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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 the title conveyed by a patent for a mining-claim to any person whatever.

May 10, 1872, c. 152, s. 8, v. 17, p. 94. May 5, 1876, c. 91, v. 19, p. 52. Description of vein-claims on surveyed and unsurveyed lands. SEC. 2327. The description of vein or lode claims, upon surveyed lands, shall designate the location of the claim with reference to the lines of the public surveys, but need not conform therewith; but where a patent shall be issued for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the surveyor-general, 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.

May 10, 1872, c. 152, s. 9, v. 17, p. 94. May 5, 1876, c. 91, v. 19, p. 52. Pending applications; existing rights.

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 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.

July 9, 1870, c. 235, s. 12, v. 16, p. 217.

Conformity of placer-claims to surveys, limit of.

SEC. 2329. Claims usually called "placers," including all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz or other rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent, under like circumstances and conditions, and upon similar proceedings, 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.

July 9, 1870, c. 235, s. 12, v. 16, p. 217. Subdivisions of ten-acre tracts; maximum of placer 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, may make joint entry thereof; but no location of a placerclaim, 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.

May 10, 1872, c. 152, s. 10, v. 17, p. 94. May 5, 1876, c. 91, v. 19, p. 52. Conformity of placer-claims to surveys; limitation of claims.

SEC. 2331. Where placer-claims are upon surveyed lands, and conform to legal subdivisions, no further survey or plat shall be required, and all placer-mining claims located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, 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; 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.

July 9, 1870, c. 235, s. 13, v. 16, p. 217. What evidence of possession, etc., to establish a right to a patent. SEC. 2332. Where such person or association, they and their grantors, have held and worked their 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 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.

May 10, 1872, c. 152, s. 11, v. 17, p. 94. May 5, 1876, c. 91, v. 19, p. 52. Proceedings for patent for placer-claim, etc.

SEC. 2333. 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 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.

May 10, 1872, c. 152, s. 12, v. 17, p. 95. May 5, 1876, c. 91, v. 19, p. 52. Surveyor-General to appoint surveyors of mining-claims, etc. SEC. 2334. 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 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.

May 10, 1872, c. 152, s. 13, v. 17, p. 95. May 5, 1876, c. 91, v. 19, p. 52. Verification of affidavits, etc.

SEC. 2335. All affidavits required to be made under this chapter 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 landoffice. In cases of contest as to the mineral or agricultural

character of the 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 can not 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.

May 10, 1872, c. 152, s. 14, v. 17, p. 96. May 5, 1876, c. 91, v. 19, p. 52. Where veins intersect, etc.

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 location 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.

May 10, 1872, c. 152, s. 15, v. 17, p. 96. May 5, 1876, c. 91, v. 19, p. 52. Patents for non-mineral lands, etc.

SEC. 2337. 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 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 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.

July 26, 1866, c. 262, s. 5, v. 14, p. 252. May 5, 1876, c. 91, v. 19, p. 52. What conditions of sale may be made by local legislature.

SEC. 2338. As a condition of sale, in the absence of necessary legislation by Congress, the local legislature of any State or Territory may provide rules for working mines,

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