Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1919-04-05
CattlemenandMinerSMav
 WageWar On Land Issues

schism between cattlement and miners of Arizona, although such does not yet appear on the surface. As prelude the Mining and Scientific Press in all seriousness takes up the matter and says that it is of such importance that the American Mining Congress should take the up matter and give it urgent attention. Just why there should be conflict between the cattle men and miners is not apparent, but possibly some one has started the story and it has grown to such pro- portion that writers have elaborated on it until it has reached the stage that necessitates some attention.
 Throughout the mining states of the west there has always been amity among the cattlemen and miners many of the former being heavy owners in mining property The miners opened the springs and when not in use for domestic and other purposes the wat CTS of these springs were at the dis posal of the cattlemen. But it is now contended that the public range is go- ing fast and in self protection the eattlemen will have to purchase every available acre of land and in this way it is expected that they will encroach upon the mineral domain of the miner. This is hardly probable, especially as all the mineral lands, except coal, is excluded from the land grant of rail- roads and from the lands donated by congress to the states. It is contend ed that there is no reservation of min eral in the old school sections of the state, which cannot relate back of the congressional act giving the state the right to the lands, and for that matter back of the date of survey of the pub lie lands, at which time the miner could not have been aware of the locus of the mine. No one can go upon ap- propriated lands of the United States and make any headway with the gov ernment. Therefore, if miner has a valid mining claim on any government or railroad lands within the state of Arizona there is no possibility of talk ing it away from him. The only thing the future prospector has to fear is the lax method pursued by the geolo- logical survey in classifying the grant lands of the railroads in the mineral belts, which may allow vast tracts of mineralized ground to pass out as ag- ricultural lands. Throughout north Arizona this would be a calamity, and we do not believe that even the rail road company would care to have it occur, preferring to take lieu lands in preference to the hilly lands that are mineralized. By giving up sections Of land on which mineral occurs and getting lieu lands instead the railroad company can build up solid blocks of grazing lands for sale to the cattle men. Of, course, at the present time the railroad company is leasing min eralized lands to stockmen, but that does not interfere with the prospector going upon these lands and making mining locations, especially as the lands have not yet been classified, the railroad company simply exercising It's dominion over the odd sections of its grant. If the American Mining Congress will take up and press for early classification of all lands with m the mining states of the west, so that no mineral lands will be taken for agricultural or grazing purposes, it will do an excellent work. The fol- lowing is the article calling for the caption to this article:
 In veiw of the fact that great deal of discussion is now going on in state and nation as to leasing laws and grazing laws the letter in the Mining and Scientific Press which is signed "J. E. Bush, Phoenix, Arizona" will be read with unusual. interest. It fol- lows:
 Your paper, with other mining jour- nals, has given much space to discus sions about prospecting and of the causes leading to its decline. Nearly all the articles have regretted the passing of the prospector, and not a few have touched upon one or more valid reasons for his disappearance as a class. But it seems to me that no mention has been made of one of the most vital points of the subject which, to put it briefly, is that the prospector's domain is being taken away from him by such adverse legis- lation as the 640-acre stock-raising homestead law. In other words, no new mining discoveries are being made for the all-sufficient reason that the territory wherein they might be made is rapidly being patented to stockmen and put under fence. And you know, and I know, and every man raised in the west who has had any dealings with prospectors knows, that they will not go inside a fence to prospect.
 This is fact of human nature con- gress did not take into consideration when it framed that law. It presum- ed that it was amply protecting the miner when it reserved the minerals