Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-03
LAW Of APEX AND ITS APPLICATION

The law of apex and it's application
was very deliberately efned by Judge
Knowles on Wednesday at Helena in his
to the jury in the big min
ing suit involving title to the ore be-
action was one in which the Butte &
meath the Michael Dewitt claim. The
Butte & Boston company sought to re-
cover $500, 900, the alleged value of ore
extracted from the Michael Dewitt
through the Rarus workings. The
Heinze people contended that they had a
right to the ore because the veins from
which the ore was extracted had their
apex in Rarus ground. The Butte & Bos-
tom people disputed this contention and
claimed that the apex was in the Michael
Dewitt, which was purchased by that
company about two years ago for $6O1,-
900. Judge Knowles decided in favor of
the Montana Ore Purchasing company.
The court began by ~instructing the
jury as to the issues involved. He ex-
planned that the plaintiff had brought
the action to recover $3.50, 900, in two sep
arate causes Of action, one for ore ex-
tracted prior to February 2, 1897, and an
other for ore taken out subsequent to
vndL udte. ne cApld1lcu Tie cllcCl Ol 41C
agreements entered into between the
parties by stipulation. He went on to
tell of the answer filed by the defend
ants and their denial of the charge that
they a wrongfully extracted the ore.
It was agreed, said h judge, that the
ore extracted from the disputed Slopes
was extracted by the defendant and that
they were found beneath the surface Of
the Michael Dewitt claim. Those ores,
he said, presumably belonged to plain
tiff, and hence the burden of proof was
upon the defendant to establish that it
under the law was entitled to them. In
obedience to that legal requirement the
defendant had introduced evidence to the
effect that the ores in the Windlass vein
had an apex within the Johnstown n
Rarus claims.
The court reviewed the contentious of
both sides as to the existence of apexes
within their properties. He went into
them in detail, giving the names of the
raises and workings through which the
defense claimed to trace the ore to the
surface. That, said the court, the palm
tiff controverted, and claimed that the
raises named either passed through bar
rem country rock in reaching the Rarus
ground or that the veins disclosed there
by apexed in the Michael Dewitt and
mostly against the east fault and did not
pass into the Rarus ground. The plain
tiff also claimed, The judge said, that
the Windlass vein vas also shown to have
Its top in the Michae Dewitt by the
openings and workings which he then
proceeded to enumerate.
Whether or not this contention Of thu
plaintiff is correct, or that Of the defend
ant" the court summarizes, "is' a ques-
ton for you to determine"
The court spoke OF the ground lyine
between the transverse assures or
faults. The contentious of the litigants
on that subject was reviewed and the
court aid that it was a matter for the
jury to determine. This is important
he said. lin determining whether or not
the Windlass vein, upon it's dip, passes
up and through the fault, maintaining It,
continuity. into the Rarus ground"
The distance of the Windlass vein in
dispute. the court said, was 277 feet with
only 81 feet thereof lying east of thu
east fault. $50 there would be at least
$40 feet of the said vein which, accord.
ing to the plaintiffs claims, apexed be.
meath the said east fault" he went on
Hence it will be seen that It is an i'm.
portant question as to whether said weir
maintains it's identity through the faultel
region, and passes, on it's dip, into tn,
Rarus ground" The Judge said with re,
lation to the Correlation theory"
Theplamtfh has advanced what ha.
been determined a correlation theory.