of the State Act of April 13, 1850, passed at San Jose*.
A list of the unnaturalized foreigners was to be kept
in each county. The recorders of the different districts
usually aided in its preparation.
These laws of Springfield District show plainly how
much dependence was placed upon the arbitration or,
as the Spanish termed it, the conciliacion plan. We
shall find equal care in this regard in many other dis-
tricts. Springfield is said to have been the first dis-
trict in the Sierra Nevada that built a church before it
built a gambling-house. It has remained an orderly,
flourishing, and energetic community, since the days
of its first organization.
Jamestown District, settled in August, 1848, by South-
ern and Western men, was regulated by miners' meet-
ings assembled every six months, and sometimes holding
special meetings to consider particular cases. In 1853,
several persons having attempted to pass unpopular
laws, the miners held a rousing assembly, repealed
"all previous laws, of every sort whatever," enlarged
the boundaries of the district, adopted the usual stand-
ard size for claims, one hundred feet square, and
declared that all claims secured under former laws were
publicly acknowledged as legal.
In this district, within three days from the time of
location, a claim must have a ditch one foot wide and
one foot deep cut about it : notices must also be posted,
and stakes driven at the corners. Failure to work a
claim within six days after the mining-season begins,
causes its forfeiture. A miner can hold other claims
only upon proof of purchase. Miners shall have the
LOCAL LAND LAWS AND LEGISLATION. 241
use of water from the ditches according to the date and
situation of the location of their claims.
An important clause is to the effect that miners may
dig up any farm, or enter within any enclosure, by giv-
ing the owner security that they will pay all damages
inflicted. In no case, however, shall they dig within
twelve feet of a building, or obstruct the entrance.
Payment of damages meant only compensation for grow-
ing crops and improvements.
Shaw's Flat District required the claim to be " in one
lot, and square in form." A notice would hold a claim
for ten days after the season began. Part of a com-
pany could not "hold the claims of a whole company
during the absence of a part of its members." Claims
in "deep-diggings," where pay-dirt is twenty-five feet
or more below the surface, may be laid over without
work from Dec. 1 to May 1, if they are well defined
by marks and notices, and recorded in the district re-
gister, which shall always be open to inspection. For
some years there was an annual meeting to revise the
district law, besides several meetings called by the chair-
man when it seemed desirable.
The laws of Sawmill Flat, Brown's Flat, Mormon
Gulch, and Tuttletown districts present many points
of resemblance. Two of them begin by saying,
" Whereas, This district is deficient in mining laws and regula-
tions, and disputes have arisen : therefore we,- the miners of
district, in convention assembled, do pledge ourselves to abide by
the following laws."
In three of the districts named, the laws provide that
the discoverer of new diggings shall be allowed to hold
twice the usual amount of mining-ground.
The laws of Sawmill Flat provided for a committee
of three persons, elected by the miners, to call meetings
242 MINING-CAMPS.
of all the miners of the precinct, either to enforce the
laws, or whenever, for any reason, they deem such meet-
ing necessary. The arrangement for arbitration is as
follows :
" Whenever any dispute shall arise respecting claims or water-
privileges, each party shall choose two disinterested persons ; the
four thus selected shall choose a fifth ; and the five thus selected
shall hear evidence according to the laws of this precinct."
The law of Brown's Flat provided that " all arbitra-
tors shall be appointed by the committee" of three
which then governed the camp. They were to be five
in number; and were to "examine all disputed terri-
tory, hear testimony, and decide accordingly." This
governing committee of Brown's Flat was elected " to
hold office until superseded." It was the court of ap-
peals in cases where the arbitrators failed to satisfy the
parties. Its members were paid " wages for summoning
the arbitrators, and for other duties ; " but the amount
is not named.
The Tuttletown laws say, " No person shall hold more
than two claims, either by purchase or otherwise." They
also provide that any one who destroys a notice or claim-
stake shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more
than fifty dollars. Notices of discontinuance of work
on deep claims during winter are to be posted in
some convenient and public place in the district.
Tuttletown was so named because Mr. Tuttle, after-
wards first county judge of Tuolumne, built and occu-
pied the first cabin there. The miners of the district
organized a water-ditch company in June, 1851, and
carried their enterprise to a successful termination.
