By an act approved January 31, 1901,8 congress declared that lands chiefly valuable for deposits of salt should be subject to location under the placer mining laws, with the proviso that the same person should not locate or enter more than one claim. At one time prior to the passage of this act the land department had ruled that salt lands were mineral and within the reservation

1 Montague v. Dobbs, 9 Copp's L. O., p. 165; Aldritt v. N. P. R. R. Co., 25 L. D. 349; but not brick clay (King v. Bradford, 31 L. D. 108).

'Gary v. Todd, 18 L. D. 59; but see S. C. (on review), 19 L. D. 414; Pacific Coast Marble Co. v. N. P. R. R. Co., 25 L. D. 233 (overruling Tucker v. Florida Ry. and N. Co., 19 L. D. 414); Florida Cent. and Penn. Ry. Co., 26 L. D. 600.

Conlin v. Kelly, 12 L. D. 1 (overruling In re Bennet, 3 L. D. 116); McGlenn v. Weinbroeer, 15 L. D. 370; Vandoren v. Plested, 16 L. D. 508; Re Delaney, 17 L. D. 120; Hayden v. Jamison, 26 L. D. 373; Forsythe v. Weingart, 27 L. D. 680; Northern Pac. R. R. Co. v. Soderberg, 99 Fed. 506, 104 Fed. 425; Beaudette v. N. P. R. R. Co., 29 L. D. 248. But see South Dakota v. Vermont S. Co., 16 L. D. 263; State of Utah, 29 L. D. 69. The passage of the act of 1892 (27 Stats. at Large, p. 348) removes all future controversy on the subject, and permits those lands to be entered as mineral.

McKean v. Buell, Copp's Min. Lands, p. 343; Townsite of Coalville, 4 Copp's L. O., p. 46; In re Norager, 10 Copp's L. O., p. 54; Brown v. N. P. R. R. Co., 31 L. D. 29. Coal, however, is disposed of under special laws, and will be separately considered under another portion of this treatise.

Schrimpf v. N. P. R. R. Co., 29 L. D. 327; Copp's Mia. Lands, p. 143. Phifer v. Heaton, 27 L. D. 57.

'Richter v. Utah, 27 L. D. 57. Congress has enacted special laws regulating the discovery of guano islands in the high seas (Rev. Stats. U. S., 88 5570-5578; 20 Stats. at Large, p. 30; 23 Stats. at Large, p. 11).

31 Stats. at Large, p. 745.

contained in the railroad grants and state grants,1 and permitted them to be acquired under the mining laws; 2 but later the department held that such lands were not subject to disposal, except at public auction or private sale, under the act of January 12, 1877.3

Land chiefly valuable because of a cavern therein, and containing crystalline deposits marketable as curiosities, is not patentable under the mining laws.*

Other than the decisions and rulings of the land department, we encounter a limited number of cases involving specific substances. This is easily accounted for. The land department is the tribunal specially charged with the determination of the character of lands falling within the purview of the laws considered in this treatise. This question being one of fact, the determination by the department culminating in the issuance of a patent is conclusive, and not open to collateral attack. Such controversies, therefore, rarely find their way into the courts. In a succeeding chapter, treating of placers and other deposits, will be found cited the few cases which we have been able to discover upon the subject.

98. Rules for determining mineral character of lan. While it is difficult to formulate a definition sufficiently comprehensive in itself to cover all possible exigencies, we think that a conservative application of the rules governing statutory construction, heretofore enumerated in connection with the adjudicated cases

1 Eagle Salt Works, Copp's Min. Lands, p. 336; Hall v. Litchfield, Id., p. 333. See, also, Garrard v. Silver Peak Mines, 82 Fed. 578, 587, S. C. 94 Fed. 983; Morton v. Nebraska, 21 Wall. 660; Circular, 31 L. D. 130.

'Copp's Min. Lands, p. 333.

