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Show FOOL RULING MADE f ON GIL LOCATIONS ! I Another example of the absurdity of t our present laws for the location of min- r eral land, and the necessity for a revis- E ion thereof, isafforded bv a recent de- ? cision of the general land orfi :e with respect to the patenting of land in oil j fields. The land office has decided that j such land cannot be patented unless dis- j f covery has preceded location. Under f this ruling it is not lawful to locate j claims unless oil seeps from the ground j or unless drilling has discovered oil in j advance of the filling of any papers, j p Both of these conditions are practically j prohibitive. In oil fields the cases j 1 where seepage of oil or the bituminous r residuum are manifest on the surface f are rare, while no prospector is disposed to risk his money in drilling upon public f land to which he has no title whatever. This ruling has, of course, aroused a storm of protest among the oil men in California. The condition existing in that state is quite different from what f has prevailed in most of the other oil- i producing states. In California the oil E discoveries have been to a large extent F made on public lands, considered to be I open for general entry. In Louisiana, i t Texas, Oklahoma and other states, the j f oil discoveries have generally been made ! E upon lands that had previously passed ; into private hands. Engineering & i Mining Journal. 1 1 |