Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1896-07-03
LAW OF LOCATION.
Idaho supreme Court Passes
Upon an Important Point
to Miners.

SROAA al lnPOh taNlt
to Miners.
From the Boise ssatesman.
The supreme court of Idaho has
handed down an opinion in the
case of John Brown ct al, appel
lants, VS. d B Levan ct al. This
is known as the Magpie-Easter
case from Willow creek district.
Judge Richards non-suited the
Brown party and this decision is
sustained by the supre me court.
The decision in this case is highly
important as it bear upon the
question of the sufficiency Of no
tice of location with respect to the
manner in which the claim is tied
to permanent, natural or artificial
monuments. That portion of the
location certificate of the Magpie
claim which was held by Judge
Richards to be insufficient, there
by invalidating the location, was
as follows:
"The mining claim hereby To-
Gated is situated in mining
district, Boise county, state Of
Idaho, and is more particularly de-
scribed as follows, to- wit: Being
situated and located on the north
side of North Willow creek about
one-half mile from the Hurt mines,
the direction being southwest.
The adjoining claims are the Gem
of the Woods claim on the north,
and the Kid claim on the south,
and the Greyhound on the east"
The opinion of the court was by
Chief Justice Morgan, concurred
in by Justices Huston and Sulli-
van. 1t says: "The ground up
on which non-suit was sustained
is: Because said location notice
fails to designate either natural
objects or permanent monuments
as required by the revised statute
of the United States, section 1924,
SO that the location Of the claim
could BIO accurately determined,
and because said notice does not
contain a description of the To-
cality of the claim by reference to
natural land marks or fixed OBJ
jccts, and contiguous claims SO as
to render the situation or locality
of the claim reasonably certain as
required by section 31O3 rev;sed
statutes of Idaho"
The opinion proceeds to give a
great number of citations, copying
from the cases at length. Among
these are Drummond ct al VS. Long,
8 Colorado, 53S; Gilpin Mining CO.
vs. Drake, 8 Colorado, 6S6; Glee-
son VS. Martin White & Co., l3
Nevada, Ago; Faxon vs. Barnard,
2 McCrary, 46; Darger VS. LIE Sieur,
80, Pacific 1863; Dillon vs.. Bayliss.
~ Pacific, 726. Continuing the
opinion says:
"From these authorities it is
evident that it has become the
settled law of the Ian d and must
be complied with, towit:
"That all records of mining
claims shall contain s. ch descrip-
ton of the claim or claims located
by reference to some natural OBJ
ject or permanent monument as
will identify the claim.
"The location notice of the Mao.
pie describes the mine as located
OH the north side of N orth Willow
creek. This portion Of the refer
ence is of course SO indefinite and
uncertain that it amounts to no
reference at all when taken alone.
cit is as indefinite as the refer
ence Of the Mary Belle lode in
Darger ct al, VS. lie Sieur Supra,
which describes the claim as sit
uated about five miles from the
Denver & Rio Gran lie railroad
track near the head Of the right
hand fork of what is known as the
Tie canyon.
Concerning this notice of loca-
ton and five others Of the same
tenor, the court in above case says
that they are fatally defective, and
valid location can not be made un-
der them.
Putting the whole refer
ence together, which Of course is
proper, and is it any better?
Namely, situated on the north side
of North Willow creek about one
half mile from the II urt mines,
the direction being sou Invest.
1.-The Gem of the Woods claim
on the north and the Kid claim on
the south and the Gra yhound on
the east.
Concerning the Hurt mines,
Bradford Hurt, the son of the first
locator, testiies, ave, Chat is
Bradford Hurt and his father
were interested in four claims
there. They were the Birthday,
the Old Man, Gray Eagle and Sill
YER Leaf.
1.-The Silver Leaf is southeast of
the Maggie, joins or nearly joins it.
The Old Man is east Of the Mag
pie. The Gray Eagle is east Of
the Old Man, and the Birthday is
northeast of the Old Man.
These claims do not all join.
They do not come ct exactly.
The Silver Leaf does not join the