XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
releasing to the various side-line claimants one-half of the ores contained within 
the surface boundaries extended downward vertically of such side-line claims. 
Throughout this litigation the ablest mining lawyers in Colorado were engaged 
on one side or the other of the controversy and the best mining experts and geolo- 
cists of the country were employed to formulate theories and direct the developments 
on behalf of each side. It is conservatively estimated that the cost of the litigation 
up to the time of settlement, including attorneys’ fees, expert witnesses, and devel- 
opment made for the purpose of these suits, and which was useless for any other 
purpose, was more than the sum of $1,000,000. . 
Next in importance came the litigation on Smuggler Mountain between the 
Standard Mining Company, of Kansas City, as owners of the J. C. Johnson and 
Chatfield claims, against the Della S. Mining Company, the latter company owning 
a number of claims lying westerly from and below the J. C. Johnson and Chatfield. 
This contention began in the latter part of 1890 and ended in February, 1892, and 
involved the ownership of exceedingly large and valuable ore bodies on Smuggler 
Mountain. The theories of the contending parties are well stated by Judge Hallett 
in his charge to the jury, from which the following extracts are taken: 
PLAINTIFF’S POSITION. 
The position of the plaintiff in this instance is that the locations to which they have estab- 
lished titles, the J. C. Johnson and the Chatfield, have within their limits the apex of the vein 
which, in its descent into the earth and through the side lines of these locations, extends into that 
adjoining, which is owned by the defendant. So that by virture of the ownership of the top or 
apex, under this statute, they are entitled to claim the lode from the top of the ground extending 
into the territory adjoining. i 
*% C9 * * * * * 
THEORY OF THE DEFENSE. 
The theory of the defense is that, after the vein was deposited in this fissure or opening from 
the top of the mountain downward, there came a fault which broke off the lower part from the 
upper and removed the upper part some distance easterly, something over 200 feet easterly, so as 
to entirely dissever and disconnect them in such a way that the ownership of one can not be said 
to be the ownership of the other. In this there are two propositions: One that the fault occurred, 
and the other that the vein was deposited before that fault occurred. * * * 
The trial occupied ten days, the jury returning a verdict in favor of the Della 
S. Mining Company, thus in effect finding that the vein which has its apex in the 
J. C. Johnson claim had been faulted subsequent to the deposition of the ore bodies, 
and that the J. C. Johnson vein ceased at the eastern edge of the fault plane, and 
that the Della S. vein, commencing at the western side or edge of the fault plane, 
constituted a separate and independent vein within the Della S. territory. Within 
afew days after the trial the case was settled, the entire property passing to the — 
Della 5. Consolidated Mining Company. 
Spar Ridge, upon which occur the so-called apexes of the Durant, 
Spar, Emma, Aspen, and other ore bodies, is a knife-edge of bare rock 
which trends with the strike of the limestones that inclose the ore, and on 
