Davis's Administrator v. Weibbold

Citations

• 139 U.S. 507
• 11 S. Ct. 628
• 35 L. Ed. 238
• 1891 U.S. LEXIS 2403

Syllabus

<p>The provisions of the public town-site laws prohibiting acquisition of title thereunder to mines of the precious metals, and protecting therefrom possessory claims under the mining laws, must be construed in accord with the uniform exception in Federal legislation of mineral lands from grant or sale, and held merely to prohibit passage of title thereunder to mines of gold, silver, cinnabar or copper which are known to exist on the issue of the town-site patent, and to mining claims and possessions then lawfully existing. Such exceptions include only those lands which at the date of the grant are of known sufficient mineral value and extent to justify expenditures for the extraction of the mineral.</p> <p>Town-site patent of earlier date covering same premises embraced in junior mining patent carries the title in absence of proof establishing the known existence of the mine at date of such town-site patent.- The claimant under the town-site patent may offer evidence to prove that the premises were not known to be valuable for minerals at date thereof to .rebut the presumption contra indulged, without proof, solely from the fact of issue of such mineral patent.</p> <p>Exception from the mineral patent of town-site occupancy and improveménts, within recited limitations, is unimportant. A mineral patent carries with it all rights which the law confers, and officers of the Land Department cannot enlarge or diminish those rights by any reservation beyond or differing from those contained in the law.</p> <p>The mining laws provide for exploration and purchase of the mineral lands of the United States, and where prior to town-site patent proceedings-thereunder to acquire title are initiated, th^ same may be prosecuted to completion afterwards. But in absence thereof, on issue of town-site patent and conveyance to individuals thereunder, the premises become private property, and jurisdiction' to grant patents of them under the mining laws no longer exists. While the paten