direction of such vein or deposit. The other parties shall proceed by the same
laws after the others have fixed their boundaries. Should there be left vacant
ground between the different parties, then it shall be at the option of the. first
discoverers so to change their boundaries as shall best suit them, and have them
recorded accordingly. Any other parties shall locate in the order of the time of
their arrival on the vein or mineral deposit.

SEC. 24. Whenever two or more parties shall select the same mine or mineral
Deposit for exploration, and the parties first on the ground, knowing the other
parties to be at work, shall fail to give warning, either verbally or in writing, of
their priority claim on such vein or deposit, then that portion of the mine situated
between the main excavations of the two parties shall be equally divided be-
tween them, irrespective of the number of members each company may have :
Provided, That the intervening portions shall not exceed the quantity of land
allowed by the provisions of this chapter.

SEC. 25. The laws and proceedings of all mining districts established in this
Territory for the denouncement, registration, and regulation of mines, mining
claims, mineral lands, and auxiliary lands, prior to the day this act takes effect,
are hereby legalized and declared to be as valid and binding in all courts of law
as if enacted by this legislative assembly, to the extent and under the conditions
and restrictions herein contained.

I. All rights, claims^ and titles to any veins, mineral lands, or mineral deposits,
and auxiliary lands, acquired before this act takes effect, under, by virtue of, and
in. conformity to the laws of said mining districts, are hereby declared to be valid
and legal, and shall be respected and enforced in all courts of this Territory,
when sustained by the evidence herein provided ; but no amount of work done
thereon shall be construed to give a perpetual title thereto, but shall give such
title only and such rights and privileges as is provided in section 29 of this
chapter ; and no person who was at the time of the location of his claim an
inhabitant of this Territory shall forfeit his claim because he was not a resident
also of the mining district in which his said claim was located. And no such right,
claim, or title shall be considered as abandoned provided the claimant shall within
eix months from the day this act takes effect file with the clerk of the probate
court of the county in which his claim is situated a brief description of the same
giving the name of the district in which the lode is situated, and of the lode or
lodes, and the extent of his claim thereon, with a declaration that he intends to
retain and work the same according to law, unless fcuch claim has been forfeited
and subject to relocation under the laws of such mining district before this act
takes effect.



252 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES

II. All records and all papers required by the laws of said mining districts
to be deposited with the recorders of said districts for record shall be received
as evidence of their contents in all courts of this Territory, and shall not be re-
jected for any defects in their form, when their contents may be understood, but
shall be valid to the extent provided by said mining laws, except as hereinbefore
restricted : Provided, That such records and papers are deposited with or re-
corded by the clerk of the probate court of the county in which said mining dis-
trict is located, and within three months from the time this acts takes effect ; and
if said records or papers are lost or mutilated, or if such recorder of a mining
district shall neglect or refuse to deposit the same as aforesaid, an affidavit of
their contents made by any person interested therein, or certified or sworn copies
thereof, may be so recorded, and shall have the like effect.

III. All conveyances of mines, mining rights, mineral and auxiliary lands
made prior to the time this act takes effect shall be valid and binding to pass
the title of the grantor thereof, although defective in form and execution, if their
contents can be understood, and as such shall be received and regarded in all
courts of this Territory ; Provided, That such conveyances shall be deposited
with or recorded by the clerk of the probate court of the county where said
mines are situated, within three months from the time this act takes effect, and
if lost or mutilated, copies or affidavits of their contents, executed as aforesaid,
may be recorded as provided above.

SEC. 26. Every recorder, register, clerk, or other recording officer, of every
such mining district, or who has at any time acted as such recording officer,
within three months after this act takes effect, shall deposit with the clerk of the
probate court of the county in which said district or greater part thereof is situ-
ated, all records which he has so kept, and all papers deposited in his hands for*
record, and papers so made or deposited with his predecessors in said office,
which are in his hands as aforesaid, or he shall so deposit certified copies of the
same. And such records and other papers shall be securely kept by such clerk,
open in office hours to public inspection, and copies of the same duly certified
by him shall be received in all courts of justice, and have the same effect as the
originals. And any such recorder, register, or other recording officer of each
mining district who shall neglect or refuse to comply with the provisions of this
section shall be liable in damages to the party injured thereby, and shall be
liable to be punished by the judge of probate of the county in which said nrning
district, or the greater part thereof, is situated, for contempt, by fine not exceed-
ing five thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than one year, and shall bo
incapable of holding any such office and mining claim.

SEC. 27. Mining districts now existing may be continued, or new mining dis-
tricts may be established in the manner and for the purposes hereinafter provided.