19 Stats. at Large, p. 221; Salt Bluff Placer, 7 L. D. 549; Hall v. Litchfield, Copp's Min. Lands, p. 333.

'South Dakota M. Co. v. McDonald, 30 L. D. 357.

and rulings of the land department, permits us to deduce the following:

The mineral character of the land is established when it is shown to have upon or within it such a substance

as

(a) Is recognized as mineral, according to its chemical composition, by the standard authorities on the subject; or

(b) Is classified as a mineral product in trade or commerce; or

(c) Such a substance (other than the mere surface which may be used for agricultural purposes) as possesses economic value for use in trade, manufacture, the sciences, or in the mechanical or ornamental arts;And it is demonstrated that such substance exists therein or thereon in such quantities as render the land more valuable for the purpose of removing and marketing the substance than for any other purpose, and the removing and marketing of which will yield a profit; or, it is established that such substance exists in the lands in such quantities as would justify a prudent man in expending labor and capital in the effort to obtain it.'

The land department thus states its conclusions: "Whatever is "recognized as mineral by the standard authorities on the subject, "whether of metallic or other substances, when the same is found in the "public lands in quantity and quality to render the land more valuable "on account thereof than for agricultural purposes, should be treated as "coming within the purview of the mining laws." Pacific Coast Marble Co. v. Northern Pac. R. R. Co., 25 L. D. 233, 244. See, alsó, Aldritt v. Northern Pac. R. R. Co., 25 L. D. 349; Phifer v. Heaton, 27 L. D. 57; McQuiddy v. State of California, 29 L. D. 181; Tulare Oil and M. Co. v. S. P. R. R. Co., Id. 269; Schrimpf v. Northern Pac. R. R. Co., Id. 327; Morrill v. Northern Pac. R. R. Co., 30 L. D. 475; Northern Pac. R. R. Co. v. Soderberg, 99 Fed. 506; S. C. on appeal, 104 Fed. 425; United States v. Copper Queen etc. Co. (Ariz.), 60 Pac. 885; Cleary v. Skiffich (Colo.), 65 Pac. 59.

CHAPTER IL

THE PUBLIC SURVEYS AND THE RETURN OF THE SUR

VEYOR-GENERAL.

§ 102. No general classification of

lands as to their char

acter.

103. Geological surveys.

§ 104. General system of land surveys.

105. What constitutes the surveyor-general's return.

§ 106. Prima facie character of

land established by the

return.

8 107. Character of land, when and how established.

§ 108. Jurisdiction of courts to determine character of land when the question is pending in the land department.

102. No general classification of lands as to their character. No general systematic classification of the public lands, according to their mineral or non-mineral character, for the purpose of sale or other disposal, has ever been attempted.

Geological examination and survey of lands in the Lake Superior district, and in the Chippewa land district, in Wisconsin, were provided for by acts of congress, passed in 1847.1

These acts conferred authority on the president to sell at public auction such land as contained copper, lead, or other valuable ores, at the minimum price of five dollars per acre. And such examination and survey were for the purpose of establishing the character of the lands in these regions, for the express purpose of sale as mineral lands.

1 March 1, 1847, 9 Stats. at Large, p. 146; March 3, 1847, Id., p. 179.

But three years later (September 26, 1850), this policy was abandoned, and this class of lands in these districts. was directed to be sold in the same manner, at the minimum price, and with the same rights of pre-emption as other public lands.1

103. Geological surveys. - Since then extensive geological surveys have been and are now being made in various parts of the United States; but although these surveys are conducted under the supervision of the department of the interior, and are of great economic as well as scientific value, the results obtained perform no function in the public land system, are not noted in the tract-books in the different land offices, and are not necessarily considered in determining the mineral or non-mineral character of the land embraced within the limits of the geological survey.2

104. General system of land surveys.—It is a matter of common knowledge that the public lands are ordinarily surveyed into rectangular tracts, bounded by lines conforming to the cardinal points. These surveys are made under the immediate supervision of the United States surveyors-general in their respective surveying districts. The actual surveys in the field are conducted by deputies appointed by the surveyors-general, or by parties to whom contracts are let for such surveys, under the direction of the surveyors-general, to whom all reports are primarily made.

19 Stats. at Large, p. 472.

In United States v. Van Winkle, 113 Fed. 903, the circuit court of appeals, ninth circuit, in a suit brought by the government to recover for timber cut on public land, the defense being that it was cut from "mineral land," held that there was no error harmful to the United States in admitting a map of the geological survey for the purpose of showing the general nature of the land, its elevation and surroundings, the map not purporting to classify the land as mineral or otherwise.