Acts Concerning Mineral Land in Certain Indian Reservations

There are acts passed at various times relating to the opening of Indian reservations which also expressly provide for the extending of mineral laws over the parts of such reservations thrown open to the public. As these are very limited in area of application and do not usually modify the operation of the U. S. general mining statutes and decisions thereon, they are not given in full, but the following list comprises all reservations mentioned in such acts with dates of approval and any special features relating to particular reservation:

Wichita lands, Oklahoma, Mar. 2, 1895.

Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, Montana, June 10, 1896, (minimum price per acre, $10.)

Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Montana, June 10, 1896,

San Carlos Indian Reservation, Arizona, June 10, 1896.

Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache lands, Oklahoma, June 6, 1900.

Uintah and White River tribes of Ute Indian Reservation, Utah, May 27, 1902. (Grants preferential rights to mineral lessee from Indians not to exceed 640 acres and to the Raven Mining Co. the right to locate 100 claims in lieu of lease.)

Uncompahgre Indian Reservation, Utah, Mar. 3, 1903. (Relates only to claims of gilsonite, asphaltum, elaterite, etc., located prior to Jan. 1, 1891, and reserving certain of such lands for future disposition by Congress.)

Flathead Indian Reservation, Montana, Apr. 23, 1904.

Crow Indian Reservation, Montana, Apr. 27, 1904. (Price of mineral land as provided by law but in no case less than $4 per acre.)

Yakima Indian Reservation, Washington, Dec. 21, 1904. (Price of land not classified as mineral, not to be less than appraised value of said land nor less than statutory price of mineral land.)

Shoshone or Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming, Mar. 3, 1905. (Entry and payment must be made within three years of location or all rights forfeited.)

"Diminished" Colville Indian Reservation, Washington, Mar. 22, 1906. Coeur D'Alene Indian Reservation, Idaho, June 30, 1907. (No patents to issue for coal or oil lands.)

LAND OFFICE REGULATIONS SURVEYS OF MINING CLAIMS

GENERAL PROVISIONS

115. Under section 2334, U. S. Rev. Stats., the U. S. surveyor-general "may appoint in each land district containing mineral lands as many competent surveyors as shall apply for appointment to survey mining claims."

116. Persons desiring such appointments should therefore file their applications with the surveyor-general for the district wherein appointment is asked, who will furnish all information necessary.

117. All appointments of mineral surveyors must be submitted to the Commissioner of the General Land Office for approval.

118. The surveyors-general have authority to suspend or revoke the commissions of deputy mineral surveyors for cause. Before final action, how

ever, the matter should be submitted to the Commissioner of the General Land Office for approval.

119. Such surveyors will be allowed the right of appeal from the action of the surveyor-general in the usual manner. Such appeal should be filed with the surveyor-general, who will at once transmit the same, with a full report, to the General Land Office.

120. Neither the surveyor-general nor the Commissioner of the General Land Office has jurisdiction to settle differences, relative to the payment of charges for field work, between mineral surveyors and claimants. These are matters of private contract and must be enforced in the ordinary manner, i.e., in the local courts. The Department has, however, authority to investigate charges affecting the official actions of mineral surveyors, and will, sufficient cause shown, suspend or revoke their appointment.

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121. The surveyors general should appoint as many competent deputymineral surveyors as apply for appointment, in order that claimants may have a choice of surveyors, and be enabled to have their work done on the most advantageous terms.

122. The schedule of charges for office work should be as low as is possible. No additional charges should be made for orders for amended surveys, unless the necessity therefor is clearly the fault of the claimant, or considerable additional office work results therefrom.

123. In cases where the error in the original survey is due to the carelessness or neglect of the surveyor who made it, he should be required to make the necessary corrections in the field at his own expense, and the surveyor-general should advise him that the penalty for failure to comply with instructions within a specified time will be the suspension or revocation of his commission.

124. Mineral surveyors will address all official communications to the surveyor-general. They will, when a mining claim is the subject of correspondence, give the name and survey number. In replying to letters they will give the subject-matter and date of the letter. They will promptly notify the surveyor-general of any change in post-office address.

