The National tribune., 1903-04-09
AN UNUSUAL MINING CLAIM.


of the Western Estates, having been ap-
pealed from theslawer courts.
AN UNUSUAL MINING CLAIM.
In the monthnof March, 1898, n Ger
man woodchoppenswho had entered into
contract for SURVIVING restaurant in
small mining town with stove wood, found
and brought to town small clOd of very
| heavy clay (seemingly), which he took to
| the house Of a very intimate friend. lie
stated to his friend that he had found the
little lump in a dry river bed reputed to
This friend, who was an experienced
prospector, after washing the find" and
examining it carefully, discovered that it
| was n gold nugget weighing seven ounces.
| Under mutual promise of strict secrecy the
prospector was taken to the place OF dis
covery, which lie found to be sort of an
open cave situated under an immense pro-
| lection of the hills above, clearly re-
| suit of long lasting erosion caused by the
heavy flow from mountain streams or
| rivulets descending from the surrounding
| mountains during the rainy seasons. The
| cave extended about so feet under the
rocky roof thus formed and its bottom was
very sandy. The two men dug for water
| on the spot and found a flowing stream
let as soon as they reached bedrock at a
depth of about - feet. They washed
some of the sand and found placer gold
in paying quantities., All this had easily
been done in perfect secrecy, the location
being in an out-of-the-way place in re-
giOn where no wagon road existed. Access
sible only to the foot of man, burro or
| mountain sheep.
About a month after they had begun
the reaping of the golden harvest their
work was interrupted by a heavy flow of
water caused by the melting snow on the
surrounding mountains. When the river
bed had become dry once more they re-
sumed their work, finding the cave some
what enlarged and much new sand ac-
cumulated, among which they found two
quartz nuggets of free gold, weighing
four and six ounces respectively. The
miner then began to look for the quartz
ledge and soon discovered it directly over
his head in the immense overhanging
| rocky formation. Thereupon they took
the necessary steps towards laying out a
mining claim in legal form, built the re-
quired monuments, drew up the custo-
mary location notice and filed it for record
at the County-Seat on May Z, 1898.
In the meantime q ScOtchman, also
prospector, had gone over the region, but
higher up, and lie happened to find n gold
bearing ledge upon the surface of a rocky
hill which projected into a canyon form
ing dry river bed where, however, dur
ing the rainy season and in time of the
melting snow, there would evidently be an
abundance of water. After lie had cleared
away the Outcropping Of the ledge he
discovered that the latter penetrated per-
pendicularly dOwwards, and before he
had excavated 20 feet he struck what he
knew to be n rich vein Of gold-bearing
quartz, well defined, about IS inches wide
and gradually growing wider. He laid
out mining claim and filed his location
notice for record dated May II, 1898. Then
he hired help and began to develop his
claim in earnest,s digging farther and
farther along his svein, which tended to-
ward the earth'sc center without the least
deviation.
The German and his partner, having Sc
cured their claimuin the manner provid-
ed by law, had no further occasion to
practice secrecy in their undertakings.
They opened the ledge over their heads
and, constructing e scaffOlding which they
elongated from time to time, began dig
ging upwards; theH soon ascertained that
they were following a well-defned vein
of rich, -gold-beanhg quartz about %
inches in width The reck was quite soft
and yielded readily to2the crowbar, so
that no blasting wns required. The
Scotchman above had the same experience
after he had penetrated the hard rock
on the surface. Thus each of the two
parties. one working down and the other
upwards. soon had shaft over 100 feet
io.lB. loWdTu Tire BEGINNING Oh july lt
seemed to the ScOtchman that he heard
peculiar noises somewhere under him, and
at times he thought he felt slight vibra-
tons in the surrounding rock, especially
underfOOt. The German below had about
the same sensation, and this mutual SEN
sation kept increasing from day to day
until both came to the natural solution of
the matter under the circumstances: One,
that somebody was working the same
claim under him; the other that someone
was picking and digging away above him.
At last the crust of earth remaining be-
tween the two parties had become so
thin that the voices Of the workers
reached each other. The German began
to loudly sing THE Watch on the Rhine"
lowing 1.-THE Campbells Are Coming" A
few strokes more and the Scotchman
found himself upon the scaffolding be-
tween the German and his partner.
A suit for the rightful ownership of the
mining claim was the result The lower
court decided in favor of the Scotchman.
taking the ground that, although the Ger
man had filed prior claim, his claim did
not entitle him to anything above the sur
face, where he ought to have filed placer
claim upon the river bed or surface of
the canyon.
The Supreme Court, however, reversed
the judgment of the lower court, giving
the claim TO the German. 1t he'd that n
mining claim entitled the claimant to all
the mineral contained within the bound
aries of said claim, be the same in what
ever direction it might be, and as the Ger
mans location notice was made, filed and
recorded four days previous to the other,
it held the German to be the rightful
owner of the mine, whose ore by the way,
averaged $515 to the ton.
THE BUFFALO COW.
Late enc night a -all-work, hay
ing recently come from the Eastern
States, applied for employment at a small
farm situated in a fertile valley of
Western State. Attached to this farm
was n small dairy. and it so happened
that the mixer had been taken sick on that
very day and been removed to the hospi-
tai in the neighboring city. The belated
traveller applying for work was healthy
looking young man with pleasant man
ners, using good language and wearing
decent clothing. His services were very
much needed. for he declared himself to
be an expert mixer and all-around diary
man. The farmer, who intended to start
very early on the following morning to
the nearest market town with a wagon
load of garden truck, before anybody
would be UP, told the new man to begin
milking at o'clock. He showed him to
his room and communicated to his wife
the new mans arrival, requesting her to