The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1895-01-12

mode of procedure necessary to battle
the Northern Pacific in this matter
With view of securing the opinion of
the best authority on the question,
County Surveyor Charles w. Mead
wrote to Henery N. Copp, the Wash
ington land attorney, when the matter
was first called to his attention, and re-
ceived in reply the following letter:
eve are in receipt of yours of the
9th ultimo addressed to our Mr.. Copp,
in which you make inquiry with re-
gard to the practice to be followed in
protesting claims of the Northern Pa
cific Railroad Company to lands sup
posed to be mineral in character In
general terms, it may be stated, that
these protests are to be made in accord
ance with the provisions of the circu-
lar of the general land Office governing
mineral land protests and contests, on
the ground of the character of the land.
! It is not necessary that the parties
should have located tract of land or
have any interest in it themselves, in
order to be recognized as protestants
against the claim of the railroad COM
pany. No hearings have yet arisen un-
der these proceedings to ascertain the
character of railroad lands, but the Of
ficials in the general land Office would
prefer to include as many tracts of land
in one hearing or investigation as pos
sible. We would make the following
suggestions as to the method to be fol-
lowed in initiating a hearing:
| Aftidavits should be furnished as to
each tract. or subdivision of land, by
parties who, of their own knowledge,
can swear that there is valuable min
eral deposit in the land, giving it's eX-
tent and its probable value. 1t is not
necessary that the land should have
been actually mined, but if it has been,
the result of such mining should be
shown. If it has not been mined, then
|
tion has been made to a sufficient ex-
tent to enable the witnesses to swear
positively that the land is more valua-
BILE for mineral than for agricultural
purposes. These affldavits may be
made by single individuals, corrobor-
ated by others, or by two or more
joining in the same affidavit. Then,
the several atlantis or contestants, as
to lands in the same vicinity or town.
ship could all join in one application,
addressed to the commissioner of the
general land Office, asking for hear
ing, and if the showing as to the char
acter of the land is specific
enough, hearing will be ordered.
Where the field notes of survey show
the land to be mineral in character, the
burden of proof would be on the rail
road company to show it's non-mineral
character, and where it is returned as
agricultural land, the burden will be
on the protestants.
AS your letter only reached us to-day
we fear our reply will not be in time
for the meeting Of which you speak.
Your parties should, by all means, have
attorneys employed here to represent
their interests, as we'll as at the hear
ing, if one is ordered. The Northern
Pacific has employed very able firm
in this city, to look after its interests,
and very strong effort will be made
to prevent hearings from being order
ed on such protests. We are in good
shape to represent parties against rail-
road companies, as we have had ex-
tended practice both in mineral con-
tests and fighting all kinds of claims
by railroads. We shall be pleased to
cooperate with you in representing the
citizens of your county before the gen.
eral land Office and the department
here.