vision that the adverse claimant shall commence proceedings "in a court of competent jurisdiction, to determine the question of the right of possession." Where the question at issue depends entirely upon whether there has been a compliance with local laws, which, in most cases, determine the right of possession, it would seem difficult to hold that the United States courts could obtain jurisdiction upon the ground that the case involved a federal question, and that the jurisdiction of the state courts would be exclusive. It has been so held.5 But on a motion to remand a cause removed to the United States Circuit Court from a state court, on the ground that the subject matter of the action arose under the laws of the United States, it was held by MILLER, J., that, as it was impossible that such an action could be determined without reference to, and involving the construction of the mining laws of Congress, the United States court had original jurisdiction, and the case was properly removable.6 When the adverse claim is filed, it suspends the patent proceedings.

1 MINERS' RIGHTS AND REMEDIES, ch. xiv. 2 Van Dusen vs. Star Q. M. Co., 36 Cal. 571.

3 Rev. Stat. § 2326, ante p. 19.

4 Chapman vs. Toy Long, 4 Sawyer, 28; Rose vs. Richmond M. Co., 2 Col. Law Rep. 7; Eureka, &c. Co. vs. Richmond, &c. Co., 4 Sawyer, 302.

5 Trafton vs. Noyes, 4 Sawyer, 178; see also 420 Min. Co. vs. Bullion Min. Co., 9 Nev. 240.

6 Frank, &c. Co. vs. Larimer, &c. Co., 1 Col. Law Rep. 495.

CHAPTER XII.

LAND OFFICE REGULATIONS.

APRIL, 1879.

FROM CIRCULAR OF

SECTION 75-Mineral lands open to exploration, occupation and

purchase.

76-Status of lode claims located prior to May 10, 1872.
77-Patents for veins or lodes heretofore issued.

78-Manner of locating claims on veins or lodes after
May 10, 1872.

79-Tunnel rights.

80-Manner of proceeding to obtain government title to

vein or lode claims. 81-Adverse claims.

82-Placer claims.

83-Quantity of placer ground subject to location.
84-Mill sites.

85-Proof of citizenship of mining claimants.

86-Appointment of deputy surveyors of mining claims-
charges for surveys and publications-Fees of regis-
ters and receivers, etc.

87-Hearings to establish the character of lands.
88-Regulations under the coal land law.

§ 75. Mineral lands open to exploration, occupation, and purchase. It will be perceived that by the foregoing provisions of lawl the mineral lands in the public domain, surveyed or unsurveyed, are open to exploration, occupation, and purchase, by all citizens of the United States, and all those who have declared their intention to become such.

1 Text of U. S. Statutes, ante, p. 12, et seq.

§ 76. Status of lode claims located prior to May 10, 1872.-By an examination of the several sections of the Revised Statutes it will be seen that the status of lode claims located previous to the 10th May, 1872, is not changed with regard to their extent along the lode or width of surface. Mining rights acquired under such previous

locations are, however, enlarged by said Revised Statutes in the following respect, viz.: The locators of all such previously taken veins or lodes, their heirs and assigns, so long as they comply with the laws of Congress and with state, territorial, or local regulations not in conflict therewith, governing mining claims, are invested with the exclusive possessory right of all the surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, lodes, or ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside of such surface-lines extended downward vertically, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicular in their course downward as to extend outside the vertical side-lines of such locations at the surface, it being expressly provided, however, that the right of possession to such outside parts of said veins or ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn downward as aforesaid, through the end lines of their locations so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins, lodes or ledges; no right being granted, however, to the claimant of such outside portion of a vein or ledge to enter upon the surface location of another claimant. It is to be distinctly understood, however, that the law limits the possessory right to veins, lodes, or ledges, other than the one named in the original location, to such as were not adversely claimed on May 10, 1872, and that where such other vein or ledge was so adversely claimed at that date, the right of the party so adversely claiming is in no way impaired by the provisions of the Revised Statutes. In order to hold the possessory title to a mining claim located prior to May 10, 1872, and for which a patent has not been issued, the law requires that ten dollars shall be expended annually in labor or improvements on each claim of 100 feet on the

course of the vein or lode until a patent shall have been
issued therefor; but where a number of such claims are
held in common upon the same vein or lode, the aggre-
gate expenditure that would be necessary to hold all the
claims, at the rate of ten dollars per hundred feet, may
be made upon any one claim; a failure to comply with
this requirement in any one year subjecting the claim
upon which such failure occurred to relocation by other
parties, the same as if no previous location thereof had
ever been made, unless the claimants under the original
location shall have resumed work thereon after such
failure and before such relocation. The first annual ex-
penditure upon claims of this class should have been per-
formed subsequent to May 10, 1872, and prior to Janu-
ary 1, 1875. From and after January 1, 1875, the re-
quired amount must be expended annually until patent
issues. By decision of the honorable Secretary of the
Interior, dated March 4, 1879, such annual expenditures
are not required subsequent to entry, the date of issu-
ing the patent certificate being the date contem-
plated by statute. Upon the failure of any one of
several co-owners of a vein, lode or ledge, which has
not been entered, to contribute his proportion of the
expenditures necessary to hold the claim or claims so
held in ownership in common, the co-owners who have
performed the labor, or made the improvements as re-
quired by said Revised Statutes, may, at the expiration
of the year, give such delinquent co-owner personal no-
tice in writing, or notice by publication in the news-
paper published nearest the claim, for at least once a
week for ninety days; and, if upon the expiration of
ninety days, after such notice in writing, or upon the
expiration of 180 days after the first newspaper publica-
tion of notice, the delinquent co-owner shall have failed
to contribute his proportion to meet such expenditure or

improvements, his interest in the claim by law passes to his co-owners who have made the expenditures or improvements as aforesaid.

$77. Patents for veins or lodes heretofore issued.Rights under patents for veins or lodes heretofore granted under previous legislation of Congress are enlarged by the Revised Statutes so as to invest the patentee, his heirs or assigns, with title to all veins, lodes or ledges, throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies within the end and side boundary lines of his claim on the surface, as patented, extended downward vertically, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicular in their course downward as to extend outside the vertical side lines of the claim at the surface. The right of possession to such outside parts of such veins or ledges to be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn downward through the end lines of the claim at the surface, so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins or ledges, it being expressly provided, however, that all veins, lodes, or ledges, the top or apex of which lies inside such surface locations, other than the one named in the patent, which were adversely claimed on the 10th May, 1872, are excluded from such conveyance by patent. Applications for patents for mining claims pending at the date of the act of May 10, 1872, may be prosecuted to final decision in the general land-office, and where no adverse rights are affected thereby, patents will be issued, in pursuance of the provisions of the Revised Statutes.

§ 78. Manner of locating claims on veins or lodes after May 10, 1872.-From and after the 10th of May, 1872, any person who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his intention to become a citizen, may