Mormon's Gulch and Brown's Flat were first mined in
1848. Sawmill Flat became a great resort of Mexicans,
Chilenos, and Peruvians, in 1850-51. Joaquin Mini-
LOCAL LAND LAWS AND LEGISLATION. 243
etta, the notorious outlaw, was a monte-dealer there in
1852.
Yorktown, Poverty Hill, and Chili camps had similar
laws; and these pioneer camps were organized early
in 1849. The first and last were settled by Mexicans
and Chilenos, but Americans soon ruled all three. At
Yorktown, within a month after its discovery, the Amer-
icans and other miners met, " and elected P. Cutrell for
alcalde, and Mr. Rochette (better known as 4 Frenchy ')
for sheriff," under whose administration the district was
governed well and quietly. The alcalde system was re-
tained in its main features until superseded by county
organization. In these districts, the miners assembled
to pass legislative enactments; but they only referred
to size of claims, and possession thereof, not in any case
to " arbitration," because that was one of the alcalde's
most important duties. The camp-laws limited " deep-
diggings " to claims " of thirty feet square on unworked
ground, and to fifty feet square on previously worked
ground." A claim of sixty feet square was set apart
for the discoverer of a placer. A claim must be worked
within three days after staking it out, and placing a
claim-notice upon it. Ten days' absence in the work-
ing season subjects it to forfeiture, and throws it open
to re-location as an abandoned claim.
Chinese Camp also had an alcalde system ; and its
laws, passed at a miners' meeting Sept. 17, 1850, were
in operation for many years, without change. The
alcalde elected at this meeting had "power to decide
upon all disputed claims ; " his fees were fixed at three
dollars for his decision, and a dollar a mile for travel-
ing expenses from the central point of the camp to the
disputed claims, and return. The legislative enact-
ments of the district confirmed all claims " as made by
244 MINING-CAMPS.
the present settlers ; " confined all future claims to
" twenty feet square ; " and required a ditch two feet
wide and one foot deep to be dug about each claim,
" unless prevented by rock or clay," in which case the
removal of the surface-soil and the erection of corner-
stones was considered sufficient. In this district, Isaac
Caps was the first alcalde, and S. E. Chamberlain the
first sheriff.
The laws of Gold Spring Camp presented some
features differing materially from those of other dis-
tricts in the region. Claims must be worked one day
in every seven. Arbitrators were " earnestly recom-
mended," but not made essential. Miners were com-
pelled to make a new road if they destroyed the old
one in their operations. This is often a bone of much
contention in mining-districts. Gold Spring Camp had
a population of about eight hundred, and was ruled in
1850 by an alcalde; in 1854 the population was five
hundred. The gold of this district minted more than
that of any other of the early diggings. 1
Columbia District was always a large and important
one, including several lesser camps, such as Yankee
Hill, where many fine nuggets, one weighing twenty-
three pounds, were found in the early days. The his-
tory of this camp was highly characteristic of the
mining-era. March 27, 1850, five prospectors all
New-Englanders, and three, at least, from the woods of
Maine camped beside a gulch, and tested the gravel.
To their delight it was found that they could make
eight or ten ounces a day to the man, though water was
1 Gold-dust, which at first passed at uniform rates in the mines, and
in San Francisco, at one time falling to seven dollars per ounce, was
carefully tested by the express companies ; and they found that it ranged
in value in different localities, from $14.50 to $19.50 per ounce.
LOCAL LAND LAWS AND LEGISLATION. 245
very scarce. They named the place Kennebec Hill,
and proceeded to wash gravel with their utmost energy,
knowing that others would soon find the gulch. Within
a week, another prospector joined them, and succeeded
in taking out two pounds and a half of gold-dust
during his first day's work. Within thirteen days from
the time the five original prospectors camped on Ken-
nebec Hill, there were eight thousand miners in the
new town. Many gamblers came with the crowd ; and
at one time there were not less than a hundred arid
forty-three monte and faro banks in operation, the funds
of which were nearly half a million dollars. Men were
often seen to turn a card for three or four thousand
dollars, sometimes for several times as much. It was
one of the most rapid developments of a great and
prosperous mining-camp ever known in California.
Within a fortnight, the need for some system of gov-
ernment was manifest. A public meeting was called to
talk up the subject ; but nothing in particular was done
except to give the camp a name, Columbia. Two or
three days later, at another and much better attended
mass-meeting, Major Sullivan was chosen alcalde, and
allowed fees collected from registry of mining-claims.
