51. 52. 53. 54. Water users' vested and accrued rights; enumeration of uses; protection of interests; rights-of-way for canals and ditches; liability for injury or damage to settlers' possession. Patents or homesteads subject to vested and accrued water rights. Possessory action for recovery of mining titles or for damages to such title. § 21. Mineral lands reserved. In all cases lands valuable for minerals shall be reserved from sale, except as otherwise expressly directed by law. (R. S. § 2318.) DERIVATION Act July 4, 1866, ch. 166, § 5, 14 Stat. 86. CROSS REFERENCES Abandoned military reservations, disposal of mineral or coal lands within, see section 1074 of Title 43, Public Lands. Alabama public lands, reclassification, see section 172 of this title. Alaska, extension of general land laws, see section 280a of Title 25, Indians. Atomic Energy Act of 1954, source material, see sections 2091 et seq., 2097, 2098 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare. Forest reservation lands, found to be mineral in character, restored to public domain, see section 482 of Title 16, Conservation. Kansas and Missouri mineral deposits, see section 49 of this title. Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin mineral lands, see section 48 of this title. Oklahoma lands declared to be non-mineral in character, see section 1098 of Title 43, Public Lands. Persons entering any of the public lands with a view to occupation, entry, or settlement under any of the land laws, not including lands entered or sought to be entered under the mineral land laws, see section 212 of Title 43, Public Lands. Sale of reserved mineral interests in certain agricultural lands, see sections 1033 to 1035 and 1037 to 1039 of Title 7, Agriculture. Timber on public mineral lands, felling and removal for mining and other purposes, see sections 604 to 606 of Title 16, Conservation. Town-site entries by incorporated towns and cities on mineral lands, but not to include mining rights, see section 728 of Title 43, Public Lands. SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS This section is referred to in section 48 of this title. § 22. Lands open to purchase by citizens. Except as otherwise provided, all valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, shall be free and open to exploration and purchase, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the United States and those who have declared their intention to become such, under regulations prescribed by law, and according to the local customs or rules of miners in the several mining districts, so far as the same are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States. (R. S. § 2319; Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, § 1, 41 Stat. 437.) DERIVATION Act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 1, 17 Stat. 91. PROMOTION OF MINING Act Feb. 25, 1920, provided for the disposition of deposits of coal, phosphate sodium, oil, oil shale, or gas, and land containing such deposits, and also provided that lands withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, etc., under act June 25, 1910, ch. 421, 36 Stat. 847, be opened to exploration, discovery, occupation, and purchase, under mining laws, as to minerals. CROSS REFERENCES Deposits of coal, phosphate sodium, oil, oil shale or gas and lands containing such deposits, see section 181 et seq. of this title. Kansas and Missouri mineral deposits, see section 49 of this title. Lands to be open to exploration, discovery, occupation, and purchase, under mining laws, as to metalliferous minerals, see section 142 of Title 43, Public Lands. Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin mineral lands, see section 48 of this title. SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS This section is referred to in sections 48, 49 of this title. § 23. Length of claims on veins or lodes. Mining claims upon veins or lodes of quartz or other rock in place bearing gold. silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable deposits, located prior to May 10, 1872, shall be governed as to length along the vein or lode by the customs, regulations, and laws in force at the date of their location. A mining claim located after the 10th day of May 1872, whether located by one or more persons, may equal, but shall not exceed, one thousand five hundred feet in length along the vein or lode; but no location of a mining claim shall be made until the discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the claim located. No claim shall extend more than three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, nor shall any claim be limited by any mining regulation to less than twenty-five feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse rights existing on the 10th day of May 1872 render such limitation necessary. The end lines of each claim shall be parallel to each other. (R. S. § 2320.) DERIVATION Act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 2, 17 Stat. 91. PROMOTION OF MINING See note under section 22 of this title. CROSS REFERENCES Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin mineral lands, see section 48 of