The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-10-01
MINE OWNERS
ARE INDIGNANT
Organization is Proposed to Give
Protection Against Claim
Jumpers.
WILL HOLD MEETING SOON
Declare That Such Persons Should
BE Severely Dealt
WILL HOLD MEETING SOON

Mine owners and owners of mining
land in the district are indignant
over the activity of claim jumpers
who are alleged to have tied up "A
number of local properties on tech
nicalites, and propose to form per
manent organization by which they
will secure protection from this class
of persons. and which will take ac-
'ivo and aggressive measures to Sc
cure relief from the abuses which
are said to exist here to marked eX-
tent.
Owners of property declare that
the claim Jumpers take advantage of
all the technicalities that can be
found in the somewhat complicated
mining laws of the state and that an
| unscrupulous person can find a peg
upon which to hang his contention
of ownership to a party or all of
large number of the properties of
| the district.
In Tonopah and Goldfield the same
| trouble was experienced by the legi-
| innate owners of properties. these
men went about the matter system
atically, organized protection
| league, and took active and persist
ent measures to secure the desired
relief.
The result was that the relief was
obtained. and the trouble that they
had previously experienced was end
ed.
81 certainly think the citizens
should put a stop to the present
claim jumping said D. c. McDon-
aid, "and for one, I will lend a
hand
Gas a business man." said A. b,
Witcher, cashier of the First Ma
tional bank. II would say that moth
, ing can cast more of a. hiieht over
| 1uur mining Industry, tirffn- -rtrfsss 'Tecifs
nical claim jumping"
legally said Attorney Charles
| Walker ''it is possible to involve al
most any unpatented claim and such
| litigation is well nigh interminable.
| 1t should he stopped.
Il nave been buyer of many un-
patented claims in this district. said
f. S. Pheby, capitalist and retired
| banker, "but | could not advise a
| purchase at this time on account of
claim jumping. | see no reason why
certain persons here cannot go right
through the district and tie up as
many claims as they see fit.
"a have lived in Tonopah and Gold
| field during such times and the mat
| ter was settled at once and for all
time by the citizens taking the mat
ter in their own nands. You know
what that means and every mining
camp comes to it sooner or later and
it is about time for the claim owners
of Ely to get busy.
| J. Marks is also emphatic in his
denunciation of the practice of claim
| jumping, and made this statement:
| Il lived in Nome when this same
business was going on. An indigna-
ton meeting and a committee of res
olute citizens straightened the whole
matter out in short order? Put me
down on a similar committee if my
services are needed.
| Tex Rickard, who is also largely
interested in this district expresses
a feeling of insecurity in the matter
of purchasing nnpatented claims.
| 1 have been a big buyer of I'M
| patented claims here in this district.
he said 'and feel anything but Sc
cure with the present litigation and
claim jumping going on. We settled
1
and it did not take long, either
| w. A. Leonard of the Mining Rec
ord, says that he has seen the same
thing before. In Clifton, AriZ., such
work was started, but that was all.
''It only takes few days to settle
these matters if we get started
right" he said.
| Among many other expressions of
well known men concerning the sub
ject, are the fonowing:
| Attorney Anthony Jurich: 1T is
well nigh impossible to make a loca-
| ton that will stand against the tech
nical claim jumper. Even after 500
per claim has been spent in an elab-
crate survey, something might be
overlooked. As an attorney | like
to see litigation but for the good of
! this district, this business of taking
claims any place and any where, as
is being done in this district, win so
completely discourage investment,
that all we can depend on is the few
| big companies of the camp. We all
know of the hundreds of thousands
of dollars that have been distributed
| here in the last year or more by pur-
chasers and ii We discourage these,
we will see harder times than we are
now having. The courts are too slow
to settle these kinds of cases and We
can better settle them ourselves and
right away at that
w n McGill: Il have lived in
this community for many years and
we never found any fault with the
other fellows location. If he saw
the ground first and showed good
faith, he was never moested for a
trifling technicality. Put the claim
jumper down and by direct and sum-
mary methods. We will never live
long enough to put these cases all
: through the courts.
!, Thomas O'Neil: Il can't see what
security any claim owner here has
} with this jumping going on. Put 1t
: down and put me in for one tnat Will
: help. There are two thousand claims
= at least in this district that must be
Continued on page fouro