Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/194/220/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 17:58:51+00:00

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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 194 › Clipper Mining Co. v. Eli Mining Co.
This Court has no jurisdiction in an action at law to review the conclusions of the highest court of a state upon questions of fact.
The land department has the power to set aside a mining location and restore the ground to the public domain, but a mere rejection of an application for a patent does not have that effect. A second or amended application may be made, and further testimony offered to show the applicant's right to a patent.
Although a placer location is not a location of lodes and veins beneath the surface, but simply a claim of a tract of ground for the sake of loose deposits upon or near the surface, and the patent to a placer claim does not convey the title to a known vein or lode within its area unless specifically applied and paid for, the patentee takes title to any lode or vein not known to exist at the time of the patent and subsequently discovered. The owner of a valid mining location, whether lode or placer, has the right to the exclusive possession and enjoyment of all the surface included within the lines of the location.
initiate a right maintainable in an action at law to the lode and vein claims within the placer limits which he may discover during such trespass.
The owner of a placer location may maintain an adverse action against an applicant for a patent of a lode claim when the latter's application includes part of the placer grounds.
Quaere, and not decided, what the powers of a court of equity may be as to conflicting placer and lode locations.
On December 12, 1877, A.D. Searl and seven associates made a location of placer mining ground near the new mining camp of Leadville. The claim embraced at that time 157.02 acres of land. The original locators shortly conveyed all their interest to A.D. Searl, who applied for a patent on July 5, 1878. The application was met at the Land Office with a multitude of adverse claims. Settlements were made with some of the contestants, and on November 10, 1882, an amended application for patent was filed, including only 101 916/1000 acres. This application was rejected by the Commissioner of the General Land Office on March 6, 1886, and his decision was affirmed by the Secretary of the Interior on November 13, 1890. On November 25, 1890, four lode claims, known as the Clipper, Castle, Congress, and Capital, were located by parties other than the owners of the placer claim within the exterior boundaries of that claim. These four lode claims became, by mesne conveyances, the property of the Clipper Mining Company. It applied for a patent, and on November 23, 1893, the defendants in error, as the owners of the Searl placer location, filed an adverse claim and commenced this action in the District Court of Lake County in support of that claim. Judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiffs, which was affirmed by the supreme court of the state, 29 Colo. 377, and thereafter this writ of error was sued out.
The location of the placer mining claim and both the original and amended applications for patent thereof were long prior to the locations of the lode claims, and the contention of the plaintiffs is that they, by virtue of their location, became entitled to the exclusive possession of the surface ground; that the entry of the lode discoverers was tortious, and could not create an adverse right even though, by means of their entry and explorations, they discovered the lode claims. The defendant, on the other hand, contends that the original location of the placer claim was wrongful for the reason that the ground included within it was not placer mining ground; that the intent of the locators was not placer mining, but the acquisition of title to a large tract of ground contiguous to the new mining camp of Leadville, and likely to become a part of the townsite. In fact, it was thereafter included within the limits of the town, and on it streets and alleys have been laid out and many houses built and occupied by individuals claiming adversely to the placer location.
It is the settled rule that this Court, in an action at law at least, has no jurisdiction to review the conclusions of the highest court of a state upon questions of fact. Republican River Bridge Co. v. Kansas Pac. Ry. Co., 92 U. S. 315; Dower v. Richards, 151 U. S. 658; Israel v. Arthur, 152 U. S. 355; Noble v. Mitchell, 164 U. S. 367; Hedrick v. Atchison &c. Railroad, 167 U. S. 673, 167 U. S. 677; Turner v. New York, 168 U. S. 90, 168 U. S. 95; Egan v. Hart, 165 U. S. 188. It must therefore be accepted that the Searl placer claim was duly located, that the annual labor required by law had been performed up to the time of the litigation, that there was a subsisting valid placer location, and that the lodes were discovered by their locators within the boundaries of the placer claim subsequently to its location. So the trial court specifically found, and its finding was approved by the supreme court.
