Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

CALIFORNIA.'

Water Rights. 1410. The right to the use of running water flowing in a river or stream, or down a cañon or ravine may be acquired by appropriation.

1411. The appropriation must be for some useful or beneficial purpose, and when the appropriator or his successor in interest ceases to use it for such a purpose, the right ceases. 1412. The

person entitled to the use may change the place of diversion, if others are not injured by such change, and may extend the ditch, flume, pipe, or aqueduct by which the diversion is made, to places beyond that where the first use was made.

1413. The water appropriated may be turned into the channel of another stream and mingled with its water, and then reclaimed ; but in reclaiming it the water already appropriated by another must not be diminished.

1414. As between appropriators, the one first in time is the first. in right.

1415. A person desiring to appropriate water must post a notice, in writing, in a conspicuous place at the point of intended diversion, stating therein :

1. That he claims the water there flowing to the extent of (giving the number) inches, measured under a four-inch pressure;

2. The purposes for which he claims it, and the place of intended use;

3. The means by which he intends to divert it, and the size of the flume, ditch, pipe, or aqueduct in which he intends to divert it.

A copy of the notice must, within ten days after it is posted, be recorded in the office of the Recorder of the county in which it is posted.

1416. Within sixty days after the notice is posted, the claimant must commence the excavation or construction of the works in which he intends to divert the water, and must prosecute the work diligently and uninterruptedly to completion, unless temporarily interrupted by snow or rain.

1417. By “completion” is meant conducting the waters to the place of intended use.

1418. By a compliance with the above rules, the claimant's right to the use of the water relates back to the time the notice was posted.

1419. A failure to comply with such rules deprives the claimant of the right to the use of the water as against a subsequent claimant who complies therewith.

1420. Persons who have heretofore claimed the right to water, and who have not constructed works in which to divert it, and who have not diverted nor applied it to some useful purpose, must, after this title takes effect, and within twenty days thereafter, pro

ceed as in this title provided, or their right ceases. Civil Code, Annotated, Title viii., p. 402.

[The above law expresses the usual manner of securing water rights in the mining States and Territories.] An Act entitled an Act relating to the working, right of way, easement, and drainage of mines in the

State of California. SECTION 1.–Affidavit of Expenditure.—Whenever any mine owner, company, or corporation shall have performed the labor and made the improvements required by law for the location and ownership of mining claims or lodes, such owner, company or corporation shall file, or cause to be filed, within thirty days after the time limited for performing such labor or making such improvements, with the County Recorder of Deeds of the county in which the mine or c:aim is situated, particularly describing the labor performed and improvements made, and the value thereof, which affidavit shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated. Upon the failure of any claimant or mine owner to comply with the conditions of this Act, in the performance of labor, or making of improvements upon any claim, mine or mining ground, the claim or mine upon which such failure occurred shall be opened to re-location in the same manner as if no location of the same had ever been made. But if, previous to re-location, the original locators, their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, resume work upon such claim, and continue the same with reasonable diligence until the required amount of labor has been performed or improvements made, and the required statement of accounts and affidavit filed with the County Recorder, then the claim shall not be subject to re-location because of previous failure to file accounts. Upon the failure of any one of the several co-owners to contribute his portion of the expenditures required hereby, the co-owners who have performed the labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration of the year, give such delinquent co-owners personal notice, in writing, or by publication in the newspaper published nearest the claim, for at least once a week for ninety days; and if, at the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing or publication, such delinquent shall fail or refuse to contribute his portion of the expenditures required by this section, his interest in the claim shall become the property of his co-owners who made the required expenditures. A copy of such notice, together with an affidavit showing personal service or publication, as the case may be, of such notice, when filed or recorded with the Recorder of Deeds of the county in which such mining claim is situated, shall be evidence of the acquisition of title of such co-owners. Where a person or company has or may run a tunnel or cut for the purpose and in good faith for the purpose of developing a lode, lodes, or claims owned by said person, or company, or corporation, the money so expended in running said tunnel shall be taken and considered as expended on said lodes

or claims; provided further, that said lode, claim or claims shall be distinctly marked on the surface as provided by law.

SEC. 2. Right of Way.-A1l mining locations and mining claims shall be subject to a reservation of the right of way through or over any mining claims, ditches, roads, canals, cuts, tunnels, and other easements, for the purpose of working other mines; provided, that any damage occasioned thereby shall be assessed and paid for in the manner provided by law for land taken for public use under the right of eminent domain.

Approved March 31, 1891. Session Laws of 1891, p. 219.
An Act to provide for the Conveyance of Mining Claims.

SECTION 1.-Bill of Sale-Fraud-Possession.-Conveyances of mining claims may be evidenced by bills of sale or instruments in writing not under seal, signed by the person from whom the estate or interest is intended to pass, in the presence of one or more attesting witnesses; and also all conveyances of mining claims heretofore made by bills of sale or instruments in writing, not under seal, shall have the same force and effect as prima facie evidence of sale, as if such conveyances had been made by deed under seal; provided, that nothing in this act shall be construed to interfere with or repeal any lawful local rules, regulations, or customs of the mines in the several mining districts of this State ; and, provided further, every such bill of sale or instrument in writing shall be deemed and held to be fraudulent and void as against all persons except the parties thereto, unless such bill of sale or instrument in writing be accompanied by an immediate delivery to the purchaser of the possession of the mining claim or claims iherein described, and be followed by an actual and continued change of the possession thereof, or unless such bi 1 of sale or instrument in writing shall be acknowledged and recorded as. required by law in the case of conveyances of real estate.

