Carson City daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1907-1930, 1914-01-07

preme court handed down a deci5-
ion in the case of Round Mountain
Mining company versus Round
Mountain Sphinx company. This
case involved the validity OF a Gov
patent to the Los GazabO
, mining claim, which vas part of d
! group patent. known as the Sunny
side-Los Gazabo group. patented by
the Federal land office to the plain
tiff, the Round Mountain company.
The Round Mountain company
brought suit against the Sphinx COM
pany to quiet title to the Los Gazabo
claim and thus determine certain ex-
tra-lateral rights beneath the Gold
Leaf claim, the property OF the
Sphinx The suit presented an en-
tirely new question i'll mining law
the extent to which the field notes
Of a deputy mineral surveyor coz
trolled ambiguous provisions in a
patent to a group of claims, the
exterior boundaries Of which were
in conflict with each other. \ NUM-
Der of kindred questions Of mining
law were also presented. making the
case an exceptionally novel one.
The form in which the land office
granted the patent was unusual. if
rot entirely without precedent. The
described the three S%unnyside
claims Nos. |, ?, 8 and the Sunny
side Fraction a. parallel with each
other. The Los GazabO claim was
described as laying at almost right
angles with the ~SunnySides and Ell
tirely within the exterior boundaries
of the latter with the exception OF
about .05 of an acre in one corner.
which projected outside. According
to the dates OF the certificates of
location the Sunny>ideS were 1Ocat,
ed February 20, 1906. and the Los
Gazabo March 3, 1906.
The field notes OF the deputy min
eral surveyor made the exclusions OF
the conflict area between the Sunny
side and the Los Gazabo in favor OF
the latter claim. When offered in
evidence in the lower court by the
plaintiff, as explanatory OF the pat
ent, they were rejected, upon the
ground that they were Self-servine
OF the applicant for pat
and not binding on defendant.
Judge Stephens. who tried the
in the court below. held that As
The group patent on its face showed
the claims to be in conflict. and was
ambiguous in that it did not ~pccit-
designate which claim or
claims took the conflict area, it was.
the duty Of the court to determine
whether the Sunnyside> or the Los
GazabO were prior in time. He &C
>ordingly determined the question in
of the S%unnysidcS upon the
oral testimony of WitneS>e, and upon
statements a. to the dates OF loCa-
ton contained in the notices and
certificates OF location, ard rejecting
entirely, as bearing on the question:,
the field note, OF the surveyor. ,Ac-
cordingly he held the Los GaIabo
void as being located on prior valid
and subsi>ting claims.
Upon appeal. the Supreme court,
a per curiam decision. adopted, in
its entirety, the opinion OF Judge
Stephens as the law of the case.
Owing to the novelty and import
Of the legal questions involved
rehearing was granted and the
case reargucd. In the opinion just
down the court says:
THAT portion OF the opinion of
he trial court. heretofore approved
~ this court holding that the valid
ty OF the Los Gazabo claim was not
before the department, and could
Storm Has No Terrors
For a distance OF over three miles
Manhattan gulch i, being placer
The first active work is found
the town limits. considerable
placer gold being found on and
near the surface. at the foot OF the
Big Four hill, its northern slope.
Winter has no terrOrs for the placer !
some fifteen or twenty SETS