The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-12-04
MINING LAW IS NOT
FILLING THE BILL
Unsatisfactory Conditions Un-
der Which Oil Lands Have
to Be Entered.
QUESTION FOR CONGRESS
STATEMENT GIVEN OUT BY DR..
HAYES, CHIEF GEoLoGlsT.

Washington, D. c., Dec. 3.-In con-
nection with the recent action Of the
administration in Withdrawing from en-
try over 5000, 600 acres of public pc
troleum lands in California, Wyoming,
Utah and oregon, the following state
ment is given out by DR.. c. w. Hayes,
chief geolosist Of the United States geo
logical survey:
ITO remedy the present unsaustacto-
~ conditions by which public oil lands
have to be entered under a law framed
primarily to provide for placer gold
mining entries, it is generally admitted
by those interested in the economical
development Of oil lands that a radical
revision of the American mining law is
necessary Anticipating that congress
viii recognize and meet this evident
need, the secretary of the interior has
withdrawn from all forms Of entry all
vacant public lands designated by the
geological survey as probably contain
ing oil and gas This executive action
is, however. only temporary, and Is in
tended TO preserve the statue quo until
congress acts.
when the present placer mining law
was enacted probably no one I'm con-
gress, or out, had any idea that it would
ever be made to cover deposits so far
removed in every essential characteris-
tic from gold-bearing gravels as are oil
and gas. Yet when oil was found on
the public lands no other law was on
the statue books except the placer law
under which title to it could be acquired,
and this anomalous and wholly unsatis-
factory condition still holds-tO the
great detriment both Of the govern
ment and of the oil industry.
Where the Law Is Lame.
"The fundamental basis of a location
under the placer law is discovery, and
the courts have held unifoTmally that
there can be no legal location until
there has been d discovery. But in the
nature Of the case there can be no dis
cOvery of oil until a well has been
drilled at great expense, since Ordinari-
ly there are no surface indications Of
the oil and the well must be drilled upon
purely geological inference. 1t follows
therefore, that the dTiller viii be wholly
unprotected against rival claimants to
the land until he has completed his first
well, or he will be forced to make a
false claim to discovery on which to
base his location.
zone very common method Of eVad-
ing the law IS to locate oil under the
guise of a gypsum claim. In many Of
the California oil land fields the surface
soil contains a small amount of gypsum,
although rarely in sufficient quantity
or purity TO be profltably mined, even if
faVOrably located for transportation
and market 1t affords a preteXt, how
ever. for a location under the placer law,
and large numbers of claims have been
patented where it is a matter of COM
mon knowledge that the real object is
to acquire title to the oil. In this way
land worth thousands Of dollars an acre
has been acquired from the government
for $3.50 an acre, and this without oil
development. Moreover, il is not gen.
orally the man OF small means, but
rather the wealthy corporation, that re-
sorts to this subterfuge to secure title.
Although many of the old fields in the
public land states. and particularly
those in California, are in regions Who'll
ly devoid Of agricultural possibilities,
no sooner is a successful well drilled
than the entire district is covered by
homestead and scrip entries-the puT-
pose of which is TO secure title TO the
oil under cover of the agricultural land
laws. 1t is to meet those conditions that
a thorough revision Of the law is need
ed.
Requirements TO Be Met.
'Any law which will adequately meet
the requirements Of the case must rec
ognize the fundamental difference be
tween oil and gas and other minerals,
namely mobility. Those elusive products
can he drawn from a distance under
ground across boundary lines, and eX-
elusive title to the product is acquired
only after it reaches the surface. 1t
follows, therefore. that oil can be dis
posed Of by the government or other
owner of the land in which ii occurs
only as a commodity and not in form Of
acres, like coal or other minerals Occu-
plying fixed locations. This difference
is so well recognized that il has deter
mined the leasing system which is prac-
tically universal in all the oil fields where
the land Is in private ownership, The
government cannot do better than to
adopt the plan which has been worked
out through long experience, and, where
the holdings are sufficiently large, found
thoroughly satisfactory, both TO the oil
operator and to the private land owner.