SEC. 2. Gold Claims.-This act shall apply to gold mining claims only.

Approved April 13, 1860. Session Laws of 1860, p. 175.

SECTION 748 ($ 621). Local Customs.—In actions respecting mining claims, proof must be admitted of the customs, usages, or regulations established and in force at the bar or diggings embracing such claim; and such customs, usages, or regulations, when not in conflict with the laws of this State, must govern the decision of the action.

Code of Civil Procedure (Annotated), 1872, p. 667. SECTION 2515. Partnership Property.—The mining ground owned and worked hy partners in mining, whether purchased with partnership funds or not, is partnership property.

Civil Code (Annotated), 1872, p. 125.

For statutes relating to sale of deceased persons' estates, which consist in whole or in part of mines or interests in mines, see Code of Civil Procedure, 1872, Secs. 1529, amended in 1880.

Mines within Patented Townsites. SECTION 1. Amendment.-Section fifteen of an Act entitled “An act to authorize and direct the county judges of the several counties of this State to execute certain trusts in relation to the town lauds granted to the unincorporated towns in this State by the Act of Congress entitled 'An Act for the relief of the inhabitants of cities and towns upon the public lands,' approved March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, approved March thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

SEC. 15. Proceeding to Secure Title.-If within six months after the giving of the public notice that the plat of any townsite has been filed in the Recorder's office, as provided in section twelve of this Act, there shall remain any unoccupied or vacant unclaimed lands, or lands not previously surveyed into town lots under the provisions of this Act, and any person has hitherto or shall hereafter discover gold in any portion thereof in quantities which he may deem sufficient to justify the profitable working thereof (his judgment thereon to be conclusive), and has located and held the same bona fide for mining purposes, such mining possession shall constitute him a preferred purchaser thereof, from the Judge of the Superior Court, according to the metes and bounds of his location thereof, within the meaning of this Act; and he may apply to the Judge of the Superior Court for a deed thereto, which application he shall accompany with a deposit to be held by such judge in an amount to be estimated by him sufficient to pay the expenses of a survey and the platting thereof as herein provided for.

* * Approved March 9, 1897. Session Laws, 1897, p. 93.

Judgments, Records and Work Done. SECTION 1. Amendment.-Section eleven hundred and fiftynine of an Act entitled an Act to establish a Civil Code, approved March twenty-first, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, is hereby amended to read as follows :

1159. Judgments affecting the title to or possession of real property, authenticated by the certificate of the clerk of the court in which such judgments were rendered (and notices of location of mining claims), may be recorded without acknowledgment, certificate of acknowledgment, or further proof. The record of all notices of location of mining claims heretofore made in the proper office without acknowledgment or certificate of acknowledgment, or other proof, shall have the same force and effect for all purposes as if the same had been duly acknowledged, or proved and certified as required by law. Affidavits showing work or posting of notices upon mining claims may also be recorded in the recorder's office of the county where such mining claims are situated.

Approved March 9, 1897. Session Laws, 1897, p. 97.

*

COLORADO.

An Act Concerning Mines. SECTION 1.-Length.—The length of any lode claim hereafter located may equal but not exceed fifteen hundred feet along the vein.

SEC. 2.-Width.—The width of lode claims hereafter located in Gilpin, Clear Creek, Boulder, and Summit counties shall be seventy-five feet on each side of the center of the vein or crevice; and in all other counties the width of the same shall be one hundred and fifty feet on each side of the center of the vein or crevice : Provided, That hereafter any county may, at any general election, determine upon a greater width, not exceeding three hundred feet on each side of the center of the vein or lode, by a majority of the legal votes cast at said election, and any county, by such vote at such election, may determine upon a less width than above specified.

Sec. 3.- Location Certificate.—The discoverer of a lode shall, within three months from the date of discovery, record his claim in the office of the recorder of the county in which such lode is situated, by a location certificate, which shall contain: ist, the name of the lode ; 2d, the name of the locator ; 3d, the date of location; 4th, the number of feet in length claimed on each side of the center of the discovery shaft ; 5th, the general course of the lode as near as may be.

SEC. 4. Any location certificate of a lode claim which shall not contain the name of the lode, the name of the locator, the date of location, the number of lineal feet claimed on each side of the discovery shaft, the general course of the lode, and such description as shall identify the claim with reasonable certainty, shall be void.

Sec. 5.-Discovery Shaft and Staking.-Before filing such location certificate, the discoverer shall locate his claim by first sinking a discovery shaft upon the lode, to the depth of at least ten feet from the lowest part of the rim of such shaft at the surface, or deeper, if necessary, to show a well-defined crevice. Second, by posting at the point of discovery on the surface a plain sign or notice containing the name of the lode, the name of the locator, and the date of discovery. Third, by marking the surface boundaries of the claim.

SEC. 6. Such surface boundaries shall be marked by six substantial posts, hewed or marked on the side or sides which are in toward the claim, and sunk in the und, to wit : One at each corner and one at the center of each side line. Where it is practically impossible on account of bed-rock or precipitous ground to sink suclı posts, they may be placed in a pile of stones.

Sec 7.-Equivalent to a Discovery Shaft.-Any open cut, cross-cut, or tunnel, which shall cut a lode at the depth of ten feet below the surface, shall hold such lode the same as if a discovery

« ZurückWeiter »