I. The recorder of every mining district now existing shall at the same time
that he deposits the records of said districts with the clerk of the probate court,
as the last preceding section requires, take an oath before the judge of said
court that he will faithfully perform the duties of his office until another recorder
ehall be elected and qualified in his place, which oath shall be recorded by the
clerk of the probate court. He shall record in a book to be kept by him for that
purpose all notices of claims or rights to veins, mineral deposits, mineral lands,
and auxiliary lands which may be left with him t-o be recorded, and shall note
on all papers which may be received by him to be recorded, the time when they
were so received by him, and they shall be considered as recorded from that
time. lie shall, when requested by any such claimant, go with him to his claim
and see that the same is measured by metes and bounds, and mark< d by sub-
stantial monuments on the surface of the earth, and shall make a record of the
same, arid of the time when it was done, and certify it to be correct, or shall
make a record and certificate of the same on the evidence of a credible witness,
who was present when the same was done, arid is cognizant of the facts, and



WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 253

whose name shall be entered on the record. He shall, when requested by any
such claimant, go with him to his claim and examine any shaft that may be
Bunk by him, or tunnels that may be opened to the same, and make measure-
ments of the same, and a record and certificate as aforesaid ; and he shall in like
manner examine, measure, or estimate, and make and record a certificate of any
work which is required by law to be done by a claimant. And the said record-
ing officer shall, quarterly, file with the clerk of the probate court of the county
in which said district is located a copy by him certified of all records made by
him for the three months last preceding, which shall be duly recorded by said
clerk, and a copy of said record duly certified by him shall be evidence of its
contents in all courts of this Territory. And such recording officer shall be
liable to all the penalties provided in the preceding section if he shall neglect or
refuse to perform any of the acts and duties required of him by this section, but
shall not be required to perform any such service until his fees for the same, to
be fixed by the mining districts, are paid him, if he requests it. And if any
paper deposited with him for record is required to be recorded by the clerk of
the probate court, ho shall at the time said paper is so deposited with him take
and receive the fee fixed by law for recording such paper by said clerk, and pay
the said clerk said fee when he deposits said paper with him to be recorded as
aforesaid. All such mining districts may make laws not inconsistent with the
laws of the Territory, may elect officers for the government of such districts, and
fix their compensation, but all such acts and proceedings shall be recorded, and
all records and papers thereof filed with the clerk of the probate court as aforesaid.

II. Any number of persons, not less than twelve, owning mining claims in any
mining district, or in any contiguous mining districts, or who have discovered
and may wish to denounce a mine or mineral lands, not within the limits of any
established mining district, may proceed to make a new mining district at a
meeting of persons holding claims in such district so to be established, and of
claimants in any districts to be divided or to be included therein. They shall
cause a notice in writing, and specifying the limits of said contemplated district,
signed by them, to be posted in three conspicuous places in said district, and if
any part of an established district is to be included therein by leaving a copy
of said notice with the recorder of said district at least ten days before the day
of said meeting. At said meeting all persons holding claims as aforesaid may
vote, and may determine by a majority vote of those present whether said new
district shall be established, and its limits, but within the boundaries named in
the notice for said meeting, and thereupon the persons holding claims in such
newly established district shall proceed to select a name, and make laws therefor,
and elect a recorder, who shall be qualified as aforesaid, who shall perform all
the duties and be subject to all the liabilities provided in this chapter for such
officers, and shall file with the clerk of the probate court as aforesaid a record
of the proceedings of this and all subsequent meetings at the time and in the
manner herein provided.

SEC. 28. It shall be the duty of all claimants of mineral tracts to sink at
least one shaft of thirty feet in depth, or to run a tunnel of fifty feet in length,
in the body of the vein or in the adjoining rock, so as to test the vein from the
surface, for the purpose of ascertaining the character and capacity of such mine-
ral deposit, within the space of one year from the day of first taking possession
thereof, and they shall notify the recorder of the mining district that said shal't
or other work is completed, and that they intend working the vein or mineral
deposit. And the recorder shall examine said work in person, and make and
record a certificate of the result of such examination, which shall contain a
statement of the condition and quality of the vein or mineral deposit, the amount
of labor perfDrmed, and a general view of the results obtained. Said report
shall be accompanied by three specimens taken from different parts of the work,
which said specimens, with a copy of the record so made by him, shall be filed



254 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES

by him within the time required by this act in the office of the clerk of the
probate court. And eaid clerk shall make a record of the same. Such speci-
mens shall be numbered and described by him, and be preserved for the use of
the mineralogical professorship of the University of Arizona.

