SEC. 10. That the act entitled "An Act to amend an act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes," approved July ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy, shall be and remain in full force, except as to the proceedings to obtain a patent, which shall be similar to the proceedings prescribed by sections six and seven of this act for obtaining patents to vein or lode claims; but where said placer claims shall be upon surveyed lands, and conform to legal subdivision, no further survey or plat shall be required, and all placer mining claims hereafter located shall conform as near as practicable with the United States system of public land surveys and the rectangular subdivisions of such surveys, and no such location shall include more than twenty acres for each individual claimant; but where placer claims can not be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands; Provided, That proceedings now pending may be prosecuted to their final determination under existing laws; but the provisions of this act, when not in conflict with existing laws, shall apply to such cases; And, provided also, That where, by the segregation of mineral land in any legal subdivision, a quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres remains, said fractional portion of agricultural land may be entered by any party qualified by law, for homestead or pre-emption purposes.

SEC. 11. That where the same person, association, or corporation, is in possession of a placer claim, and also a vein or lode included within the boundaries thereof, application shall be made for a patent for the placer claim, with the statement that it includes such vein or lode, and in such case (subject to the provisions of this act and the act entitled "An Act to amend an act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes," approved July ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy) a patent shall issue for the placer claim, including such vein or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre for such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of surface on each side thereof. The remainder of the placer claim, or any placer claim not embracing any vein or lode claim, shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, together with all costs of proceedings; and where a vein or lode, such as is described in the second section of this act, is known to exist within the boundaries of a placer claim, an application for a patent for such placer claim, which does not include an application for the vein or lode claim, shall be construed as a conclusive declaration that the claimant of the placer claim has no right of possession of the vein or lode claim; but where the existence of a vein

or a lode in a placer claim is not known, a patent for the placer claim shall convey all valuable mineral and other deposits within the boundaries thereof.

SEC. 12. That the Surveyor-general of the United States may appoint, in each land district containing mineral lands, as many competent surveyors as shall apply for appointment to survey mining claims. The expenses of the survey of vein or lode claims, and the survey and subdivision of placer claims into smaller quantities than one hundred and sixty acres, together with the cost of publication of notices, shall be paid by the applicants, and they shall be at liberty to obtain the same at the most reasonable rates, and they shall also be at liberty to employ any United States Deputy Surveyor to make the survey. The Commissioner of the General Land Office shall also have power to establish the maximum charges for surveys and publication of notices under this act; and, in case of excessive charges for publication, he may designate any newspaper published in a land district where mines are situated, for the publication of mining notices in such district, and fix the rates to be charged by such paper; and, to the end that the Commissioner may be fully informed on the subject, each applicant shall file with the Register a sworn statement of all charges and the fees paid by said applicant for publication and survey, together with all fees and money paid the Register and the Receiver of the Land Office, which statement shall be transmitted, with the other papers in the case, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office. The fees of the Register and the Receiver shall be five dollars each for filing and acting upon each application for patent or adverse claim filed, and they shall be allowed the amount fixed by law for reducing testimony to writing-when done in the Land Office, such fees and allowances to be paid by the respective parties-and no other fees shall be charged by them in such cases. Nothing in this act shall be construed to enlarge or affect the rights of either party in regard to any property in controversy at the time of the passage of this act, or of the act entitled "An Act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes," approved July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six; nor shall this act affect any right acquired under said act; and nothing in this act shall be construed to repeal, impair, or in any way affect the provisions of the act entitled "An Act granting to A. Sutro the right of way and other privileges to aid in the construction of a draining and exploring tunnel to the Comstock lode, in the State of Nevada," approved July twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six.

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 ten days, to the opposing party; or if said party cannot be found, then by publication of at least once a week for thirty 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 purpose 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 non-mineral 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 non-adjacent 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 non-adjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the same must be made at the same rate as fixed by this act for the superfices 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.

Approved May 10, 1872.

DECISIONS.

Witnesses and Testimony.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, August 15, 1868. Register and Receiver, U. S. Land Office, Helena, Montana Territory:

GENTLEMEN: In answer to the first question in your letter of the 30th ultimo, you are informed that the law provides no compulsory process to secure the attendance of witnesses before Registers and Receivers, neither as to proceedings under the mining, the pre-emption, nor the homestead acts, no instance being remembered of any particular difficulty arising from this want of power. Parties serve their own subpenas, and it can seldom happen that a bona fide claimant will experience any trouble in obtaining the necessary testimony.

In reply to the second question, you are advised that exparte affidavits may be received generally in applications under the mining act; reasonable care being required on the part of the Register and Receiver, not to suffer themselves to be imposed upon by pretended affidavits or reckless or dishonest witnesses.

The officers before whom the affidavit is made should usually be able to certify to the credibility of the witness; yet where such is not the case, and the deponent is a stranger to you, it will be proper for you to require his character for truth to be established to your satisfaction, before giving credit to his affidavit, in all cases where the question deposed to is not merely technical, but goes to the merits of the claim.

The law requires that you should be satisfied of the truth of the testimony offered, in whatever form it may be presented, and, in arriving at this result, you are not to be cramped by any technical rules, but are left to the exercise of sound judgment, and an honest, upright purpose to perform your duties faithfully, doing equal and exact justice alike to the government employing and reposing confidence in you, and to the parties who are obliged to submit claims to your preliminary examination.

Where these qualities are properly exercised, they will frequently be more successful in accomplishing the desired end, than all the technicalities found in books.

In applications under the mining act, there will not, as a general thing, be any adverse parties to notify of the time. and place of taking testimony, for the law has not charged the local law officers with the duty of adjusting the adverse claims of opposing parties. Its remedies are limited to mines "in regard to whose possession there is no controversy or opposing claim." The very fact then of there being adverse parties, shows the claim to be one for adjustment in the local courts, before it is in a condition to be presented under the mining act.

Your third question is answered by the act of July 2, 1864, third section, vol. 13, page 351, Stats. at Large, in which Congress has prescribed the policy of not excluding any witness in the courts of the United States, on account of being a party to, or interested in, the issue tried. It is altogether proper that the same rule should be observed in proceedings before the Executive Department, and you are instructed to be governed by that principle.

The weight of the evidence is of course still a matter for your judgment, as in all other cases where a witness may be supposed to be laboring under a bias, or to have a stronger motive to incline to one side more than the other, in his testimony.

Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

Jos. S. WILSON, Commissioner.

Every Person affected by a Decision should be heard. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, October 16, 1868. Register and Receiver, U. S. Land Office, Marysville, California: GENTLEMEN: The Schofield patent will be transmitted to you to-morrow accompanied by a letter of advice, referring among other matters to a filing upon the N.W. qr. section 25, T. 16, N. R. 8 E. Mt. Do. Mer., by R. B. Mock, conflicting with the Schofield mining claim, which letter you will carefully examine and see that the instructions are promptly carried into effect.

It has not been thought proper to delay the preparation of the patent until the pre-emptor could be made a party to the record, notwithstanding his settlement is alleged to have been made in 1858, inasmuch as mineral lands are expressly excluded from the privileges of the pre-emption or home