Mohave County miner. [volume] (Mineral Park, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1882-1918, 1911-12-30
Mine Assess ment Work.

0u1l aSScSSucuI NOTh Ol tululuS CldltnS
must be completed, the following dis
euSsions of the statutes and court de-
cisions bearing upon annual labor and
relocation, by Il. S. MOrrison's Mining
Rights will be of unusal interest:
In Mining Science of November .,
we summarized the questions likely to
arise on the performance of an annual
labor, but did not reach the matter of
resumption of labor, which is an i'm
portant b-factor of the annual labor
law.
The act of congress, after demand
ing from the owners 1908 worth of
labor or improvements each year. and
adding that on their failure TO do or
perform the claim shall be open TO re-
location, says:
PRO yide1, that the original locators,
their heirs, assigns or legal represen-
iatives, have not resumed work upon
the clam after failure and before such
location" the word location" mean
ing a relocation of the claim by third
party.
This provision, by sort of friendly
conclusion, allows the owner to do no
labor during the Current year until
perhaps the last day of the year,
when he does the work on the claim
and is on hand on the morning of the
first of January TO perform the labor
for the next year. The result is that
by careful watching the work for the
second year protects for that year and
there is nothing lost, although the for
mer has been an entirely idle or almost
an entirely idle year.
There is no express statute allowing
the partial labor of one year to be aid
ed by any part of the labor of the next
year. If party does sos worth of
labor in December, 1909 and sos in Jan
uary, 1910, has he performed the labor
for la4a OF 10. 1910, G. for neIIher year?
II is certain that he has performed it
for both years.
The word resumed is used in the
above cited section. That word i'm
piled a return to something already be-
gun. Worcester defies resume:
ITO begin again after interruption.
1t seems, therefore, obvious that the
resumption if the taking up of the
labor for the former year and the un-
performed work for 1899 is made good
by the work under the resumption in
1910. Nor would it make any differen-
ence during what part of 1899 the frac-
tion of work for that year had been
done.
If, however, having done, little or
no work in 1909, the owner having be-
gun work in 1910 before any stranger
has attempted a relocation, he may
perform the full zoos worth of work
during the latter year and apply it all
for 1910. This seems an evasion of the
law, and under this doctrine party as
already observed can escape entirely
all labor under each alternate year.
II is, nevertheless, true, and we know
of no case which holds to the contrary.
We here digress to observe that the
actual results in the way of develop
ment produced, or other benefit to the
mine by the performance of annual
labor, is extremely small, it seldom
happens that 10 feet, more or less, of
i'll 4 ~ III AF
value not previously known to exist.
A portion of the work almost always
consists in cleaning out rubbish which
has fallen in or repairing old timber.
The work is done, as it is always done,
where done in the performance of
perfunctory duty from which no returns
are expected. If the work already
done is sufficient to allow a patent to
issue, it is always more economical in
the long run 10 apply for patent and so
put an end to what may be called the
payment of an annual bonus for the
privilege of holding down fraction of
the pnblic domain.
The first day of the following calen-
dar year is everywhere a legal holiday,
and sometimes also a Sunday. If a
third party is first on the ground and
has stuck up notice or stuck a pick in
the ground, such stranger or third
party is, nevertheless, in position to
perfect good location and kill the
old title. The fact of Sunday or legal
holidays does not prevent valid entry
by the stranger. But if on the last