MINERS 219 



Forest Service files record many contested cases where the administrators 

 of the law have been unable to prevent passage of title to valuable public 

 lands despite extremely doubtful mineral showings. In some instances 

 subsequent events have made the original charge of fraud seem justified. 

 In many other instances, claims have been initiated in good faith and 

 carried through to patent and the land afterward used for purposes wholly 

 foreign to mining. A few examples: 



In western Montana a locator put up a disreputable shack along a road- 

 side and held it as a lode claim. The Forest Service fought this case unsuc- 

 cessfully for several years. The original locator died and willed the claim to 

 another party. The second man held up construction of a public highway 

 and finally secured payment of $300 for a right-of-way through the alleged 

 claim. Then he abandoned the claim entirely. Some years later (1932) a 

 third party filed on the identical area. He built a couple of residences and 

 a dance pavilion. The Forest Service again contested the location, finally 

 won, and the location was declared invalid. The claimant still refused to 

 vacate and now the Forest Service has started suit to dispossess him. This 

 claimant thus far has been able to maintain possession of this tract upon 

 which no indications of valuable minerals have ever been found. 



In Colorado a locator established a night club, cabin resort, and filling 

 station under cover of a placer claim and for 2 years successfully resisted 

 all efforts to stop him. 



Another Colorado man built a summer residence under guise of a mining 

 claim and made no effort at all to develop mineral values. He stood on his 

 rights as a mining locator. It took 3 years of constant effort to clear up the 

 case. 



Side Shows ... In South Dakota Professor Piccard's famous stratosphere 

 flight was staged on national-forest land. Five mineral locations were filed 

 with the intention of charging spectators of the flight for the privilege of 

 parking upon land covered by the locations. The Forest Service instituted 

 prompt legal action and defeated the scheme. 



At a very fine scenic lake in the State of Washington there are five 

 resorts operating upon patented lands. These lands went to patent in four 