SEC. 29. The judge of the probate court, at any time within thirty days after
the record made by the clerk of said court, as provided in the preceding section,
upon complaint in writing made to him by such claimants, describing fully their
claims, stating the labor performed by them, and the certificate thereof, and
that the registration of the same has been made as required by law, and request-
ing that their title thereto may be confirmed, shall cause a summons, under the
seal of his court, to be issued, requiring all persons interested to appear at a day
named therein, and which shall not be less than sixty days from the day the
same was issued, and show cause why the title of such complainants and claim-
ants should not be confirmed, a copy of which complaint and summons, duly
attested by the clerk of the probate court, shall be published twice in the terri-
torial newspaper, and be kept posted in the office of said clerk from the day of
issuing the same to the return day thereof ; and if no person shall appear on such
return day to contest the right of the claimants to such claims, the judge of pro-
bate shall examine all the records filed in the office of his clerk relating to such
claims, and if he finds that the said claimants have in all respects complied
with the provisions of this chapter, he shall make a decree in substance that the
complainants having complied with the laws of this Territory relating to the
denouncement and registration of mines, have acquired a perfect title to their
claims (describing the same) until the 1st day of January, A. D. 1868, and
forever after unless abandoned by them. And the said clerk shall give the said
claimant a copy of such decree, under the seal of the court, which shall be con-
clusive evidence of title in any proceedings relating to such claims, until they
are abandoned. And unless the persons adversely interested and contesting
the title of the complainants shall appear on the day named in said complaint,
and proceed as hereinafter provided, they shall be forever barred from contest-
ing the title of said complainants to such claims. And if the contestants shall
so appear they shall on that day or some day to be fixed by said judge proceed
to file an answer, setting forth their claim and case, and the proceedings shall
then be conducted in conformity to the provisions of this chapter and the code
of civil practice. And whenever a final decree is made thereon, determining
the title to said claim or mine, by said judge, or by any other court on appeal,
the said judge shall cause a record to be made in the office of his clerk of such
decree, and a certified copy thereof may be made as aforesaid, with the like
(ffect. And any claimants of mineral lands who before this act takes effect
have in any way or under any law acquired a title to such mineral lands, after
filing with the clerk of the court their evidence of title and description of claim
as required by this chapter, may cause an examination of the shaft sunk by
them or other work done by them to be made as aforesaid, and take the like
proceedings for the confirmation of their titles, with the same effect : Provided,
This section shall not apply except when the complainants are in possession of
such mine or mining rights, claiming title thereto.

SEC. 30. By reason of the Indian wars and unsettled condition of the country,
the time within which a shaft is required to be sunk, or other labor performed
on a claim, shall not commence until two years from the day this act takes
effect, and all the provisions of this chapter relating thereto are suspended for
that time ; but any claimant my sink a shaft or do such other labor, and at
any time after the record of their claims with the probate court, and thereupon
institute proceedings to confirm their titles, and be entitled to all the rights and
privileges provided for in this chapter.

SEC. 31. No single person or company shall be compelled to sink shafts or
make other improvements on more than one of the tracts of land claimed by



WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 255

him or them for the same vein or mineral deposit ; and any number of claimants
on the same vein or mineral deposit, who may unite for said purpose, shall be
allowed to concentrate labor, capital, and energy to any one single point which
to him or them shall be best suited to ascertain to the best advantage the general
character, quality, and capacity of that particular vein or mineral deposit, and
may take the like proceedings to confirm their titles.

SEC. 32 After the work required by section 28 of this chapter has been per-
formed, and the record thereof made as therein provided, two years shall be
allowed, the claimants of mineral lands to develop the same, and procure ma-
chinery and provide for working the same ; and during that time the same shall
not be considered abandoned, although no work be done thereon : Provided,
That in such an event, they shall annually, and before the first day of June
in each year, file with the clerk of the probate court an affidavit signed by
them that they have not abandoned such claims, but intend, in good faith, to
work them ; and said term of two years shall not commence until the first day
of January, A. D. 1868. And after the expiration of said teTm of two years,
it shall be obligatory upon claimants to such mineral lands to hold actual pos-
session of them and work the vein, which obligation shall be considered as com-
plied with by doing at least thirty days' work thereon in each year ; but if
such claimants are prevented from working such vein by the hostility of Indians
or other good cause, rendering said working difficult or dangerous, they may,
by authority of the judge of probate first obtained, be relieved from perform-
ing labor thereon from time to time, but for notcnore than one year at any one
time, during the continuance of such cause.

SEC. 33. Any person who may discover a mineral vein or deposit as afore-
said, which is not included within a mining district, or which may be in a mi-
ning district in which there is no legally authorized recorder, may acquire title
thereto, and to auxiliary lands, by giving notice as aforesaid, and recording the
same with the clerk of the probate court of the county in which the same is
situated, and may take the same proceedings, with the like effect, with the
clerk of the probate court that are required to be taken with the recorder of a
mining district.