125. Mineral surveyors should keep a complete record of each survey made by them and the facts coming to their knowledge at the time, as well as copies of all their field notes, reports, and official correspondence, in order that such evidence may be readily produced when called for at any future time. Field notes and other reports must be written in a clear and legible hand or typewritten, in non-copying ink, and upon the proper blanks furnished gratuitously by the surveyor-general's office upon application therefor. No interlineations or erasures will be allowed.

126. No return by a mineral surveyor will be recognized as official unless it is over his signature as a United States deputy mineral surveyor, and made in pursuance of a special order from the surveyor-general's office. After he has received an order for survey he is required to make the survey and return correct field notes thereof to the surveyor-general's office without delay.

127. The claimant is required, in all cases, to make satisfactory arrangements with the surveyor for the payment for his services and those of his

assistants in making the survey, as the United States will not be held responsible for the same.

128. A mineral surveyor is precluded from acting, either directly or indirectly, as attorney in mineral claims. His duty in any particular case ceases when he has executed the survey and returned the field notes and preliminary plat, with his report, to the surveyor-general. He will not be allowed to prepare for the mining claimant the papers in support of his application for patent, or otherwise perform the duties of an attorney before the land office in connection with a mining claim. He is not permitted to combine the duties of surveyor and notary public in the same case by administering oaths to the parties in interest. It is preferable that both preliminary and final oaths of assistants should be taken before some officer duly authorized to administer oaths, other than the mineral surveyor. In cases, however, where great delay, expense, or inconvenience would result from a strict compliance with this rule, the mineral surveyor is authorized to administer the necessary oaths to his assistants, but in each case where this is done, he will submit to the proper surveyor-general a full written report of the circumstances which required his stated action; otherwise he must have nothing to do with the case, except in his official capacity as surveyor. He will make no survey of a mineral claim in which he holds an interest, nor will he employ chainmen interested therein in any manner.

SURVEY HOW MADE

129. The survey made and returned must, in every case, be an actual survey on the ground in full detail, made by the mineral surveyor in person after the receipt of the order, and without reference to any knowledge he may have previously acquired by reason of having made the location survey or otherwise, and must show the actual facts existing at the time. This precludes him from calculating the connections to corners of the public survey and location monuments, or any other lines of his survey through prior surveys made by others and substituting the same for connections or lines of the survey returned by him. The term survey in this paragraph applies not only to the usual field work, but also to the examinations required for the preparation of affidavits of five hundred dollars expenditure, descriptive reports on placer claims, and all other reports.

130. The survey of a mining claim may consist of several contiguous locations, but such survey must, in conformity with statutory requirements, distinguish the several locations, and exhibit the boundaries of each. The survey will be given but one number.

131. The survey must be made in strict conformity with, or be embraced within, the lines of the location upon which the order is based. If the survey and location are identical, that fact must be clearly and distinctly stated in the field notes. If not identical, a bearing and distance must be given from each established corner of survey to the corresponding corner of the location, and the location corner must be fully described, so that it can be identified. The lines of the location, as found upon the ground, must be laid down upon the preliminary plat in such a manner as to contrast and show their relation to the lines of survey.

132. In view of the principle that courses and distances must give way when in conflict with fixed objects and monuments, the surveyor will not, under any cicumstances, change the corners of the location for the purpose of making them conform to the description in the record. If the difference from the location be slight, it may be explained in the field notes.

133. No mining claim located subsequent to May 10, 1872, should exceed the statutory limit in width on each side of the center of vein or 1,500 feet in length, and all surveys must close within 50-100 feet in 1,000 feet, and the error must not be such as to make the location exceed the statutory limit, and in absence of other proof the discovery point is held to be the center of the vein on the surface. The course and length of the vein should be marked upon the plat.

134. All mineral surveys must be made with a transit, provided with a solar attachment, by which the meridian can be determined independently of the magnetic needle, and all courses must be referred to the true meridian. The variation should be noted at each corner of the survey. The true course of at least one line of each survey must be ascertained by astronomical observations made at the time of the survey; the data for determining the same and details as to how these data were arrived at must be given. Or, in lieu of the foregoing the survey must be connected with some line, the true course of which has been previously established beyond question, and in a similar manner, and, when such lines exist, it is desirable in all cases that they should be used as a proof of the accuracy of subsequent work.

