36 37 88 soda,35 oil (petroleum), phosphates, porcelain clay, salt,** slate,** soda, sandstone,12 stone,13 sulphur.* 44 The definitions of minerals have been discussed quite fully recently by the Supreme Court of the United States. That court in holding granite quarries to be mineral lands said: "The word 'mineral' is used in so many senses, dependent upon the context, that the ordinary definitions of the dictionary throw but little light upon its signification in a given case. Thus the scientific division of all matter into the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom would be absurd as applied to [the exception of minerals from] a grant of lands, since all lands belong to the mineral kingdom, and therefore could not be excepted from the grant without being destructive of it. Upon the other hand, a definition that would confine it to the precious metals-gold and silver-would so limit its application as to destroy at once half the value of the exception. Equally subversive of the grant would be the definition of minerals found in the Century Dictionary, as 'Any constituent of the earth's crust,' and that of Bainbridge on Mines, 'All the substances that now form, or which once formed, a part of the solid body of the earth.' Nor do we approximate much more closely to the meaning of the word by treating minerals as sub 85 See soda. 36 McQuiddy v. State of California, 29 Land Dec. Dep. Int. 181. See Gill v. Weston, 110 Pa. 312, 1 Atl. 921; Murray v. Allred, 100 Tenn. 100, 43 S. W. 355, 39 L. R. A. 249, 66 Am. St. Rep. 740; Lanyon Zinc Co. v. Freeman, 68 Kan. 691, 75 Pac. 995; Isom v. Rex Crude Oil Co., 147 Cal. 659, 82 Pac. 317; Preston v. White, 57 W. Va. 278, 50 S. E. 236; Gird v. California Oil Co. (C. C.) 60 Fed. 532; Van Horn v. State, 5 Wyo. 501, 40 Pac. 964; Sult v. Hochstetter Oil Co. (W. Va.) 61 S. E. 307. But see Union Oil Co., 23 Land. Dec. Dep. Int. 222, reversed in Union Oil Co., 25 Land Dec. Dep. Int. 351. And see Dunham v. Kirkpatrick, 101 Pa. 36, 47 Am. Rep. 696; Detlor v. Holland, 57 Ohio St. 492, 49 N. E. 690, 40 L. R. A. 266. By Act Cong. Feb. 11, 1897, c. 216, 29 Stat. 526 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1434), oil lands may be entered and patented as placers. This provides for lands containing "petroleum or other mineral oils." See Bay v. Oklahoma Southern Gas, Oil & Min. Co., 13 Okl. 425, 73 Pac. 936. 37 Gary v. Todd, 18 Land Dec. Dep. Int. 58; Pacific Coast Marble Co. v. Northern Pac. R. Co., 25 Land Dec. Dep. Int. 233; Florida Center & P. Ry. Co., 26 Land Dec. Dep. Int. 600. 38 See clay. 39 Salt is governed by Act Cong. Jan. 31, 1901, c. 186, 31 U. S. Stat. 745 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1435). That saline lands are mineral anyway, see Garrard v. Peak Mines, 94 Fed. 983, 36 C. O. A. 603. 40 Schrimpf v. Northern Pac. R. Co., 29 Land Dec. Dep. Int. 327. 41 See Regulations, 1 Land Dec. Dep. Int. 560. 42 See building stone. 43 See building stone. 44 See Regulations, 1 Land Dec. Dep. Int. 560. * stances which are 'mined,' as distinguished from those which are 'quarried,' since many valuable deposits of gold, copper, iron, and coal lie upon or near the surface of the earth, and some of the most valuable building stone, such, for instance, as the Caen stone in France, is excavated from mines running far beneath the surface. * Considerable light is thrown upon the congressional definition of the word 'mineral' by the acts subsequent to the Northern Pacific grant of 1864 and prior to the definite location of the line in 1884. [The mining law acts of 1866, 1870, and 1872, and the stone and timber act of 1878, and amendments thereto, were here cited and discussed.] "Conceding that in 1864 Congress may not have had a definite idea with respect to the scope of the word 'mineral,' it is clear that in 1884, when the line of this road was definitely located, it had come to be understood as including all lands containing 'valuable mineral deposits,' as well as lands 'chiefly valuable for stone,' and that, when the grant of 1864 first attached to particular lands by the definite location of the road in 1884, the railway found itself confronted with the fact that the word 'mineral' had by successive declarations of Congress been extended to include all valuable mineral deposits. As no vested. rights had been acquired by the railway company prior to the definite location of its line, it took the lands in question incumbered by such definitions as Congress had seen fit to impose upon the word 'mineral' subsequent to 1864. The rulings of the land department, almost uniformly, have lent strong support to the theory of the patentee that the words 'valuable mineral deposits' should be construed as including all lands chiefly valuable for other than agricultural purposes, and particularly as including nonmetallic substances, among which are held to be alum, asphaltum, borax, guano, diamonds, gypsum, resin, marble, mica, slate, amber, petroleum, limestone, building stone, and coal. The cases are far too numerous for citation and there is practically no conflict in them. * * * "The decisions of the state courts have also favored the same interpretation. * We do not deem it necessary to attempt an exact definition of the words 'mineral lands' as used in the act of July 2, 1864. * * Indeed, we are of the opinion that this legislation consists with, rather than opposes, the overwhelming weight of authority to the effect that mineral lands include, not merely metalliferous lands, but all such as are chiefly valuable for their deposits of a mineral character which are useful in the arts or valuable for purposes of manufacture." 45 45 NORTHERN PAC. R. CO. v. SODERBERG, 188 U. S. 526, 530, 531, 533, 534, 536, 537, 23 Sup. Ct. 365, 47 L. Ed. 575. A VEIN OR LODE OF ROCK IN PLACE. 