Year: 1867

| raj lands of the public domain, both survey
ed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared TO DE
free and open to exploration and occupation
by all citizens of the United States, and those
who have declared their intention to become
citizens, subject to such regulations as may
be prescribed by law, and subject also to the
local custom or rules of miners IN the several
mining districts, so far as the same may not
be in conflict with the laws Of the United
States.


Sec. 2 And be it further enacted, That
whenever any person or ASSOCIATION OF per
sons claim vein or lode of quartz or other
rock in place, bearing gold, silver, cinnabar
or copper. having previously occupied and
improved the same according to the local
custom or rule of miners in the district
where the same is situated, and having eX-
pended in actual labcs a d improvements
thereon an amount of not less than $1,000,
and in regard to whose possession there is
no controversy or opposing claim, 1t shall
and may be lawful for said claimant or asso
ciation of claimants to file in the local Land
Office diagram of the same, 80 extended
literally or otherwise as to conform to the
local laws, customs and rules of miners, and
to enter such tract and receive patent there
for, granting such mine, together with the
right to follow such vein or lode with its
d ps, angles and variations, to any depth
though it may enter the land adjoining,
which land adjoining shall be sold subject to
this condition.


Sec g. And be it further enacted. Thai
upon the filing Of diagram as provided in the
second section of this Act, aud posting the
same in conspicuous place on the claim,
together with notice Of intention to apply
for patent the Register of the Land Office
shall publish notice of the same in news
paper published nearest to the location of
said claim, and shall al o post such notice in
his Office for the period Of ninety days. and
after the expiration of said period, if no ad-
verse claim shall have been filled it shall be
the duty of the Surveyor General, upon ap
plicaton of the party, to survey the premises
and make plat thereof, indorsed with his
approval, designating the number and de
scripton of the location, the value OF the
labor and improvements, and the character
of the vein exposed and upon the payment
to the proper officer of So per acre, together
with the cost of such survey, plat and notice,
and giving satisfactory evidence that said
diagram and notice have been posted on the
claim during said period of ninety days, the
Register of the Land Office shall transmit to





and description and "a patent shall issue for
the same thereupon. But said plat, survey
or description shall in no case cover more
than one vein or lode, which shall be ex-
pressed in the patent issued.


Sec. And be it further enacted That
when such location and entry of a mine shall
be upon unsurveyed lands, 1t shall and may
be lawful, after the extension thereto of the
public surveys, to adjust the surveys to the
limits of the premises according to the loca
tion and possession and plat aforesaid, and
the Surveyor General may, in extending the
surveys, vary the same from a rectangular
form to suit the circumstances of the country
aud the local rules, laws and customs of the
miners provided, that no location hereafter
made shall exceed two hundred feet in length
along the vein for each locator, with an ad-
ditional claim for discovery to the dscoverer
of the lode, with the right to follow such
vein to any depth, with all its dips varia-
tions and angles, together with reasonable
quantity of surface for the convenient work
ing of the same, as fixed by local rules and
provided further, that no person may make
more than one location on the same lode and
not more than three thousand feet shall be
taken in any one claim by any association of
persons.


Sec 5. And be it further enacted That
as a further condition of sale, in the absence
of necessary legislation by Congress, the local
Legislature of any State or Territory may
provide rules for working mines involving
easements, drainage ami other necessary
means to their complete development, and
those conditions shall be fully expressed in
the patent.


Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That
whenever any adverse claimants to any
mine located and claimed as aforefad shall
appear before the approval of the survey, as
provided in the third section of this Act all
proceedings shall be stayed until final set
tlement and adjudication in the Courts OF
competent jurisdiction of the rights of pos
session to such claim, when patent may
| issue as in other cases.


Sec L And be it further enacted, That
the President Of the United States be and
he is hereby authorized to establish addition
al land districts and to appoint the necessary
| officers, under existing laws, wherever he
may deem the same necessary for the public
convenience in executing the provisions o.
| this Acr.


Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, Tha
the right Of way for the construction O
highways over public lands, not reserved fol

public uses. is hereby granted.


Sec. And be it further enacted, Tha
whenever, by priority of possession, rights t.
the use of water for mining. agricultural
manufacturing, or other PURPOSES, havt
vested and accrued, and the same are recog
nized and acknow ledged by the local Gus
toms. laws, and the decisions Of Courts, th'
possessors and owners OF such vested right
shall be maintained and protected in tn
same and the right of way for the construc
tion of bitches and canals for the purpose
aforesaid is hereby acknowledged and con


irmed provided, however, that whenever
after the passage Of this act, any person o
persons shall, in the construction of an.
ditch or canal, injure or damage the posses
sion of any settler on the public domain, tn
marty committing such injury or damag
Shall be liable 10 the party injured for sue
injury or damage.


Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, Tha
| wherever, prior to the passage of this Act