24 CLASSIFICATION OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 



The general procedure under the mineral-land laws is the same 

 for all classes of deposits. The person who desires to obtain mineral 

 lands must first make a discovery of valuable mineral within the 

 limits of the claim that he wishes to locate. This discovery, as in- 

 terpreted by the Department of the Interior and the courts, must be 

 such a showing of mineral as would warrant a man of ordinary pru- 

 dence in expending his time and labor upon the claim in the reason- 

 able hope and expectation of developing a paying mine thereon, 

 or, as expressed in one of the latest decisions (40 L. D., 271) in- 

 terpreting the lode law, " there must be actually physically exposed " 

 within the limits of the claim "a vein or lode of mineral-bearing 

 rock in place, possessing in and of itself a present or prospective 

 value for mining purposes." The method of location, the posting 

 of location notices, and other similar matters are determined by the 

 local customs or miners' rules of the district in which the claim is 

 situated. In order to hold a claim against possible adverse claim- 

 ants — in other words, to prevent its being jumped — at least $100 

 worth of work, called " assessment work," must be performed on it 

 each year. After $500 worth of assessment work has been done and 

 certain requirements as to recording and surveys have been met, the 

 applicant, on payment of a fixed price per acre, is entitled to patent. 



Lodes. — Claims for veins of quartz or other rock in place are 

 known as lode claims (Rev. Stat., 2320). Their size is governed by 

 the rules of the mining district in which they are situated but must 

 not exceed 600 feet in width and 1,500 feet in length. Claims need 

 not conform to the public-land system of surveys and may be in al- 

 most any shape, provided only that the end lines of each claim shall 

 be parallel to one another. When patent is sought, a purchase price 

 of $5 an acre must be paid. 



All veins that come to the surface within a given claim are the 

 property of the owner of that claim through their entire depth 

 (Rev. Stat., 2322) but only for such portion of their extent as lies 

 between the end lines of the claim. Thus the owner of the outcrop 

 or apex of a lode may follow it downward indefinitely so long as 

 he stays within his end lines and may mine it without regard to the 

 ownership of the land under which it passes. This provision, which 

 is known as the "law of the apex," has unquestionably been more 

 provocative of litigation than any other provision of American land 

 law. 



The lode law provides also for the discovery in driving tunnels 

 of veins not outcropping on the surface and not previously known to 

 exist. It grants to the discoverers the right to 1,500 feet of extent 

 of each vein so discovered within 3,000 feet of the face of the tunnel, 

 with the same apex right as if the discovery were made at the 

 surface. Failure for six months to prosecute work on a tunnel acts 



