§ 352. Right of way for water.-SEC. 18. Persons conducting water have the right of way over and across any road, ditch or mine, provided the water be so controlled and guarded as not to injure others.

§ 353. Mill sites.-SEC. 19. Mill sites may be located five hundred feet square by posting notices at each corner of the claim, describing the objects and purposes thereof, having the same surveyed, and a plat recorded as of a mining claim. The site must be improved to the value of five hundred dollars, in six months after location.

§ 354. Formation of mining districts.-SEC. 20. Miners may form districts not to exceed twenty miles square, with boundaries fully described and defined by natural objects, and the miners have power to make local laws and regulations not inconsistent with the laws of the United States or the territory.

§ 355. Mining recorders.-SEC. 21. May be elected in the districts, whose duties shall be to keep a correct record of miners' meetings and record notices of claims filed in his office.

§ 356. Fees of recorder-Further duties.-SEC. 22. The recorder shall receive at least one dollar for recording notices, to be transmitted to the register of deeds with copy of the notice, and such other fees as prescribed by district laws. Abstracts of district records should be forwarded to the register of deeds every four months.

§ 357. Placer mines-Local laws-Records.-SEC. 23. The holding and working of placers governed by local laws; but all records, whether of quartz or placer mines, shall be valid and binding according to priority of filing.

§ 358. Conveyances.-SEC. 24. Of quartz mining propy are required to be by deed as of real estate.

§ 359. Forfeiture excused.-SEC. 25. In case of hindrance from work by Indians, so that life is endangered, failure to work is excused.

§ 360. Forfeiture - Relocation.-SEC. 26. All the rights secured by compliance with this chapter may be forfeited when no longer held by such compliance, by filing with the recorder a notice of relocation, setting forth distinctly why such relocation is made.

§ 361. Penal provisions-Destroying notice.-SEC. 27. Any person directly engaged, interested or implicated in destroying, removing, defacing, or altering any notice of placer, quartz, or ditch claim, or other claim of similar character, unless it be subject to relocation, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred, nor more than three hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not less than one, nor more than three months, or both such fine and imprisonment.

§ 362. Ante-dating notice.—SEC. 28. Dating a notice of a date prior to putting up is made a misdemeanor, punished by fine not exceeding $100, or imprisonment not exceeding six months.1

1 Laws of Wyoming, 1869, p. 307; act approved December 2, 1869. § 363. Miners' liens.1-By Section one of the act, miners and laborers indicated, are entitled to a lien for the amount due for such labor rendered at the request of the owner of any quartz lode, coal bank or mine, on demand and refusal to pay. Section two provides in the same manner for mechanics and material men. By Section three, the same procedure is prescribed, so far as applicable, as for securing mechanics' liens.2 By section four, when any sum exceeding $10 has been due and unpaid for labor, as specified in Section one, a notice may be filed by the creditor in the county recorder's office at any time

within thirty days after the last work. The notice should state the fact and kind of labor performed (naming the debtor); that it was performed under contract (stating the substance); the times of commencement and cessation; the amount due and unpaid, with a description of the mine or coal bank. The statement must be verified, and when filed shall be recorded in the "lien book" as required in case of mechanics' liens. Section five applies the provisions of Section four to liens claimed under Section two. Section six provides that on the filing of the foregoing notice the lien shall hold as against owners from the commencement of work, or furnishing materials, and also as against purchasers subsequent to the same time. Section seven permits suits to be commenced within one year after filing notice. Section eight applies the law to owners of oil wells or springs.3

1 Ch. 43, an act giving liens to miners and others laboring in mines, coal banks and upon oil land, approved December 10, 1869. 2 Ch. 44, laws Wyoming, 1869, p. 406.

3 Laws Wyoming, 1869, p. 404.

§ 364. Expenditures-Abandonment-"Salting" Assessment of non-residents.-By an act approved December 16, 1871,1 some miscellaneous provisions were enacted. It was enacted that expenditures for labor and improvements to the amount of $1,000 should exempt lode claims from relocation unless abandoned, and that such claims should not be considered abandoned so long as the same were represented by the owner or his agent, or such representation was rendered impracticable by the owner or agent being driven from the district by Indians. The crime of "salting" a mine or mineral, was made punishable by fine of not less than $100, nor more than $5,000, or by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than thirty days, nor more than three years, or both such fine and

prisonment. The interests of non-resident co-owners

of mines, who failed or refused for eight months to pay assessments for working the same, was rendered subject to sale for such delinquency on thirty days' notice, in the nearest newspaper, and posting notice on the claim for thirty days, giving the amount due, date of notice, and date of sale. Property thus sold is subject to redemption within six months, by paying the costs of advertisement and sale, the assessments, and 10 per cent. upon the purchase money. All acts or parts of acts conflicting

with this are repealed.2

1 An act to provide for the development of the mining resources of the Territory of Wyoming.

2 Laws of 1871, p. 114.