Adverse claim, proceedings on. 10 May, 1872, c. 152, s. 7, v. 17, p. 93. tion, plat, field-notes, notices, and affidavits, shall publish a notice that such application has been made, for the period of sixty days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as published nearest to such claim; and he shall also post such notice in his office for the same period. The claimant at the time of filing this application, or at any time thereafter, within the sixty days of publication, shall file with the reg ister a certificate of the United States surveyor-general that five hundred dollars' worth of labor has been expended or improvements made upon the claim by himself or grantors; that the plat is correct, with such further description by such reference to natural objects or permanent monuments as shall identify the claim, and furnish an accurate descrip. tion, to be incorporated in the patent. At the expiration of the sixty days of publication the claimant shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during such period of publication. If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the register and the receiver of the proper land office at the expiration of the sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the proper officer of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse claim exists; and thereafter no objection from third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the terms of this chapter. SEC. 2326. Where an adverse claim is filed during the period of publication, it shall be upon oath of the person or persons making the same, and shall show the nature, boundaries, and extent of such adverse claim, and all proceedings, except the publication of notice and making and filing of the affidavit thereof, shall be stayed until the controversy shall have been settled or decided by a court of competent jurisdiction, or the adverse claim waived. It shall be the duty of the adverse claimant, within thirty days after filing his claim, to commence proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction, to determine the question of the right of possession, and prosecute the same with reasonable diligence to final judgment; and a failure so to do shall be a waiver of his adverse claim. After such judgment shall have been rendered, the party entitled to the possession of the claim, or any portion thereof, may, without giving further notice, file a certified copy of the judgment-roll with the register of the land-office, together with the certificate of the surveyorgeneral that the requisite amount of labor has been expended or improvements made thereon, and the description required in other cases, and shall pay to the receiver five dollars per acre for his claim, together with the proper fees, whereupon the whole proceedings and the judgment-roll shall be certified by the register to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and a patent shall issue thereon for the claim, or such portion thereof as the applicant shall appear, from the decision of the court, to rightly possess. If it appears from the decision of the court that several parties are entitled to separate and different portions of the claim, each party may pay for his portion of the claim with the proper fees, and file the certificate and description by the surveyor-general, whereupon the register shall certify the proceedings and judgment-roll to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, as in the preceding case, and patents shall issue to the several parties according to their respective rights. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the alienation of a title conveyed by a patent for a mining-claim to any person what ever. vein-claims on SEC. 2327. The description of vein or lode claims, upon Description of surveyed lands, shall designate the location of the claim surveyed and unwith reference to the lines of the public surveys, but need surveyed lands. not conform therewith; but where a patent shall be issued, 10 May, 1872, 0. for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the surveyor-general, 152, s. 8, v. 17, p. in extending the surveys, shall adjust the same to the boundaries of such patented claim, according to the plat or description thereof, but so as in no case to interfere with or change the location of any such patented claim. Pending appli cations; existing rights. 94. 10 May, 1872, 0. SEC. 2328. Applications for patents for mining-claims under former laws now pending may be prosecuted to a final decision in the General Land Office; but in such cases where adverse rights are not affected thereby, patents may 152, s. 9, v. 17, p. issue in pursuance of the provisions of this chapter; and all patents for mining-claims upon veins or lodes heretofore issued shall convey all the rights and privileges conferred by this chapter where no adverse rights existed on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two. SEC. 2329. Claims usually called "placers," including all Conformity of forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz, or other rock placer-claims to in place, shall be subject to entry and patent, under like 9 July, 1870, c. circumstances and conditions, and upon similar proceed- 235, s. 12, v. 16, p. ings, as are provided for vein or lode claims; but where the lands have been previously surveyed by the United States, the entry in its exterior limits shall conform to the legal subdivisions of the public lands. surveys, limit of. 317. Subdivisions of ten-acre tracts; maximum of pla cer locations. SEC. 2330. Legal subdivisions of forty acres may be subdivided into ten-acre tracts; and two or more persons, or associations of persons, having contiguous claims of any size, although such claims may be less than ten acres each, 9 July, 1870, c. 235, s. 12, v. 16, p. may make joint entry thereof; but no location of a placer- 217. claim, made after the ninth day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for any one person or association of persons, which location shall conform to the United States surveys; and nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bona fide pre-emption or homestead claim upon agricultural lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements of any bona fide settler to any purchaser. placer-claims to SEC. 2331. Where placer claims are upon surveyed lands, Conformity of and conform to legal subdivisions, no further survey or surveys; limita plat shall be required, and all placer-mining claims located tion of claims. after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy- 10 May, 1872, c. two, shall conform as near as practicable with the United 152, 8. 10, v. 17, p. 