this title. This section is referred to in sections 37, 48, 49 of this title. § 24. Proof of citizenship. Proof of citizenship, under this chapter and sections 71 to 76 of this title, may consist, in the case of an individual, of his own affidavit thereof; in the case of an association of persons unincorporated, of the affidavit of their authorized agent, made on his own knowledge, or upon information and belief; and in the case of a corporation organized under the laws of the United States, or of any State or Territory thereof, by the filing of a certified copy of their charter or certificate of incorporation. (R. S. § 2321.) DERIVATION Act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 7, 17 Stat. 94. CODIFICATION Reference to "this chapter and sections 71 to 76 of this title" was substituted for "this chapter" appearing in original text and meaning Chapter Six (Mineral Lands and Mining Resources) of Title XXXII of the Revised Statutes. The Public Lands title, comprised of sections 2318 to 2352, now set out in sections 21 to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 43, (former sections 44 and 45), 46 to 48, 50 to 52, and 71 to 76 of this title. CROSS REFERENCES Affidavit of citizenship, see section 5 of this title. Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin mineral lands, see section 48 of this title. SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS This section is referred to in sections 48, 49 of this title. § 25. Affidavit of citizenship. Applicants for mineral patents, if residing beyond the limits of the district wherein the claim is situated, may make any oath or affidavit required for proof of citizenship before the clerk of any court of record or before any notary public of any State or Territory. (Ap. 26, 1882, ch. 106, § 2, 22 Stat. 49). § 26. Locators' rights of possession and enjoyment. The locators of all mining locations made on any mineral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the public domain, their heirs and assigns, where no adverse claim existed on the 10th day of May 1872 so long as they comply with the laws of the United States, and with State, territorial, and local regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United States governing their possessory title, shall have the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the surface included within the line of their locations, and 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, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicular in their course downward as to extend outside the vertical side lines of such surface locations. But their right of possession to such outside part of such veins or ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn downward as above described, through the end lines of their locations, so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins or ledges. Nothing in this section shall authorize the locator or possessor of a vein or lode which extends in its downward course beyond the vertical lines of his claim to enter upon the surface of a claim owned or possessed by another. (R. S. § 2322.) DERIVATION Act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 3, 17 Stat. 91. PROMOTION OF MINING See note under section 22 of this title. CROSS REFERENCES Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin mineral lands, see section 48 of this title. National forests, locators' rights, see sections 482a, 482b, 483e, 482h, 482h-1, 482j, 482n and 4820 of Title 16, Conservation. SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS This section is referred to in sections 48, 49 of this title. § 27. Mining tunnels; right to possession of veins on line with, abandonment of right. Where a tunnel is run for the development of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, the owners of such tunnel shall have the right of possession of all veins or lodes within three thousand feet from the face of such tunnel on the line thereof, not previously known to exist, discovered in such tunnel, to the same extent as if discovered from the surface; and locations on the line of such tunnel of veins or lodes not appearing on the surface, made by other parties after the commencement of the tunnel, and while the same is being prosecuted with reasonable diligence, shall be invalid; but failure to prosecute the work on the tunnel for six months shall be considered as an abandonment of the right to all undiscovered veins on the line of such tunnel. (R.S. § 2323.) DERIVATION Act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 4, 17 Stat. 92. SHORT TITLE This section is commonly known as the Tunnel Site Act. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF WORK REQUIREMENTS Act June 22, 1944, ch. 271, 58 Stat. 324, provided that from June 22, 1944 to 6 months after cessation of hostilities in World War II, no location on the line of a tunnel run for the development of a vein or lode or for the discovery of mines, or veins or lodes not appearing on the surface, made by parties other than the owners of the tunnel, shall be considered valid because of the failure of the owners to prosecute work thereon with reasonable dilligence as required by this section. Cessation of hostilities of World War II, was proclaimed at 12 o'clock noon of December 31, 1946, by Proc. No. 2714. PROMOTION OF MINING See note under section 22 of this title. CROSS REFERENCES Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin mineral lands, see section 48 of this Title. SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS This section is referred to in sections 48, 49 of this title. § 28. Mining district regulations by miners: location, recordation, and amount of work; marking of location on ground; records; annual labor or improvements on claims pending issue of patent; coowner's succession in interest upon delinquency in contributing proportion of expenditures; tunnel as lode expenditure. The miners of each mining district may make regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United States, or with the laws of the State or Territory in which the district is situated, governing the location, manner of recording, amount of work necessary to hold possession of a mining claim, subject to the following requirements: The location must be distinctly marked on the ground so that its boundaries can be readily traced. All records of mining claims made after May 10, 1872, shall contain the name or names of the locators, the date of the location, and such a description of the claim or claims located by reference to some natural object or permanent monument as will identify the claim. On each claim located after the 10th day of May 1872, and until a patent has been issued therefor, not less than $100 worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year. On all claims located prior to the 10th day of May 1872, $10 worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made each year, for each one hundred feet in length along the vein until a patent has been issued therefor; but where such claims are held in common, such expenditure may be made upon any one claim; and upon a failure to comply with these conditions, the claim or mine upon which such failure occurred shall be open to relocation in the same manner as if no location of the same had ever been made, provided that the original locators, their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, have not resumed work upon the claim after failure and before such location. Upon the failure of any one of several coowners to contribute his proportion of the expenditures required hereby, the coowners who have performed the labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration of the year, give such delinquent coowner personal notice in writing or notice by publication in the newspaper published nearest the claim, for at least once a week for ninety days, and if at the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing or by publication such delinquent should fail or refuse to contribute his proportion of the expenditure required by this section, his interest in the claim shall become the property of his coowners who have made the required expenditures. The period within which the work required to be done annually on all unpatented mineral claims located since May 10, 1872, including such claims in the Territory of Alaska, shall commence at 12 o'clock meridian on the 1st day of September succeeding the date of location of such claim. Where a person or company has or may run a tunnel for the purposes of developing a lode or lodes, owned by said person or company, the money so expended in said tunnel shall be taken and considered as expended on said lode or lodes, whether located prior to or since May 10, 1872; and such person or company shall not be required to perform work on the surface of said lode or lodes in order to hold the same as required by this section. On all such valid claims the annual period ending December 31, 1921, shall continue to 12 o'clock meridian July 1, 1922. (R.S. § 2324; Feb. 11, 1875, ch. 41, 18 Stat. 315; Jan. 22, 1880, ch. 9, § 2, 21 Stat. 61; Aug. 24, 1921, ch. 84, 42 Stat. 186; Aug. 23, 1958, Pub. L. 85-736, § 1, 72 Stat. 829.) DERIVATION Act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 5, 17 Stat. 92. AMENDMENTS 1958-Pub. L. 85-736 changed period for doing annual assessment work on unpatented mineral claims, substituting "1st day of September" for "1st day of July”. ADMISSION OF ALASKA AS STATE Admission of Alaska into the Union was accomplished Jan. 3, 1959, upon issuance of Proc. No. 3269. Jan. 3, 1959, 24 F.R. 81, 73 Stat. c16, as required by sections 1 and S(c) of Pub. L. 85-508, July 7, 1958, 72 Stat. 339, set out as notes preceding section 21 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions. ASSESSMENT WORK YEAR, 1957-58 AND 1958-59 Section 2 of Pub. L. 85-736 provided that: "Notwithstanding the amendment made by the first section of this Act [to this section], the period commencing in 1957 for the performance of annual assessment work under section 2324 of the Revised Statutes, as amended [this section prior to 1958 amendment], shall end at 12 o'clock meridian on the 1st day of July 1958, and the period commencing in 1958 for the performance of such annual assessment