posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during such period of publication. If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the register and the receiver of the proper land office at the expiration of the sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the proper officer of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse claim exists; and thereafter no objection from third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the terms of this chapter. Where the claimant for a patent is not a resident of or within the land district wherein the vein, lode, ledge or deposit sought to be patented is located, the application for patent and the af Authority for fidavits required to be made in this section may be made by agents to make applications and his, her, or its authorized agent, where said agent is conver- affidavits. sant with the facts sought to be established, and this provision shall apply to all applications for patents to mineral lands pending on the twenty-second day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty. 17 Stat. 92; 19 id. 52; 21 id. 61; R. S. 2325. Applications: Decisions Sec. Int., Nov. 6, 1873 (Copp's Mg. Dec. 191); Agents and Attorneys: Decision Sec. Int., March 2, 1880 (7 Copp's L. Payment: Decision Com. G. L. O., Jan. 30, 1873 (Copp's Mg. Dec. Protestants: Decisions Sec. Int., April 30, 1874 (1 Copp's L. O. 34); Adverse claim, proceedings on. Right of Purchase: The 420 Mg. Co. v. The Bullion Co., 3 Saw. C. C. 634; Chapman v. Toy Long, 4 id. 28. Titcomb v. Kirk, 51 Cal. 288. Surveys: Decisions Sec. Int., May 22, 1878 (5 Copp's L. O. 50); Sept. 6, 1878 (5 id. 100); Aug. 2, 1880 (8 Wash. Law. Rep. 540); Aug. 16, 1880. Decisions Com. G. L. O., April 17, 1873 (Copp's Mg. Dec. 193); Sept. 11, 1873 (id. 223); Jan. 6, 1874 (id. 340); Nov. 5, 1874 (1 Copp's L. O. 133); April 24, 1876 (3 id. 18); Aug. 28, 1876 (3 id. 82); April 10, 1877 (5 id. 51); Nov. 30, 1877 (5 id. 18); Oct. 20, 1879 (6 id. 122); May 4, 1880 (7 id. 35); June 17, 1880 (7 id. 51); Aug. 9, 1880 (7 id. 82). SEC. 394. Where an adverse claim is filed during the period of publication, it shall be upon oath of the person or persons making the same, and shall show the nature, boundaries, and extent of such adverse claim, and all proceedings, except the publication of notice and making and filing of the affidavit thereof, shall be stayed until the controversy shall have been settled or decided by a court of competent jurisdiction, or the adverse claim waived. It shall be the duty of the adverse claimant, within thirty days after filing his claim, to commence proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction, to determine the question of the right of possession, and prosecute the same with reasonable diligence to final judgment; and a failure so to do shall be a waiver of his adverse claim. After such judgment shall have been rendered, the party entitled to the possession of the claim, or any portion thereof, may, without giving further notice, file a certified copy of the judgmentroll with the register of the land office, together with the certificate of the surveyor-general that the requisite amount of labor has been expended or improvements made thereon, and the description required in other cases, and shall pay to the receiver five dollars per acre for his claim, together with the proper fees, whereupon the whole proceedings and the judgment-roll shall be certified by the register to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and a patent shall issue thereon for the claim, or such portion thereof as the applicant shall appear, from the decision of the court, to rightly possess. If it appears from the decision of the court that several parties are entitled to separate and different portions of the claim, each party may pay for his portion of the claim, with the proper fees, and file the certificate and description by the surveyor-general, whereupon the register shall certify the proceedings and judgment-roll to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, as in the preceding case, and patents shall issue to the several parties according to their respective rights. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the alienation of the title conveyed by a patent for a mining claim to any person whatever. 17 Stat. 93; 19 id. 52; R. S. 2326. The Eureka Case, 4 Saw. C. C. 302. Golden Fleece Co. v. The Cable Co., 12 Nev. 312; Sears v. Taylor, 4 Colo. 38. Decisions Sec. Int., March 11, 1872 (G. L. O. Rep. 1873, p. 43); May 27, 1872 (G. L. O. Rep. 1873, p. 19); Feb. 24, 1873 (Copp's Mg. Dec. 101); Oct. 28, 1873 (id. 161); Aug. 9, 1874 (2 Copp's L. O. 98); Sept. 9, 1874 (1 id. 9×); Jan. 2, 1875 (1 id.. 178); March 22, 1875 (2 id. 5); Feb. 12, 1876 (2 id. 178); Dec. 26,. 