Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-08-07
A LIBERAL DECISION
The Secretary of the Interior Re-
verses the Surveyor General Of
New Mexico. ..
OF IMPORTANCE TO MINERS

nicalities Should Be Tolerated Against
Mine Owners Making Application
for Patent.
Hon. E. A. Hitchcock, secretary O
| the interior, recently promulgated tn,
| decision in the case Of "In re Albemarl,
| and other lode mining claims" Thes,
claims are situate in the Cochiti min
ing district. This decision is broad ant
liberal in it's scope, and deserves NOR
than passing notice, for it is of impor
tance to the mining interests of thi:
territory, and shows that the secretary
of the interior and the law officers OF
that department do not propose to toll
crate any legal quibbling or the use OF
immaterial technicalities when it comes
to according miners and mine owners
reasonable facility for expediting anG
securing patents on their mining
claims. In the case at issue, Charles H
Toll and others applied for patents fo,
the Albemarle group of mines in the
Cochiti mining district to the surveyo,
general of New Mexico, the first ster
in this proceeding being the making OF
an order of survey Of the claims with 8
view to securing patent. United States
Deputy Mineral Surveyor Fl. T. Brown
was assigned to the work. and being
unable to find a government corner
with which to connect within the two
mile limit, and there having been nc
mineral monument established in the
district at the time Of making the sur
vey, the deputy, after diigent search,
found the corner of sections 10, IA, %
and "a, township Is north, range 4
east, to which he connected the sur
vey of the Albemarle group of mining
claims. In the field notes of the sur
vey, returned to the surveyor generals s
office, he described the point to which
connection was made as a pine post,
properly marked as the corner of said
sections, and in addition to the post,
stated that there was a sand stone in a
mound of rocks there also, which indi-
Gated that the post had been set to rem
der the section corner more conspicu-
Gus and more easily identified. The
survey of the Albemarle claims YVES ap-
proved by the surveyor general, and
thereafter formal application for pat
ent was duly made, and advertisement
of the application for ninety days was
ordered. During the running of this ad-
vertisement the surveyor general OF
this territory, Quinby Vance, discov-
cred great big mares nest in this, that
the said corner to sections 13. IA, % and
"a was not described by the deputy sur
veyor as it was described by the field
notes which he had on file in his office
Of the original survey of the township
in question. The surveyor general de-
cided that the only proper corner mark
ing was sand stone in a mound of
rocks, and he held that the pine post,
which the deputy had reported as near
a monument Of sandstone set in a
mound of rocks, was over half {. mile
out of the way of the true and correct
section corner; that "the connection of
the said claim was made to a fictitious
and not an actual corner of the public
surveys" Before plating the Albe-
marie group the surveyor general re-
quired another survey and connection
made with mineral monument
which had been established by another
deputy mineral surveyor, and then he
made a report to the commissioner of
the general land office, in which he at
tempted to set forth the condition Of
the surveys executed in the Cochiti dis
trict, and cast doubts upon the correct
ness of the resurveys, especially as to
the corner to which the Albemarle
group had been connected.
On the strength of this report, made
by Surveyor General Vance, the COM
missioner Of the general land Office
suspended all entries in the township
wherein the Albemarle group Is situ-
ated, which is in the very heart of the
rapidly developing and very important
Cochiti mining district. Surveys and
applications for patents to mining
claims being thus held up, matters be-
gan to assume a very serious and cost
ly shape for the mine owners and the
miners in the district. The commission
er also issued an order requiring the
claimants to the Albemarle group 10 re-
advertise their notices Of applications
for patents. The surveyor general also
held that the locations of the Lone Star
group of mining claims were not good,
and declared the surveys thereof In its
connections to be erroneous, and
should be disregarded and discarded
for such reasons" A strong appeal and
protest against this action Of the sur
veyor general was made by the attor-
neys for Toll ct al, who requested a
rehearing before the commissioner Of
the general land office in the case. This
was denied, and they accordingly took
the matter up on appeal to the secre-
tary Of the interior. The appeal was ac-
companied by maps and full state
ment Of the facts in support of their
view Of the case, that the ''pine post"
as described by the deputy mineral sur
veyor. constituted the true and correct
section corner, and that the survey
made by Brown should stand ard be
approved.
The secretary rendered a decision, re-
verslng the surveyor general and the
commissioner Of the land office, and
holding in the decision as follows:
Whether or not the said pine post Is
ultimately shown to be the true corner
last mentioned Il annears that II was