NATIONAL FOREST MANUAL LAWS. 33 



of Jime 11, 1906, has no application thereto." (Letter Secretary of 

 the Interior to Secretary of Agriculture, Mar. 16, 1912.) 



The decision last above announced is not affected by the provision 

 in the Agricultural Appropriation Act of August 10, 1912 (37 Stat. 

 269), that "no lands listed * * * shall pass from the forest 

 until patent issues." Taken in connection with the words preceding 

 them, these words mean only that the lands shall not pass by virtue or 

 the listing, and they do not limit the power of the President to elimi- 

 nate lands by proclamation or Executive order. (Solicitor to the 

 Forester, Aug. 31, 1912.) 



Prior to the enactment of the provision quoted in the preceding para- 

 graph, the Comptroller of the Treasury and the Solicitor had both made 

 the following ruling: 



Lands once listed under the act of June 11, are segregated from the 

 National Forest and the Forest Service is not authorized to expend its 

 appropriations for surveying the same. (Opinion of Comp. Treas., Oct. 

 21, 1910 (unpublished); 1 Sol. Op., 363.) 



Lands within a National Forest listed under the act of June 11, 1906. 

 are not subject to disposition under the enlarged homestead act of 

 February 19, 1909 (35 Stat. 639). (Burtis F. Oatman, 39 L. D. 604). 



MINING LAWS. 



BASIC PROVISIONS OF THE MIXING LAWS MOST GENERALLY AFFECTING 

 FOREST-SERVICE WORK. 



UNITED STATES REVISED STATUTES. 



SEC. 2318. In all cases lands valuable for minerals shall be reserved Min ^ al Iand 

 from sale, except as otherwise expressly directed by law. 



SEC. 2319. All valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the Mineral lauds 

 United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to open to purchase 

 be free and open to exploration and purchase, and the lands in which y C1 

 they are found to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the United 

 States and those who have declared their intention to become such, 

 under regulations prescribed by law, and according to the local cur- 

 toms or rules of miners in the several mining districts, so far as the 

 same are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United 

 States. 



SEC. 2320. Mining claims upon veins or lodes of quartz or other rocks . Length of min- 

 in place bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other val- ^ e ias ork^es. 1 * 011 

 uable deposits, heretofore located, shall be governed as to length along 

 the vein or lode by the customs, regulations, and laws in force at the 

 date of their location. A mining claim located after the tenth day of 

 May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, whether located by one or 

 more persons, may equal, but shall not exceed, one thousand five hun- 

 dred feet in length along the vein or lode; but no location of a mining 

 claim shall be made until the discovery of the vein or lode within the 

 limits of the claim located. No claini shall extend more than three 

 hundred feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, nor 

 shall any claim be limited by any mining regulation to less than 

 twenty-five feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, 

 except where adverse rights existing on the tenth day of May, eighteen 

 hundred and seventy-two, render such limitation necessary. The end 

 lines of each claim shall be parallel to each other. 



SEC. 2322. The locators of all mining locations heretofore made or Locators' rights 

 which shall Jiereafter be made, on any mineral vein, lode, or ledge, 



situated on the public domain, their heirs and assigns, where no adverse 

 claim exists on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy- 

 two, so long as they comply with the laws of the United States, and 

 with State, Territorial, and local regulations not in conflict with the 

 laws of the United States governing their possessory title, shall have 

 the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the surface 

 included within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, lodes, 

 and Jedges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies 



66777 13 3 



