MINING LAW. 



553 



were elaborate and voluminous. The code of 

 Gamboa allowed to the discoverer of mineral 

 lands a length of 160 varas or yards, and 80 

 varas in width on the vein, and upon reloca- 

 tion of a previously discovered mine, 120 varas 

 in length and 60 varas in width on the vein. 

 In the case of mines or "Streamworks" of 

 gold, original locators were allowed 80 varas 

 in length and 40 varas in width ; and in case 

 of a second location 60 varas in length and 30 

 in width on the vein. This code required de- 

 nunciation, working, and registry of the claim, 

 in order to perfect title. The code of Gal- 

 vez treated, among other subjects, judges and 

 deputies of mining districts, jurisdiction of 

 mining causes, ownership of mines, drainage, 

 laborers, and mining generally. It created a 

 fund and bank of supplies, and provided for 

 the establishment of mining-schools. It con- 

 tained many curious provisions, among others 

 the privilege of nobility to the scientific pro- 

 fession of mining, relieved mine-owners and 

 many of their subordinates from imprisonment 

 for debt, and created a preference in favor of 

 mining laborers as against other persons for 

 their wages. It allowed the original discoverer 

 200 varas or yards in length on the length of 

 the vein, and a hundred level yards measured 

 on either side of or divided on both sides of 

 the vein. Where the vein was inclined, an 

 increase in width was allowed, in proportion 

 to the degree of inclination. Under this code, 

 minerals of every sort belonged to the crown, 

 but could be acquired by any person other than 

 aliens, members of religious orders, and certain 

 high civic dignitaries, upon discovery followed 

 by location, denunciation, and working in the 

 manner prescribed. 



The Mexican statutes modified certain pro- 

 visions of the code of Galvez, and extended 

 certain privileges to miners of quicksilver, and 

 by decree of Oct. 7, 1823, the disabilities of 

 foreigners were removed so far as to enable 

 them to contract with mine-owners needing 

 capital, and as a consequence to hold shares in 

 such mines. 



On March 16, 1848, the treaty of Guada- 

 lupe Hidalgo was ratified, by virtue of which 

 California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and 

 a part of Colorado were ceded to the United 

 States. That year gold was discovered in Cali- 

 fornia, and the law that sprang up and grew to 

 be the inorganic law of the self-constituted 

 mining districts of these newly acquired Ter- 

 ritories was a fusion of the old Spanish law as 

 modified by Mexican decrees, and the com- 

 mon law of England as it existed in the Eastern 

 United States. For a review of the mining law 

 of foreign countries, see article by R. W. Ray- 

 mond in "Williams's " Mineral Resources of the 

 United States, 1883 and 1884" (Washington, 

 1885.) 



Federal Legislation. From 1795 to 1865 the 

 United States Government adhered to the 

 policy of reserving the public mineral lands 

 from sale. In 1805 an act was passed author- 



izing the President to lease lead-mines for a 

 limited period. Throughout the Kast there 

 were, even at the time of the Federal Union, 

 practically no public lands, and in the \V\-t 

 few or no lands had been occupied by miners. 

 Nevertheless, at an early period Congres> di 

 cussed the question of the undivided public 

 lands, and even in 1785 it passed an act by 

 which it reserved one third of all gold, silver, 

 lead, and copper mines. In many instances 

 thereafter, lead-mines were reserved from the 

 sale of certain portions of the public domain, 

 and the general pre-emption law excludes from 

 its provisions " all lands on which are situated 

 any known salines or minerals." In the va- 

 rious acts admitting the later States to the 

 Union, mineral lands were not expressly re- 

 served, except so far as they were included in 

 what are termed "lands generally reserved." 

 The reservation of lead- mines under certain 

 local acts relating to pre-emption has led to at 

 least one important case in the Supreme Court. 



In the Eastern States the English doctrine of 

 royal mines has never been established, with 

 the single exception of the State of New York. 

 The States granted their public lands to set- 

 tlers at an early date, and there never was any 

 reservation of the minerals ; hence the title to 

 all mines became inseparably vested in the 

 owner of the soil, and the ordinary rules of 

 the law of real property have always applied 

 to them. No record is found of litigation on 

 any questions growing out of location of mines 

 in the Eastern States, by virtue of any State or 

 Federal laws, except in so far as the cases are 

 found in Morrison's ''Mining Reports" 



From 1849 until 1866 Congress did prac- 

 tically nothing toward the promotion of mines 

 and mining, and the seekers for precious met- 

 als in the new West were left to their own 

 devices. The result was a rapid encroachment 

 upon the public domain, and the passage of a 

 vast number of statutes and regulations by the 

 local legislatures and tribunals of the mining 

 districts of the Territories, based upon the lo- 

 cal mining code of old Spain, if the Territory 

 was of Spanish origin, or upon the common 

 law of England if it was of British origin. 



Recent Legation. After the civil war it was 

 proposed to promote the sale of the public 

 domain then undisposed of, with a view to 

 diminishing the public debt. In 1865 a joint 

 resolution of Congress was passed, reserving all 

 mineral lands from any grants made by tlu-m in 

 the previous cessions to States or corporations. 

 On July 26, 1866, Congress passed the first 

 federal mining law which conceded to first 

 discoverers of mineral deposits most of the 

 privileges granted by the Spanish codes, and 

 by the earlier district laws. This act was the 

 first attempt of Congress to deal practically 

 with the question of mining-titles on the public 

 domain. It recognized many of the local min- 

 ing customs to an extent that made it full of 

 uncertainties. Under it the discovery of any 

 part of the lode was made a basis for a claim. 