135. Corner No. 1 of each location embraced in a survey must be connected by course and distance with nearest corner of the public survey or with a United States location monument, if the claim lies within two miles of such corner or monument. If both are within the required distance the connection must be with the corner of the public survey.

136. Surveys and connections of mineral claims may be made in suspended townships in the same manner as though the claims were upon unsurveyed land, except as hereinafter specified, by connecting them with independent mineral monuments. At the same time, the position of any public-land corner which may be found in the neighborhood of the claim should be noted, so that, in case of the release of the township from suspension, the position of the claim can be shown on the plat.

137. A mineral survey must not be returned with its connection made only with a corner of the public survey, where the survey of the township within which it is situated is under suspension, nor connected with a mineral monument alone, when situated within the limits of a township the regularity and correctness of the survey of which is unquestioned.

138. In making an official survey, corner No. 1 of each location must be established at the corner nearest the corner of the public survey or location monument, unless good cause is shown for its being placed otherwise. If connections are given to both a corner of the public survey and location monument, corners Nos. 1 should be placed at the corner nearest the corner of the public survey. When a boundary line of a claim intersects a section line, courses and distances from point of intersection to the Government corners at each end of the half mile of section line so intersected must be given.

139. In case a survey is situated in a district where there are no corners of the public survey and no monuments within the prescribed limits, a mineral monument must be established, in the location of which the greatest care must be exercised to insure permanency as to site and construction.

140. The site, when practicable, should be some prominent point, visible for a long distance from every direction, and should be so chosen that the permanency of the monument will not be endangered by snow, rock, or landslides, or other natural causes.

141. The monument should consist of a stone not less than 30 inches long, 20 inches wide, and 6 inches thick, set half-way in the ground, with a conical mound of stone 4 feet high and 6 feet base alongside. The letters U. S. L. M., followed by the consecutive number of the monument in the district, must be plainly chiseled upon the stone. If impracticable to obtain a stone of required dimensions, then a post 8 feet long, 6 inches square, set 3 feet in the ground, scribed as for a stone monument, protected by a wellbuilt conical mound of stone of not less than 3 feet high and 6 feet base around it, may be used. The exact point for connection must be indicated on the monument by an X chiseled thereon; if a post is used, then a tack must be driven into the post to indicate the point.

142. From the monument, connections by course and distance must be taken to two or three bearing trees or rocks, and to any well-known and permanent objects in the vicinity, such as the confluence of streams, prominent rocks, buildings, shafts, or mouths of adits. Bearing trees must be properly scribed B. T. and bearing rocks chiseled B. R., together with the number of the location monument; the exact point on the tree or stone to which the connection is taken should be indicated by a cross or other unmistakable mark. Bearings should also be taken to prominent mountain peaks, and the approximate distance and direction ascertained from the nearest town or mining camp. A detailed description of the locating monument, with a topographical map of its location, should be furnished the office of the surveyor-general by the surveyor.

143. Corners may consist of

First. A stone at least 24 inches long set 12 inches in the ground, with a conical mound of stone 14 feet high, 2 feet base, alongside.

Second. A post at least 3 feet long by 4 inches square, set 18 inches in the ground and surrounded by a substantial mound of stone or earth.

Third. A rock in place.

A stone should always be used for a corner when possible, and when so used the kind should be stated.

144. All corners must be established in a permanent and workmanlike manner, and the corner and survey number must be neatly chiseled or scribed on the sides facing the claim. The exact corner point must be permanently indicated on the corner. When a rock in place is used its dimensions above ground must be stated and a cross chiseled at the exact corner point.

-145. In case the point for the corner be inaccessible or unsuitable a witness corner, which must be marked with the letters W. C. in addition to the corner and survey number, should be established. The witness corner should be located upon a line of the survey and as near as possible to the true corner,