"The judgment of the Department in the Searl placer case went only to the extent of rejecting the application for patent. The Department did not assume to declare the location of the placer void, as contended by counsel, nor did the judgment affect the possessory rights of the contestant to it."
So far as the record shows -- and the record does not purport to contain all the evidence -- the placer location is still recognized in the Department as a valid location. Such also was the finding of the court, and being so, there is nothing to prevent a subsequent application for a patent and further testimony to show the claimant's right to one. Undoubtedly, when the Department rejected the application for a patent, it could have gone further and set aside the placer location, and it can now, by direct proceedings upon notice, set it aside and restore the land to the public domain. But it has not done so, and therefore it is useless to consider what rights other parties might then have.
"some of the richest mineral lands in the United States, which have been owned, occupied, and developed by individuals and corporations for many years, have never been patented."
"If, in the case at bar, the lode claims were known to exist at the time of the entry of defendant's grantors upon the Searl placer, under the decision in the Mt. Rosa case, the entry was not unlawful; but if, on the contrary, the veins were then unknown, by the same decision, the right of possession of this ground belonged to the owners of the placer location. Their right of possession included these unknown veins, and the entry for prospecting was a trespass, and no title could thereby be initiated."
lodes or veins, and, to uphold the judgment, we must presume that the evidence before the trial court showed that the veins or lodes upon which the defendant's grantors based their locations were unknown when they entered upon the Searl placer for the purpose of prospecting."
"All valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and purchase, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase."
Section 2320 provides for the location of mining claims upon veins or lodes.
"The locators of all mining locations . . . on any mineral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the public domain . . . shall have the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, lodes, and ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside of such surface lines extended downward vertically."
"Claims usually called 'placers,' including all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz, or other rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent under like circumstances and conditions and upon similar proceedings as are provided for vein or lode claims."
such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of surface on each side thereof. The remainder of the placer claim, or any placer claim not embracing any vein or lode claim, shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, together with all costs of proceedings, and where a vein or lode such as is described in section twenty three hundred and twenty is known to exist within the boundaries of a placer claim, an application for a patent for such placer claim which does not include an application for the vein or lode claim shall be construed as a conclusive declaration that the claimant of the placer claim has no right of possession of the vein or lode claim; but where the existence of a vein or lode in a placer claim is not known, a patent for the placer claim shall convey all valuable mineral and other deposits within the boundaries thereof."
another location in full force which entitles its owner to the exclusive possession of the land, the first location operates as bar to the second."
In St. Louis Mining Co. v. Montana Mining Co., 171 U. S. 650, 171 U. S. 655, the present CHIEF JUSTICE declared that "where there is a valid location of a mining claim, the area becomes segregated from the public domain, and the property of the locator." Nor is this "exclusive right of possession and enjoyment" limited to the surface, nor even to the single vein whose discovery antedates and is the basis of the location. It extends (so reads the section) to "all veins, lodes, and ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside of such surface lines extended downward vertically." In other words, the entire body of ground, together with all veins and lodes whose apexes are within that body of ground becomes subject to an exclusive right of possession and enjoyment by the locator. And this exclusive right of possession and enjoyment continues during the entire life of the location, or, in the words of Chief Justice Waite just quoted, while there is "a valid and subsisting location of mineral lands, made and kept up in accordance with the provisions of the statutes of the United States." There is no provision for, no suggestion of, a prior termination thereof.
included within the boundaries of the placer claim shall, on making application for a patent, disclose the fact of the lode claim within the boundaries of the placer, and upon the issue of the patent, payment shall be made accordingly; that, if the application for the placer claim does not include an application for a vein or lode claim known to exist within the boundaries of the placer, it shall be construed as a conclusive declaration that the placer claimant has no right of possession of that vein or lode, and further, that, where the existence of a vein or lode within the boundaries of a placer claim is not known, the patent for the placer claim shall convey all valuable mineral and other deposits within its boundaries.
as a conclusive declaration that he has no right of possession of such vein or lode. If, however, no vein or lode within the placer claim is known to exist at the time the patent is issued, then the patentee takes title to any which may be subsequently discovered.