June 1 the new State tax on foreigners was enforced,
and the population decreased greatly. In 1852, 1,229
votes were polled in the district.
The points in the mining-law in Columbia, which
differed from those previously noted, were as follows :
Full regulations respecting "dry-diggings," and gold-
bearing earth thrown up in heaps to remain till winter
rains, such heaps being held to be private property ;
full regulations to prevent persons from diverting water
flowing naturally through gold-bearing ravines, from its
course, without the consent of all parties interested ; the
246 MINING-CAMPS.
presence on a claim of tools, sluice-boxes in condition
for use, or other mining-machines, accepted as pr'una-
facie evidence of occupation.
There are no regulations for arbitration, that being
one of the alcalde duties in this camp. The alcalde
appointed jurors in civil cases when asked for. The
other officers were sheriff and recorder ; and the sheriff
chose his own assistant, or selected a posse whenever
thought necessary. Recorder-fees were at first a dollar,
but afterwards fifty cents.
But far the most important sections of the Columbia-
District law were as follows : " Neither Asiatics nor South-
Sea Islanders shall be allowed to mine in this district,
either for themselves or for others." " Any person who
shall sell a claim to an Asiatic or South-Sea Islander
shall not be allowed to hold another claim in this dis-
trict for the space of six months." " None but Ameri-
cans, or Europeans who intend to become citizens, shall
be allowed to mine in this district, either for themselves
or others." These laws were in full operation in 1856,
when Columbia had more than five thousand inhabit-
ants. 1
Montezuma Camp, Tuolumne, allowed "three squares,
of a hundred feet each," to constitute a surface claim ;
a hundred and fifty feet in width was a " tunnelling-
claim ; " a hundred feet wide by three hundred feet long
was a deep-sinking claim. All shaft-claims must be re-
corded within one week after location, and must receive
three full days' labor each week. The recorder was
1 In 1854 the town was incorporated. In 1855 the miners were anx-
ious to aid the progress of a water-company's ditch; and three hundred
or more of them took their picks, and gave several weeks' work to the
enterprise. This company, in ten months, constructed forty-four miles
of canal and fluming, and supplied twenty-five square miles of mining-
ground.
LOCAL LAND LAWS AND LEGISLATION. 247
elected "for one year, and until his successor is chosen,
unless dissatisfaction occurs : " then the miners of the
district "may call a special meeting, and by a two-thirds
vote declare said office vacant, and proceed to elect his
successor." Arrangements are made for an annual meet-
ing, called by the recorder. His fees are a dollar for
recording each claim, and a dollar for each arbitration.
He presides over the arbitration court, which consists
of two miners chosen by each of the disputants. If
either party refuses to choose arbitrators, the two others
and the recorder shall decide ; and their decision is final.
Jacksonville Camp allowed for a claim fifty feet in
width on the river, and extending from the centre of
the stream to the adjacent mountain ; in the small ra-
vines, three hundred feet constituted a claim, one hun-
dred and fifty feet on the flat, and sixty feet in certain
deep-diggings. Fifteen days' idleness in the working-
season destroyed claim-rights. In Garote District, fifty
yards up and down the creek were allowed, and seventy-
five yards on neighboring gulches.
In 1856 the mining-laws of French Camp, Stanislaus
County, then called La Grange, contained the fol-
lowing, after providing for arbitrators : " In the event
of any of the disputing parties not acknowledging the
decision, then the miners of this district will assem-
ble, and compel said party .to recognize the umpire's
decision."
The Sweetland mining-district, Nevada County, was
organized in 1850, claims then being thirty feet square.
Two years later the privilege was increased, and claims
of eighty by a hundred and eighty feet allowed. In
1853 the miners met, and subdivided the district into
three ; and different regulations were adopted in each.
North San Juan, one of these districts, and long the
248 MINING-CAMPS.
great hydraulic-mining centre of California, provided,
in its earlier code, for " one claim by location, and an
unlimited number by purchase. The claim-notice must
be renewed every thirty days, unless obviated by the
daily presence of the owners or their representatives."
An expenditure of five hundred dollars in prospecting
or opening up a claim secures it for two years. A re-
corder was to be elected annually by the miners, with
the usual fees ; and each sale or transfer was to be placed
on record within a week.
