Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1913-06-17
WHAT THE UNITED STATES GOVT.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. WORKING
ON FOREST RESERVE EXPLAINED

SO much has been said and written ca
about the relation Of the forest ser IN
vice Of the United States department tr
of agriculture to the mining indus XII
try, and so many misconceptions &C
have been formed, that few facts
ON the subject should be of interest W
70 those actually engaged in mining. el
In the first place let it be under
stood that the fact that land Is IN "
cluded in a national forest is no bar
to mining or prospecting thereon.
Paragraph IA of the regulations I'M
der the United States mining laws,
published by the general land office
states: +.
4 "The act Of June 4, 1897, provides
THAT any minerals lands In any Tor
est reservation which have been or
which may be shown to be such, and
subject to entry under the existing
\ mining laws Of the United States and
the rules and regulations applying
thereto, shall continue to be subject
Z to such location and entry notwith- |
standing the reservation.
: In this connection it is of interest
Z TO note that an Investigation by the
y forest service showed that during
: 1912 there were 1860 prospectors
within the national forests of Colo
7 RADIO, az compared with 1.475 on UNI
! reserved public lands Immediately adj
! jacent.
7 The relation OF the forest service
I toward the possession OF or acquisi-
@ltion of title to mining claims is con
fined to requiring that compliance
I shall be had with the mining laws
of the United States. and is never
asserted unless and until applica
ton is made to patent, except where
1timproper use is made of CLAIM
! which actively interferes with the ad
- minstration of the forest. The for
$3.50 est service has no authority to sur
plement the federal laws with regula
"a done by states or mining districts
! such as to require that discover
shaft be sunk on the claim or tina
W the discovery of mineral shall b
made in the discovery shaft, as pr
ID yided by the Colorado statutes, nj
ed can it issue or refuse patent, tn
and being exclusively function of Il
secretary OF the interior. When Il
owner of mining claim desires
$50 patent, the procedure is as follow
The surveyor general notifies t
. forest service when order for m
vi eral survey is issued and if possil
the ranger accompanies the survey
and makes his examination coincide
ana with the survey, in order to obvi
possibility of delay and make 81
of the location of claim lines Z
extent of improvements. If una
- TO be present when the survey
made he makes his examination
soon as possible after application
patent is filed, and, except in o.
the sional instances, this report is |
mitted to the general land office
fore the expiration OF the go
1900 period of publication, so that the
. animation by the forest service {
not delay the issuance of patent,
cept in case the required expt
tire has not been made upon the
State velopment work.
Section 2S20 of the revised
VADA utes states that mo location
- mining claim shall be made until
discovery of the vein or lode W
the limits of the claim located"
AmsM the ranger does not inquire
pE whether discovery has been I
NIX II the claim is in a recognized n
MINI Al locality, if the requisite exp
A1M ture of $500 has been made a
the indications are that 1t is
ssS& held in good faith and not as a
/M terfuge to acquire ground for
- than mining purposes, he will mi
a. favorable report In most cases,
III pliance with the second con
kRA carries the third with 1t, and II
connection it might be well to
S'NoO from the National Forest Manui
at TINS ut is not the purpose or
i'll need 81 the department to initiate
tests against claimants who
cooked entered lands in the national
hey VIII in good faith to secure hol
me with for other purposes recognized b
Ter mere and in such cases no contest
compah' be initiated on slight, technica
Of good oonn,iapca with the law
An opinion, quite general, se'
e. prevail that contests against