veyed and marked upon the plat; the field-note and plat giving the area of the lode claim or claims and the area of the placer separately. If veins or lodes lying within a placer location are owned by other parties, the fact should be distinctly stated in the application for patent, and in all the notices. It should be remembered that an application which omits to include an application for a known vein or lode therein, must be construed as a conclusive declaration that the applicant has no right of possession to the vein or lode. Where there is no known lode or vein, the fact must appear by the affidavit of claimant and one or more witnesses. When an adverse claim is filed to a placer application, the proceedings are the same as in the case of vein or lode claims, already described.

§ 83. Quantity of placer ground subject to location. -By Section 2330 it is declared that no location of a placer claim, made after July 9, 1870, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for any one person or association of persons, which location shall conform to the United States surveys. Section 2331 provides that all placer mining claims located after May 10, 1872, shall conform as nearly as practicable with the United States system of public surveys and the subdivisions of such surveys, and no such locations shall include more than twenty acres for each individual claimant. The foregoing provisions of law are construed to mean that after the 9th day of July, 1870, no location of a placer claim can be made to exceed one hundred and sixty acres, whatever may be the number of locators associated together, or whatever the local regulations of the district may allow; and that from and after May 10, 1872, no location made by an individual can exceed twenty acres, and no location made by association of individuals can exceed one hundred and

sixty acres, which location of one hundred and sixty acres cannot be made by a less number than eight bona fide locators; and no local laws or mining regulations can restrict a placer location to less than twenty acres, although the locator is not compelled to take so much. The regulations hereinbefore given as to the manner of marking locations on the ground, and placing the same on record, must be observed in the case of placer locations, so far as the same are applicable; the law requiring, however, that where placer claims are upon surveyed public lands the locations must hereafter be made to conform to legal subdivisions thereof as near as practicable. With regard to the proofs necessary to establish the possessory right to a placer claim, Section 2332 provides that "where such person or association, they and their grantors, have held and worked their claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations for mining claims of the state or territory where the same may be situated, evidence of such possession and working of the claims for such period shall be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto under this chapter, in the absence of any adverse claim." This provision of law will greatly lessen the burden of proof, more especially in the case of old claims located many years since, the records of which, in many cases, have been destroyed by fire, or lost in other ways, during the lapse of time, but concerning the possessory right to which all controversy or litigation has long been settled. When an applicant desires to make his proof of possessory right, in accordance with this provision of law, you will not require him to produce evidence of location, copies of conveyances, or abstracts of title, as in other cases, but will require him to furnish a duly certified copy of the statute of limitations of mining claims for the state or territory, together with his sworn state

ment, giving a clear and succinct narration of the facts as to the origin of his title, and likewise as to the continuation of his possession of the mining ground covered by his application; the area thereof, the nature and extent of the mining that has been done thereon; whether there has been any opposition to his possession, or litigation with regard to his claim, and, if so, when the same ceased; whether such cessation was caused by compromise or by judicial decree, and any additional facts within the claimant's knowledge having a direct bearing upon his possession and bona fides which he may desire to submit in support of his claim. There should likewise be filed a certificate, under seal of the court having jurisdiction of mining cases within the judicial district embracing the claim, that no suit or action of any character whatever involving the right of possession to any portion of the claim applied for is pending, and that there has been no litigation before said court affecting the title to said claim or any part thereof for a period equal to the time fixed by the statute of limitations for mining claims in the state or territory as aforesaid, other than that which has been finally decided in favor of the claimant. The claimant should support his narrative of facts relative to his possession, occupancy, and improvements by corroborative testimony of any disinterested person or persons of credibility who may be cognizant of the facts in the case, and are capable of testifying understandingly in the premises. It will be to the advantage of claimants to make their proofs as full and complete as practicable.

§ 84. Mill sites.-Section 2337 provides that, "where non-mineral land not contiguous to the vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor of such vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such non-adjacent

surface ground may be embraced and included in an application for a patent for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject to the same preliminary requirements as to survey and notice as are applicable to veins or lodes; but no location hereafter made of such non-adjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the same must be made at the same rate as fixed by this chapter for the superficies of the lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, may also réceive a patent for his mill site, as provided in this section." To avail themselves of this provision of law, parties holding the possessory right to a vein or lode, and to a piece of non-mineral land not contiguous thereto, for mining or milling purposes, not exceeding the quantity allowed for such purpose by Section 2337 United States Revised Statutes, or prior laws, under which the land was appropriated, the proprietors of such vein or lode may file in the proper land office their application for a patent, under oath, in manner already set forth herein, which application, together with the plat and field notes, may include, embrace, and describe, in addition to the vein or lode, such non-contiguous mill site, and after due proceedings as to notice, etc., a patent will be issued conveying the same as one claim. In making the survey in a case of this kind, the lode claim should be described in the plat and field notes as "Lot No. 37, A," and the mill site as "Lot No. 37, B," or whatever may be its appropriate numerical designation; the course and distance from a corner of the mill site to a corner of the lode claim to be invariably given in such plat and field notes, and a copy of the plat and notice of application for patent must be conspicuously posted upon the mill site as well as upon the vein or lode for the statutory period of sixty days. In making the

entry no separate receipt or certificate need be issued for the mill site, but the whole area of both lode and mill site will be embraced in one entry, the price being five dollars for each acre and fractional part of an acre embraced by such lode and mill site claim. In case the owner of a quartz mill or reduction works is not the owner or claimant of a vein or lode, the law permits him to make application therefor in the same manner prescribed herein for mining claims, and after due notice and proceedings, in the absence of a valid adverse filing, to enter and receive a patent for his mill site at said price per acre. In every case there must be satisfactory proof that the land claimed as a mill site is not mineral in character, which proof may, where the matter is unquestioned, consist of the sworn statement of the claimant, supported by that of one or more disinterested persons capable from acquaintance with the land to testify understandingly. The law expressly limits mill-site locations made from and after its passage to five acres. The registers and receivers will preserve an unbroken consecutive series of numbers for all mineral entries.

§ 85. Proof of citizenship of mining claimants.The proof necessary to establish the citizenship of applicants for mining patents must be made in the following manner: In case of an incorporated company, a certified copy of their charter or certificate of incorporation must be filed. In case of an association of persons unincorporated, the affidavit of their duly authorized agent, made upon his own knowledge, or upon information and belief, setting forth the residence of each person forming such association, must be submitted. This affidavit must be accompanied by a power of attorney from the parties forming such association, authorizing the person who