| OCR Text |
Show THE SUBSTITUTE MINING LAW. Rlitors III mid: The first and only object of all mining min-ing laws, is to secure the prospector and miner, absolutely, all his mining rights, the right of discovery and the rights of possession. Now a law that fails to do this, or bungles and mystifies mysti-fies its provisions in such a way that legal quibbles are constantly arising is worse than no law at all. The"substituto bill," now before the legislature is just such a law. It confers con-fers no powers protecting a miner in any right, but what he already has I without any statutory law. (Id fact it destroys some privileges that are his already; and some of its provisions are so muddy aud contradictory that it is impossible to understand or reconcile them. Now we will prove it The first section of the bill is all right, with tho trilling exception that it will not permit any man to locate , any lead or galena mines; and as that is the principal mineral found in this Territory of course the law is intended to apply to some other country. coun-try. It the second section means anything, any-thing, it means that a miner has a claim .somewhere if he can find it; but any other person has tho same privilege privi-lege of hunting it along the side of him that he has, and the one carrying the heaviest artillery generally gets away with the claim. Now this is all wrong. If the united uni-ted experience of mining proves anything, any-thing, it proves this: that, to prevent , 'jumping," bloodshed, and litigation, aud to protect the miner in the full possession of his mine, it is necessary for him to have an absolute right and possession of a certain cstent ol' ground on each side of his mine. In no other way,can "jumpers," quartz piratcs,and thieves, be prevented from blackmailing, blackmail-ing, or taking away a mine from its rightful owner. Tho third section, has nothing of importance, except a small split stick. Tho fourth section, very graciously permits two or more persons to join in one notice with the discoverer if they can find him, and if they cannot, they will have to play it alone. Tho fifth section, starts in very well, but has a unique ending, and the end is peculiarly original. The author must have felt a glow of satisfaction, after the delivery of such an original idea. Now, it would be decidedly unpleasant, to have a man straddle your mine with his pick and shovel, dig and sleep there, without any notice or record. Tho sixth section, was intended to be a good one, but is so confusedly expressed, ex-pressed, that it is impossible to understand under-stand it. In the seventh section, commences the tunnel claims. The author must have been & tunnel "cuss," for he has run his tunnel through four immense sections! Tho first (tunnel section) has nothing of importance, but the second ( tunnel section) has a very dirty end. Suppose ho locates his tunnel in the month of March, and in the month of May I locate a mine on the mountain side above him, and in the month of June he taps my mine; then i according to the law he takes my mine, lor he claims everything he strikes from the date of the location of his tunnel. That is tunnel justice. The third i tunnel section) is unimportant, but tho fourth, (tunnel seedon) has another nasty muddy end, besides, it is outrageously illegal. 'I ho eleventh section is a good one, and so is the twelfth, but tho thirteenth thir-teenth section is an odd one the ridge i pole six on one side and sis on the other, without belonging to either; for ; it reo'vuizes both a county and district -j recorder, when section five makes only ;a county recorder. It was evidently j written by a genius who had just come in and had uot read the bid, and he r threw it off under the divine ariiatus for literary etieet. I The fourteenth tcctiuu is so dark I that it will take more than mortal eyes ; to penetrate ito mysteries. It may I have in it somethiog about mines, or I it may have in it something about i phrecolocy, I cannot tell; but I ' thought I saw the glimpse of three or : four recorders in it, talking to each -, otn t "now for then." , I Jllie uiisvQCh section, and the hit -, God le j nisei'1, tbows that the au-. au-. th.r's ignor-me ai ic; us ties has a . heavy outcrop. It is very seldom that , tec men. n:;?; generally two or three. are together ween nw discoveries axe : made, and It' they have to inform a ; mtairjj camp before they can orcaniie, their chances for getting anything as they return will grew beautit'uiiyless. i The truth of the whoie matter is this; that experienced and practical miners very rarely have anything to du with the making of the laws that govern them. They are generally concocted con-cocted by some briefless and uuscrpu-lous uuscrpu-lous lawyer, who Is a better judge of whUky than he hs of law; or by small. ' beer and pot-house politicians, who talk long and loud about their know-; lede of mining, and how well they' love the miner, but all their love tor the miner they intend to put m their ! pockcL j It i, therefore, the dictate of com--mon sense that men who have a per-1 leet knowledge, by practical expert-' ence, of their business are better judges of what they want than a mere theorist, theo-rist, and all such theoretical and unjust 1 laws as this "substitute bill," or a "bill for the working and developing: mines," as is now before the people, : should be kicked out of every honest legislature. 1 Qt.'AUT'llOCK. j |
