Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/609

* MINES AND MINING. 545 MINES AND MINING. set forth in the scope of lliis artieh'. However, it may be said tlial in the present state of the hiw the courts, in deciding a case involving min- ing w, talce into consideration, in the order men- tioned, the statutes of the United States, the laws of the State in which the jiroperly in ques- tion is situated, and the rules and customs above referred to. Any citizen of the United States, or a person who has declared his intention to become such, may locate and obtain a patent for a mining claim on public lands. Before a person can ac- quire any rights he must have actually discov- ered the presence of minerals, as it is then cer- tain he comes within the law as to mineral lands. The first step thereafter is to make a 'location' on it; that is, to perform certain acts which are deemed to constitute sufficient evidence of an in- tention to claim the benefits of the discovery. The United States statutes provide that a claim must be '"distinctly marked on the ground so that its boundaries can be readily traced." This is usually done by setting up boundary monu- ments, such as posts or stones at the four cor- ners of the claim. In most States the locator, as the prospector is called, is required to post a written notice of his claim on some object on the land. This notice consists of a description of the land thus appropriated and a declaration 'if his intention to occupy it for mining purposes. Such notice of claim must also be filed with a ii'cnrding officer, usually the register of deeds of the cnunfy. After a miner has located his claim in the above manner he must continue his mining operations or he will be deemed to have forfeited it. The labor mav consi.st in actual mining, or in improvements in the mine for preservation oi- incrcased convenience in working it. When a claim is forfeited by a failure to perform labor of the required value it is open to relocation by any one. However, under this statute the claim is not forfeited until the expiration of a year from the time operations ceased. A claim may also be lost by abandonment, which consists in leaving a claim with an intention not to return and ^vork it again. Where a mining prospector complies with all the formalities to obtain a location he has a good title against every one except the I'nited States. In order to complete his title and make it a mat- ter of record, the locator may obtain a patent, that is a grant, of the claim from the Federal Government, by having a survey and an abstract of his possessory title made and filing them in the United States Land Office, together with a formal application for a patent, and a certificate to the effect that he has expended at least ifSOO on the claim, either in improving or working it. The application consists of an affidavit to the ef- fect (hat he has complied with all local mining customs and regulations as well as the statutory requirements to obtain a good possessory title. One copy of this application must he posted on the claim and a notice thereof must be published in the nearest newspaper. The rules of law in regard to the ownership, convevance. and descent of real property are, in geneial, applicable to mining ])r(iperty. A lessee or owner of a life estate in lands is entitled to work open mines thereon, but cannot open new mines unless this right is expressly given. See La.M); Re.l Property; Water Kioiits. BiBLiOGRAi'iiv. liarringer and .dams. Mines and Milling (1S!I7); t'lark, Heltman, and Consaul, ilincral Land Laic Uiijest (1S97); C'opp, American Mininij Code (Gth ed., Washing- ton, 1891) ; Copp, United States Mineral Lands (2d ed., Washington, 1891) ; Lindlcy, Atnerican Law of Mining (1897) ; Morrison, Mining Uights (10th ed., Denver, 1900) ; Wyman, Public Land and Mining Laws (1898) ; Clark, Miners' Manual (1S9S). MINES AND MINING, JIilitary. The term military mining is used in two sen.ses. The first refers to the broad subject of the placing and ex- plosion of charges of explosive underground with a view to destroying men and nuvterial. This includes the ordinary use of mines as an obstacle to the approacli of an attacking force. The other and more generally accepted use of the term is to denote one of the stages in a stub- born siege. In the discussion of siege and siege works (q.v. ) it is shown that when troops are no longer able to advance in tlie open, prog- ress is made by approaches and parallels, in the hope that if the besieged is not first starved, the besieger may advance close enough under the pro- tection of his own trenches for the delivery of an assault. Occasionally the relative force and skill of the combatants are such that the besieged, by virtue of his heavier fire and skill in handling it, may be able to bring the approach of the besieger by trenches to a standstill. He may accomplish the same result by running under- ground tunnels and placing countermines which so threaten an overland advance as to make it impracticable. When this hap[)ens, the usual niethod of advance is by military mining. From the last advanced open position he has been able to construct, the besieger proceeds un- derground by a system of shafts and galleries. These vary in size. In general the start is made with large galleries gradually ramifying into smaller but more numerous galleries whose heads are close together. The principal types are great galleries with a height of feet and width of 7 feet, common galleries with the same height and half the width, half galleries with a height of 41.2 feet and width of 3 feet, and branches with a height of 314 feet and width of 2i.j feet. The accompanying cut indicates the methods in which these branches develop. The shafts and galleries usvially are lined with board casings two to four inches thick, or with heavy frames placed at in- tervals and holding in position thin sheeting. For the work of excavating, special tools are pro- vided shorter than those used above ground. Pro- vision must be made at frequent intervals for ventilating the tiinnels sufficiently to permit the miners to work in them. Passage from one level to another is by shafts or by inclined slopes. Great care is taken in the preparation of a map, which is kept corrected to date, ami shows the position of the various tunnels and branches, and their relations to each other, both in plan and in elevation. A similar system of tumiels is con- structed by the besieged. As the two systems ajiproach near to each other, it becomes the ob- ject of each combatant to destroy the system of the other. In doing this the besieger is usually desirous of forming a crater reaching to the ground above which he can occupy with his troops, thus obtaining new points of vantage on the surface. For similar reasons the besieged