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; 94. ent. 235, s. 13, v. 16, p. 217. but where placer-claims can not be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands; and where by the segregation of mineral lands in any legal subdivision a quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres remains, such fractional portion of agricultural land may be entered by any party qualified by law, for homestead or pre-emption purposes. What evidence SEC. 2332. Where such person or association, they and of possession, &c., to establish their grantors, have held and worked their claims for a a right to a pat-period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations for mining-claims of the State or Territory where the 9 July, 1810, C: 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 under this chapter, in the absence of any adverse claim; but nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to impair any lien which may have attached in any way whatever to any mining-claim or property thereto attached prior to the issuance of a patent. Proceedings for claim, &c. 94. 10 May, 1872, c. SEC. 2333. Where the same person, association, or corpatent for placer-poration is in possession of a placer-claim, and also a vein or lode included within the boundaries thereof, application 152, s. 11, v. 17, p. shall be made for a patent for the placer claim, with the statement that it includes such vein or lode, and in such case a patent shall issue for the placer-claim, subject to the provisions of this chapter, 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 section twenty-three hundred and twenty, 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 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. 152, s. 12, v. 17, p. 95. Surveyor-general to appoint SEC. 2334. The surveyor-general of the United States surveyors of min- may appoint in each land-district containing mineral lands ing-claims, &c. as many competent surveyors as shall apply for appoint10 May, 1872, c. ment 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 chapter; 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 fees paid by such applicant for publication and surveys, 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. SEC. 2335. All affidavits required to be made under this Verification of affidavits, &c. chapter may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land-district where the claims, 10 May, 1872, 0. 152, s. 13, v. 17, p. may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be taken 95. 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 landoffice. 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 such 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. Where veins intersect, &c. 10 May, 1872, c. 152, s. 14, v. 17, p. SEC. 2336. 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; but the subsequent loca- 96. tion shall have the right of way through the space of intersection for the purposes of the convenient working of the mine. And 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. non-mineral 96. SEC. 2337. Where non-mineral land not contiguous to the Patents for vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor of such land, &c. vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such non-adja-10 May, 1872, c. cent surface-ground may be embraced and included in an 152, s. 15, v. 17, p. 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 to veins or lodes; but no location hereafter made of such nonadjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the same must be made at the same rate as fixed by this chapter for the superficies of the lode. The owner of a quartzmill or reduction-works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, may also receive a patent for his mill-site, as provided in this section. What conditions of sale may SEC. 2338. As a condition of sale, in the absence of necessary legislation by Congress, the local legislature of any be made by local State or Territory may provide rules for working mines, legislature. involving easements, drainage, and other necessary means 26 July, 1866, c. to their complete development; and those conditions shall 262, s. 5, v. 14, p. be fully expressed in the patent. 252. ་ to use of water canals. 262, s. 9, v. 14, p. 253. Vested rights SEC. 2339. Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to for mining, &c.; the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or right of way for other purposes, have vested and accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws, 26 July, 1866, C. and the decisions of courts, the possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same; and the right of way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage. Patents, preemptions, and SEC. 2340. All patents granted, or pre-emption or homehomesteads sub- steads allowed, shall be subject to any vested and accrued ject to vested and water-rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water-rights, as may have been acquired 9 July, 1870, c. under or recognized by the preceding section. accrued water rights. 235, s. 17, v. 16, p. 218. in which no valu are SEC. 2341. Wherever, upon the lands heretofore desigMineral lands nated as mineral lands, which have been excluded from able mines survey and sale, there have been homesteads made by citdiscovered, open izens of the United States, or persons who have declared to homesteads. their intention to become citizens, which homesteads have 26 July, 1866, c. 262, s. 10, v. 14, p. been made, improved, and used for agricultural purposes, 253. Mineral lands, lands. and upon which there have been no valuable mines of gold, SEC. 2342. Upon the survey of the lands described in the how set apart as preceding section, the Secretary of the Interior may desig nate and set apart such portions of the same as are clearly 26 July, 1866, c. agricultural lands, which lands shall thereafter be subject to 262, s. 11, v. 14, p. pre-emption and sale as other public lands, and be subject to all the laws and regulations applicable to the same. Additional SEC. 2343. The President is authorized to establish adland-districts 253. and officers, pow- ditional land-districts, and to appoint the necessary officers er of the Presi- under existing laws, wherever he may deem the same neces26 July, 1866, c. Sary for the public convenience in executing the provisions 262, s. 7, v. 14, p. of this chapter. dent to provide. 252. to affect certain rights. Provisions of SEC. 2344. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be this chapter not construed to impair, in any way, rights or interests in mining property acquired under existing laws; nor to affect the 10 May, 1872, c. provisions of the act entitled "An act granting to A. Sutro 152, s. 16, v. 17, p. the right of way and other privileges to aid in the construc9 July, 1870, c. tion of a draining and exploring tunnel to the Comstock 235, 8. 17, v. 16, P. lode, in the State of Nevada," approved July twenty-five, eighteen hundred and sixty-six. 96. 218. Mineral lands excepted. SEC. 2345. The provisions of the preceding sections of in certain States this chapter shall not apply to the mineral lands situated in the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, which 159, v. 17, p. 466. are declared free and open to exploration and purchase, 18 Feb., 1873, c. |