SEC. 13. That all affidavits required to be made under this act, or the act of which it is amendatory, may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claims may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be taken before any such officer, and, when duly certified by the officer taking the same, shall have the same force and effect as if taken before the register and receiver of the Land Office. In cases of contest as to the mineral or agricultural character of land, the testimony and proofs may be taken as herein provided on personal notice of at least 10 days to the opposing party; or if said party cannot be found, then by publication of at least once a week for 30 days in a newspaper, to be designated by the register of the Land Office as published nearest to the location of such land; and the register shall require proof that such notice has been given.

SEC. 14. That where two or more veins intersect or cross each other, priority of title shall govern, and such prior location shall be entitled to all ore or mineral contained within the space of intersection: Provided, however, That the subsequent location shall have the right of way through said space of intersection for the purposes of the convenient working of the said mine: And provided also, That where two or more veins unite, the oldest or prior location shall take the vein below the point of union, including all the space of intersection.

SEC. 15. That where nonmineral land not contiguous to the vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor of such vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such nonadjacent surface ground may be embraced and included in an application for a patent for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject to the same preliminary requirements as to survey and notice as are applicable under this act to veins or lodes: Provided, That no location hereafter made of such nonadjacent land shall exceed 5 acres, and payment for the same must be made at the same rate as fixed by this act for the super. fices of the lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, may also receive a patent for his mill site, as provided in this section.

SEC. 16. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be construed to impair, in any way, rights or interests in mining property acquired under existing laws.

AMENDMENT TO 17 STAT. 91.

said section shall be liable at the suit of the party of person 18 Stat. 61, June 6, 1874.

An Act to Amend An Act Entitled "An Act to Promote the Development of the Mining Resources of the United States," passed May 10, 1872.

Be it enacted, etc., That the provisions of the fifth section of the act entitled "An act to promote the development of the mining resources of the United States," passed May 10, 1872, which requires expenditures of labor and improvements on claims located prior to the passage of said act, are hereby so amended that the time for the first annual expenditure on claims located prior to the passage of said act shall be extended to the 1st day of January, 1875.

MINING STATUTES OF THE

UNITED STATES.

Sections Relating to Metalliferous Mining.

$2318, Revised Statutes.

In all cases lands valuable for minerals shall be reserved from sale, excepting as otherwise expressly directed by law.

The various provisions of the original mining statutes, including the several acts of July 4, 1866 (14 Stat. 85), July 26, 1866 (14 Stat. 251), July 9, 1870 (16 Stat. 217), May 10, 1872 (17 Stat. 91), February 18, 1873 (17 Stat. 465), and March 3, 1873 (17 Stat. 607), are codified and embodied within this and the following sections of the Revised Statutes.

The act of May 10, 1872 (17 Stat. 91), was the foundation of the existing system of mining laws by which citizens of the United States acquired rights to the public mineral lands, and the provisions of that act are now embodied in this and the succeeding sections.

This section, with sections 2319 R. S. to 2326 R. S., are parts of the system of pre-emption laws providing for the sale and acquisition of title to the public mineral lands of the United States; and as they concern the same subject-matter they may be construed together and effect must be given to each section and provision of the law so far as possible.

This and other sections of the mining laws recognize and sanction the custom long prevalent among the miners of the Pacific Coast of crganizing mining districts and adopting local laws or rules governing the location, recording, and working of mining claims, and miners are authorized to make rules and regulations in addition to but not in conflict with those prescribed by Congress.

This section is declaratory of the general policy of the Government with respect to her mineral lands.

$2319, Revised Statutes.

All valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to 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.

$2320, Revised Statutes.

Mining claims upon veins or lodes of quartz or other rock in place bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable deposits heretofore located, 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 not exceed, 1,500 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 300 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 25 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.

§2321, Revised Statutes.

Proof of citizenship, under this chapter, 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.

§2322, Revised Statutes.

The locators of all mining locations heretofore made, or which shall hereafter be made, on any mineral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the public domain, their heirs and assigns, where no adverse claim exists 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 lines 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 ouside the vertical side lines of such surface locations. But their right of

possession to such outside parts of such veins or ledges may 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. And 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.

§2323, Revised Statutes.

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 3,000 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.

§2324, Revised Statutes.

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 hereafter made 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 one hundred dollars worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year. On all claims located prior to the 10th day of May, 1872, ten dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made by the 10th day of June, 1874, and each year thereafter, for each 100 feet in length along the vein until a