SEC. 34. Discoverers of mines on lands in the legal ownership or possession
of others, and not public lands, before doing the work of sinking the shaft re-
quired by section 28 of this chapter, shall pay to such parties such compensa-
tion for the use of the same as may be awarded by the judge of probate upon
complaint of either party, or shall give bond to such parties for payment of
the same, and sureties to be approved by said judge; and whenever it becomes
necessary or advantageous to construct tunnels for the purpose of drainage,
ventilation, or the better hauling of ores or other subterraneous products or mi-
ning materials, it shall be lawful for any party or parties to construct such tun-
nel or drift through all private and public property : Provided, That all damages
arising from such subterranean works to the other parties, to be determined as
provided above, shall be paid by the parties for whose benefit such tunnelling
is done, to be paid before such work is commenced, or security given to the
satisfaction of the jtfdge of probate for the payment of the same ; but no damages
shall be paid on public lands when claims for such lands shall be set up after
such tunnel shall have been projected or actually in process of construction :
Provided, That the lapse of time between projection and actual work shall not
exceed ninety days, and that the tunnelling- parties give timely notice of their
project to any new claimant of the so affected ground.

SEC. 35. Whenever such tunnel as mentioned in the preceding section shall
intersect or traverse mineral deposits, or run along lodes claimed and held by
other parties, then it shall be at the option of the owners of such other mineral
deposits either to pay one-half of the expense of excavation for the distance
that such tunnel runs through their mineral deposits, and secure the whole of



256 RESOURCES OF STATES AND TERRITORIES

the ores excavated, or to divide the ores with the tunnelling parties, the latter
paying all expenses of excavation ; or it shall be optional with either party to
abandon fill claim to the ores excavated.

SEC. 36. If, in the construction of such subterranean works, new veins or
deposits are encountered in ground not claimed or owned by other parties, they
shall become the property of the party for whom such tunnel is constructed, and
shall be denounced and registered as is required of new mines, and shall be
governed by the same laws as are prescribed in this chapter.

SEC. 37. Any claimant or claimants not complying with any of the foregoing
conditions and obligations shall forfeit all right to any such recorded or unre-
corded claims to mineral and auxiliary tracts ; and it shall not be lawful for him
or them to register such claims anew within a period of three years after such
forfeiture. All such tracts shall be free for working and registry to any but
those excepted in this section.

SEC. 38. All veins and mineral deposits situated on public lands, which have
not been worked and occupied from the time of the acquisition of the Territory
by the United States up to the time of the passage of this chapter, except as
herein provided, shall be considered as abandoned and subject to registry and
denouncement.

SEC. 39. All veins and mineral deposits that have been or may be abandoned
hereafter shall, in all cases and respects, be governed by the laws regulating the
opening and working of new veins and deposits, as prescribed in this chapter.

SEC. 40. Whenever any min,e vein, or mineral deposit shall have been aban-
doned or forfeited in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, and regis-
tered anew by other parties, it shall be obligatory upon such parties to give the
former owners warning thereof, so as to remove from the tract within the space
of three months anything he or they may think valuable or useful. Such
warning shall be given in the nearest newspaper published -in the Territory, and
by posting it at three of the most conspicuous places in the county where the
mine is situated. Three months after the expiration of such warning, any and
all buildings, furnaces, arrastras, metals, and every other species of property
which may still remain on the ground of such mine, vein, or mineral deposit,
shall become the undisputed property of the new claimant, without compensa-
tion of any kind to any person whatever.

SEC. 41. Any person taking possession of or entering upon a mining claim or
auxiliary lands, registered according to the provisions of this chapter, and be-
fore it is abandoned, shall be ousted therefrom in a summary manner by the
order of the probate judge, and the malfeasor shall be adjudged to pay all dam-
ages and costs consequent thereon.

SEC. 51. It shall be the duty of persons who may discover and claim mining
rights or mineral lands, at the same time that they may define the boundary of
their claim or claims to any lode or mine as required by the provisions of this
chapter, to lay off and define the boundary of one pertenencia as required by
the provisions of this chapter, adjoining their claim or claims, which shall be
the property of the Territory of Arizona. And at the same time that they pre-
sent their notice of claim or claims to be recorded by the recorder of the mining
district, they shall also present to such recorder the claim of said Territory.
And if said discoverers and claimants shall neglect or refuse to present to such
recorder the claim of said Territory as aforesaid, they shall forever forfeit all
claim to the mine or ledge so discovered by them. Any recording officer re-
cording the claim or claims of such discoverers and claimants, when the claim
of said Territory is not filed therewith as aforesaid, shall be subject to all the
penalties provided in section 26 of this chapter. Such, claim shall be re-
corded as provided in this chapter for like claims, but no work shall be required
,to be done thereon, nor shall it be considered to be abandoned so long as it is
the property of the Territory; and if sold, the time within which the purchaser