sessment year shall begin, this act shall supersede all district mining laws, and
thereafter said laws shall be considered as repealed: Provided, Any and all
rights heretofore acquired under and by virtue of such district mining laws shall
be" determined in accordance with said mining laws existing at the time when,
said rights were acquired. During the'period extending from and including the
first day of May, 1866, to and including the day immediately preceding the first
Saturday of the following August, no claim shall become subject to relocation
by reason of the non-performance of assessment work. Locations may be made
under this act at any time on and after the second Saturday of July, 1866, at
which time the district recorders elected under this act shall, if qualified, enter
upon the discharge of their duties, and on and after said second Saturday of
July no location shall be made under district mining laws.
SEC. 32. The doing of assessment work, or the payment of assessment dues,
shall not be required in order to hold a claim during any assessment year, if
during the year next preceding such assessment year there has been done on said
claim, by or on behalf of the claimants thereof, an amount of work costing at
a fair valuation not less than fifty cents for each foot in said claim ; but in all
other cases assessment work shall be done or assessment dues shall be paid as
provided in this act. Assessment dues shall be paid for every assessment year by
the parties holding the claim to the district recorder elected under this act, be-
fore the first Saturday of August commencing the assessment year for which they
are paid, except as otherwise provided in this section.
SEC. 33. Except as otherwise provided in section 32, every mining claim lo-
cated and held under district mining laws, on which before the first day of May,
1866, there has been work done involving the excavation of fifty cubic feet of
earth or loose matter, or five cubic feet of solid rock, for each two hundred feet
in such claim, shall bo subject to assessment dues. On every mining claim lo-
cated and held under district mining laws, on which such work has not been
done before the first day of May, 1866, assessment work shall be done on or
before the day immediately preceding the first Saturday of August, 1S66. The
doing of such assessment work or the paying of such assessment dues shall en-
able the owner of said claim to hold the same for the next ensuing assessment
year, commencing on the first Saturday of August, 1866.
SEC. 34. The assessment work done within the thirty days after the location
of a claim under this act, as provided in section 22, shall hold the same only up
to the beginning of the assessment year following the date of said location, and
for such next ensuing assessment year and for every year thereafter, except as
provided in section 32 of this act, such claim shall be subject to assessment dues.
SEC. 45. The extraction of gold or other metals from alluvial or diluvial de-
posits, generally called placer mining, shall be subject to such regulations as the
miners in the several mining districts shall adopt.
18. REGULATIONS OF THE VIRGINIA DISTRICT, NEVADA.
The following are the regulations of the district of Virginia City, Nevada,
adopted September 14, 1859 :
ARTICLE 1. All quartz claims hereafter located shall be two hundred feet en
the lead, including all its dips and angles.
ART. 2 All discoverers of new quartz veins shall be entitled to an additional
claim for discovery.
ART. 3. All claims shall be designated by stakes and notices at each corner.
ART. 4. All quartz claims shall be worked to the amount of ten dollars or
three days' work per mouth to each. claim, and the owner can work to the
246 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
amount of forty dollars as soon after the location of the claim as he may elect ;
which amount being worked shall exempt him from working on said claim for
eix months thereafter.
ART 5 All quartz claims shall be known by a name and in sections.
ART. 6 All claims shall b& properly recorded within ten days from the time
of location.
ART 7. All claims recorded in the Gold Hill record and lying in the Vir-
ginia district shall be recorded free of charge in the record of Virginia district,
upon the presentation of a certificate from the recorder of the Gold Hill district
certifying that said claims have been duly recorded in said district ; and said
claims shall be recorded within thirty days after the passage of this article.
ART 9 Surface and hill claims shall be one hundred feet square, and be
designated by stakes and notices at each corner.
ART. 10. All ravine and gulch claims shall be one hundred feet in length, and
in width extend from bank to bank, and be designated by a stake and notice at
each end.
ART. 11. All claims shall be worked within ten days after water can be had
sufficient to work said claims.
