Opinion of the Court. "had reason to believe was a vested right in the Victor Consolidated vein." There are serious objections to accepting that consequence as determinative of our judgment. We might by doing so confirm titles in Colorado but we might disturb them elsewhere. The statute construed is a Federal one, being a law not only for Colorado but for all of the mining States, and, therefore, a rule for all, not a rule for one, must be declared. Besides what consideration should have been given to prior cases, the Supreme Court of the State was better able to judge than we are. It may be that the repose of titles in the State was best effected by the reversal of the prior cases. At any rate, a Federal statute has more than a local application, and until construed by this court cannot be said to have an established meaning. The necessity of this is illustrated, if it need illustration, from the different view taken of sections 2322 and 2336 in California, Arizona and Montana, from that taken in the prior Colorado cases. The Supreme Courts respectively of those States and that Territory have adjudged a superiority of right to the cross veins to be in the senior location. Manifestly, on account of this difference if for no other, this court must interpret the sections independently of local considerations. And in doing so we do not find in the sections much ambiguity so far as the issue raised by the record is concerned; indeed, not even much necessity for explanation. Section 2336 does not conflict with section 2322, but supplements it. Section 2336 imposes a servitude upon the senior location, but does not otherwise affect the exclusive rights given the senior location. It gives a right of way to the junior location. To what extent, however, there may be some ambiguity; whether only through the space of the intersection of the veins, as held by the Supreme Courts of California, Arizona and Montana, or through the space of intersection of the claims, as held by the Supreme Court of Colorado in the case at bar. It is not necessary to determine between these views. One of them is certainly correct, and therefore the contention of the plaintiff in error is not correct, and more than that it is not necessary to decide on this record. A complete interpretation of the sections would, of course, determine Opinion of the Court. between those views, but on that determination other rights than those submitted for judgment may be passed upon, and we prefer therefore to reserve our opinion. There was some contrariety of views in the cases on other points. There was discussion as to whether veins cross on their strike or their dip, and it was held that they could cross on both strike and dip, but as to the exact application of section 2336 to either there was some disagreement. The Supreme Court of Arizona said: "Congress had in mind, at the time of the enactment of the law of 1872, that, as mining rights then stood, A's lode might legally cross B's lode on the strike, and whether on the dip or not, makes no difference; and section 2336 was designed to define the rights of A and B in the space of intersection." Watervale Mining Co. v. Leach, 33 Pac. Rep. 418, 424. The Supreme Court of California held in Wilhelm v. Silvester, 101 California, 358, that the provisions of the section could readily be construed as intending to protect the rights of old ledge locations. And speaking of veins intersecting on their dip, said, "moreover, there is strong reason for thinking that such an intersection was the very one in mind of Congress when it passed section 2336; for in that section, and speaking of the same subject, it says that 'where two or more veins unite, the oldest or prior location shall take the vein below the point of union,' and if the other kind of intersection (on the strike) was in the minds of the legislators at that time they would not have used the word 'below;' for 'below' would not apply at all to a union on the strike of two veins, such as the appellant's rights depend on in the case at bar." But the Chief Justice of the State, concurring in the result, observed: "I think, however, that too much is conceded, both in the opinion of the court and in the argument of counsel for respondent, in assuming that the provisions of § 2336 cannot be applied to locations made since the passage of the mining law of 1872 on veins which intersect upon their strike, without bringing it in conflict with the plain terms of § 2322. This wholly unwarranted assumption has been the source of all the trouble and difficulty which the land office and some of the Opinion of the Court. state courts have encountered in their attempts to construe provisions of a statute which are in perfect harmony, but which have been erroneously supposed to be inconsistent." The Supreme Court of Colorado concurred in the conclusions of the courts of Arizona and California, and expressed its own view as follows: “Our conclusion is that the provisions of § 2336 apply to locations made under the act of 1872, as well as before; p. 616, refer to the intersection or crossing of veins either upon their strike or dip; that the space of intersection in determining the ownership of ore within such space, means either intersection of veins or conflicting claims, according to the facts in each particular case, and grants a right of way to the junior claimant for the convenient working of his mine through such space upon the veins (underneath the surface) which he owns or controls outside of that space. This construction renders the two sections entirely harmonious, gives effect to every clause and part of each, and in so far as § 2336 regulates or in any manner provides for rights as between conflicting claims, it applies only to intersections consistent with all the provisions of § 2322.” See for the views of the Supreme Court of Montana, Pardee v. Murray, 4 Montana, 234. 