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lic highways, where they were provided by nature in natural tanks, springs, streams, or otherwise, nor from making such equitable disposition of the waters as the legislature shall prescribe.

SEC. 22. No person shall have the right to impede or inconvenience travelling by fencing up the public roads, filling them up with rubbish, or undermining them so as to endanger their safety, neither shall any one change their established direction without sanction of the proper authorities.

SEC. 23. Whenever two or more persons or parties explore and prospect one and the same vein, and at or about the same time but at different places, and without knowledge of each other, then he or they who shall prove first occupancy shall have the right of first location, taking the principal point of excavation as the centre of their claim or claims on each side along the general direction of such vein or deposit. The other parties shall proceed by the same laws after the others have fixed their boundaries. Should there be left vacant ground between the different parties, then it shall be at the option of the first discoverers so to change their boundaries as shall best suit them, and have them recorded accordingly. Any other parties shall locate in the order of the time of their arrival on the vein or mineral deposit.

SEC. 24. Whenever two or more parties shall select the same mine or mineral deposit for exploration, and the parties first on the ground, knowing the other parties to be at work, shall fail to give warning, either verbally or in writing, of their priority claim on such vein or deposit, then that portion of the mine situated between the main excavations of the two parties shall be equally divided between them, irrespective of the number of members each company may have: Provided, That the intervening portions shall not exceed the quantity of land allowed by the provisions of this chapter.

SEC. 25. The laws and proceedings of all mining districts established in this Territory for the denouncement, registration, and regulation of mines, mining claims, mineral lands, and auxiliary lands, prior to the day this act takes effect, are hereby

legalized and declared to be as valid and binding in all courts of law as if enacted by this legislative assembly, to the extent and under the conditions and restrictions herein contained.

I. All rights, claims, and titles to any veins, mineral lands, or mineral deposits, and auxiliary lands, acquired before this act takes effect, under, by virtue of, and in conformity to the laws of said mining districts, are hereby declared to be valid and legal, and shall be respected and enforced in all courts of this Territory, when sustained by the evidence herein provided; but no amount of work done thereon shall be construed to give a perpetual title thereto, but shall give such title only and such rights and privileges as are provided in section 29 of this chapter; and no person who was at the time of the location of his claim an inhabitant of this Territory shall forfeit his claim because he was not a resident also of the mining district in which his said claim. was located. And no such right, claim, or title shall be considered as abandoned provided the claimant shall within six months from the day this act takes effect file with the clerk of the probate court of the county in which his claim is situated a brief description of the same, giving the name of the district in which the lode is situated, and of the lode or lodes, and the extent of his claim thereon, with a declaration that he intends to retain and work the same according to law, unless such claim has been forfeited and subject to re-location under the laws of such mining district before this act takes effect.

II. All records and all papers required by the laws of said mining districts to be deposited with the recorders of said districts for record shall be received as evidence of their contents in all courts of this Territory, and shall not be rejected for any defects in their form, when their contents may be understood, but shall be valid to the extent provided by said mining laws, except as hereinbefore restricted: Provided, That such records, and papers are deposited with or recorded by the clerk of the probate court of the county in which said mining district is located, and within three months from the time this act takes effect; and if said records or papers are lost or mutilated, or if such recorder of a mining district shall neglect or refuse to

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deposit the same as aforesaid, an affidavit of their contents made by any person interested therein, or certified or sworn copies thereof, may be so recorded, and shall have the like effect.

III. All conveyances of mines, mining rights, mineral and auxiliary lands made prior to the time this act takes effect shall be valid and binding to pass the title of the grantor thereof, although defective in form and execution, if their contents can be understood, and as such shall be received and regarded in all courts of this Territory: Provided, That such conveyances shall be deposited with or recorded by the clerk of the probate court of the county where said mines are situated, within three months from the time this act takes effect, and if lost or mutilated, copies or affidavits of their contents, executed as aforesaid, may be recorded as provided above.

same.