While, by the statute, the right of exclusive possession and enjoyment is given to a locator, whether his location be of a lode claim or a placer claim, yet the effect of a patent is different. The patent of a lode claim confirms the original location, with the right of exclusive possession, and conveys title to the tract covered by the location, together with all veins, lodes, and ledges which have their apexes therein, whereas the patent to the placer claim, while confirming the original location and conveying title to the placer ground, does not necessarily convey the title to all veins, lodes, and ledges within its area. It makes no difference whether a vein or lode within the boundaries of a lode claim is known or unknown, for the locator is entitled to the exclusive possession and enjoyment of all the veins and lodes, and the patent confirms his title to them. But a patent of a placer claim will not convey the title to a known vein or lode within its area unless that vein or lode is specifically applied and paid for.
"And nothing in this section shall authorize the locator or possessor of a vein or lode which extends in its downward course beyond the vertical lines of his claim to enter upon the surface of a claim owned or possessed by another."
It would seem strange that one owning a vein, and having a right in pursuing it to enter beneath the surface of another's location, should be expressly forbidden to enter upon that surface if, at the same time, one owning no vein, and having no rights beneath the surface, is at liberty to enter upon that surface and prospect for veins as yet undiscovered.
"one may not go upon a prior valid placer location to prospect for unknown lodes, and get title to lode claims thereafter discovered and located in this manner and within the placer boundaries, unless the placer owner has abandoned his claim, waives the trespass, or, by his conduct, is estopped to complain of it."
Perhaps if the placer owner, with knowledge of what the prospectors are doing, takes no steps to restrain their work, and certainly if he acquiesces in their action, he cannot, after they have discovered a vein or lode, assert right to it, for generally a vein belongs to him who has discovered it, and a locator permitting others to search within the limits of his placer ought not thereafter to appropriate that which they have discovered by such search.
The difficulty with the case presented by the plaintiff in error is that, under the findings of fact, we must take it that the entries of the locators of these several lode claims upon the placer grounds were trespasses, and, as a general rule, no one can initiate a right by means of a trespass.
Atherton v. Fowler, 96 U. S. 513; Trenouth v. San Francisco, 100 U. S. 251; Haws v.
"No right can be initiated on government land which is in the actual possession of another by a forcible, fraudulent, or clandestine entry thereon. Cowell v. Lammers, 21 F. 200, 202; Nevada Sierra Oil Co. v. Home Oil Co., 98 F. 674, 680; Hosmer v. Wallace, 97 U. S. 575, 97 U. S. 579; Trenouth v. San Francisco, 100 U. S. 251; Mower v. Fletcher, 116 U. S. 380, 116 U. S. 385-386; Haws v. Victoria Copper Mining Co., 160 U. S. 303, 160 U. S. 317; Nickals v. Winn, 17 Nev. 188, 193; McBrown v. Morris, 59 Cal. 64, 72; Goodwin v. McCabe, 75 Cal. 584, 588; Rourke v. McNally, 98 Cal. 291."
If a placer locator is, as we have shown, entitled to the exclusive possession of the surface, an entry thereon against his will, for the purpose of prospecting by sinking shafts or otherwise, is undoubtedly a trespass, and such a trespass cannot be relied upon to sustain a claim of a right to veins and lodes. It will not do to say that the right thus claimed is only a right to something which belongs to the United States, and which will never belong to the placer locator unless specifically applied and paid for by him, and therefore that he has no cause of complaint, for if the claim of the lode locator be sustained, it carries, under sections 2320 and 2333, at least twenty-five feet of the surface on each side of the middle of the vein. Further, if there be no prospecting, no vein or lode discovered until after patent, then the title to all veins and lodes within the area of the placer passes to the placer patentee, and any subsequent discovery would enure to his benefit.
limits of a placer is made by a lode claimant, if the placer claimant asserts any right to the lode, he is necessarily called upon to adverse. Where his claim, however, is placer, pure and simple, under which claim he cannot lawfully assert a right to the lode, he has nothing upon which to base an adverse claim unless the lode is entirely without the placer and the controversy is confined to a conflicting surface or the lode claimant seeks to acquire more surface than the law permits."
