The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-03-01
REVISION Of MINING LAWS OPPOSED BY
MINERS AND PROSPECTORS Of THE WEST
THE GREATEST ENCOURAGEMENT
PRosPEcToR-PREsENT LAW is THE
(Chester T. kennan, Murray ldaho)

II, Murray ldaho)
our present national mining code, in
so far as it relates to lode claims" Is
simply Il digest of the District Rules
of Miners" originated in the mining
lcamps of California in 1S49 before the
establishment of even territorial gov
ernment there. The miners and pros
pectors of those days sat in frequent
legislative sessions, and made their
own laws tdistrict rules) for the pro-
per and wise conduct of their pros
Ipecting and mining operations. These
district rules, with local variations,
quickly spread over the whole noun
tain area from the Pacific ocean to
the present site of Denver from the
Canadian line to the Mexican border,
and constituted "the law OF the land"
administered by all courts, even the
supreme court of the United States.
District Rules Became General Laws.
For % years the miners and pros
pectors, while actually operating in
this field, earnestly and industriously
strove To perfect laws for the govern
ment and regulation of mining and
prospecting. The result of their %
years efforts was the most perfect
code of mining laws that human in
genuity- and sagacity of those actually
operating in the field could devise
everything was considered, tested and
tried and the useless, the poorest the
Ineffective and the impractical were
weeded out. On May 10. 1872, the re-
suit of their 23 years labors and trials
district rules--were enacted into
law by congress as the national mining
code, and for the last a. years the
miners and prospectors of our coun-
try have most successfully carried on
their business under that code, I'm
der that code they have taken the
grandest and greatest strides in min
ing ever witnessed on this planet we
call our home. Our mining code Is
the envy of the miners and prospect
ors of every other country on earth
where the miners and prospectors
were not allowed to make their own
laws.
Orinin of Revision.
The miners and prospectors Of the
western states have never asked for
the revision" or abrogation of their
mining code. The pernicious propa
ganda of revision sprang from the fer
tile brains of our secretaries Of the in
terror, Clifford Pinchot and other lead
ers of the so-caled conservation
party" which party is nothing if not
a very cunning political graft ma
chine, seeking to exploit the public
domain for it's own benefit. These mo-
tle leaders of an ignoble cause early
perceived that under the miners min
ing code they were ruled OUT from
participation, and had no control over
the miners and prospectors ana min
ing business of the west; yet they
ever longed to be in on the deal. But
on every advance they made along this
line we promptly told them ito sit
down." ''to be still" ito shut up" and
"to mind their own business" etc. TIL
they plainly saw that it was mo use"
for them to try to initiate their pro-
paganda for revision In such a man
ner as to give them absolute control
Of the miners and prospectors and
mining business of the west.
So they proceeded to interest
pseudo mining men, clubs, and vari-
Gus associations of the east to intro
duce the subject for them, and thus to
we are willing to admit that all mem
bers of the M. & M. So of A., the Y.
M. G. A. and the w. c. T. II. are all
most lovabe and estimable silk
stockings and all equally egregious-
ly non -conversant with mines and
mining business of the actual miners
and prospectors of the west If the
actual miners and prospectors Of the
west wanted revision of their mining
code, it is altogether likely they would
ask their congressman, not the w. C.
T. U the NJ. & M. So. of A., or the
/ Y. M. c.. A. for such revision" Nei-
their do the western social clubs of
fledgling mining engineers, mining
brokers, and promoters, represent the
actual miners and prospectors Of the
west.
There is just now a vast tendency
abroad in our land to jump at the con-
cluslon that any new thing is better
than the old, simply because it is new
and strange. Horace said: "The un-
known is always great" A far more
business-like and reasonable attitude
to assume would be to look upon a
proposed innovation with tentative
suspicion. unless it is manifestly and
clearly right and better than the old.
Raid the Prospectors' Domain.
Almost without comment for 25
years congress has stood passively by
III ia A..