OCR Text |
Show IMPORTANT DECISION" AS TO MIXING CLAIMS. A case was presented to the Commissioners Commis-sioners of the General Land Office from the Fair Play land district in Colorado, Col-orado, in which, on the 27th of January, Jan-uary, 1SG9, application was filed by the Pioneer Gold Mining Company of California, for patents upon the Parsonage Par-sonage and Andes lodes, but against which adverse claims were filed by James Luttrell before the expiration of the legal notice. Accordingly, under un-der the 6th section of the act the Commissioner, Com-missioner, on the 23rd of June, $69, suspended said applications for patents until an adjudication of the rights of possession was had in the territorial courts, ruling that the adverse claimant claim-ant should commence suit, but which, after the expiration of more than a year, he failed to do. Inasmuch as the mining act does not prescribe the time within which suit in such cases shall be commenced, the Commissioner submitted the eases to the Secretary of the Interior for instructions, who has decided in effect that neither the 6th or any other section of the mining act does not prescribe the time within which or the party by whom such proceedings pro-ceedings in the courts shall be initiated; that in the case presented Luttrell, though duly notified in July 18G9, had taken no steps to assert his rights in the courts at the August term, 1870; that in the absence of a specified period per-iod in the statute only a reasonable time can be claimed by the adverse claimant in which to commence this suit; that his failure to do so in such time should be considered as waiving his claim, and that such time having elapsed without any action on Luttrell's part, the case should be disposed of without delay. Washington Star. |