character of the minerals alleged to be contained herein, with such other and further information as he may deem necessary.

Deputies may be Appointed. Salary of Commissioner. No Fees SEC. 5. The Mineral Land Commissioner may appoint as many deputies as he may deem necessary for the carrying out of the provisions of this Act. All fees or charges of such deputies shall be paid out of the salary herein porvided for the Mineral Land Commissioner. The Mineral Land Commissioner shall receive a salary of twenty-five hundred dollars per annum, payable in equal monthly instalments, the same as the salaries of other officers of the State are paid, and the State Controller is hereby authorized to draw his warrant and the State Treasurer is hereby directed to pay the same out of any money not otherwise than especially appropriated. The State Mineral Land Commissioner shall make no charge nor shall he receive any other fee than the salary herein provided.

Attorney-General to be Ex-Officio Mineral Land Commissioner

SEC. 6. The Attorney-General of this State is hereby made ex-officio Mineral Land Commissioner.

SEC. 7. In the event of the lawful appointment of a State Mineralogist, it shall be the duty of said State Mineralogist to furnish to the Mineral Land Commissioner, upon his written request therefor, the information and data, specified in Section 2 of this Act, and if necessary, or desired, any such other information relative thereto that said State Mineralogist may, by diligent search and inquiry, be able to ascertain.

[Statutes of 1907, p. 39.]

NEW MEXICO

GENERAL TERRITORIAL MINING LAW

[The section numbers given are those of the compiled Laws of New Mexico, 1897]

Requirements of a Location

SECTION 2286. Any person or persons desiring to locate a mining claim upon a vein or lode of quartz or other rock in place bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper or other valuable deposit, must distinctly mark the location on the ground so that its boundaries may be readily traced, and post in some conspicuous place on such location, a notice in writing stating thereon the name or names of the locator or locators, his or their intention to locate the mining claim, giving a description thereof by reference to some natural object or permanent monument as will identify the claims; and also within three months after posting such notice, cause to be recorded a copy thereof in the office of the recorder of the county in which the notice is posted. And provided, no other record of such notice shall be necessary.

Recording Location Certificates

SEC. 2287. In order to carry out the intent of the preceding section, it is hereby made the duty of the probate clerk of the several counties of this Territory, and they are hereby required to provide at the expense of their

respective counties such book or books as may be necessary and suitable in which to enter the record hereinbefore provided for. The fees for recording such notices shall be ten cents for every one hundred words.

Ejectment

SEC. 2289. An action of ejectment will lie for the recovery of the possession of the mining claim, as well also of any real estate, where the party suing has been wrongfully ousted from the possession thereof, and the possession wrongfully detained.

Suit by Contestant

SEC. 2290. That when an application is made for a patent to a mine or mining claim under the laws of the United States by any person, persons, company or corporation claiming to own or have an interest therein, and such application is contested by any other person, persons, company or corporation in the land office of the United States, such person, persons, company or corporation so contesting, may bring suit of ejectment in the district court of the county in which the mine or mining claim is situated for the recovery of the same, whether in or out of possession of such mine or claim, and the question as to who was in the possession of the mine or claim at the time when the application was made for patent, or when the suit was begun, shall not be considered by the court, except as it may be necessary in determining the interests of the respective claimants, and their right to the possession of said mine or claim.

Special Verdict - Trespass

SEC. 2291. The court, in an action for the recovery of a mine or mining claim where a patent is applied for, and the contest is pending in the Land Office of the United States, may, upon motion of either party to the suit, require the jury to return a special verdict, if tried by a jury; if not, then the judge trying the same shall make a special finding as to the particular interest each party owns in the mine or claim in dispute, under and by virtue of the mining laws of the United States, which special verdict or finding shall be entered into the judgment and upon the record of the court trying the same: Provided, however, There shall be no special verdict by the court or jury, except where the evidence shows both parties to the suit to have a bona-fide interest in the mine or claim sued for: And, provided further, That no third person who may have entered upon such mining claim or any part thereof, for the purpose of locating or claiming the same before or during such litigation in the district court growing out of any contest in any United States land office in this Territory, shall acquire any interest either at law or in equity in the claim or any part thereof in dispute, and shall be deemed and declared a trespasser or trespassers, unless he or they have been, or may, during the pendency of such litigation in the district court resulting from such contest in the United States Land Office, by a proper application to the court, be made party or parties to such suit adverse to either of such litigants, or both, or shall have taken such legal steps to assert his or their claim in a court of competent jurisdiction within six months after the commencement of such contest in the United States Land Office.

Work During Pendency of Suit

SEC. 2292. That nothing herein shall prohibit the working and develop ing of a mine or mining claim by either party in interest who may be in possession of the mine or claim during the pendency of the suit, nor shall this act prohibit any one from bringing an action for damages or a suit in equity to prevent waste. This act shall apply to any and all suits for the recovery of a mine or mining claim which are now or are hereafter commenced.

Measuring or Surveying During Suit

SEC. 2293. In all actions at law, or suits in equity, now pending in any of the district courts of this Territory, or hereafter commenced in such courts, wherein the title or right of possession to any mining claim, or ores and minerals is in dispute, any party to such action or suit shall have the right to go upon or enter the workings of said mining claim for the purpose of measuring or surveying the same, either upon the surface or in the workings thereof, peaceably, and without molestation; the costs and expenses of such measurement or survey to be paid by the party for whose use and benefit the same was done.

Who Shall Survey

SEC. 2294. The right to go upon and enter said mining claim shall be extended to the party applying therefor, as well as a surveyor and two chain carriers.

