Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-04-01
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(By Judge Wilmott)

! er huctuating, drifting from one part
of the mines to another, and settling
perhaps nowherse. This state OF
things is of course unfavorable to the
steady growth and permanent pros
perity of the towns and villages in the
mines. All the lands in the lead dis
trict," which were known by the gov
ernemnt to be mineral lands, and
some which were not supposed to be
mineral lands, but which were covered
with forests to supply the wants of
the miners and shelters, have been
reserved from sale for mining and
smelling purposes. Many tracts of
land not reserved have been entered,
that is purchased at the land office.
Before entering a tract of land, a
purchaser was sometimes required to
make oath that he knew of no miner
al having been discovered upon 1t.
If the miner discovers valuable lead
upon Congress land" and the dlScoV-
cry is known to no other person, the
inducement to perjury by taking the
oath required at the land office and
purchasing the soil in fee simple at
$1.25 per acre, is great. Perhaps some
frauds upon the government nave
been committed. No patents to these
lands have yet been issued, If such
frauds have been committed they be-
come the subject of legal investiga-
ton.
Mineral lands thus purchased are OF
course leased by the proprietOrs upon
such terms as they please to establish.
A great part of the lands reserved
from sale, have by a kind of prescrip-
ton, become also the property OF the
claimants in the following manner:
They were at first farmed out to min
ers in small lots by an agent OF the
government. The miner was allowed
to stake out his lot which he was then
authorized by a permit from the agent
to occupy upon the condition OF his
mining upon that five days in every
week. Few, if any of the miners,
complied with the conditions of their
permits But the miners were lndul-
gent toward one another, and each
respected the claims Of the rest, so
that although the lots were forfeited,
no complaints were made to the agent.
Permits soon began to be trans
ferred by sale like leases; and every
purchaser of a mineral lot held 1t by
a title deemed even better than that
by which the first claimant held, be-
cause a valuable consideration had
been paid.
The revenues for the mines was
collected from the smelter, who pur-
chased his ore from the miner. Each
shelter received license from the
government and was required to pay
over to the agent one-tenth part OF all
the lead manufactured
Thus the revenue was paid Indirect
ly by the miner. Many valuable leads
were discovered upon lands which had
been entered at the land office. The
prOprietors of such lots were of course
under no obligation to pay rents to the
government. They required the smell
ter to pay them the full value for their
mineral. But the smelter was bound
to pay over one-tenth part OF the dead
manufactured by him as revenue to
the government, whether manufacture
ed from ore raised upon government
or entered" lands. The smelter
could not ascertain whether the min
eraI brought to him was raised on gov
eminent land or not. If he had been
allowed to attempt discrimination 1t
would have been unavailing, since not
a thing could have been easier than
for a miner upon government lana to
sell his ore to neighbor who owned a
mineral lot in fee simple, and would
sell the ore as his own, without any
deductions for rent. The revenues
for rent naturally soon became merely
nominal. The smelters were environ
ed with difficulties. The agency
ceased and the government was fairly
elbowed out of the mining district.
The possession of such reserved
mineral grounds as had been claimed
by miners under the regulations by
virtue of permits was left undisturbed.
The proprietors, as they consider
themselves, lease these lands to min
ers upon such terms as they deem
most profitable, some taking one
fourth, others one-ffth of the mineral
raised A great number of mineral
lots are in many instances the prop
erty of the landlord, some successful
Spectator in lead, perhaps, who has
bought up at a bargain the claims of
many poorer men. Whether these
tenures were exactly honest in their
origin or republican in their tendency
will not here be made a subject of in
uuIIy y. INO uOuDI lIlS I1IOoL III OlIcDAC
disposition Congress could make of
the mineral lands would be to sell
them in small lots to the highest bid
ders. This was afterwards done. By
such sale large sum of money
would accrue to the treasury. as great
perhaps in the aggregate as the lands
are intrinsically worth. and more pro-
fit would be derived from them than
could be derived from the best sys-
tenn of OF renting and leasing that
could be devised.
The business of smelling is quite
distinct from that of mining. The
smelter must have some capital to do
business on. He constructs fur
mace, usually in a ravine near the dig
gings and over some small stream OF
water, which is used as well for wash
ing the mineral as for turning the
water wheels that work the furnace
bellows. The process of smelling is
simple enough. The mineral is broken
fine, then washed and thrown in big
slanting hearth filled with charcoal
and wood. When by action of the
bellows, the heat becomes sufficiently
intense, the lead begins to trickle
down the hearth in bright streams
which unite and flow through one