ART 12 All ravine, gulch and surface claims shall be recorded within ten
days after location-
ART 13. All claims not worked according to the laws of this district shall be
forfeited and subject to relocation.
ART 14 There shall be a recorder elected, to hold his office for the term of
twelve months, who shall be entitled to the sum of fifty cents for each claim lo-
cated and recorded.
ART. 15. The recorder shall keep a book with all the laws of this district
written therein, which shall at all times be subject to the inspection of the miners
of said district ; and he is furthermore required to post in two conspicuous places
a copy of the laws of said district.
' 19. REGULATIONS OF REESE RIVER DISTRICT, NEVADA.
The following are the regulations of the Reese River district, Nevada :
SECTION. 1. The district shall be known as the Reese River mining district,
and shall be bounded as follows, to wit : On the north by a distance of ten miles
from the overland telegraph line, on the east by Dry creek, on the south by a
distance of ten miles from the overland telegraph line, and on the west by Ed-
ward's creek, where not conflicting with any new districts formed to date.
SEC. 2. There shall be a mining recorder elected on the first day of June
next for this district, who shall hold office for one year from the 17th of July
next, unless sooner removed by a new election, which can only be done by a
written call, signed by at least fifty claim-holders, giving notice of a new elec-
tion to be held, alter said notice shall have been posted and published for at least
twenty days in some newspaper published in or nearest this district ; and the
recorder shall be a resident of this district.
SEC. 3 It shall be the duty of the recorder to keep in a suitable book or
books a full and truthful record of the proceedings of all public meetings ; to
place on record all claims brought to him for that purpose, when such claim
shall not interfere with or affect the rights and interests of prior locators, record-
ing the same in the order of their date, for which service he shall receive one
dollar ($1) for each claim recorded. It shall also be the duty of the recorder to
keep his books open at all times to the inspection of the public ; he shall also
have the power to appoint a deputy to act in his stead, for wliDse official acts
he shall be held responsible. It shall also be the duty of the recorder to deliver
to his successor in office all books, records, papers, &c., belonging to or pertain-
ing to his office.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 247
SEC. 4. All examinations of the record must be made in the full presence of
the recorder or his deputy
SEC. 5. Notice of a claim of location of mining ground by any individual, or
by a company, on file in the recorder's office, fchall be deemed equivalent to a
record of the same.
SEC. 6. Each claimant shall be entitled to hold by location two hundred feet
on any lead in the district, with all the dips, spurs, and angles, offshoots, out-
crops, depths, widths, variations, and all the mineral and other valuables
therein contained, the discoverer of and locater of a new lead being entitled
to one. claim extra for discovery.
SEC. 7. The locater of any lead, lode, or ledge in the district shall be entitled
to hold on each side of the lead, lode, or ledge located by him or them one
hundred feet ; but this shall not be construed to mean any distinct or parallel
ledge within the two hundred feet other than the one originally located.
SEC. 8. All locations shall be made by a written notice posted upon the
ground, and boundaries described, and all claimants' names posted on the notice.
SEC. 9. Work done on any tunnel, cut, shaft, or drift, in good faith, shall
be considered as being done upon the claim owned by such person or company.
SEC. 10. Every claim (whether by individual or company) located shall be
recorded within ten days after the date of location.
SEC. 11. All miners locating a mining claim in this district shall place and
maintain thereon a good and substantial monument or stake, with a notice thereon
of the name of the claim, the names of the locators, date of location, record, and
extent of claim. It is hereby -requested that owners in claims already located
do comply with the requirements of this section.
SEC. 12. The recorder shall go upon the ground with any and all parties
desiring to locate claims, and shall be entitled to receive for such service one
dollar for each and every name in a location of two hundred feet each.
SEC. 13. It is hereby made the duty of the mining recorder, upon the written
application of twenty-five miners, to call a meeting of the miners of the district
by giving a notice of twenty days through some newspaper published in the
Reese River district, which notice shall state the object of the meeting and the
place and time of holding the same.
