Bisbee daily review., 1916-04-30

the minimum price at S5U an acre. These plans were inspired by the necessity for reducing the national debt incurred during the Civil War. The friends of the Act rightly took the ground that it would be a na-
 tional calamity to adopt any system
 that would close the region to the
 prospector or discourage his efforts. Senator Stewart said: Miners as a community devote three-fourths of their aggregate labor to exploration, and consequently are and ever will re-
 main poor, while individuals amass large fortunes and the treasury Of the
 world is replenished and augmented He advocated the principle of extra lateral right and defended !t in these words: Tn some cases person buy ing a sing,e acre in a rectangular form would have several mines at .he surface and none at 800 or 1000 1t. in depth With such a division of a mine. one owning at the surface and
 another at a greater depth, neither
 would be justified in spending money
 for costly machinery, deep shafts. and long tunnels"
 The Act limited the length of a
 claim to 200 it.. the width being gov erned by local rules. Each claim. therefore, contained only about one acre. Senator Stewart adhered to tho idea of one claim to each locator, and in his mind, seemingly. was the pic
 ture of only one type of ore deposit. The huge orebodies of the 'porphyry coppers' were then undreamed Of. He
 summed up the Act by saying: "Thc
 plan proposes to allow the miners who have or who may hereafter oc-
 cupy and improve mines in good faith and according to local rules, to pur- chase at the rate of S5 per acre and receive a patent therefor in such form as shall grant the mine with its dips. spurs. and angles to any depth, with such reasonable amount of surface as the miners shall determine by the local rules to be necessary for the
 working of the same"
 There appears the idea of the vein apart from the land. It has been the source of many troubles. Speaking of the Sitting Bull case, nearly twenty
 years later, Judge Church said: This
 case acords another eXemplification ci the unfortunate results attended upon the purpose of the government to dis pose of orebodies as things distinct from the soil
 The existing Act ito promote the development of the mining resources
 of the United States" was passed iE
 1872. It fixed the present size of iiclaim (600 by 1900 ft.) and set no limit on the number of claims one man might locate, but retained the principle of eXtra-lateral right. It was time to stop the 'mudling" method oi progress, and draft a statemanlike act that would protect existing interests and encourage development without putting a premium on litigation. The industry was old enough; there were
 enough able to have made is possible to draft an adequate act. The op- portunity was allowed to pass. In
 over 40 years there have been no sub stantial notifications and the Law oi
 the Apex has become the patron deyii
 of the mining industry. It is reyilet as such and has Gefected attention 1 from other features of the Act tha; need revision.
 ! Laws Of Other Countries. Befor,
 discussing those features, it may be
 well 10 introduce some standard O. comparison and touch briefly on sall
 ent features of the mining laws O:
 other countries.
 The Rand, the greatest gOld-pro
 ducing region in the world, has a
 series of gold-bearing beds of congio merate that outcrops for 40 miles ano
 dips steadily away from the surface
 at moderate angle. Unit claims are | small, only II acres, but there is nc
 limitto the number that may be held Vertical planes, projected from bound
 aries, limit mining rights. Strong companies acquired large holdings ! from original locators. First and sec
 ond series of 'deep-leveP properties
 opened by vertical shafts. Dikes often accompanied by veins too poor to pay
 cut the gOld-bearing series. They dip
 more steeply than the reefs as the
 lodes are called, and would offer fine
 openings for litigation under an apex ! law. But there is no such law ana
 it has been said: The excellent char
 acter of the mining law of the Trans wall is worthy of more than passing
 notice. So clear and well-defined is
 it, that while every square foot oi ' ground is taken up for a length oi nearly 40 miles by a width of one to three miles, lawsuits between adjoin | ing companies are practically un { known; and as a result the mining
 jaw expert does not exist on the Rand"
 Unless it has been passed within a ] year. Canada has no Federal mining
 law although there are acts dealing