right to exact from the mining applicant, and none other must be charged or received under any circumstances.

You are requested to acknowledge the receipt of this communication, and to be strictly governed by the terms mentioned therein.

Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,
Jos. S. WILSON, Commissioner.

Register and Receiver U. S. Land Office, at

Circular in Relation to the Survey and Entry of Mining Claims under the Provisions of the Act of Congress, approved July 26, 1866, and the Act amendatory thereof, approved July 9, 1870.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, August 8, 1870. GENTLEMEN: The original mining act of July 26, 1866, U. S. Statutes, vol. 14, p. 251, having been amended in adding to its provisions additional sections twelve to seventeen, inclusive, by the act of Congress, approved July 9, 1870, it becomes my duty to prescribe for your information and observance the following regulations, to wit:

First. By the twelfth section of the amendatory act, placer claims, including all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz or other rock in place, are made subject to entry and patent, under similar circumstances, conditions, and like proceedings, as contemplated in the original act for vein or lode claims.

Placer claims on surveyed lands, are authorized to be entered by legal subdivisions, no special survey or plat in such case being required, at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per acre. In regard to placer claims, however, the amendatory law restricts their extent, in respect to locations made after the date of its passage, to not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres for any one person, or association of persons; such location being required to conform to the government surveys, and not to interfere with any bona fide pre-emption or homestead claims upon agricultural lands.

Second. The act further provides for the subdivision of forty-acre legal subdivisions into ten-acre tracts, and authorizes two or more persons, or association of persons, having contiguous claims of any size, although less than ten acres each, to make joint entry of such minor subdivisions, all bona fide pre-emption or homestead claims upon agricultural lands being protected by law. The Surveyors-general are therefore hereby authorized to have such subdivisions into

ten-acre tracts made by their deputies, when applied for by claimants, numbering each ten-acre tract with consecutive numbers of claims in the township, as in the case of other mineral surveys, and if the service is performed by county and local surveyors, as authorized by the sixteenth section of the amendatory act, it will be the duty of the Surveyorgeneral to verify the surveys so executed, and if found correctly done, to adopt the same and certify the fact, appending his approval, as in cases where surveys are made under his own direction. The expense of such subdividing is required to be defrayed by the mining claimants.

Third. In the thirteenth section, it is declared that in the absence of any adverse claim where said person or association, they and their grantors, shall have held and worked their said claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations for mining claims of the State or Territory where the same may be situated, evidence of such possession and working of the claims for such period shall be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto, subject to any lien which may have attached to such claim prior to the issue of said patent.

The foregoing provision is construed to apply as well to lode as to placer claims, and should lessen the amount of proof usually required to establish a right to a patent.

Fourth. In the fourteenth section, it is provided that all ex parte affidavits required under the original and amendatory acts may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district in which the claims are situated.

Fifth. By the fifteenth section, it is declared that Registers and Receivers are entitled to the same fees for services in mining cases, as are provided by law for like services under other acts of Congress, the rates of allowance being specifically given in our circular dated July 25, 1870.

Sixth. By the sixteenth section, the interdict placed by the act of March 3, 1853, "that none other than township lines shall be surveyed where the lands are mineral," is repealed; this provision of law being referable to surveys in California only; the extension of the lines of future surveys over the lands mentioned in this section, applies exclusively to that State. The requirement, however, in the last proviso of the same section, "that nothing herein contained shall require the survey of waste or useless lands," is a principle of general application, and Surveyorsgeneral will refrain from extending the lines of public surveys over such waste lands, which are considered to be those covered by alkali to a depth calculated to prevent the growing of crops, moving sand, or other sandy plains of great extent, and abrupt or snowy mountains not known to contain mineral deposits.

Seventh. Section seventeen authorizes the extension of the rights conferred by sections five, eight, and nine, of the original mining act, to all public lands affected by this law, and subjects all patents granted, or pre-emptions or homesteads allowed, to any vested or accrued water rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights, as may have been acquired under, or recognized, by the said ninth section, said section declaring further, that nothing in the act shall be construed to repeal, or in any way effect, the act granting 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 25, 1866, U. S. Statutes, volume 14, p. 242.

Eighth. The per diem allowance to deputy surveyors, including all expenses of assistants for surveys of mineral claims, as stipulated in our circular letter of January 14, 1867, has been in several cases found quite inadequate, 'and that, consequently, parties in order to induce deputies to make the surveys, have found it necessary to pay additional sums as on private account. To avoid such results, the Surveyors-general are hereby authorized to increase the maximum per diem allowance, according to the difficulty of the service, taking care, however, to have the work performed on the most economical scale by skillful and responsible surveyors, and in no case to exceed a maximum of twenty dollars per day.