SEC. 14. The laws of this district passed July 17, 1862, are hereby re-
pealed.
SEC. 15. These laws shall take effect on and after the fourth day of June,
1864.
20. QUARTZ STATUTE OF THE STATE OF OREGON.
SECTION 1. That any person, or company of persons, establishing a claim
on any quartz lead containing gold, silver, copper, tin, or lead, or a claim on a
vein of cinnabar, for the purpose of mining the same, shall be allowed to have,
hold, and possess the land or vein, with all its dips, spurs, and angles, for the
distance of three hundred feet in length and seventy-five feet in width on each
side of such lead or vein.
SEC. 2. To establish a valid claim the discoverer or person wishing to
establish a claim shall post a notice on the lead or vein, with name or names
attached, which shall protect the claim or claims for thirty days; and before
the expiration of said thirty days he or they shall cause the claim or claims to
be recorded as hereinafter provided, and describing, as near as may be, the
claim or claims, and their location; but continuous working of said claim or
claims shall obviate the necessity of . such record. If any claim shall not be
worked for twelve consecutive months it shall be forfeited and considered liable
to location by any person or persons, unless the owner or owners be absent on
account of sickness, or in the service of their country in time of war.
SEC. 3. Any person may hold one claim by location, as hereinafter pro-
248 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
vided, upon each lead or vein, and as many by purchase as the local laws of
the miners in the district where such claims are located may allow ; and the
discoverer of any new lead or vein, not previously located upon, shall be
allowed one additional claim for the discovery thereof. Nothing in this section
shall be so construed as to allow any person not the discoverer to locate more
than one claim upon any one lead or vein.
SEC. 4. Every person, or company of persons, after establishing such claim
or claims, shall, within one year after recording or taking such claim or claims,
work or cause to be worked to the amount of fifty dollars for each and every
claim, and for each successive year shall do the same amount of work, under
penalty of forfeiture of said claim or claims : Provided, That any incorporate
company owning claims on any lead or vein may be allowed to work' upon any
one claim the whole amount required as above for all the claims they may own
on such lead or vein.
SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of the county clerk of any county, upon the
receipt of a notice of a miners' meeting organizing a miners' district in- said
county, with a description of the boundaries thereof, to record the same in a
book to be kept in his office as other county records, to be called a " book of
record of mining claims ;" and, upon the petition of parties interested, he may
appoint a deputy for such district, who shall reside in said district or its
vicinity, and shall record all mining claims and water rights in the order in
which they are presented for record ; and shall transmit a copy of such record
at the end of each month to the county clerk, who shall record the same in the
above-mentioned book of record, for which he shall receive one dollar for each
and every claim. It shall further be the duty of said county clerk to furnish a
copy of this law to his said deputy, who shall keep the same in his office, open
at all reasonable times for the inspection of all persons interested therein.
SEC. 6. Miners shall be empowered to make local laws in relation to the pos-
session of water rights, the possession and working of placer claims, and the
survey and sale of town lots in mining camps, subject to the laws of the United
States.
SEC. 7. That ditches used for mining purposes, and mining flumes permanently
affixed to the soil, be and they are hereby declared real estate for all intents
and purposes whatever.
SEC. 8. That all laws relative to the sale and transfer of real estate, and the
application of the liens of mechanics and laborers therein, be and they are hereby
made applicable to said ditches and flumes : Provided, That all interests in
mining claims known as placer or surface diggings may be granted, sold, and
conveyed by bill of sale and delivery of possession, as in cases of the sale of per-
sonal property : Provided further, That the bills of sale or conveyances exe-
cuted on the sale of any placer or surface mining claim shall be recorded within
thirty days after the date of such sale, in the office of the county clerk of the
county in which such sale is made, in a book to be kept by the county clerk for
that purpose, to be called the record of conveyances of mining claims.
SEC. 9. Mortgages of interests in placer or surface mining claims shall be
executed, acknowledged, recorded, and foreclosed as mortgages of chattels.
