Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-02-26
CITY. DAKOTA SATURDAY, FEBRUARY s9s

any other purpose than to purchase his
bacon, -four and beans, he would not
have been able to do any prospecting
whatever, to say nothing of paying a
surveyor $50 more before he can say to
all comers this claim is mine." Your
committee should be made aware, (for
it seems that they do not know it, that
Of all poor men, the average prospector
until he sells his mine) is the poorest
Of the poor, because he has no time to
work for living like other people. He
works for fortune IL is neck or moth
ing with him, and when after long years
of hardship and priyation, he is at last
able to get his mine in shape to attract
the eye ofthe capitalist, and he sells out
for paltry $4,000, as general thing it
don't last him long. and seldom pays
him for what he has gone through.
Uncle Sam understands his business !;
he desires to foster the extraction Of the
precious metals from the public domain
to enrich the country. To do this he
knows he must be liberal to induce men
to forego the comfort. of home and the
pleasures of society, TO become pioneers,
to break roads, kill snakes, turn the
rivers, and delve in the bowels of the
as in many of the other changes which
they propose to make. would defeat the
settled plan Of the government which is
to encourage this work, and they would
compel the prospector to abandon his
ayocation. But were l to take up each
section; and dwell upon it separately, it
would make my letter too long.
or the many sections which were in
tended to regulate the officers Of the
government in their different depart
ments, will say nothing. Ispeak from
the standpoint Of q prospector, and for
the prospector, and the plain, hard
working miners. know them we'll l
know their wants and needs, and this /
also know, that they are the ones who
are most vita,ly concerned in the busi-
ness you have in hand, and have the
best right TO be consulted, in any pro-
posed change in the mining laws Of
America.
Sec. 0. This section prohibits pros
pector from selling or assigning his
claim until survey is made. This
means that / am not allowed to give a
quit claim deed to prospect to raise a
grub stake. This is entirely needless
and uncaled for. Your committee
seems to have it in" for the prospector.
Every change you propose is against
him, and if enacted into law would drive
him from the field. What has the poor
prospector done that he should be made
the object of such unfriendy legislation?
We often sell prospect hole for very
little money, sooner than abandon it
entirely, and sometimes exchange with
each other for mutual convenience, or
to form a group. We must stop all this,
and for no reason whatever that l can
imagine, or that has been made to APP
pear.
Sec. 10. In this section, failure to
show mineral in 80 days works for
feiture of claim. This / regard as Ell,
tirely unnecessary If a miner starts to
sink a shaft, or run a tunnel, to strike
blind lode. and is not able to reach in
30 DAYS. let him work away. it is his
own business and no oI.e is harmed by
it. If he don't strike it he will quit it
soon enough, and if he is off in his judg-
ment he is the only sufferer. Some of
the best mines in the country have
been struck at the end Of years of hard
labor without a sign of mineral until the
vein was reached. If man does one
hundred dollars worth of work on
claim this year, it should give him the
right to do another hundred dollars
worth Of work on that ground next
year, and so on until he finds what he
seeks When he ceases to- do the an
nual labor prescribed under the law as
it is, the claim becomes abandoned, il
reverts back to the government, and
is open to relocation by any qualified
person. / cannot see wherein the
present law is unsound in this respect.
or any reason why it should be changed :.
Now, having criticised the work ot
your committee, wish you to under
stand that have not done so from any
bitterness of feeling, but simply because
the importance Ito us) Of the situation
demands it. 1t may as well be under
stood first as last, that the prospectors
Of the Black Hills protest against these
changes, because we cannot stand them.
If they are enacted into law, then the
prospectors avocation is gone. On the
whole I can but regard these proposed
changes rs blow. directed against a
very useful and worthy class Of citizens,
and that they are as unwise as they are
ungenerous, and unjust.
Respectfully yours,
G, w. ROBBINS.