SEC. 26. Every recorder, register, clerk, or other recording officer, of every such mining district, or who has at any time. acted as such recording officer, within three months after this act takes effect, shall deposit with the clerk of the probate court of the county in which said district or greater part thereof is situated, all records which he has so kept, and all papers deposited in his hands for record, and papers so made or deposited with his predecessors in said office, which are in his hands as aforesaid, or he shall so deposit, certified copies of the And such records and other papers shall be securely kept by such clerk, open in office hours to public inspection, and copies of the same duly certified by him shall be received in all courts of justice, and have the same effect as the originals. And any such recorder, register, or other recording officer of each mining district who shall neglect or refuse to comply with the provisions of this section shall be liable in damages to the party injured thereby, and shall be liable to be punished by the judge of probate of the county in which said mining district, or the greater part thereof, is situated, for contempt, by fine not exceeding $5,000 and imprisoned not more than one year, and shall be incapable of holding any such office and mining claim.

SEC. 27. Mining districts now existing may be continued, or new mining districts may be established in the manner and for the purposes hereinafter provided.

1. The recorder of every mining district now existing shall at the same time that he deposits the records of said districts with the clerk of the probate court, as the last preceding section re'quires, take an oath before the judge of said court that he will faithfully perform the duties of his office until another recorder shall be elected and qualified in his place, which oath shall be recorded by the clerk of the probate court. He shall record in 'a book to be kept by him for that purpose all notices of claims or rights to veins, mineral deposits, mineral lands, and auxiliary lands which may be left with him to be recorded, and shall note on all papers which may be received by him to be recorded, the time when they were so received by him, and they shall be considered as recorded from that time. He shall, when requested by any such claimant, go with him to his claim and see that the same is measured by metes and bounds, and marked by substantial monuments on the surface of the earth, and shall make a record of the same, and of the time when it was done, and certify it to be correct, or shall make a record and certificate of the same on the evidence of a credible witness, who was present when the same was done, and is cognizant of the facts, and whose name shall be entered on the record. He shall, when re'quested by any such claimant, go with him to his claim and examine any shaft that may be sunk by him, or tunnels that may be opened to the same, and make measurements of the same, and a record and certificate as aforesaid; and he shall in like 'manner examine, measure, or estimate, and make and record a certificate of any work which is required by law to be done by a claimant. And the said recording officer shall, quarterly, file 'with the clerk of the probate court of the county in which said district is located a copy by him certified of all records made by him for the three months last preceding, which shall be duly recorded by said clerk, and a copy of said record duly certified by him shall be evidence of its contents in all courts of this Territory. And such recording officer shall be liable to all the penalties provided in the preceding section if he shall neglect or refuse to perform any of the acts and duties required of him by this section, but shall not be required to perform any such ser

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vice until his fees for the same, to be fixed by the mining districts, are paid him, if he requests it. And if any paper deposited with him for record is required to be recorded by the clerk of the probate court, he shall at the time said paper is so deposited with him take and receive the fee fixed by law for recording such paper by said clerk, and pay the said clerk said fee when he deposits said paper with him to be recorded as aforesaid. All such mining districts may make laws not inconsistent with the laws of the Territory, may elect officers for the government of such districts, and fix their compensation, but all such acts and proceedings shall be recorded, and all records and papers thereof filed with the clerk of the probate court as aforesaid,

II. Any number of persons, not less than twelve, owning mining claims in any mining district, or in any contiguous mining districts, or who have discovered and may wish to denounce a mine or mineral lands, not within the limits of any established mining district, may proceed to make a new mining district at a meeting of persons holding claims in such district so to be established, and of claimants in any districts to be divided or to be included therein. They shall cause a notice in writing, and specifying the limits of said contemplated district, signed by them, to be posted in three conspicuous places in said district, and if any part of an established district is to be included therein, by leaving a copy of said notice with the recorder of said district at least ten days before the day of said meeting. At said meeting all persons holding claims as aforesaid may vote, and may determine by a majority vote of those present whether said new district shall be established, and its limits, but within the boundaries named in the notice for said meeting, and thereupon the persons holding claims in such newly established district shall proceed to select a name, and make laws therefor, and elect a recorder, who shall be qualified as aforesaid, who shall perform all the duties and be subject to all the liabilities provided in this chapter for such officers, and shall file with the clerk of the probate court as aforesaid a record of the proceedings of this and all subsequent meetings at the time and in the manner herein provided.

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