552 



MICHIGAN. 



MINING LAW. 



where they are dependent upon the public for 

 support, and caring for them, securing homes, 

 and exercising guardianship over them until 

 thsy become of age. During the year, 194 

 children were thus received into the school, 

 and as many found homes. Since the school 

 was established in 1874, 2,512 children have 

 thus been cared for and educated while in the 

 school, indentured into homes, and otherwise 

 received the guardianship of the State during 

 their minority. 



Mineral Resources. During the year the State 

 produced 4,243,264 barrels of salt. The num- 

 ber of tons of iron shipped from the mines of 

 Michigan during the year was 3,934,339 tons. 

 The land-plaster produced during the year 

 was 28,794 tons; stucco, 170,145 barrels. The 

 amount of gold produced was $32,338; silver, 

 $2,592.03. Valuable deposits of gold were 

 discovered at and near Ishpeming, in the 

 northern peninsula. The total number of tons 

 of refined copper produced in the State during 

 the year was 38,112. 



Militia. The State militia consists of 2,376 

 men. An encampment was held for two weeks 

 in the summer of 1888 at Mackinac Island, with 

 an enrollment of 2,062. The militia is sup- 

 ported by a tax that is levied upon the prop- 

 erty of the State, and is equal to three and 

 a half cents for each person in the State ac- 

 cording to the last census. 



Railroads. Of the 85 counties in the State, 

 only five are now without railway connec- 

 tions. During the year, 275 miles of road were 

 completed and put in operation. The State 

 now has 6,043 miles of railway, and 24,057,- 

 719 passenger fares were paid during the year, 

 at an average rate per mile of 2'39 cents. 

 Freight to the amount of 41,209,880 tons was 

 moved, and the average charge for carrying a 

 ton a mile was 1'09 cent, the rates being 

 higher than at any time since 1875. By acci- 

 dents to passengers during the year, two per- 

 sons were killed and 32 injured. In accord- 

 ance with the law of 1887, many of the roads 

 have put in steam-heaters connected with the 

 engine, and others are complying with the 

 statute as rapidly as possible. The total tax 

 paid by the railway companies of the State 

 during the year was $715,680.2i. The total 

 costs of railroads in the State, as reported to 

 the present time, has been $240,000,000. 



Insurance. The Legislature of 1887, by stat- 

 ute, prohibited the contract system of tire 

 insurance in the State. During the year the 

 Supreme Court declared the law constitutional. 

 But in effect the contract system of rating 

 remains intact, and the old rates are virtually 

 unchanged. A commission, appointed by the 

 Governor for the purpose, has established a 

 uniform policy for all fire companies doing 

 business in the State. The so-called grave-yard 

 insurance companies were also, by the Legislat- 

 ure of 1887, prohibited from doing business in 

 this State, and during the year Michigan has 

 been freed from them. 



Crops and Stock. The principal crops in 1888 

 are shown by the following table: 



The number of horses was 365,300 ; milch 

 cows, 389,405; other cattle, 410,611; hogs, 

 456,436 ; sheep, 1,975,562 ; pounds of wool, 

 11,898,047. 



The average rainfall in the State during the 

 year was 28'68 inches. 



MIMNG LAW. Under the common law of 

 England, the owner of the surface of land un- 

 der which minerals existed was entitled, ex jure 

 naturm, to everything beneath it, down to the 

 center of the earth, except the minerals of gold 

 and silver. In the case of mines under high- 

 ways and non-navigable streams, the minerals 

 belonged, as a matter of right, to the owner of 

 the adjacent soil. All mines subjacent to nav- 

 igable streams, and all gold and silver mines, 

 belonged, by prima-facie right, to the crown. 

 Where the precious metals were intermingled 

 with a baser metal, if the gold and silver were 

 worth more than the cost of extracting them, 

 the mine belonged to the crown. But in cer- 

 tain cases the owner was permitted to work 

 the mine on payment of a royalty. The thir- 

 teen States that formed the original Federal 

 Union adopted the English common law, as a 

 body, as a part of their inorganic law. But 

 the greater part of the lands in all of the East- 

 ern States were patented to settlers at an early 

 period, and all minerals passed as a matter of 

 right to the owners of the surface or soil, as 

 the doctrine of crown reservations did not ob- 

 tain in this country except in the State of New 

 York. Such questions as have arisen in the 

 various Eastern States in relation to mines 

 and mining concern chiefly title-deeds, rights 

 of support, drainage, administration, transfer 

 of mining properties, etc., and have nothing to 

 do with what is technically known as mining 

 law. By virtue of title xi, chapter 9, of Part 

 I of the Revised Statutes of New York, cer- 

 tain mines of gold and silver are, under cer- 

 tain conditions, reserved to the people of the 

 State. In the States and Territories that are 

 of Spanish origin the law is different. At the 

 time of the cession to the United States of the 

 territory originally Spanish or Mexican the 

 Spanish or Mexican law as to mines w r as in 

 force with the same, and became a part of the 

 inorganic law of the United States, so far as 

 that territory was concerned. The Mexican 

 law was naturally of Spanish origin, and found 

 its root in the code of Francisco Gamboa 

 (1761). This code was modified in 1783, by 

 the so-called code of Galvez, entitled " Mining 

 Ordinance of New Spain," which left all parts 

 of the code of Gamboa still in force, except 

 where it was expressly repealed. These codes 