2. The other assignments of error relate to rights claimed by plaintiff in error by the location of the tunnel site, and present the questions whether such location gave to the plaintiff in error the following rights: of way through the lode claims of the defendant in error; of possession of the blind veins cut by the tunnel underneath the claims of the defendant in error. The plaintiff in error asserts the right of way for its tunnel under section 2323 by implication, and from that implication, and the rule it contends for as to cross veins, deduces its right to all of the blind veins. The contention as to cross veins we have answered, and the deduction as to blind veins is not justified. The section contemplates that tunnels may be run for the development of veins or lodes, for the discovery of mines, gives a right of possession of such veins or lodes, if not previously known to exist, and makes locations on the surface after the commencement of the tunnel invalid. There is no implication Opinion of the Court. of a displacement of surface locations made before the commencement of the tunnel. Indeed, there is a necessary implication of their preservation. And there can be no implication of a conflict with the rights given by section 2322. The exclusiveness of those rights we have declared. The tunnel can only be run in subordination to them. How else can section 2322 be given effect? There are no exceptions to its language. The locators "of any mineral veins, lode or ledge" are given not only "an exclusive right of possession and enjoyment" of all the surface included within the lines of their locations, but "of all veins, lodes and ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside of such surface lines extended downward vertically." A locator therefore is not confined to the vein upon which he based his location and upon which the discovery was made. "All veins or lodes having their apices within the planes of the surface lines extended downward.are his, and possession of the surface is possession of all such veins or lodes within the prescribed limitations." The Laws of Mines and Mining, page 442, by Barringer & Adams. Under the Under the old law the miner "located the lode. new (the act of 1872) he must locate a piece of land containing the top or apex of the lode. While the vein is still the principal thing, in that it is for the sake of the vein that the location is made, the location must be of a piece of land including the top or apex of the vein. If he make such a location, containing the top or apex of his discovered lode, he will be entitled to all other lodes having their tops or apices within their surface boundaries." Lindsay on Mines, sec. 71. And this court said, speaking by Mr. Justice Brewer, in Campbell v. Ellet, 167 U. S. 116: "But the patent is not simply a grant of the vein, for, as stated in the section, 'a patent for any land claimed and located for valuable deposits may be obtained in the following manner.' It must also be noticed that section 2322, in respect to locators, gives them the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the surface within the lines of their locations, and all veins, lodes and ledges, the tops or apices of which are inside such lines. So that a location gives to the locator something more Opinion of the Court. than the right to the vein which is the occasion of the location." See also Del Monte Mining & Milling Co. v. Last Chance Mining & Milling Co., 171 U. S. 55. The only condition is that the veins shall apex within the surface lines. It is not competent for us to add any other condition. Blind veins are not excepted, and we cannot except them. They are included in the description, "all veins " and belong to the surface location.. 66 3. The same reasoning disposes of the claim of plaintiff in error to the right of way for its tunnel through the ground of defendant in error, so far as the right of way is based on the statutes of the United States. So far as it is based on the statutes of Colorado it is disposed of by their interpretation by the Supreme Court of Colorado, and, expressing it, the court said: "It is contended by counsel for appellant that, under sec. 2338, Rev. Stat. U. S. and sec. 3141, Mills' Ann. Stat.; 59 Pac. Rep. 607, 617, it is entitled to such right. The first of these sections provides that, in the absence of necessary legislation by Congress, the legislature of a State may provide rules for working mines involving easements, drainage, and other necessary means to their complete development, and that these conditions shall be fully expressed in the patent. The section of Mills referred to provides that a tunnel claim located in accordance with its provisions shall have the right of way through lodes which may lie in its course; but it will be observed that this section only refers to tunnels located for the purpose of discovery, and if any of its provisions are still in force, which appears to be doubted in Ellet v. Campbell, supra, they can have no application to the case at bar, because the section of the Revised Statutes only provides for easements for the development of mines, and the section of Mills relied upon does not attempt to confer any such rights, but is limited to the one purpose of discovery. In this respect it has been clearly superseded by the act of Congress, so that, if appellant is entitled to the right claimed, it must attach by virtue of some provision of this act." 4. An assignment of error is based upon an offer of plaintiff in error to prove, that at the time of the location of the Ithaca tunnel site, no ore had been discovered in two of the patented |