Notice of Survey

SEC. 2295. Before any person may enter upon or go into the workings of such mine without the consent of the person or corporation in possession, he shall give not less than five days' notice in writing to such person in possession or to his agent or manager, and if the possession is held by a corporation, said notice shall be served upon the president, agent or manager of such corporation, or upon the foreman in charge of the mine, that at a certain date, specified in said notice, he desires to enter upon or go into the workings of said mine, as the case may be, for the purpose of surveying and taking a measurement of the same, in order that he may be able to present the facts on the trial.

Court Proceeding on Refusal of Survey

SEC. 2296. If such person or corporation shall not permit any party in interest in such suit or action to go upon or enter said mine, as contemplated in the preceding sections, after having been notified in the manner designated, the court may, upon proper showing, verified by affidavit or otherwise, exclude all evidence offered on the trial by the party so refusing, to [and] render judgment or decree in favor of the party giving such notice: Provided, That the court may, in its discretion, make an order directing the sheriff to go upon the ground with the party applying for the measurement and survey of such mine, and place the person so applying in possession, for the purpose of measuring and surveying the same, in which case the court may direct the payment of costs as may be just and proper.

Survey as Evidence

SEC. 2297. The competency, relevancy and effect of such survey and

measurement, as evidence, shall be governed by the ordinary rules of evidence in civil cases.

Discovery Shaft or Equivalent

SEC. 2298. That the locator or locators of any mining claim, located after this act shall take effect, shall, within ninety days from the date of taking possession of the same, sink a discovery shaft upon such claim, to a depth of at least ten feet from the lowest part of the rim of such shaft at the surface, exposing mineral in place, or shall drive a tunnel, adit, or open cut upon such claim, to at least ten feet below the surface, exposing mineral in place.

Boundaries - How Marked

SEC. 2299. The surface boundaries of mining claims hereafter located shall be marked by four substantial posts or monuments, one at each corner of such claim, on the ground, so that its boundaries can be readily traced, and shall otherwise conform to Section 2286. As amended March 16, 1899.

SEC. 2300. The relocation of any mining ground, which is subject to relocation, shall be made in the same way as an original location is required by law to be made, except the relocator may either sink a new shaft upon the ground relocated to the depth of at least ten feet from the lowest part of the rim of such shaft at the surface, exposing mineral in place, or drive a new tunnel, adit, or open cut upon such ground at least ten feet below the surface, exposing mineral in place, or the relocator may sink the original discovery shaft ten feet deeper than it is at the time of relocation, or drive the original tunnel, adit, or open cut upon such claim ten feet further.

Amended or Additional Location

SEC. 2301. If at any time the owner of any mining claim heretofore or hereafter located, or his assigns, shall apprehend that the original notice of location is defective, erroneous or the requirement of law has not been complied with before filing; or shall be desirous of changing his surface boundaries or to take in any part of an overlapping claim which has been abandoned, or in case the original notice of location was made prior to the passage of this act and the owner shall be desirous of obtaining the benefits of this act, such owner may file in the office where notices of location are by law required to be filed, an amended or additional notice of location, subject to the provisions of this act: Provided, That such additional or amended notice of location does not interfere with the existing right of others at the time of filing such notice; and no such amended or additional location, or record thereof, shall preclude the claimant or his assigns from proving any such title as he or they may have held under the previous location.

Destroying Location Notices

SEC. 2302. Any person who shall take down, remove, alter or destroy any stake, post, monument or notice of location upon any mining claim without the consent of the owner or owners thereof, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one

hundred dollars or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Abandonment, How Evidenced — Liens Protected

SEC. 2303. In addition to the provision of law now in force in respect to the abandonment of mining claims, they may be abandoned in the following manner: The owner or owners of any mining claim, wishing to abandon the same, may sign and acknowledge in the same manner provided by law for the acknowledgment of deeds, and file for record in the office of the county recorder, a certificate describing the same, stating when and by whom located, the name of the claim, the book and page where the notice of location of such claim is recorded; that he or they give up and abandon such claim, and that the same is open and subject to relocation. Upon the filing of such certificate, the mining claim therein described shall be considered abandoned and open to relocation as if the same had never been located, and the owner or owners thereof forever stopped from claiming any right or interest therein under the location mentioned in said certificate: Provided, That this provision for abandonment shall not apply to any claim or location upon which any mortgage, lien or other incumbrance exists.

Liens How Protected

SEC. 2304. When the owner or owners of any mining claim or claims now located or which may hereafter be located, upon which there shall exist any mortgage, miner's or mechanic's lien, or other encumbrance of any kind which may be hereafter made or incurred, shall refuse, neglect, or fail, up to the first day of December of any year, to perform thereon the annual labor or make thereon the annual expenditure required by law to be made in order to prevent the same from becoming open to relocation, in such case the holder or owner of such mortgage lien or encumbrance may, upon the first day of December of such year or any time thereafter, before any such mining claim or claims shall have been relocated, enter with his or their workmen and employés upon the same and perform, or cause to be performed, the one hundred dollars' worth of labor or make the one hundred dollars' worth of improvements upon such claim or claims as by law required to be done or made each year in order to prevent such claim or claims from becoming open to relocation; that such work shall be done and improvements made in a workmanlike manner; that for the purpose of performing or causing to be performed such labor and improvements, the holder or holders of such mortgage, miner's or mechanic's lien, or other encumbrance, shall be considered the agent or the agents of the owner or owners of such mining claim or claims; that the owner or owners of such mining claim or claims, or any other person or persons, shall not in any manner prevent, obstruct, hinder, or delay the performance of any labor or the making of such improvements, and may be restrained from so doing by injunction; that upon the completion of the one hundred dollars' worth of labor or improvements by the holder or holders of any mortgage, miner's or mechanics' lien or other encumbrance as aforesaid, upon any mining claim, as herein provided, all sum or sums of money expended by him or them shall be and become a lien upon the said mining claim or claims, and from the date of the completion of the same