ST.   JOE    RIVER    BASIN,   IDAHO.  139 
of  many  of  the  streams,  and  there  is  a  small  placer  district  adjacent  to  the  southeastern 
part  which  has  produced  some  gold  for  the  past  twenty  or  thirty  years.  Gold-bearing 
quartz  veins,  some  of  which  are  valuable,  occur  in  the  eastern  and  southern  pails  of  the 
area  in  controversy.  These  veins  contain  free-milling  ore  at  the  surface,  but  will  probably 
become  base  in  depth.  No  gold  ores  except  those  in  which  copper  is  associated  have  been 
produced  on  a  commercial  scale. 
Since  these  lands  had  already  been  classified  by  the  United  States  mineral  commission, 
the  burden  of  proof  as  to  their  nonmineral  character  fell  to  the  railway  company.  After 
reviewing  the  great  volume  of  evidence  presented,  the  officials  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  land 
office  have  made  a  report  recommending  that,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  small  tracts 
regarding  which  there  is  specific  evidence  of  nonmineral  character,  the  mineral  classifica- 
tion be  allowed  to  stand. 
