Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1905-08-26

perpendicular plains of the location the
vein could be worked as deep as desired
or as practicable"
Speaking of the conditions that have
attended the patenting of mines and
the making of mining locations, Belcher
said in part:
"Save in the occasional instances
where patents to mines have been OBJ
tanned, as compared to the vast number
of mining locations in which no land
office proceedings looking to patent have
been taken, there is no defnate segre-
cation of mineral lands from agricul-
tural. The fault is that of system. In
no other land than ours would such a
system be tolerated. Under the federal
law the mere location, together with
the required expenditure for labor and
improvement, gives permissive title for
an indefnate period-that is, it is sup
posed TO do so. The statute does not
compel the locator to procure patent;
it does not even require him to record
his location. Only state or mining
district laws require record.
Method is Faulty.
GAS a consequence, under the federal
law, unless proceedings to obtain pat
ent are initiated, there is nothing to
connect the mining location with the
land office-the place provided by law
for the disposition of the public lands.
In the absence of an application for
patent no one can know anything about
a mining location save the locator, those
who he has informed, those who may
chance to be on the ground and see the
stakes, and those who are constructively
informed by the record of location in
the office of the recorder of the mining
district or the Office of the county re-
corder
"Such record is supposed to give con-
structive notice, but its capacity in that
direction is limited Confessidly it is
no notice at all to the paramount pro-
prietor the United States. The United
States knows nothing relating to its
public domain, save such matters as,
under it's laws for the disposal of the
public domain, appear in the United
States land offices where the public land
is sold The land Office is for the gen.
eral government the recording office.
1t knows what is there of record, but it
does not know what is of record in the
Offices of mining recorders or the offices
of county recorders, and does not and,
in the nature of things, cannot take any
conservative notice therefrom.
GAS it is the owner of the land it can
not take notice of anything affecting
the title save what is of record in the
place it has provided for that specific
purpose. The law of mining districts
and of some of the states require rec
ord of mining locations, but the reason
for requiring mining location to be re-
corded in a local Office antedating the
enactment of the federal mining law
long since lost it's force because federal
surveys of the public lands have since
been widely extended. General with
drawals of wide regions supposedly
mineral in character, such as the with
drawals in accordance with the report
of J. Ross Browne in the '70s, have
been set aside as conflicting with the
policy of the government for the dispo-
sition of the public domain as a means
of increasing the national wealth and
resources, and because the real policy
of the government, Notwithstanding the
imperfect provisions of the law, is that
the mineral lands shall be sold as such
and not reserved as such.
Strange complications have occurred.
Mr.. Belcher gave specific instances. In
a general way the following presenta.
ton was made:
''In instances known mineral lands
have been returned as such by the dep
uty agricultural surveyors in the fielC
and plated as of that character; but
otherwise than as they are so plated
from casual examination, and otherwise
than as segregated by deputy United
States mineral surveyors in patent pro
ceedings, the government maps give nc
information as to what are minera
lands. Some of the best mines have
been discovered upon lands surveyed
returned and plated as being agricul
tural in character.
'In places, public lands returned az
agricultural in character, or at least a!
not mineral, are, in fact, covered by
mining locations, duly recorded undel