LANDS MINING DECISIONS. 65 



protection of the mining works thereon or pertaining thereto. 

 (Highland Marie and Manilla Mining Claims, 31 L. D., 37.') 



An expenditure of $500 in labor or improvements to be available 

 as a basis for patent to a mining claim must have been made upon 

 or for the benefit of the location for which patent is sought ; and the 

 work performed upon and for the benefit of a 20-acre placer location is 

 not available as a patent expenditure for the benefit of a maximum loca- 

 tion of 160 acres by eight persons embracing the 20-acre location and 

 140 acres of entirely new ground. (Charles H. Head et al., 40 L. D., 

 135.) 



In determining whether the requisite expenditure of $500 in labor 

 or improvements has been made upon a mining claim for which 

 patent is asked, the proper test is whether the reasonable value of the 

 work performed or improvements relied upon amounts to that sum. 

 Proof of the actual amount paid or of the actual number of days 

 spent in prosecution of such work is not conclusive. (Samuel B. 

 Beatty et al., 40 L. D., 486.) 



Improvements made prior to the location of the mining claim or 

 claims to which their value is sought to be accredited are not avail- 

 able toward meeting the requirements of the statute relative to ex- 

 penditures. (Toua'h Nut No. 2 and Other Lode Claims, 36 L. D., 9 ; 

 see also C. A. Sheldon et al., 43 L. D., 152.) 



No part of a wagon road lying partly within and partly without 

 the limits of a group of mining claims, constructed and used for the 

 purpose of transporting machinery and supplies to, and ore from, the 

 group is available toward meeting the requirement of the statute 

 respecting expenditures prerequisite to patent. (Fargo Group No. 

 2 Lode Claims, 37 L. D., 404; Modified Tacoma etc. Co., 43 L. D., 

 128.) 



Mill site. 



The continued use or occupancy for mining or milling purposes is 

 necessary to maintain a valid mill-site location. (Weber v. Carroll, 

 unreported; decided bv the Secretary of the Interior, January 16, 

 1905.) 



A mill-site location may be contiguous with the side of a lode claim. 

 (Yankee Mill Site, 37 L." D., 674.) 



A mill site is required to be used or occupied distinctly and ex- 

 plicity for mining or milling purposes in connection with the lode 

 claim with which it is associated * * *. Some step in or directly 

 connected with the process of mining or some feature of milling must 

 be performed upon or some recognized agency of operative mining 

 or milling must occupy the mill site at the time patent thereto is ap- 

 plied for to come within the purview of the statute. (Alaska Copper 

 Co., 32 L. D., 128.) 



A decision by the Department of the Interior canceling a mill- 

 site entry, without passing upon the validity of the mill-site claim 

 or location or the claimant's possessory rights or ownership in the 

 premises, in no wise affects the legal rights, if any, the claimant may 

 have in the mill-site claim; and where the land is included within 

 the limits of a National Forest, but excepted from the operation of 

 the proclamation creating the same, by reason of the mill-site claim, 



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