Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1905-08-26
FOR THE MINERS PROTECTION.

paper which was read before the Cali
fornia Miners Association by E. A.
Belcher in 1904. That part of It which
deals with the patenting and location of
mines is especially worthy of attention,
owing to the conditions created by the
survey as agricultural land of township
20, which embraces a large scope of Elk
City mining district. The survey, as
agricultural, has been protested, we are
informed, upon the grounds set forth
by this part of Mr.. Belcher's paper.
"1-The extrlateral right should be
utterly abolished 1t is a thing of evil.
Within my reading no one statutory pro-
vision has been so productive of endless
and costly litigation as this. No mine
owner can say with assurance that his
title is quoted for all time. At any
stage some new development may start
a new suit; at any depth his vein may
intersect another and be lost to him if
he chances to be the junior locator; at
any point his vein is liable to develop
into complex fissure and involve him
in endless controversy over the doctrln
of underlap and connecting veins.
''2-The rules for perfecting a mining
location require radical changes; never
theless, changes should be advisedly
considered so as not to handicap too
severely the honest miner.
''3-The new federal law should be
comprehensive. 1t should provide for a
record in the land office and should pro-
vide, negatively, that no other record
be required. That, so far as concerns
mines not patented, would do away with
the record of the county recorder and
the record of the local mining district
and their accompanying expenses and
dangerous uncertainties. Such provis-
ions, of course, would not be retroactive,
it would apply to future conditions and
would not disturb the chain of any title
already initiated.
1.-THE proposed legislation should also,
in exact terms, do away with that con-
tinuing source of infinite perpleXity, the
local rules and regulations of miners.
The tenth census report contains Clar-
ence Kings complication of the local
rules and regulations Of miners, but it
does not contain all of them, for many
exist only in tradition and can be proved
only through that dangerous medium
parole. A matter so important as q
rule that is to affect conduct ought not
to be left to parole. Besides there is
no good reason why there should not be
uniformity of procedure. The necessity
of uniformity of procedure is daily be-
coming more and more exigent in al
affairs, particularly those of a lega
nature. The proposed new system
therefore, should be a complete system
and it should be exclusive. If a mine
is worth working, it is worth patenting
at is easily perceivable that if ledge
should chance to run beyond the verti
cal planes of the boundaries at a deptl
still permitting work, then, as the only
discovery possible would be by tn,
owner at the place of crossing, h,
could make side location based on hi
own discovery at the place of crossing
and protect himself. His would be tn,
op1x valid location &c hainor tba opl,
location founded on discovery. In al
most any contingency the owner of tn,
original location would be in a situation
to protect himself against the Jumper
because the Jumper" could make n,
discovery upon which to found vail,
location of the ground lying to the sid
of the original location into which tn
ledge projects in its dip after crossin,
the vertical boundary Of the origina
location. The only possibility of an,
trouble accruing to the owner of tn
original location, where the ledge cross
es his boundary and he desires to con
tinue to work it, would be where a sid
location embraced an apex of its ow
from which to the lode of the origina
location there might, at the depth O
the boundary crossing, be a cross-cut
But such contingency would be pre-
vided against by giving the owner of tn
original location right to make a sid
location calculated to embrace the di