Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1919-04-05

eralogy, and the theory of ore de- position. He takes prospecting trip north of Bisbee in the vicinity of Gleeson. He notes that the limeston- es are of relatively the same age as those at Bisbee, and that the known ore, bodies are closely allied to the granite-porphyry intrusions as at Bis bee. He locates three claims upon each of which is some showing of cop- per carbonates. For several years he does his annual work as required by law, realizing that he must have cap ital ere he can undertake to explore his outcrop for any depth.
 Meanwhile, the 640-acre homestead law is passed with its reservation of the minerals of the entered land to the government. The Bar z Cattle Co.,, by reason of settlement of the Sulphur Spring valley below Gleeson, finds itself crowded for range. Wherefore, several of it's cowpunchers enter 640-acre homesteads, one of which includes and covers Jone's un- patented mining claims.
 Under our system of land laws the U. s. land office has no record of un- patented mining claims. The land they cover is so far as the land office records are concerned, public land un- til such claims have been surveyed for patent and patent application duly filed q am speaking here of lode claims). Consequently, when the Bar Z's cowpunchers file their 640-acre homesteads over Jone's three lode claims the land office allows such fil- ing simply because it knows nothing of Jone's prior title to portion of the land.
 Jones has held these claims for sev- eral years. He has expended thereon S100 per claim per year, which money went to the community. He has sought to patent them, because, being a wage-earner, he hasn't had the mon- ey--for it costs about $1 ,000 to patent a lode-claim nowadays. But he has felt secure in his title under the min ing laws, having valid discovery of mineral in place." and having each year done and recorded his statutory work. But now he sees his claims in side cattle-fence. And when he consults the law (Act of December 19, 1916) he is confronted with the aston ishing fact that he, with his prior and better title, must actually give bond to the homesteader if he wishes to work his claims. Knowing the Bar z outfit, and being an intelligent man, he realizes that insofar as realizing anything from his claims he might as we'll forget it. If he sought to en- join them, or if he protested to the land office and asked for hearing they will swear him out of court by a preponderance of witnesses-most of whom will be other cowpunchers who know nothing whatever about geology or minerals. Soon a fence is around the claims, Jones gives up in disgust, and thus are some promising claims taken from the domain of the pros pector.
 The above illustration is founded on facts. True, the names are fictitious but the places and facts are not. And not alone in Arizona, where most of the orebodies are deep-seated, is this very thing happening, but like wise all over the west.
 It seems to me that mining men as a body should take cognizance of this situation. If they inquire closely into the law they will see that they have much on their side, although it has not been presented or threshed out. Section 1922, Revised Statutes, says, in express words, that mining locators "should have the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the surface rights included within the lin- es of their location x"
 Now the stock-raising homestead law, the Act of December 29, 1916, states that such homestead shall be filed only upon "unappropriated, un- reserved public lands"
 Land has ceased to be "unappropri- ated" or "unreserved" when there has been a valid mining location made on that land. If the locator has dis covery of "mineral in place" he has title second to none that can be ini- tiated under our public land laws, as, I think, our courts have pretty we'll decided. Hence, any homestead filed over mining locations made and held in good faith, even though those loca- tions have been surveyed for patent, is not made in accordance with the spirit or intent of the law.
 But the ugly fact remains that it is being done every day, just, as I have herein illustrated. Wherefore, as I said at the first, prospectors as a class are disappearing simply be- cause their domain has disappeared; taken from them largely by legisla- tion like this 640-acre law, which, the records show, was fathered, fostered, and lobbied through by the cattle in- terests. And yet in all the west the prospector has preceded the farmer n A