Pilot Hill, Calaveras County, passed laws .about 1855,
to the effect that each " gulch-claim " should be a hun-
dred and fifty feet long, and fifty feet wide ; each " sur-
face-claim," two hundred feet by a hundred feet; and
each " tunnel or shaft claim " should be a hundred feet
in width, and extending through the hill. On the last
class of claim, work to the value of twenty-five dollars
per week is required from each company. "Occupa-
tion and use " is required of the owners of the other
species of claims.
New Kanaka Camp, Tuolumne County, allowed, in
1858, "creek-claims" of two hundred feet in width, and
from bank to bank ; also " gulch-claims," of one-fourth
that size ; and " bar or flat " claims, of twenty feet in
width and fifty feet in length. Work must be done
" one full day in three, unless the owner is sick or on a
jury." On this point, the law of a little Trinity-county
camp in 1854 said with grim humor, "and a physician's
certificate is needed ; " there being at that time but one
or two medical men in the county, and none at all in
that particular camp. New Kanaka furthermore or-
dained that each miner might hold one claim by pre-
emption, and one by purchase, but no more. The
Chinaman was shut out ; " not allowed to own, either
LOCAL LAND LAWS AND LEGISLATION. 249
by purchase or pre-emption." All disputes were left to
three arbitrators, who " must be paid at the rate of three
dollars per day for their time." One curious item was,
that the elected recorder should number each claim
registered, and himself attach to a claim-stake, in the
presence of witnesses, a piece of tin bearing that num-
ber. The laws of Copper-Canon District, Calaveras
County, were similarly exact on this point; requiring
the recorder to visit each claim, and examine its bounds.
One of the most remarkable instances of definite
regulation of the " legal representation " of miners at
all meetings was that afforded by Brown's Valley Camp,
Yuba County. The miners of this place appear to have
been sufficiently energetic ; for we find them, early in
1853, assembling, and repealing a " previous arbitrary
and oppressive set of laws to-day revoked by common
consent." They met again Aug. 8, and resolved,
" That each claim shall be entitled to a vote in the miners' meet-
ings of this district by the proper owner, or may be represented by
a power-of-attorney from the proper owner, specifying the object
of that power, and its limitation."
These meetings were semi-annual, and claims not repre-
sented were declared to be forfeited. This code was in
full force until 1864, and many of its provisions lasted
until a few years ago.
Examples of kindred regulations might easily be
quoted from the laws of placer-camps in California.
We have before us notes from pioneers upon the codes
of Cherokee, Nimshew, Bangor, and Forbestown camps,
in Butte County; of La Porte, Hungarian Hill, and
Grizzly Creek, in Plumas County ; of Port Wine, Forest
City, Monte Cristo, and Downieville, in Sierra ; of Slab-
town, Tiddletown, and Volcano, in Amador ; of Mount
Ophir, Blue Gulch, Penon Blanco, and Horseshoe Bend,
250 MINING-CAMPS.
in Mariposa; and of many other camps once famous,
but now lost in oblivion. None of them present im-
portant variations from those already described. The
laws of Mud Springs, El Dorado County, as late as 1863
provided for the use of arbitrators; and Georgetown
Camp in 1866 clung to many of the primitive forms.
In 1868 each district in Placer County had its uwn
rules, and little uniformity was manifest.
A claim-notice posted in San Andreas District, Cala-
veras County, in 1862, was as follows :
NOTICE. The Undersigned claims this ground for mining-pur-
poses, known as the Robert McCall Claim, being a deep or shaft
claim, and bounded on the northwest by the Gilchrist & Cornwell
Claim, & on the southeast by the Plug-Ugly Claim, and he in-
tends to work it according to the laws of the San Andreas Mining
District.
(Signed) WILLIAM IRVINE.
JOHN SKOWALTER, Recorder, Aug. 18.
Another notice found by the writer over a deserted
claim in Shasta County, a few years ago, was of a much
more primitive type, and read after this fashion :
NOTIS: To all and everybody. This is my claim, fifty feet
on the gulch, cordin' to Clear Creek District Law, backed up by
shotgun amendments.
(Signed) THOMAS HALL.
A few quotations from other "claim-notices" that
were in their time accepted as " good and sufficient "
may perhaps be pardoned. One man wrote : " TAKEN.