33. A vein or lode, within the meaning of the federal statute, is incapable of a hard and fast legal definition; but in general it may be said to be a reasonably continuous body of mineralbearing rock in the general mass of the mountain and of greater value than the surrounding country rock. While the body of mineral-bearing rock must be reasonably continuous, its contents are rock in place, if held together by inclosing walls, even though those contents are broken up. All mineral deposits that may not be located as lode claims and have no special provision for them are to be located as placers, as the statute provides that "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." The first thing to do, therefore, is to get an idea of what a vein is. The law has tried to look at the matter from the miner's standpoint; but, though the miner's idea of a vein still differs somewhat from the geologist's, the proper starting place is with geology. The Geologist's Definition of a Vein. When a geologist talks of a true vein he means a fissure vein. "A fissure vein may be defined as a tabular mineral mass occupying or closely associated with a fracture or set of fractures in the inclosing rock, and formed either by filling of the fissures as well as pores in the wall rock, or by replacement of the latter (metasomatism). When the vein is simply the result of fissure filling, the ore and gangue minerals are often deposited in successive layers on the walls of the fissure (Rico, Colo.); the width of the vein depending on the width of the fissure and the boundaries of the ore mass being sharp. In most cases, however, the ore-bearing solutions have entered the wall rock and either filled its pores or replaced it to some extent, thus giving the vein an indefinite boundary. Therefore the width of the fissures does not necessarily stand in any direct relation to the width of the vein (Butte, Mont.)." And the same writer states at another place: "The manner in which fissure veins have been filled and the source of the metals which they contain formed a most fruitful subject of discussion among the earlier geologists. Four general theories were advanced. at an early date. They are: (1) Contemporaneous formation, a theory no longer advocated by any one. (2) Descension, which likewise no longer has any adherents. (3) Lateral secretion, in which the vein. 47 46 Rev. St. U. S., § 2329 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1432). 47 Prof. Heinrich Ries' Economic Geology of the U. S. 236 contents are supposed to have been leached from the wall rock, usually in the immediate vicinity of the fissure, but at variable depths below the surface. Some geologists holding this view believe that the area leached was very extensive, and not confined to the immediate vicinity of the walls. (4) Ascension, the material being deposited by infiltration, sublimation with steam, sublimation as gas, or igneous injection. The several arguments for or against these theories are well set forth in Kemp's paper, 48 and it will suffice here to state that of the various ones those of lateral secretion and ascension by infiltration are the most rational. It is probable that the majority of geologists now believe in a modified theory of lateral secretion, in which the area of supply extends beyond the immediate walls of the fissure, and that the orebearing solutions have either ascended the fissure or entered through the walls." 49 On the following page is a very interesting picture from Lakes' Prospecting for Gold and Silver, supra, showing two systems of exposed fissure veins crossing each other.50 A "dike" is a fissure which has become filled with lava or porphyry because it tapped a molten rock reservoir. "In such cases the porphyry dike or intrusive sheet may, if it be mineralized, answer all intents and purposes of a mineral vein, or the ore may be found on one or both sides of such a sheet, in the line of separation and weakness between it and the adjacent strata, or it may permeate and mineralize, by a 'substitution' process, an adjacent porous or soluble rock, such as limestone. Thus both in the dike or intrusive sheet itself, as well as at its contact with other rocks, the prospector should look for signs of precious metal." 99 51 A "contact vein" is a vein along the plane of contact between unlike rock formations. "Another line of weakness for the attack of mineral solutions is at the juncture of porphyry sheet or dike with some other rock. The interval between them is often occupied by a 'contact vein.' The heat of the volcanic matter, together with steam, may have influenced the solutions, even if the porphyry did not actually supply the metallic element in the vein." 52 A frequent instance of a contact vein is between porphyry and limestone.53 After treating fissure veins, Ries disposes of "other forms of ore deposits" as follows: "Impregnations' represent deposits in which 48 14 School of Mines Quarterly, 8 (1893). 49 Ries' Economic Geology of the U. S. 240, 241. 52 Lakes' Prospecting for Gold and Silver (3d Ed.) 73, 74. 53 See 1 Chamberlain & Salisbury, Geology, 461, for the reason for this. Metalliferous veins exposed to view near Howardsville, San Juan, Colorado, showing two systems of fissure veins crossing each other. 54 the ore has been deposited in the pores of the rock, or the crevices of a breccia, (Keweenaw Point, Mich.) 'Fahlband' is a belt of schist impregnated with sulphides. Ore channels include those 'ore bodies' formed along some path which the mineral solutions could easily. 54 Country rock shattered into small angular fragments. The name "breccia" is usually applied to a number of such small. pieces of country rock, which the process of vein formation has left unconsumed in the vein mat |