SEC. 10. The county clerk shall be entitled to a fee of one dollar each for
every conveyance or mortgage recorded under the provisions of this act,
21.-QUARTZ STATUTE OF IDAHO.
The following is the statute of Idaho in regard to quartz claims :
SECTION 1. That any person or persons who may hereafter discover any
quartz lead or lode shall be entitled to one claim thereon by right of discovery,
and one claim each by location.
SEC. 2. That a quartz claim shall consist of two hundred feet in length along
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 249
the lead or lode by one hundred feet in breadth, covering and including all dips,
gpurs, and angles within the bounds of said claim, as also the right of drainage,
tunnelling, and such other privileges as may be necessary to the working of
said claim.
SEC 3. The locator of any quartz claim on any lead or lode shall, at the time
of locating such claim, place a substantial stake, not less than three inches in
diameter, at each end of said claim, on which shall be a written notice specifying
the name of the locator, the number .of feet claimed, together with the year,
month, and day when the same was taken.
SEC. 4. All claims shall be recorded in the county recorder's office, within
ten days from the time of posting notice thereon : Provided, That when the
claim located is more than thirty miles distant from the county seat the time
shall extend to fifteen days.
SEC. 5. Quartz claims recorded in accordance with the provisions of section 4
of this act shall entitle the person so recording to hold the same to the use of
himself, his heirs and assigns : Provided, That within six months from and after
the date of recording he shall perform, or cause to be performed, thereon work
amounting in value to the sum of one hundred dollars.
SEC. 6. Any person or persons holding quartz claims in pursuance of this act
shall renew the notice required in section 3 at least once in twelve months, un-
less such claimant is occupying and working the same.
SEC. 7. The conveyances of quartz claims heretofore made by bills of sale or
other instruments of writing, with or without seals, shall be construed in accord-
ance with the local mining rules, regulations, and customs of miners in the sev-
eral mining districts, and said bills of sale or instruments of writing concerning
quartz claims without seals shall be prima facie evidence of sale, as if such con-
veyance had been made by deed under seal.
SEC. 8. Conveyances of quartz claims shall hereafter require the same formal-
ities and shall be subject to the same rules of construction as the transfer and
conveyance of real estate.
SEC. 9. The location and pre-emption of quartz claims heretofore made shall
be established and proved when there is a contest before the courts, by the local
mles, customs, and regulations of the miners in each mining district where such
claim is located, when not in conflict with the laws of the United States or the
laws of this Territory.
SEC. 10. This act to take effect and to be in force from and after its approval
by the governor.
Approved February 4, 1864.
23. STATUTE OF AEIZONA.
The following is the statute of Arizona on the registry and government of
mines and mineral deposits, with the exception of the sections providing the
manner in which the rights of miners shall be enforced by the courts :
SECTION 1. All mining rights on the public lands of the United States, as
well as rights acquired by discovery on the lands of private individuals, are
possessory in their character only, and such possessory rights shall be limited,
regulated, and governed as hereinafter provided.
SEC. 15. Every mining claim or pertenencia is declared to consist of a super-
ficial area of two hundred yards square, to be measured so as to include the
principal mineral vein or mineral deposits, always having reference to and fol-
lowing the dip of the vein so far as it can or may be worked, with all the earth
and minerals therein. But any mining district organized in accordance with the
provisions of this chapter may prescribe the dimensions of said mining claim or
pertenencia for such district : Provided, That in no case the dimensions so pre-
scribed shall exceed the number of yards allowed by this section j and further
250 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES
provided, That no such mining district shall diminish the extent of the territo-
rial claim to one pertenencia, as defined in this section.
SEC. 16. Any person discovering or opening a vein or other mineral deposit
in this Territory, not actually worked or legally owned by other parties or
registered in accordance with this chapter, shall by properly denouncing and
registering the same be entitled to claim and hold a possessory right to a tract
of land to the extent of two mining claims or perteneucias, including the said
vein or mineral deposit, and conforming .as nearly as possible to the general
direction thereof, each to be measured two hundred yards long by two hundred
yards wide, the direction of the lines to be determined by the person claiming.