We do not think the author's language is to be taken as broadly as counsel contend. Under the statutes, a lode claim carries with it the right to a certain number of acres, and where one is in peaceable possession of a valid placer claim, if a stranger forcibly enters upon that claim, discovers and locates a lode claim within its boundaries, and then applies for a patent, surely the placer claimant has a right to be heard in defense of his title to the ground of which he has been thus forcibly dispossessed. If the application for a patent of the lode claim is not adversed, it will pass to patent, and it may well be doubted whether the placer claimant could, after the issue of a patent under such circumstances, maintain an equitable suit to have the patentee declared the holder of the legal title to the ground for his benefit. If the placer claimant can be thus deprived of his possession and title to part of his ground, he may be in like manner dispossessed of all by virtue of many forcible trespasses and lode discoveries.
The amount of land embraced in this placer location was about one hundred acres, while the land claimed under the several lode locations was a little over thirty-five acres. Can it be that the placer claimant had no right to be heard in court respecting the claim of the lode claimants to so large a portion of the placer ground?
"Notwithstanding the judgment of the court on the question of the right of possession, it still remains for the Land Department to pass upon the sufficiency of the proofs, to ascertain the character of the land, and determine whether or no the conditions of the law have been complied with in good faith."
"Does the judgment of a court as to which of two litigants has the better title to a piece of land bind the commissioner to say, without judgment, or contrary to his judgment, that the successful litigant has complete title and is entitled to patent under the law? The usual result following a favorable judgment in a court under section 2326 of the Revised Statutes is , I doubt not, the issue of patent in due time, but in such case, the final passing of title is not on the judgment of the court, independent of that of the Commissioner, but is on the judgment of the latter pursuant to that of the former, and on certain evidence supplemental to that furnished by the judgment roll."
"The judgment of the court is, in the language of the law, 'to determine the question of the right of possession.' It does not go beyond that. When it has determined which of the parties litigant is entitled to possession, its office is ended, but title to patent is not yet established."
patent. His judgment should therefore be satisfied before he is called upon to take final action in any case. In this case, the judgment of the court ended the contest between the parties, and determined the right of possession. The judgment roll proves the right of possession only. The applicant must still make the proof required by law to entitle him to patent. Branagan v. Dulaney, 2 L.D. 744. The sufficiency of that proof is a matter for the determination of the Land Department."
This opinion was cited as an authority by this Court in Perego v. Dodge, 163 U. S. 160, 163 U. S. 168. See also Aurora Lodge v. Bulger Hill and Nugget Gulch Placer, 23 L.D. 95, 103. The Land Office may yet decide against the validity of the lode locations, and deny all claims of the locators thereto. So also it may decide against the placer location, and set it aside, and in that event, all rights resting upon such location will fall with it.
"the townsite laws, as they now exist, consist simply of a chronological arrangement of past legislation, an aggregation of fragments, a sort of 'crazy quilt,' in the sense that they lack harmonious blending. This may be said truthfully of the general body of the mining laws."
that a court of equity is competent to provide by its decree that the discoverer of the lode, within the placer limits, shall be secured in the temporary possession of so much of the ground as will enable him to successfully work his lode, protecting at the same time the rights of the placer locator. But such equitable adjustment of coexisting rights cannot be secured in a simple adverse action, and it would be therefore beyond the limits of proper inquiry in this case to determine the rights which may exist if, in the end, the placer location be sustained and a discovery of the lodes without forcible trespass and dispossession established.

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