In each case where an allowance is made of over ten dollars per day, the reasons showing the necessity for doing so must be stated in the contract, and then reported to this office; and it must be understood that no extra compensation, under any circumstances whatever, is to be exacted or received by the deputy under penalty of forfeiting the contract and exclusion from the public surveying service.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS RELATIVE TO OBTAINING PATENTS FOR MINING CLAIMS.

With reference to the proceedings necessary to obtain patents for lode and placer claims, under the provisions of the acts of Congress above mentioned, the following is communicated:

Ninth. The mining enactments limit the right to apply for and receive patents for mining claims to patents.

First. Who have occupied and improved their claims according to the local customs or rules of miners, or—

Second. Who have by themselves or their grantors held and worked their claims for a period equal to the time pre

scribed by the statute of limitations for mining claims of the State or Territory where the same may be situated.

Third. Who have expended in actual labor and improvements upon their respective claims an amount of not less than one thousand dollars, and—

Fourth. In regard to whose possession there is no controversy or opposing claim.

Unless, therefore, applicants for mining patents are properly within these requirements, they are not in a condition to avail themselves of the privileges extended by the laws referred to.

THE APPLICATION.

Tenth. This must be in writing, and must be filed in the office of the Register and Receiver of the land district in which the claim lies. It must distinctly state the name of the applicant, and whether the claim is applied for by an individual, an association, or an incorporation; the name and extent of the claim; the character of the ore; the mining district, county, and State; the date of its original location, according to the mining customs; where the same was recorded; whether the applicant claims as a locator or purchaser; give a description of the premises claimed, and the nature of the improvements made or labor performed, and finally the application should state that the claimant has posted a "diagram" of the claim in a conspicuous place thereon, together with notice of his intention to apply for a patent, giving the date of such posting.

Eleventh. With the above application, the claimant must file a copy of the "diagram" posted on the claim, which diagram must represent the boundaries of the premises, as fixed by the local laws, customs, or rules of miners; and when the claim lies upon surveyed land, it must also show its relation to the public surveys.

Twelfth. Diagrams of placer claims upon surveyed lands must represent the subdivision of the public lands which the claimant desires to enter, as the act requires such entries in their exterior limits, to conform to such legal subdivisions.

Thirteenth. With said diagram must be filed a copy of the "notice" posted upon the claim.

This should state the name of the claimant, describe the claim, give the names of adjoining claims, or if none adjoin, the names of the nearest claims; state whether it is a placer or rock claim; if the former, the approximate area, if the latter, the estimated extent of surface ground, and the number of feet claimed on the course of the vein, distinctly stating the name of the lode and the character of the vein

exposed; the mining district, county and State in which it lies; whether upon surveyed or unsurveyed lands; if the former, in what section, township, and range; if the latter, the location of the claim relatively to some well-known natural object or land-mark in the vicinity; and, finally, the notice should state that it is the intention of the claimants to apply for a patent for the premises therein designated, and upon which it is posted.

Fourteenth. There should also be filed with the application satisfactory evidence that the applicant has the possessory right to the claim, agreeably to the local laws or customs of miners. This should consist of a certified copy of the laws or customs of the miners of the district, in force at the date of the location of the claim, and of a certificate under seal, of the County or Mining Recorder, giving a copy of the record of the original location of the claim, with name or names of the locators, and if the applicant claims as a purchaser, an abstract of title should be filed, tracing the right of possession from the original locators to the applicant for patent. Where applicants furnish satisfactory evidence that they and their grantors have held and worked their claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations of mining claims of the State or Territory where the same may be situated, such evidence being sufficient to establish a right to a patent for a claim so held and worked, upon compliance with the other provisions of the law and instructions, the proofs enumerated under this subdivision (14) of the instructions are not required.

Fifteenth. Proof of citizenship is required. Where the applicant is a corporation, a copy of their charter or certificate of incorporation may be filed in lieu of evidence of citizenship. In case, however, the applicant is an individual or an association of persons unincorporated, affidavits of citizenship or of having filed declarations of intention to become citizens should be filed.

Sixteenth. Upon filing these papers, the Register and Receiver will give the same careful examination, and if found to be regular, the Register will order the publication of the "Notice" for ninety (90) days, in a newspaper published nearest the location of the claim; but, before ordering such publication, the Register will, in future, require the claimant to enter into an agreement with the publisher, to the effect that no claim or demand shall be made against the United States for the payment of such publication, and the Register will decline to order the publication, until such written agreement shall have been filed in his office. The cost of the publication of notice, will therefore not be estimated by the Surveyor-general in future cases.