This is my Honest Claim of Ten feet each way."
Another : " To MINERS. Look further. Respect my
claim stakes driven by the rules of Douglas Bar." Still
another grew combative with his " CLAME NOTISE.
Jim Brown of Missoury takes this ground ; jumpers will
be shot." Some camps prescribed the proper size for
LOCAL LAND LAWS AND LEGISLATION. 251
the "notice," and that it "should be written in ink,"
others required it to be "painted or cut on wood;" and
it was often boxed, or otherwise protected from the
weather. One camp described the legal claim-stake as
four feet high and five inches square. There was evi-
dently a great deal of honest attention paid to details
of this sort.
All the laws we have hitherto described are those of
placer-districts where mines were worked at compara-
tively little cost, except when tunnelling was required.
But the first quartz-mining began in 1850-51, near
Oroville ; and the necessity of having laws by which to
regulate the size of quartz-claims, and their tenure, was
at once manifest. The miners soon took steps to enlarge
their code, and extend it to county jurisdiction. Late
in 1852 the miners of the various districts of Nevada
County held a meeting at which there was a full dis-
cussion of the subject, and a free interchange of opinion.
A committee was appointed to report at another meeting,
called for Dec. 20, at which time a convention of the
quartz-miners from all the districts of the county was
held at Nevada City. The laws they adopted at this
meeting were still in force in 1881, and have served as
the regulations of all the quartz-mining of that region.
They carry the force of law, and have sustained various
judicial decisions. The jurisdiction of these laws was
declared to be "over all quartz mines and claims in
Nevada County." The extent allowed to a claim was
" one hundred feet on the ledge," including " all dips,
angles, and variations," or, as later laws read, " all dips,
spurs, and angles." The discoverer was entitled to two
hundred feet. The marking and staking of a claim
must be done within three days, and the recording
within ten days ; and within thirty days, work to the
252 MINING-CAMPS.
cost of one hundred dollars, or twenty full days' labor,
must be done, and the same repeated each year to hold
the claim, until a company is fully organized, and has
a mill worth five thousand dollars " contracted for in
good faith." The recorder may then give the company
a title-deed to the mining-property, guaranteeing posses-
sion and proprietorship forever. Failure to comply with
this provision about the quartz-mill, ultimately works
forfeiture. Any citizen of the United States can take
up one quartz-claim, and may also hold " all that he
purchases in good faith." The regular county recorder
of Nevada County was to serve as mining-recorder in
the matter of quartz-claims. His deputy was to be
elected by the district.
The Sacramento-County miners assembled in 1857,
and passed laws that were in force until after 1868.
They required twenty days of work per year on each
quartz-claim; the work when done "to be examined by
the recorder of the local district," and a certifi 1-11113
given. Whenever a quartz-mill worth five thousand
dollars has been contracted for in good faith, the com-
pany is entitled to receive a, permanent title-deed to
the lands from the county recorder. Only citizens, or
" those who have declared their intentions of becoming
so," are entitled to hold claims. About 1855 the
miners of Sierra County formed a code, requiring
work to the value of a hundred dollars per year, allow-
ing " foreigners who pay their miners' tax " to hold
claims, and limiting the size to two hundred feet on the
lode, by a total width of five hundred feet. In 1858
the miners of Tuolumne County assembled, and made
uniform laws for the quartz interests.
At the present time most of the counties in the State
have held " miners' meetings," at one time or another,
LOCAL LAND LAWS AND LEGISLATION. 253
to regulate the interests of the owners of quartz-lodes.
There was a plan suggested, some time before 1860, for
a State convention of delegates from all the mining-
districts of California, to formulate a general mining-
code ; but the need was not sufficiently felt at that time,
and Congressional action a few years later rendered
such a convention useless. No student of the life of
the camps, however, can deny that the full possibility
of a State-wide organization existed.
Enough has been said to show how exact and definite
were the California camp-laws which regulated property
rights. They dealt in a practical manner with river
arid placer mine-rights, with cement and deep-gravel
rights, with tunnel and water-ditch rights, and with
leads, ledges, and lodes of every description. These
laws thus created became the common heritage of the
entire body of American miners, and were in a few
years adopted by camps in far-distant regions.
In the Territory (now the State) of Nevada, Virginia-
city District adopted its first code Sept. 14, 1859.