Iditarod pioneer., 1914-01-31
ALASKA MINING LAWS
 AS VIEWED BY OTHERS
Dawson News ]

| enacted Alaskan placer laws, and one re- that setting out the necessity of "dlScoV- cry on each and every placer claim:
 obyiously such I, rtauirementn n calls 3nns for f1r stalker can get record. clause in the law says:
 "sec: t3. Any person who discovers states wi Within the i Territory of Alaska a placer deposit Of gold OF other deposit of mineral having commercial value which mining laws Of the United States may, if qualified under the laws of the United States, locate a mining claim upon such | deposit in the following manner" etc. "Sec. t4. He must at the time of dis | Covery post conspicuously at the point of discovery notice of location thereof, con
 sec t6. Within 90 days of discovery, l and prior to fllng the certificate of loca- tlon, as provided in the following section, the locator or loCators shall perform labor
 The foregoing clause requiring a dis covery in order to qualify one to stake, as l tory, that is, the Canadian Yukon, is use
 less provision It is worse It not only is of no economy to the prospector or claim | owner, but IL exposes him to litigation that is inimlcal to the security of title, It is a provision inviting every shystcr lawyer and claim jumper to bounce upon the legitimate staker's ground. The Canadian Yukoner has gone through the experience, and knows. When the present placer law for this territory was enacted, commission sat for weeks, taking evidence in Dawson and on all creeks Of Klondike, asccrtalnng l the views of practical engineers and indI | ydual miners of wide experience, and, after careful consideration, the Yukon councillors and the commissioner eliminated the re- | quirement for q discovery. The law has | been in effect nearly seven years, and no abuses nor injuries have been found to have resulted 10 the prospector CT the | miner of any class. The requirement for | a discovery of gold on a claim was dropped for the very good reason that if the pros pectOr thought the ground worth working | he would represent 1t within reasonable | time, and to do so would have to do 80 much bona f1de work, as set out by schcd- uIe, to be subject to acceptance by quail | lied inspector. The customary year was al lowed in which To do the work If the prospoctor planted his stakes and failed 10 | and money. and If there was nothing in the ground, he deprived no one. On the other hand, If he made discovery that was rather than continue to suffer the drain of | assessment or representation from year to year. And so it has proved by eXperence | since the law was made.
 l within 90 days, and before a record can be nled; puts an ugly and compllcatIng phase fortunate as to not sink in the right place within 90 days, his right to the ground Is 1 Jeopardzed. man stalking day after the 1 HTSl SldkeF may not uO nall lnt pFOSpGCl of the first man, and may have the fortune to locate gold with little effort simply by | chance in going down on q different spot. and the work Of the second man may may not not stalker in the way of actual development, yet the chances of the first man be jeCp- ardized. In many. camps gold IS found on | quantities. But discovery is supposed to ! constitute "paV"
 All these hair splitting nicettes and ex l tigT, oa iar fo prOspector. Yukon has no regrets that she | abolished them long ago, and since they went by the board, and the matter of 1 hold the ground for a year is made wholly l discretionary with the proSpector, and he Is now satisfied. If he Is filing to put Tn | ing the recording fees. and taking the | chance on the property, he takes the chief risk. and should be protected in the gam | ble for at least year.
 Further changes are contemplated in the Alaskan code, and doubtless this matter of discovery will receive attention. II will be ! well Tor the AiaSkaMS to appoint COInlnis- | sion and to get evidence rathe" than tu 1 rush unprepareG ana naStuy Into sInDt 1 task concerning such vital Industry to the | whole of such a vast country as the placer mining. A commission could spend time | 10 great advantage visiting the varioUS | camps, and in so doing should not fail to come to klondike. the dady of all Northern records. and gather facts from the legiti mate miners.
 Senator Roden, father of the present | Alaskan mining law, in an extensive rXpla- nation which he has given of the act, states that discovery Is essential, and that to do away With the necessity of such would re- quire going to the fOuntanhcad the fed eral government. If such is the case, the sooner the Alaskan delegate gets busy on the matter at Washington, and has the useless discovery appendix amputated the sooner will Alaskans begin to recover from the painful litigation which has eX irritation arising from what constitutes a discovery" Senator Roden is in Washing ton now. and he will do well to help Dele gate Wlckersham knock out the cultus dis COvery clause.
 An absurdity appears on the face of the requirements for discovery, one which has made some of the best miners and lawyers ill Alaska laugh, and one which should be removed in the territorial legislature, even if the federal government do nothing in the This absurdty is that in the text Of the clauses there is no discrimination as to time of stalking claim and the time of posting the discovery notice, Everyone knows that when men are Stampedng a creek posts have to be planted. Every stalker puts out his posts as best he can ill the hurried work. The process usually is to do the stalking first, and later to do the prospecting. If one is stalking deep creek it IS an impossibiity, oftentimes, to sink to bedrock within matter of weeks or
 
 the Fairbanks camp, the ground is 200 feet or more in depth. How can a prOspector stake the claim, set out the discovery post al the same time, and make an afTldavit that he has made a discovery before going to bedrock?, If the stalker abdes strictly with the letter of the Juneau or Roden law. 1 no posts can be planted on such creek as Dome. or on deep bench, until the gold is reached which is always near bed | rock, and i'll such a case other men, better equipped, can get down first, or men who happen to sink in the right place will get there first despite the fact that the earliest man on the ground may sink as quickly or even put down more holes.
 Senator Roden says the matter of discOv | cry has agitated the courts since mining | law was enacted II probably has in the states and especially in some parts, but there is no reason why it should if only the simple remedy of abolishing the necessity of discovery be pursued. as done here. The courts here are not agitated by determining l maady. The law was framed in Yukon. and enacted in Ottawa, and few months | sufnCed for the remedy. Alaska should be able to work reforms as quickly through 1 federal channels as Yukon.
 Section if of the Yukon laws says re- garding the stalker, "he must post at the | point of discovery notice of location" l and section t6 says that within 90 days | of discovery he must perform the location l labor. No distinction is made between time | of stalking and the time required to make |