Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-02-26

bacon, nour ana Deans, he would not
have been able to do any prospecting
whatever, to say nothing Of paving a
surveyor $50 more before be can saw 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 lie has no time to
work for living like other people. He
works for fortune. II is neck or moth
ing with him, and when after long years
of hardship and privation, he is al last
able TO get his mine in shape to attract
the eye ofthe capitalist, and he sells ont
for a paltry $50, 1000, as a general thing il
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 foreao the comfort of home and the
pleasures OF society, 10 become pioneers
to break roads. kill snakes, turn the
rivers. and delye in the bowels OF the
earth. Your committee in this, as well
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.
Ofthe many sections which were in
tended to regulate the officers of the
government in their different depart
ments. l will say nothing. Ispeak from
the standpoint of a prospector, and Tor
the prospector, and the plain, hard
working miners. | know them we'll
know their wants and needs, and this /
also know, that they are the ones who
are most vita,ly concerned in the bust.
ness you have in hand, and have the
best right to be consulted, in any pro-
posed change in the mining laws Of
A merica.
sec. 9. This section prohibits pros
pector from selling or assigning his
claim until a survey is made This
means that am not allowed to give a
quit claim deed TO a prospect TO false a
grub stake. This is entirely needless
and uncalled for. Your committee
seems to have it in" for the prospector
Every change you propose is agains,
him, and ifenacted into law would drive
him from the field. What has the poor
prospector done that he should be made |
the object of such unfriendly legislation? |
We often sell prospect bole for very |
little money, sooner than abandon it |
entirely, and sometimes exchange with |
each other for mutual convenience. or |
10 form a group. We must stop all this, |
and for no reason whatever that | can |
imagine, or that has been made to ap-
pear.
Sec. 10. In this section, failure to |
show mineral in 90 days works for
feiture of claim. This l regard as en-
iirely unnecessary Ii a miner starts 10 |
sink a shaft, or run a tunnel, to strike |
blind lode. and is not able TO reach in |
~ a Sss,ness RiI9 ~ 9s.ts IS rfarihea rig |
il. If he don't strike it he will quit 1t
soon enough, and if he is of in his Judg- !
nent he is the only sufferer. Some of |
.he 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 a man does one
hundred dollars worth Of work on q
claim this year, il 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
il is, the claim becomes abandoned, il
reverts back TO the government. and
is open to relocation by any qualified
person. l cannot see wherein the
present law is unsound in this respect.
or any reason why it should he changed
Now, having criticised the work oi
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 il. Ii 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
avocation is gone On the
whole can but regard these proposed
changes as blow. directed against a
very useful and worthy class OF citizens.
and that they are "a unwise as they are
ungenerous, and unjust.
Respectfully yours.
c, w ROBBINS.