range 77 west, the east half of northeast quarter of section 1, township 13 south, range 77 west, the south half of southwest quarter and the northwest quarter of southwest quarter of southeast quarter of section 31, township 12 south, range 76 west, Fair Play, Colorado. You reject the application, and hold that the salt spring, situated on section 6, township 13 south, range 76 west, "with the six sections adjoining and as contiguous as may be," should be reserved for the use of the State of Colorado. The reasons for your decisions are given at length, and are sufficient to justify the conclusions reached by you. In addition to the reasons given, it may be proper to state that the spring in question is situated in that portion of Colorado included within the limits of the Louisiana purchase of 1803. By the tenth section of the act of March 3, 1811, salt springs, and the lands contiguous thereto, were, by the direction of the President of the United States, to be reserved for future disposal of the States. This policy of reservation has uniformly and consistently been applied by the Government to said Territory, as well as the other territory of the United States. The applicants are in no way protected by the proviso in section 11 of the act of March 3, 1875, providing for the admission of Colorado into the Union, viz: "That no salt spring or lands, the right whereof is now vested in any individual or individuals, or which hereafter shall be confirmed or adjudged to any individual or individuals, shall by this act be granted to said State." No vested rights could be obtained by any individuals under the laws for the disposal of the public lands. The rights to be protected were those recognized by treaty stipulations, Morton vs. Nebraska, (21 Wall., 660.) Your decision is affirmed, and the papers transmitted with your letter of June 21, 1876, are here with returned. Very respectfully, To the COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFice. COAL LANDS. Z. CHANDLER, Secretary. By the provisions of the Revised Statutes, sections 2347 to 2352, inclusive, no person who has in his individual capacity or as a member of an association taken the benefit of said section can enter or hold other lands thereunder. If an association of persons enters a less number of acres of coal land than they might have done under the law, they will not be entitled to a second entry. Where parties have located or filed upon coal lands they may transfer their rights in the premises to persons duly qualified under the law to enter and hold coal land, but no assignment to a party who is not qualified under the law to hold and enter such lands is recognized. Coal lands are considered mineral lands, and are subject to entry with cash only. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, SIR: I have considered the case of Robert Strowl, coal land applicant, on appeal from your decision of January 31, 1877, refusing to allow him to make part payment for the southeast quarter section 4, township 18 north, range 6 east, Olympia, Washington Territory, with certificate of deposit r the survey of said township, You held that the certificates of deposit authorized by section 2403 of the Revised Statutes to go in part payment for the lands authorized to be surveyed by section 2401, were receivable for agricultural lands, but not for coal lands, because the last named section says in express terms that mineral lands shall not be surveyed. As coal lands have uniformly been treated by Congress, and by this Department, as mineral lands, I agree with your conclusion that section 2401 does not authorize them to be surveyed, and as a consequence section 2403 does not authorize the certificate of deposit to be received in payment Your decision is affirmed, and the papers transmitted with your letter of June 5, 1877, are herewith returned. Very respectfully, To the COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE. C. SCHURZ, Secretary. ABANDONMENT AND RELOCATION. Section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of the United States requires that "on each claim located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and until a patent has been issued therefor, not less than one hundred dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year. On all claims located prior to the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, ten dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made by the tenth day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and each year thereafter, for each one hundred feet in length along the vein, until a patent has been issued therefor; but where such claims are held in common, such expenditure may be made upon any one claim; and upon a failure to comply with these conditions, the claim or mine upon which such failure occurred shall be open to relocation in the same manner as if no location of the same bad ever been made, provided that the original locators, their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, have not resumed work upon the claim after failure and before such location. Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners to contribute his proportion of the expenditures required hereby, the co-owners who have performed the labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration of the year, give such delinquent co-owner personal notice in writing, or notice by publication in the newspaper published nearest the claim, for at least once a week for ninety days, and if at the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing or by publication such delinquent should fail or refuse to contribute his proportion of the expenditure required by this section, his interest in the claim shall become the property of his co-owners who have made the required expenditures." The provisions of the Revised Statutes have beenʼamended in regard to claims located prior to May 10, 1872, by which the time for the first annual expenditure upon this class of claims was extended to January 1, 1875. On claims located prior to May 10, 1872, the second annual expenditure should have been made prior to the 1st January, 1876. The first annual expenditure upon claims located since the 10th of May, 1872, within one year from the date of discovery. The first annual expenditure holds the claim, if the other provisions of law are complied with, for the period of one year from the date of discovery. The second year commences immediately upon the expiration of the first, and during that year-at any time during the year-the second annual expenditure may be made, Where a party proceeds against his co-owners under said section, he should file, with his application for patent, a copy of the original notice of location, an abstract of all conveyances made of the claim, a copy of the notice published to delinquent co-owners-which notice should embrace the names of all persons having record title to the claim who have failed to contribute their proportion of the required expenditures-to which must be attached the affidavit of the publisher of the paper in which the notice was inserted that the attached notice was published for ninety consecutive days, giving dates; the affidavit of the claimant or elaimants who have made the required expenditures, corroborated by the sworn statement of two or more disinterested witnesses, showing the character and extent of the improvements made upon the claim, and the time when such improvements were made. There must also be filed the sworn statement of the claimant or claimants who had made the required expenditures as to whether or not either of the parties whose names appear in such published notice contributed his proportion of the required expenditure, either during the ninety days' notice by publication or the succeeding ninety days. Where parties make a relocation of a mine as abandoned, full and positive evidence must be submitted that the premises in question were in reality abandoned by reason of non-compliance with the law. OPERATIONS UNDER THE MINING LAWS DURING PAST FISCAL YEAR. Mineral entries made from July 1, 1876, to June 30, 1877..... Patents issued .............. 565 514 256 1,581 2,497 1, 823 3, 407 List of mining claims approved and patented during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877. |