1876 (3 id. 162); Feb. 17, 1877 (3 id. 195); Feb. 17, 1877 (G. L. O. Rep. 1877, p. 129); April 17, 1877 (4 Copp's L. 0.34); Jan. 3, 1877 (3 id. 196); July 14, 1877 (4 id. 66); Sept. 27, 1877 (G. L. O. Rep. SEC. 395. The description of vein or lode claims, upon Description of surveyed lands, shall designate the location of the claim vein claims on surveyed and unwith reference to the lines of the public surveys, but need surveyed lands. not conform therewith; but where a patent shall be issued for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the surveyor-general, in extending the surveys, shall adjust the same to the boundaries of such patented claim, according to the plat or description thereof, but so as in no case to interfere with or change the location of any such patented claim. 17 Stat. 94; 19 id. 52; R. S. 2327. rights. SEC. 396. Applications for patents for mining claims un- Pending appli der former laws now pending may be prosecuted to a final cations; existing decision in the General Land Office; but in such cases where adverse rights are not affected thereby, patents may issue in pursuance of the provisions of this chapter; and all patents for mining claims upon veins or lodes heretofore issued shall convey all the rights and privileges conferred by this chapter where no adverse rights existed on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two. 17 Stat. 94; 19 id. 52; R. S. 2328. SEC. 397. Claims usually called "placers," including all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz, or other rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent, under like circumstances and conditions, and upon similar proceedings, as are provided for vein or lode claims; but where the lands have been previously surveyed by the United States, the entry in its exterior limits shall conform to the legal subdivisions of the public lands. 16 Stat. 217; R. S. 2329. Chapman v. Toy Long, 4 Saw. C. C. 28. Moxon v. Wilkinson, 2 Montana, 421. Decisions Sec. Int., March 4, 1879 (6 Copp's L. O. 4). Decisions Com. G. L. O., Feb. 12, 1872 (Copp's Mg. Dec. 78); April 18, 1873, (id. 194); April 25, 1874 (1 Copp's L. O. 18). SEC. 398. Legal subdivisions of forty acres may be subdivided into ten-acre tracts; and two or more persons, or associations of persons, having contiguous claims of any size, although such claims may be less than ten acres each, may make joint entry thereof; but no location of a placer claim, made after the ninth day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for any one person or association of persons, which location shall conform to the United States surveys; and nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bonafide pre-emption or homestead claim upon agricultural lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements of any bona-fide settler to any purchaser. 16 Stat. 217; R. S. 2330. Campbell v. Adams, U. S. Dist. Ct. Colo. Conformity of placer claims to surveys, limit of. Subdivisions of ten-acre tracts; maximum of pla cer locations. Conformity of surveys; limitation of claims. 1880, in manuscript. Decisions Com. G. L. O., March 1, 1871 (Copp's Mg. Dec. 40); Jan. 20, 1873 (id. 157); July 10, 1873 (id. 211); Oct. 23, 1873 (id. 229); Nov. 20, 1873 (id. 235); Nov. 21, 1874 (1 Copp's L. O. 134); Sept. 20, 1879 (G. L. O. Rep. 1879, p. 143). SEC. 399. Where placer claims are upon surveyed lands, placer claims to and conform to legal subdivisions, no further survey or plat shall be required, and all placer-mining claims located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, shali conform as near as practicable with the United States system of public land surveys, and the rectangular subdivisions of such surveys, and no such location shall include more than twenty acres for each individual claimant; but where placer claims cannot be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands; and where by the segregation of mineral land in any legal subdivision a quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres remains, such fractional portion of agricultural land may be entered by any party qualified by law, for homestead or pre-emption purposes. What evidence ent. 17 Stat. 94; 19 id. 52; R. S. 2331. Campbell v. Adams, U. S. Dist. Ct. Colo. 1-80, in manuscript. Decisions Com. G. L. O., May 19, 1873 (Copp's Mg. Dec. 200); Aug. 27, 1873 (id. 222). SEC. 400. Where such person or association, they and of possession, their grantors, have held and worked their claims for a &c., to establish a right to a pat-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; but nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to