CONSTITUTION AND LAWS. 355 



Quartz claims are usually two hundred feet long, following the 

 course of the lode. In some districts the miner holds one 

 hundred feet of ground on each side of his lode, so that he can- 

 not be disturbed by other persons in his vicinity ; in others he 

 holds only the width of his lode, and if another lode, or placer 

 diggings, be found within a few feet of his place of working, 

 other claimants may come so near as to interfere greatly with 

 his convenience. Placer claims vary in size, according to the 

 nature of the ground. On bars, a claim usually has a front of 

 fifty, a hundred, or two hundred feet on the river, and runs 

 back across the whole width of the bar. Tunnel claims have 

 a front of fifty, a hundred, or two hundred feet on a hill-side, 

 and run transversely to the middle of the hill, or entirely 

 across it, parallel with the direction in which the tunnel is 

 commenced. Ravine claims include the bed of a ravine for a 

 distance of not more than three himdred feet. Placer claims 

 not on bars or ravines, or in hills that must be tunnelled, are 

 usually rectangular, containing as much as one hundred or two 

 hundred feet square. Persons who discover new placers or 

 auriferous quartz veins are entitled to two claims. 



The method of getting a claim is very simple. The miner 

 finds a piece of unoccupied ground that suits him ; drives stakes 

 at the corners ; fastens on one of these stakes a piece of paper, 

 containing a written notice similar to the following : 



"I hereby lay claim, for mining purposes, to a piece of 

 ground a hundred feet square, of which this is the northeast- 

 ern corner, the other corners being marked by stakes. 



"John Smith." 



He then goes to the mining recorder of the district, requests 

 him to record the claim in his book, and pays a fee of half a 

 dollar. In some districts the recorder must go out and look 

 at the claim, to see that it is not on ground previously claimed. 

 In other districts one of the stakes must have a piece of tin on 

 it, marked with the number which the claim has on the record- 

 er's books. In other districts it is necessary to mark the 



