Opinion ID: 767180
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Circumscribing activity on the mill site.

Text: 44 The Multiple Use Act empowers the Forest Service to regulate non-mining activity upon mining claims, so long as the non-mining activity does not interfere with mining activities or uses reasonably incident thereto. 70 The Forest Service has required the Shumways to remove their horse, residential trailer, and junk. The Shumways apparently have removed the horse, which Mr. Shumway used to reach parts of his claim not accessible by road, but claim that the trailer, equipment, and materials are necessary in his milling operation. The Forest Service itself asked the Shumways to live on the site for security purposes when there was cyanide being used in the mill site operations. The Shumways claim there is a continued need for security on the site to prevent vandalism of their equipment. They have establisheda genuine issue of fact in this respect. 45 As to the equipment, or the junk as the Forest Service refers to it, the Shumways have also established a factual issue for trial. While the Forest Service might regard the equipment on the Shumways' sites as junk, it has not proved it. The Shumway affidavit establishes a genuine issue as to whether the equipment and materials are incidental to his milling operations. The Thorne affidavit establishes a genuine issue by providing evidence that the Shumways have $400,000 worth of equipment, a proper laboratory properly used, and properly stored valuable chemicals. 46 The Forest Service's own evidence in some respects establishes a genuine issue in favor of the Shumways. In particular, the Forest Service's photographs, submitted to show the junk, display much that plainly is not. For example, a photograph of a pile of tires is submitted to show junk. But to anyone who drives much on bad, unpaved roads, what is notable about the tires is that they are mounted on intact steel wheels. Such mounted tires have a use, and a market among those who operate vehicles in terrain where flats are frequent and bent wheels not unusual. Those of us who occasionally drive on mining roads buy them, to have a couple of extra mounted spares. If the Shumways drive the rigs shown in the exhibits, then it is extremely plausible as Mr. Shumway says in his affidavit, that these mounted tires are equipment incidental to his milling operations. That the Forest Service calls what appear to be good wheels junk may reflect a lack of competence on its part to evaluate other people's equipment, rather than a lack of value of the equipment. 47 Likewise, the Shumways have established a genuine issue about whether their trailer is junk that should be removed or a dwelling reasonably incident to mill site activity for which their claim is held. The Shumways' evidence establishes that (1) they mill at the mill site, which would give them a reason to live there, just as a grocer may have a reason to live upstairs from the store; (2) the Forest Service previously ordered them to have someone living there, to protect against vandals who might spill cyanide; and (3) even though they no longer use cyanide, they still need security to protect the site from vandals. That a sham mining claim cannot furnish legal basis for a dwelling site does not imply that a dwelling is not reasonably incident to a genuine mine or mill site. The need of humans to eat, sleep, and relax in the remote locations where mines have often developed has always necessitated mining camps, bunkhouses, and other dwellings. 48