would appear ss though defend mt
would have right TO follow this vein on
its dip to any distance beyond the sur
face end lines of the Amy. The result of
this would Oe that in every case where
the vein as in the case at bar, the laca-
tor might have 750 feet on each side Of
the vein, or l50J feet on one side,
although the statue expressly limits him
TO 30 feet on each side So he might
have right TO 20 on the dip beyond his
surface end lines, although he had him
self established them as boundaries,
beyond which in no case could he tres
pass upon an adjoining owner. The
practical application Of the principle es-
tabllshed by this decision will give rise
-t9-irsny- .1ss4.iicil6ns and Curious o5s.
plications which can readily he called 10
mind, but cannot ne dwelt upon here. |
We suggest the question IN connection |
with this point as TO where the two end
lines OF the location would be held to be |
in Case the vein in question passed on
it's couse ont Of one surface end line and
one surface side line, or in case il the
vein passed ont the east end line OF the
Amy instead OF the south side line Under
the decision, the north side line OF the
Amy becomes one end line, bu, does the
east end line continue TO be the other
end line? Ii so, we have two Ell lines
at right angles 10 each other; Otherwise
We have only one end line, whereas the
law certainly requires at least two, and
says they must be parallel The opinion
OF the court would seem to be that any
divergence of the location from the
course OF the vein, so that the vein de.
parts through one or both side lires, no
matter how slight such divergence may
be, destroys all extra lateral rights on
the vein; therefore, il the veI departed
across the side line by even so much az
foot at the corner Of the location, valu-
able rights wonld be lost, whereas, il the
locator had happened to have fixed his
the vein would have gone through the
end line and all his rights would have