INTRODUCTION. XXill 
The Durant mining claim lies immediately south of the Spar claim, and in 
1884 its owners started an incline upon the contact between the blue and brown 
limestones, directing the same toward the rich ore bodies discovered about that 
time in the Emma and Aspen claims, which claims lay from 300 to 500 feet 
west of the Durant claim. In the winter of 1884 and spring of 1885 the Durant 
claimants instituted injunction proceedings, followed by ejectment suits, claiming 
all the ores within the end lines of the Durant claim extended westerly, by reason 
of the alleged existence of the apex of the vein containing these ores within the 
Durant mining claim. The substantial result of these injunction proceedings was 
to prevent the production of ores from the richest mines on Aspen Mountain 
pending the determination of these suits, which were four or five in number. 
The defendants in the various suits denied the existence of any vein or lode of 
ore in Aspen Mountain within the meaning of the statutes governing extra- 
lateral rights, and alleged that the ore bodies consisted of segregated masses, 
pockets, and impregnations, occurring sometimes in the blue limestone or calcite, 
sometimes in the brown limestone or dolomite, and sometimes at or near the 
contact between these two formations. It was also claimed that the limestone 
strata containing the ores of Aspen Mountain were synclinal, the east crest or 
Spar Ridge forming one edge or outcrop, and the other outcropping on what is 
known as West Aspen Mountain. It was further demonstrated that rich ores 
occurred in various places at or near the surface of the blue limestone strata 
throughout this synclinal area, and that these were sometimes connected by ore- 
- bearing faults or fissures with the main ore bodies of the mountain. They also 
denied the continuity of the so-called apex or outcrop throughout the length of 
the Durant claim. These cases were bitterly contested, vast amounts of money 
being spent in the employment of counsel, and still larger amounts in develop- 
ment work made by each party, looking to the establishment of its favorite theory. 
The first and only case to come to trial upon the merits was that of the Durant 
against the Emma, which was tried in December, 1886, occupying some three weeks 
in the United States circuit court at Denver. The result was a verdict in favor 
of the apex claimants. The so-called side-line claimants, the defendants in this 
suit, immediately paid up the costs under the statutes of Colorado, and were 
awarded a new trial, and at once instituted a more vigorous policy of development 
for the purpose of refuting the position of the apex claimants, and during the year 
1887 large amounts of money were expended by both sides in preparing for the 
next contest. The side-line claimants, among which were the owners of the 
Washington No. 2, Emma, Vallejo, Aspen, Aspen Mammoth, and other claims, 
contributed to a common pool, known as the side-line defense fund, for the purpose 
of defeating the apex claims. 
In 1888, before any further trials were had, a settlement was effected between 
the owners of the apex and side-line claims, the substance of which was that 
the side-line claimants deeded one-half of the ores contained within their sur- 
face boundaries to the apex claimants, the apex claimants, on the other hand, 