work shall commence at 12 o'clock median on the 1st day of July 1958, and shall continue to 12 o'clock meridian on September 1, 1959." CROSS REFERENCES Alaska, annual labor or improvements on mining claims, see section 49e of this title. Extension of time for annual assessment work on lands containing valuable source material, see note under section 541a of this title. Michigan, Minnesota and Wissconsin mineral lands, see section 48 of this title. Temporary deferment of annual assessment work on mining claims, see section 28b et seq. of this title. SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS This section is referred to in sections 28-1, 28b, 48, 49 of this title. § 28-1. Inclusion of certain surveys in labor requirements of mining claims; conditions and restrictions. The term "labor" as used in the third sentence of section 28 of this title, shall include, without being limited to, geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys conducted by qualified experts and verified by a detailed report filed in the county office in which the claim is located which sets forth fully (a) the location of the work performed in relation to the point of discovery and boundaries of the claim, (b) the nature, extent, and cost thereof, (c) the basic findings therefrom, and (d) the name, address, and professional background of the person or persons conducting the work. Such surveys, however, may not be applied as labor for more than two consecutive years or for more than a total of five years on any one mining claim, and each such survey shall be nonrepetitive of any previous survey on the same claim. (Pub. L. 85-876, § 1, Sept. 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 1701.) CODIFICATION Section was enacted as part of Pub. L. 85-876 (also classified to section 28-2 of this title) and not as a part of "Mineral Lands and Mining Resources" provisions (Chapter Six of Title XXXII of the Revised Statutes) classified to this chapter and sections 71 to 76 of this title. See note under section 24 of this title. SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS This section is referred to in section 28-2 of this title. § 28-2. Same; definitions. As used in section 28-1 of this title, (a) The term "geological surveys" means surveys on the ground for mineral deposits by the proper application of the principles and techniques of the science of geology as they relate to the search for and discovery of mineral deposits; (b) The term "geochemical surveys" means surveys on the ground for mineral deposits by the proper application of the principles and techniques of the science of chemistry as they relate to the search for and discovery of mineral deposits; (c) The term "geophysical surveys" means surveys on the ground for mineral deposits through the employment of generally recognized equipment and methods for measuring physical differences between rock types or discontinuities in geological formations: (d) The term "qualified expert" means an individual qualified by education or experience to conduct geological, geochemical or geophysical surveys, as the case may be. (Pub. L. 85-876, § 2, Sept. 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 1701.) CODIFICATION Section was enacted as part of Pub. L. 85-876 (also classified to section 28-1 of this title) and not as a part of "Mineral Lands and Mining Resources" provisions (Chapter Six of Title XXXII of the Revised Statutes) classified to this chapter and sections 71 to 76 of this title. See note under section 24 of this title. § 28a. Annual assessment work on mining claims; suspension of requirement. CODIFICATION Section, act June 29, 1950, ch. 404, 64 Stat. 275, provided for extension of time of annual assessment work, on mining claims in the United States, including Alaska, for period commencing July 1, 1949, until 12 o'clock noon Oct. 1. 1950, and also provided for commencement of assessment work or improvements required for vear ending 12 o'clock noon July 1. 1951. immediately following 12 o'clock noon July 1, 1950. Subject matter is now covered by sections 28b to 28e of this title. SIMILAR PROVISIONS Provisions suspending requirement of annual assessment work on mining claims for the periods listed below were contained in the acts specified: July 1. 1949 to July 1, 1950-Act June 17, 1949, ch. 221, 63 Stat. 200, Act June 14, 1950, ch. 237, 64 Stat. 213. July 1, 1948 to July 1, 1949-Act June 22, 1948. ch. 595, 62 Stat. 571. June 17, 1948 to July 1, 1948-Act June 17, 1948, ch. 494, 62 Stat. 475. June 30, 1947 to Julv 1. 1948-Act June 30. 1947, ch. 181, 61 Stat. 213. May 3, 1943 to July 1, 1947-Act May 3 1943, ch. 91. 57 Stat. 74. July 3, 1942 to Vacation of Withdrawal Orders-Act July 3, 1942, ch. 486, 56 Stat. 647 (Lands withdrawn for national defense purposes). July 1, 1941 to July 1, 1943-Act May 7, 1942, ch. 294, 56 Stat. 271. Oct. 17, 1940 to Demobilization-Act Oct. 17, 1940, ch. 888. 5 Stat. 1188 (Men in military and naval service excused during service and six months after demobilization and during necesssary hospitalization thereafter.) July 1, 1937 to July 1, 1938-Act June 29, 1938, ch. 815, 52 Stat. 1243. |