Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1921-01-21
LARGE NUMBER OF
 MINING BILLS ARE
 BEFORE CONGRESS

DLl WILL VVlVOllLVO
 Bills relating to mining are now be- fore the congress without number Among the many are those introduc- ed by Carl Hayden, of Arizona; Sena- tor Shoot, of Utah; Representative Evans, Nevada; Taylor of Colorado; and Senator Henderson of Nevada. The bill introduceX by Senator Hen derson makes the end of the fiscal mining year June 30. On the other hand it has the peculiar feature of making the year for the performance of annual work on newly located min ing claims January following the To- cation. Just why this action should related to aJnuary and not to July is one of the things that passes our
 knowledge of legislation. On the oth- CT hand one of the most peculiar of the new bills introduced on the sub ject is that from the pen of Senator Chamberlain of Oregon. This bill is peculiar in that it makes the acquir- ing of title to mining claims the same as homesteads. The bill is framed along the lines of the homestead law, although how such law could have ap- plication to mining claims is not quite clear. A mining claim cannot be To- cated to take in a rectangular part of section, the sections being laid out in blocks, while claims may run through them at any angle. Had the framer of the measure changed the shape of mining claim so that a part of the section might be taken in no matter what direction the strike of the vein, it would be all right, but to let the claims be located as they now are would create all kinds of trouble. The prevailing idea is that mining claims should be taken in squares and that there should be no extralateral rights. The following is the feature of the Chamberlain bill:
 If the entry be placer in character and no record thereof has heretofore been made, there must be filed in the local land office for the district in which such mineral land is situated an application for entry, which applica- tion shall consist of an affidavit upon a form to be approved by the Secre- tary of the Interior. If record has been made of the entry in the office of the county clerk, a certified copy of the original notice of location, togeth- CT with the affidavit of the applicant that the claim is valid and that all as- sessment work now required has been performed, is all that is necessary. Application for quartz entry shall be made in the same manner as that re- quired for placer entries except if the entry does not conform to legal sub- divisions of surveyed land, or cannot be made to conform on unsurveyed land, then the applicant must, before filing application for entry, erect, or cause to be erected, such monuments as shall plainly mark the boundaries of his claim. Upon the filing in a local land office of an application for mineral entry or of a certified copy of original notice of location, the reg ,ister shall immediately assign the same the current serial number and proper notations shall be made upon the serial register. Final proof may be made on a mineral entry in sub- stantially the same manner as now re- quired by law of homestead entry man. The same proof of labor or as sessment work as is now required by law shall be executed each year by mineral claimant. The time in which final proof may be made on any min eral entry is limited to five years from date of allowance by register of the local land office, except upon applica- tion of the entryman, accompanied by such proof or data as the Secretary of the Interior may require. The Secre- tary of the Interior shall extend the time for final proof, not to exceed five years additional from date of en- try, or final proof may be made at any time during the five-year period upon satisfactory proof to said exam iner and register that the sum of $500 has been expended upon each entry upon which proof is offered that min eral in paying quantities has been dis covered. A mineral entry may be re- linquished in manner now provided by law for relinquishment of an agricul- tural entry or may be cancelled by the Commissioner of the General Land Office after due notice to the entry man, as now provided by law for the of desert-land entries. All applications, affidavits, and proofs required shall be executed be- fore an officer qualified to act in