Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1903-03-31
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IYNHERE didn't seem to be any

"\HERE didn't seem to be any
Is thing for respectable, law abid-
H ing 'citizens to do but stand
aside and let 'em shoot out.
If either had been professional claim
jumper or bad man" or one had
been a tenderfoot, it would have been
different.
But with Jack Walker and Ben Jones
claiming the same ground we had no
call to interfere. 1t would not have
been neighborly and maybe not quite
safe. They were both square men and
good miners. who knew their rights and
how to stand up for 'em. We were sor-
rs enough. for good men were none too
thick in Mercur, but it was their party.
and we were not invited.
The trouble came about in this way:
Their claims joined OH the sides. Wal
ker's was located back in the seventies.
but he followed the placer boom into
Idaho and only did his assessment
work until shortly after Ben Jones To-
Gated the ground to the west. when Il!
came back and went TO work in good
earnest. He struck Il splendid lead and
after doing the necessary development
applied for patent. The official sur
vey showed his claim bore more TO t.,'
west than anybody supposed ANA at
the south end extended some sixty feet
over on the ground Jones was worki!:.;
and took in his shaft. Now, the slEi: I
was down 200 feet or more, and had
cost lot of good money and hari
work, and was in ore besides, but that
wasn't by any means the worst. The
apex of Jones' vein WIS in this little
triangular piece Of ground, and it was
q strong vein and the only one he had
yet found.
The apex of the vein Is the point
where 1t comes nearest the surface.
When 1t is found on ones claim. the
owner may follow the vein on its dip
(Which is Its direction into the c:.r,h)
between his end lines to the lower re
gions. If he wants to, and all the ore in
1t belongs to him. This may not strike
you as quite fair. but is mining law
nevertheless. as held by the courts. and
miners often find their best workings
under the surface ground of their
nCighbors.
To understand this trouble you ought
to know how mining locations are
made. A claim may be loo feet long
by 800 on each side of the discovery.
When 1t is located. stakes OF monu'
ments are put up ut the point OF dis
covery and at each corner. showing its
dimensions and direction. and Ce'
scription of ii. giving date Of location
and name Of locator. is recorded wish
the district recorder. and it cannot
thercaftb be changed. and all suDs2-
Quent locations are made with reicr'
ence to it.
When you remember that miners are
not surveyors. and measurements are
made by stepping the ground. ana the
side of a mountain is not rs level us Il
floor, and that courses are run by loo!;'
ing at the sun or north star, you will
conclude that accuracy is next TO i'm
possible until an actual survey is made.
Jones searched the records before he
located and tied to the older claim. TAX
ing Walkers west line for his east. He
found Walkers northwest corner stake
all right and stepped LOO feet IN a
southwesterly direction. that being the
direction the records showed the claim
to run. but failed to find the southwest
corner stake. So he went over to the
southeast one, which was still standing.
and stepped 800 feet westward ut right
angles to the other line. as nearly as he
could guess It, to where he intercepted
the other line. He called that point
Walkers southwest corner and his
northeast and put up monument.
You see how easy 1t is to make mis-
take of a few feet, and you will also
see, If you are as bright rs you look,
that it wouldn't be difficult some pleas
ant evening after Jones had struck it
in his shaft for Walker to move his
southeast stake little to the west and
thus float his claim in that direction.
The whole thing depended on that
stake. Walkers was the prior location
and if the stake hadn't been moved the
ground was his, and if ii had been ii
was Il mighty hard thing to prove. That
swinging stakes and floating claim is
killing business if you are caught. or
was before courts and lawyers got so
thick, but it is sometimes done never
theless.
Jones knew the law and Of course
knew the vein went into his ground
through the side line and that Walker
could follow it if he got the apex and
take all of his ore.
He had staked the ground himself,
and had been honest and careful about
1t, and had spent all his money and two
years Of awfully hard work in the
shaft. He was absolutely certain
Walker had floated his claim and in
tended to steal the ground, and he
didn't propose to let it go that way. To
60 to court meant big money for law
yers, surveyors and experts, and he
didn't have any money to throw away.
Besides, courts were slow. and he
would be enjoined from taking out ore
until the case was decided, and then
the chances were about even it would
be decided wrong anyway. The ground
was his. He had located and developed
it and wasn't going to be beaten out Of
1t. So the night after the survey he
quietly moved his tent down near the
shaft, went to town and got Winches
ters for himself and his two miners.
pulled up the surveyors stakes and an.
nounced that he would hold the prop
erty. OF course he had no business TO
do that. What he ought to have done
was to file contest in the land office
and protest Walkers patent. then com
mence suit in the district court to de
termne the title and that is just what
HOOD F4RM