Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1909-10-09
GOVERNMENT LAND CASES.
DEADwooD, S. D., Oct. 8, 1903.


DEApwoop, S. D., Oct. 5, 1903.
EDITOR CHRONICLE:
The land claimed as the Lew Hare
Stone Placer has been held by Mr.. West
over for over twelve years and during
that entire period, although held as a
placer claim, no development workten
ing to develop the supposed stone depos'
fts has been done by Mr.. Westoyer. On
the other hand, the land in question mas
been used by him for agricultural pur-
poses. After the passage OF the Act oi
June IL, 1906, making possible the home
stealing of agricultural lands within the
Forest, Mr.. Wesiover over his own sig
nature and in his own hand writing, APP
piled to the Forester for the examina'
tiop and classification Of this land stat
ing In his letter that the same ma" no
value as mineral land bnt was OF great
value for agricultural purposes. upon
receipt of his application the examina-
ton showed that he was not qua'ined 10
make homestead entry, and in view OF
this fact the Service thought it desirable
to withdraw the area for administrative
purposes.
From this you will see that the with
drawal was not made until Mr.. West
over himself, had called attention 10 the
value of the land from an agricultural
standpoint and it had also been found
that he was not qualified under the
homestead laws to make entry OF the
land.
Although Mr.. Westover had held this
place for all these years, there are no
evidences of his having developed the
stone possibilities. There are four shafts
upon the land in question, two are IN
pretty good shape and are equipped with
pumps and afford the source OF water
for domestic purposes.
The third shaft may have been 20 or
80 feet deep although evidences are lack
ing at the present time, the same being
filled up within four feet ofthe top. The
fourth shaft is in the creek bed and was
also filed up within five or six feet OF
the top. The conditions OF the shaft
show quite clearly that no use for de-
velopment of the supposed stone depos-
its has been made and that their pur'
pose was quite foreign to such develop
ment.
The second case against the Harvey
Peak Tin Mining, Milling and Manufac-
turing Company was brought because
they had illegally removed timber from
mining claims for which they had not
received patent. Patent was refused for
Ruby Group No. 8 and the records ofthe
land office show that the reasons for this
refusal we're embodied in Il letter sent
10 the attorney of the Company, thus
the statement that the application for
patent was suspended without notice to
the Company is misleading. The Com
pany did not take any steps to renstate
this application for patent until the For
est Service had seized the material re-
moved.
II vas further brought ont at the hear
ing that the discovery of mineral on
these claims which according to the law
is to precede the location of the ground
as mineral claims, was not made until
after the survey, and that the discovery
cuts were dug at places staked by the
surveyor making the survey. This ac-
ton in itself shows quite clearly with
what good faith the claims were located.
Although the original Ruby Group No.
8 vas located for its supposed valuable
deposits of gold, since, renewed steps
have been taken by the Company to re-
instate the application for patent and
thus save themselves from the charge of
illegally removing the timber, valuable
deposits of mica were alleged to exist
and nothing whatever said about gold.
Very truly yours,
PAUL ID. KELLETER,
Forest Supervisor.