The San Francisco call., 1899-04-17

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involved, the prominence of the parties
and the attendant circumstances that pro-
! Vlde variety make the case a notable one
and the story one of exceptional interest,
! though public attention has not before
| been drawn to it.
| This mine is the Gold Hill mine, close to
Grass Valley, and the company owning it
! IS defendant in the case of the Peabody
Gold Mining Company VS.. the Gold Hill
Mining Company. The suit seeks to dis
| possess the Gold l1il company of a large
part of its patented Ground, and of veins
therein of which the defendant has had
| undisputed possession for over genera
ton, on the ground that the patent is in
part Illegal and null and void.
The Gold Hill mine is mainly owned by
E. w. Hopkins, the president of that COM
pany, and the adjoining Peabody mine is
controlled by Baron Won Schroeder, so
that the legal war is practically between
these two millionaires. The real motive
and reason of the suit is not in any inclin-
alton on the part of Baron Won Schroeder
to Jump" some of a neighbor's ground,
as has nominally been done, but in a sus-
p1cion on the part of the. Peabody people
that the deeper Cod Hill workings are
getting into their subterranean territory,
and in wish TO protect their interests
below as they think they see them The
litigation began last fall and thereupon
the Gold Hill people properly ont work
with water so that no explorations could
! figure in the case.
The initial phase of the case. involving
an injunction against the defendant, was
recently argued and submitted by A. II.
| Ricketts, for the complainant and by e.
| W. McGraw for the respondent. The de-
| legal points presented Will take an i'm
portant place in mining jurisprudence.
One treads dangerous ground in sur
! retyin nf bnPinntnp
quartz mining in California. Much con-
| hict of authority can be quickly found.
! Collaborating quartz was found before
| fame rushed to Gold Mountain, as placer
gold was found before Marshall saw his
nugget, but it was the Gold Mountain dis
covery that started the quartz mining ex-
element, and it is generally taken as the
beginning The Gold Hill mine is GER
! tainly the oldest one in California, and its
reputation as the first one is justified
| This history of the very beginning
| sticks out of the case at bar in a charm
ing way, yet in a disappointing way, be-
cause of its incompleteness, and the case
turns largely on this early history, as SO
many suits involving millions have turned
In the acts and rude methods of careless
prospectors long before.
1t is undisputably shown that the dis
covery was made by Cracklin on Decem-
ber 80 1850. At that time miners were
working in placer diggings in the region
about what is now Grass Valley, close to
the present limits of which town Cold
Mountain stands. A party of miners were
camping in this hill and Cracklin was one
of them.
In his splendid report on 1.-The gold-bear-
ing quartz veins of the Grass Valley and
Nevada City mining districts" published
recently by the United States Geological
Survey Waldemar Lindgren says that the
first find of collaborating quartz was made
1850 He sold the piece for s., and it
yielded 500. other fields of float attracted
little attention, but in November, 1850, a
rich shoot of ore was. struck by miners
digging a hole for cabin chimney. Great
excitement followed, and locations were
made He states that the rock was first
crushed in mortars with strong pole,
and that the Huff Company took out
1900 that way that winter. The first
mill, a rude and nearly useless one. was
put up in January, 1851, and soon after a
better eight-stamp mill was erected and
crushed rock for $50 a ton, the miners
being paid S12 a day. This eminent geolo-
gist doubtless fell into error when he es-
The affidavits of Thomas Cracklin and
others, filed in the suit show that Crack
Inns discovery was made on December 30,
1850. The circumstances are not related
Whatever rich float had been picked up
before, this was the discovery. A local
excitement was on. probably within an
hour. Whether the ledge in place or its
broken top was found that day is not
shown. The rock. however, was very rich.
ed down the hill partly disintegrated and
ctally three or four feet below the surface
The details Of what was said and done
on the hill that day would make interest
ing reading and would doubtless he
worthy material for Bret Harte. 1t is
known, however, that before that day
ended the miners there exhibited their
characteristic energy, capacity for self
government and respect for justice and
order by meeting, organizing mining
tria nd odn ln 1rC c
ment. These laws are of record in Ne
vada County and certified copy is on ex-
hibit in the case that drags them forth.
They are the laws of the first quartz min
ing district in America and have never
been published in any permanent record.
They are brief, sensible and may be said
to be picturesque and they do not seem to
require Philadelphia lawyers. The fol-
lowing are some of the sections:
Cold Mountains laws, passed December
Article One. These diggings shall be
claims shall be headed accordingly.
stitute a full claim.
Fifth. All persons can hold one claim
by occupancy and any number by pur-
"Sixth When a claim has been proper
ly staked, numbered and recorded 1t can
be held without tools being left upon it
or any work being done until the first day
Of April 1851, without interruption by the
owner.
Tenth All difficulties and suits arising
out of claims, trespasses, etc, shall be
tried before the Recorder, with two other
miners, one to be chosen by each party
An appeal, however may be taken to the
Justice of the Peace.
Eleventh. Any person who takes
away or uses tools of another without
permission of the owner shall forfeit all
his rights upon the mountain. If he has
no interests then he shall be made to pay
twice the original value.
Twelfth. Any person who throws dirt
or rock upon the claim of another shall
be made to remove 1t or forfeit their right
of claims on the mountain"
These laws of the Gold Mountain dis
trict are worthy of a prominent place
among the hundreds of mining codes
voluntarily adopted by a people dom
mated by Anglo-Saxon nature and ideas
at a time when it was wholly a law
unto itself and a sufficient one 1t was
the mass of such laws, so nodded that
crystallized, became the first Federal
mining law of 1866 and again the present
law of 1872 and a thing unique in the
worlds legislative history.
1t will be observed that these first laws
of a quartz mining district show no cog
nizarice of quartz conditions, and this
fact becomes of great Importance In the
suit at issue. Those miners who figured
in that historic excitement" and rush
of December 30, 1850, knew nothing about
quartz veins. They proceeded as placer