The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-06-07

! at Coeur dAlene last week Judge
DIETRICH designated October 25 for
! trial of the suit brought by the
Star Mining company against the Fed
eral Mining & Smelling company in
which recovery of half a million dol
lars is asked by the plaintiff for ore
alleged to have ben extracted from
the Star ground by defendant in its
operation of the Morning mine, and for
a permanent restraining order against
the Federal forbidding it to extract
ore from the ground of the plaintiff.
Full details of the complaint were
published in the Miner at the time
it. was filed In addition to the large
sum sought to be recovered for ore
already extracted, the Star alleges, on
estimates submitted by the companys
engineers, that more than a million
tons of ore is involved in the ground
in controversy, making the tangible
ore values at stake in the suit more
than was ever involved in litigation
in this county.
Temporary Restraining Order.
Upon hearing argument on the
question of restraining the Federal
company from working in the disputed
ground pending the trial of the case,
Judge DIETRICH issued an order, which
was in effect an agreement between
the contending parties, whereby the
Federal was permitted to continue op-
erations in the disputed ground upon
condition that it kept a record of
all ore mined and milled, all costs in
connection Herewith and the smelter
returns on all shipments, the same to
be filed with the court. Also to de-
posit the difference between the
amount received under the Morning
contract with the American Smelling
g. Refining company and the amount
that would have been received had the
ore been shipped under the contract
held by the Hecla Mining company
with the International Smelling COM
pany, or the Federal could file a bond
from time to time covering this diff
ference. However, rather than operate
under these conditions, the Federal
company decided to suspend all min
ing in the disputed ground, which
suited in closing down the Wa .ce
Morning mill No. 2, which ha6 Jeen
remodelled and enlarged to capa-
city of 500 tons to handle that parti-
cular ore.
Access to Both Properties.
In order that both parties may have
support of their claims, the court Or
dered that each company should have
free access to the property of the 9TH
er and to carry on such development
work as it deemed necessary to prove
mining engineers and geologists, some
of them of national and international
fame, have been employed by both
companies to enable the court to de-
termine the rights of the contestants.
1t is evident that the question of apex
Of the vein is the pivot upon which
the ownership of the vast values at
stake will turn. About the time the
suit was filed a considerable force of
men swas started to work by the Star
The Federal company has
been equally busy, and the company
is now inviting bids for large amount
Of work that is evidently for the pur-
pose of developing evidence.
The Federal company will award
contracts for the following work, all
bids to be submitted to NJ Murray,
of the Morning mine
at Mullan. on or before June g. A
winze from No. tunnel 225 feet; an
incline two compartment raise from
No. tunnel 450 feet. Also an in
cline winze on the vein from the lower
Grouse tunnel ESQ feet; two-com-
partment raise on the vein from the
lower Grouse tunnel 400 feet; a raise
from the Iron Crown tunnel 200 feet,
ard raise from the upper Grouse
tunnel 150 feet. The Grouse and
Iron Crown claims lie south of and
join the Morning Star and Mary r.
fraction claims, being the claims in
which the Star company alleges tres
pass and the work to be undertaken
by the Federal company under these
contracts indicates that the conten-
ton of the Federal will be that the
vein in controversy has its apex in
the Grouse and Iron Crown claims.
The companies involved in the liti-
cation will be represented by attor-
neys who stand at the head Of their
profession SO far as mining law Is
concerned.