220 FOREST OUTINGS 



instances as mill-site claims and in the fifth as a mining claim. In none of 

 these instances are the areas being used in any way for mining. 



In Arizona, a locator took up a claim along a main highway and at- 

 tempted to operate a commercial campground and a lunchroom. The 

 Forest Service won the first legal skirmish, but the claimant reoccupied the 

 land and is now using it for commercial billboard privileges. The Forest 

 Service is still fighting the case, but the matter has been in dispute for 

 approximately 12 years. No mineral values have ever been established. 



In California, two mining claims are held along the Redwood Highway 

 and occupied wholly for residential purposes, and the Forest Service is contest- 

 ing these now. Several similar suits in the same area have alreadv been won. 



In Montana, a certain nationally known religious association located 

 a mill site and lode claim in order to use national-forest land for a summer 

 camp and to escape paying any fees therefor. After three contest hearings 

 and two appeals, the church association finally lost the case. This particular 

 case dragged along for a total of 6 years and put the Government to a great 

 deal of needless expense. 



Many instances are on record in which the initial location of a new 

 highway across mountainous forests has been immediately followed by the 

 staking of numerous mineral claims along the right-of-way in efforts to 

 secure private control of strategic places. Frequently when tunnels, canals, 

 or water-diversion projects of any consequence have been started, locators 

 have established mining claims at key spots across the course of the proposed 

 projects. Many such locators have impeded large public and private develop- 

 ments of this nature by demanding large sums of money for a right-of-way 

 across their claims. These extortion attempts have frequently been success- 

 ful. In other instances, valuable tracts of public timber have been acquired 

 under the guise of mining claims. Mineral and other springs, caves, geo- 

 logical formations, bits of unusual scenery, etc., have gone into private hands 

 in the same manner. 



There are dozens of instances where the Forest Service has claimed fraud 

 and has been defeated. In almost every instance these claims are now used 

 for gas stations, lunch stands, summer homes, and various other purposes 

 foreign to mining. 



