The San Francisco call., 1899-04-17
MIL LIONAIRES FIGHT OVER
THE BIRTH OF QUARTZ MINING

ground he could get, and the hill above
the vein went begging. So, along the vein
there was a row of 30 by 40 claims hang
ing to the upper wall ana the grouhu
down hill was all taken up.
Mr.. Cracklin's affidavit naturally SHOWS
that the surface ground was soon worked
out, and that it was later discovered that
costly shafts, tunnels, hosting works,
etc, were needed TO work the ledge II
self. AS by a law of nature the early
buying up and consolidation OF tn these 81 3 py
30 claims began. The Gold Hill Quartz
Mining Company began this early IN DOL
Long prior to 1861 534 of these claims had
been consolidated and they now compose pose.
the very irregularly shaped territory coV-
cred by the assailed sold Hill patent
The Gold Hill mine, thus composed or
placer claims, including ledge, was
worked steadily, and in 1877 Rossiter W.
Raymond reported in the first Government
mining report that it had yielded S3'OoO'ooO
At about this time the mine passed to the
present company, and new works were IN
stalled. Until last fall 1t continued pI00o
ducing and had reached the dePth oL 1tGV
feet, with extensive lateral WORKINGS; II
1883 a patent for the ground coNeIeu ~
the 534 original claims was acquired WIFI
out adverse proceedings. 5,.o,,
Two years or so ago vein Was qlscoV-
cred along the lower portion OF thls .Pdt-
ented ground, but more than 5g0 1eel from ,I
the original vein. The. Gold Hlli company ti1,,c
took about $4,000 out of it in snort time.
This late discovery of new riches on the
oldest quartz claim in California, may or
may not be singular Then anoineo Of VG1 the
300-foot limit The Peabody mine WAS
then an old one adjoining the Goid HI,
operating at several hundred rect uepriH,
and the doubts ana issues suggested carry
in this story arose. AT the beneSt Oh tne
Peabody company the newly found VEN
in the Gold Hill territory was duly located
last September by a man who promptly
sold to the PEABODY company This is the
Suum Quique claim, which covers the
vein but keeps out of the 300-foot limit
Another claim was similarly located on
Gold Hill ground and called the Croesus
Then Baron Won Schroeder promptly went
to court and asked that the Cod Hlll
company be ordered away from his min
ing claims. That is the issue before the
court
A. H. Ricketts,, for the Peabody Com
pany, pleads that although the Gold Hill
people could hold their claims without
patent, If they elected to secure patent
they came under existing laws, and that
as the law forbids a lateral possession Of
more than 800 feet the Interior Depart
ment was in error and the patent is null
and void in excess of that distance
Hence, the vein lying beyond that dis
tance is open to location, and their rights
to all the ground beyond 800 feet from the
vein cease. Mr.. McGraw argues that the
patent having been granted, cannot be
attacked. He also argues that the Gold
Hill Company would have been entitled to
534 separate patents, but that 1T had
right to apply, as it did, for one con-
solidated patent. Mr.. Ricketts, goes into
history, etc, in an interesting way, and
argues that those claims were placer
claims, and says in his submitted argu-
ment:
annals of mining Jurisprudence where a
patent for a quartz lode location has been
attempted to be bolstered up by local
and development as essential to lode To-
cation. and which made surface ground,
and not the lode. the principal thing"
The legal question as to whether the he
feet is thus a grave one. The Peabody
Company itself has decided the surface
rights of its own patented ground 70 va
rious people for suburban uses, and the
Gold Hill Company may have done the
same as far as is known Much other
ground covered by mining patents has
the title if it is more than 300 feet from
the vein?
Among other legal questions before
Judge Morrow is the objection that the
Federal Court has no jurisdiction of the
case. Mr. Ricketts, urges that any case
involving a construction of the Federal
mining statute may be brought in a Fed
eral Court, and under the circumstances
his contention. if substantiated. would
practically bring every mining case with
in that jurisdiction. The case and the de-
cision will have a great bearing on this
point in mining Jurisprudence every
where. Other important legal points add
to the interest OF the case
The circumstances of the beginning of
quartz mining in California are thus in
volved in a struggle between millionaires
at this late day. The case may drag out
some interesting evidence, but much will
remain untold. An exact knowledge of
that good -for-little first mill in Gold
Mountain would be appreciated: One who
would patiently and conscientiously Sc
cure or collect information about those
first few weeks or months would do
valuable service. The story. seems to be
now nebulous J. o. DENNY.