SEC. 17. If two or more persons are associated, and have formed a company
for the exploration and working of mines, and one or several shall make dis-
coveries of mineral deposits in consequence thereof, said company so engaged
in exploration shall be entitled to denounce and register one discovery claim only
upon each lode. t -
SEC. 18. It shall be lawful for the claimants of a mine or mineral lands to
locate and take possession of public lands for a mill site and other necessary
works connected therewith, which shall not exceed one quarter section, contain-
ing a stream or other water suitable for the purpose. They shall have a right
to place a dam or other obstructions on such stream, and to divert its water for
the above uses and purposes. They shall, within the time and in the manner
prescribed in this chapter for the registration and denouncement of mines, pro-
ceed to denounce and register the same with the clerk of the probate court, and
they shall be known as auxiliary lands. And if within three years from the
day their notice of claim is so recorded they shall expend in fitting the same
for a mill, or in placing a mill or reduction works thereon, the sum of one hun-
dred dollars, they may cause the record of such work to be made and proceed-
ings for confirming their title to be instituted as provided in section 29 of this
chapter, with like effect, and receive a certificate of title as therein provided,
conforming as nearly as they can to the requirements of that section. Instead
of the work required by section 32 of this chapter they shall use the machinery
or other works erected upon said land for mining purposes at least thirty days
in each year. Such claims shall be subject to all the provisions of this chapter
which are applicable to mining rights, and may be abandoned and relocated.
All rights to auxiliary lands acquired under the laws of any mining district
before this act takes effect shall be valid, and the owners of the same, upon
complying with the provisions of this section, may take the like proceedings to
confirm their titles, with a like effect.
SEC. 19. It shall be the duty of all claimants of mining claims, mineral lands,
and auxiliary tracts, to at once define the extent and boundary of them as
nearly as possible, by good substantial monuments or other conspicuous marks,
in the presence of the recorder of the mining district, or of some witness who
shall prove to the satisfaction of the recorder that the same has been done, and
to post up a public notice of their claim at the opening of the principal vein,
and to have them properly registered and recorded within three mouths from the
time of first claiming them at the office of the mining district recorder accord-
ing to the provisions of this chapter. Such record shall give a faithful descrip-
tion of the veins, mineral deposits, and tracts of lands, the character and bearing
of the veins or deposits, and their connection with natural monuments or con-
spicuous objects in the vicinity.
SEC. 20. No person shall change his original monuments or boundaries of
mineral or other lands, but if a subsequent investigation makes this convenient
or necessary, and it can be done without prejudice to other parties, then such
change shall take place by the sanction of the judge of the probate court, pro-
vided they are properly recorded, and the new boundaries and monuments fixed
at once when the original ones are removed.
WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 251
SEC. 21. All minerals, woods, waters, earths, and vegetation found within the
boundaries of any tract of land registered and claimed for mining shall be ex-
clusively used by him or them who are legally entitled to the possession of the
land wherein r whereon they are situated, so long as they are used for mining
purposes only : Provided, That no one shall have the right to prevent transient
persons from using the waters along the public highwaya, where they were.
provided by nature in natural tanks, springs, streams, or otherwise, nor from
making such equitable disposition of the waters as the legislature shall pre-
ecribe.
SEC. 22. No person shall have the right to impede or inconvenience travel-
ling by fencing up the public roads, filling them up with rubbish, or undermining
them so as to endanger their safety, neither shall any one change their estab-
lished direction without sanction of the proper authorities.
SEC. 23. Whenever two or more persons or parties explore and prospect one
and the same vein, and at or about the same time but at different places, and
without knowledge of each other, then he or they who shall prove first occu-
pancy shall have the right of first location, taking the principal point of exca-
vation as the centre of their claim or claims on each side along the general