impair any lien which may have attached in any way whatever to any mining claim or property thereto attached prior to the issuance of a patent. Proceedings for claim, &c. 16 Stat. 217; R. S. 2332. The 420 Mg. Co. v. The Bullion Co., 3 Saw. C. C. 634. Davis v. Clark, 2 Montana, 310; Maine Boys Co. v. Boston Co., 37 Cal. 40. SEC. 401. Where the same person, association, or corpopatent for placer ration is in possession of a placer claim, and also a vein or lode included within the boundaries thereof, application shall be made for a patent for the placer claim, with the statement that it includes such vein or lode, and in such case a patent shall issue for the placer claim, subject to the provisions of this chapter, including such vein or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre for such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of surface on each side thereof. The remainder of the placer claim, or any placer claim not embracing any vein or lode claim, shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, together with all costs of proceedings; and where a vein or lode, such as is described in section three hundred and eighty-eight, is known to exist within the boundaries of a placer claim, an application for a patent for such placer claim, which does not include an application for the vein or lode claim shall be construed as a conclusive declaration that the claimant of the placer claim has no right of possession of the vein or lode claim; but where the existence of a vein or lode in a placer claim is not known, a patent for the placer claim shall convey all valuable mineral and other deposits within the boundaries thereof. 17 Stat. 94; 19 id. 52; R. S. 2333. Decision Com. G. L. O., Oct. 17, 1873 (Copp's Mg. Dec. 226). SEC. 402. The surveyor-general of the United States Surveyor-general to appoint may appoint in each land district containing mineral lands surveyors of minas many competent surveyors as shall apply for appoint- ing claims, &o. ment to survey mining claims. The expenses of the survey of vein or lode claims, and the survey and subdivision of placer claims into smaller quantities than one hundred and sixty acres, together with the cost of publication of notices, shall be paid by the applicants, and they shall be at liberty to obtain the same at the most reasonable rates, and they shall also be at liberty to employ any United States deputy surveyor to make the survey. The Commissioner of the General Land Office shall also have power to establish the maximum charges for surveys and publication of notices under this chapter; and, in case of excessive charges for publication, he may designate any newspaper published in a land district where mines are situated for the publication of mining notices in such district, and fix the rates to be charged by such paper; and, to the end that the Commissioner may be fully informed on the subject, each applicant shall file with the register a sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by such applicant for publication and surveys, together with all fees and money paid the register and the receiver of the land office, which statement shall be transmitted, with the other papers in the case, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office. 17 Stat. 95; 19 id. 52; R. S. 2334. Decision Com. G. L. O., Aug. 6, 1872 (Copp's Mg. Dec. 131). affidavits, &c. SEC. 403. All affidavits required to be made under this Verification of chapter may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claims may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be taken before any such officer, and, when duly certified by the officer taking the same, shall have the same force and effect as if taken before the register and receiver of the land office. In cases of contest as to the mineral or agricultural character of land, the testimony and proofs may be taken as herein provided on personal notice of at least ten days to the opposing party; or if such party cannot be found, then by publication of at least once a week for thirty days in a newspaper, to be designated by the register of the land office as published nearest to the location of such land; and the register shall require proof that such notice has been given. 17 Stat. 95; 19 id. 52; R. S. 2335. Decisions Com. G. L. O., July 21, 1874 (1 Copp's L. O. 66); Jan. 27, 1876 (2 id. 162). SEC. 404. Where two or more veins intersect or cross each Where veins other, priority of title shall govern, and such prior location intersect, &c. shall be entitled to all ore or mineral contained within the space of intersection; but the subsequent location shall have the right of way through the space of intersection for the |