The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-21
BUTTE NEWS
NOTICE OF LOCATION.
What the Law Requires 1t to Clearly
state.

what tho Law Requires 1t to Clearly
/ state.
A decision exceedingly important to
an owners of mining claims that have
been located since 1895 has very re-
Gently been rendered by the supreme
court of Montana. The Standard of
Dec. 6 contains the following report Of
this decision:
sit was the case of James W. Purdin
against A. Laddin. Fred Thurston and
others, appealed from Madison county.
| contest as to the ownership of the
Cataract lode claim The case was
tried In the lower court resulting in
verdict in favor of the plaintiff. Subse-
| quently the lower court set aside the
| verdict and granted the defendants
motion for a new trial. From this the
plaintiff appealed
The lower court granted a new trial
because 1t had admitted certain evil
dence which it afterwards deemed in
competent. The evidence that had been
admitted was a declaratory statement
which 1t was claimed was defective in
that 1t failed to show the location and
| description of each corner, with mark
| ings thereon. This had been admitted
by the court over the objections of the
| defense.
I'm per curtain opinion the supreme
court decided that the lower court did
|
court holds that the statutes are clear
regarding declaratory statements and
the requirement that they shall contain
the location and description of each cor
ner with the markings thereon Is man
datory, and substantial compliance
| with this provision Is necessary to per-
| feet a valid location
| With reference to this decision and
| the course necessary to be adopted in
| order for claim holders to protect their
| rights. Attorney E. B. Howell, one Of
the best posted mining attorneys OF the
state. sends the following statement to
| the Standard:
From this decision every prosrector
and mine claimant in the state Of Mon
| tana should take alarm. Does your
| recorded location certificate contain the
| information that the supreme court has
| decided to be mandatory and esential
| to valid certificate? If were to ven
ture guess, / should say that more
than half of the location certificates
| filed since the new law went into effect
in July, 1895, are so deficient al to make
| them inadmissible in evidence. And 1t
! goes without saying that II a claimant
cannot introduce his location certih-
| title against the man who trespasses
upon or JUMPS his claim. In other
! words. he has no title.
1.-THE new law requires that the 1oca-
| ton certificate fled for record which 1t
calls the 'declaratory statement
| should contain, amons other things,
| the location and deecri~ton Of each
corner, with the markings thereon.
Under the law in force before 1895,
| it was common to describe the bound
aries Of claim in about the following
| manner:
beginning at the northwest corner
! and running thence 1900 feet to the
|
| to the southeast corner; thence west
| 500 feet to the southwest corner;
thence north 900 feet to the place Of
beginning
"such a description under the new
law is wholly insufficient. While 1t
states the loceftion of each corner, 1t
does not describe the corner itself nor
give the markings thereon. Is any
particular coriaar post, stone, tree or
boulder? How Is it marked? IF 1t is
| post, Is 1t of the size required by
law, and is IT set in the ground and
surrounded by the mound which the
law requires? All of the questions
! should be answered by the declarat tory
| statement.
at is useless to object that the law
| requires too much of the ordinary pros
| pector. 1t Is the law Of the state, and
| the supreme court has said that 1t Is
| mandatory. 1t must be complied with
in order to make a valid location. If
| the prospector cannot make out the
| 6eclaratory statement himself, he
should enlist the help of some attorney
| or friend who can.
at may be asked what a claimant
Is to do who fi7ds that a declara tory
statement heretofore fled Is insuT mt
and defective. The simple answer s
file an amended statement. OF course
this Is on the supposit'on that no adj
verse rights have interviewed. re such
| claimant waits till some other per-
son has located his ground. then he
must stand or fall by his first declara
tory statement. and If it is defective
in the respects referred to in the re-
cent decision of the supreme court, he
| will fail
NV advice to all mine claimants is to
| examine Immediately their location GER
tiacates or decIaratory statements filed
since July /, 1895, to discover whether
they comply with the law and If they
do not. to file without delay amended
statements. For the purpose Of max
ing it easy to do this. have prepared
for the Standard the form Of an amend
! ed declara tory. statement to be printed.
Any person, by oht7 lining one of these
forms from the publishers Of the Stand
ard, can file an amended declaratory
statement as easily as an original
| one.
II have also prerared for the Stand
| ard an original dee1arat7ry statement
to be filed In the first instance. which
will be printed and kept in stock bv the
Standard. The forms are not as short
as some others. but It is impossible to
make them brief and vet contain all
that the law requires. They are simple
to fill out however, so that any per-
son Of ordinary intelligence who uses
them can make out declaratory state
ment that will fully comply with the
law. EDWARD B. HOWELL.
Butte, Mont, Dec. is. 1897