Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-11
QUIT CLAIM AND CHANCE,
THEPROSPECTOR'S RIGHT
Local GeoIogist Sheds New Light
on Much Mooted Problem
of Placer Laws
BY ELLIS MALLERY


many diversified views both publicly
and privately expressed of late would
almost lead to the conclusion there is
no solution to the problem Sides have
been taken and hotly contested accord
ing to where rests personal interest,
too often regardless of any fundamen-
| tai principle which has governed af-
| fairs in shaping into their present more
| or less definite form Still, this funda-
mental principle stands out strong ana
clear If the matter is viewed with all
| bias laid aside.
Admitting the placer laws may be
faulty In their construction, there is
nothing so good but what can be
abused, and the dummy system while
exemplifying this point, leaves on the
other hand the fact there has been
| a volume of enterprise built UP inde-
| pendent of any application of the dunn
| my system. In truth the real stimu-
lus back of the present oil movement
| Is in the greater sense due to this In
| dependent enterprise Graded in GUS
| tom, law has become defined and upon
this has been founded the enterprise
| in the mining and oil world OF today:
| The failures Of the past may be used
| to point the way to future improve
| ments but to overthrow a large vol
| ume of established industry in order
to correct some of the evils grown out
of a faulty system would hardly seem
just.
II It has really become necessary to
| change conditions governing the ac-
QUESTION of our mineral lands, let the
new order of things become effective
| henceforWard but not reach back in
volving the business established on
custom which has become gospel
through long usage.
PRosPECTOR's RIGHTS
| Among other factors, the prospector
| usually much in SeClusion has been
| dragged forth into the limelight where
| he has become conspicuous as a buffer
between contending forces. His rights
| have been both upheld and denied as
best suited the convenience of those ar
elling his case. Lauded on one side,
discredited on the other, even classed
an outlaw invading public domain and
abetting under the mask Of past virtues
the criminal despoliation of the coun-
| trys riches.
It is really too bad, a figure playing
so important part in the growth of our
great west should be characterized in
| such inglorious manner. 1t Is certain
| he is undeserving of the stigma. 1t is
| the fanciful and spectacular that incltes
men to action and IT matters not whe-
ther 1t be the poor prospector with
nothing more than a grubstake and the
lure of a bag of gold to be won at the
| end of a trail. or the man with a
| bank account in the hope of an oil
| pool at the bottom of a drill hole. The
! impelling force is the same, and the
uncertainty is the strongest moving
| factor.
This uncertainty leads men to invade
and develop the unknown, for if the
prospector knew that some remotely
| situated creek would yield but 10 cents
instead of so cents to the pan he
would not hazard the trail The beck
oning call Of hope for the best leads
him on and even though he fails to
realize the full measure of his hope
he marks the spot on one of the maps
| void spaces, while those to follow,
around the nucleus of his di5appolnt-
ment build up an industrial center and
another of natures storehouses yields
untold wealth to mankind.
BANK ACCOUNT NECESSARY
And so it is with the man with the
bank account. The drilling for oil is
| beyond the man with the grubstake 1t
| takes money to bore a we'll and it takes
a strong incentive to furnish the nee
essary courage to incur the risk. Linn
| tied to a known quantity GO acres) and
| like the prospectOr who, had he known
| but 10 cents to the pan lay at the
! goal of his effort he would never make
| the attempt. 1t is doubtful even If
| he knew ne COulQ DIluS III a PCl pCtu-
ally producing we'll on a 20 acre claim,
| so much of the keenness would be TAX
en- off the edge of his incentive by this
| limitation, that the chances are he
would not sink the we'll
| Considering the great cost to drill
| we'll, a simple claim in an unproven
| field is insufficient inducement to jus
! tifv the risk to be taken. The right
to locate more land or purchase claims
held by others should be the privilege
of any one financially able to develop
such ground. The prOspector cannot
do it and the operator will not do II
without this latitude. Consequently
! large part of our dormant mineral re-
source must remain uneXplored.
| Furthermore, irrespective of the op-
orators requirements, the prospectOr
who has located a claim should have
the right to dispose of his holding and
| thereby realize in a small way
| part of the wealth he has been instru-
| mental in creating. To deny him this
| opportunity is to do him a great in
| Justice, for at best his remuneration
| is insignificant compared to that de
rived by the operator.
WOULD DEAL BODY BLOW
To go so far as to say the prospector
has no right to locate ground unless
able to develop 1t would be equiva-
lent to giving all the oil bearing lands
to the rich men of the country simply
because they possess the means to sink
wells
Many years contact with the miner
In his every day life qualities one to
know and understand the actuating
motives which impel men to risk their
lives in quest Of an unknown gain.
And while there may be evolved a
better way of dealing with the nations
undeveloped resource the fact remains
the present system has come down to
us through the crucible test of eXpe-
rience and in sharing the benefits
which have followed through long
custom, care should be taken lest we
overlook the important truth that upon
this foundation we have builded and
builded we'll.
The great west stands today as liv-
ing evidence Of the worth of the meth
cd. It is quite safe to say our Won
derful advancement could scarcely
have been made under any other sys
tenn. We may now have reached a
stage of development where the sys-
tenn can be successfully changed; still
as OF old, the avenues of uncertainty
where flow the elements of chance, ul-
timately become the highroads of prog
ress. The principle is primary in char
acter and unfailng in its working out.
1t is the thought of the big reward
that quickens the pulse of mankind,
not alone in the case Of the miner, but
in any untr1ed field Of human endea-
Yor.
Upon the man who Is willing to takei
the risk rests the burden of our ad- |