All about the Klondyke gold mines Part 8

CANADIAN MINING LAWS.

REGULATIONS IMPOSED BY THE DOMINION UPON PLACER MINING.

As the Klond.y.k.e diggings, as thus far developed and staked, are upon Canadian territory it is important to bear in mind the regulations imposed by the Dominion Government on placer mining. They are as follows:

"Bar diggings" shall mean any part of a river over which the water extends when the water is in its flooded state and which is not covered at low water. "Mines on benches" shall be known as bench diggings, and shall for the purpose of defining the size of such claims be excepted from dry diggings. "Dry diggings" shall mean any mine over which a river never extends. "Miner" shall mean a male or female over the age of eighteen, but not under that age. "Claims" shall mean the personal right of property in a placer mine or diggings during the time for which the grant of such mine or diggings is made. "Legal post" shall mean a stake standing not less than four feet above the ground and squared on four sides for at least one foot from the top. "Close season" shall mean the period of the year during which placer mining is generally suspended.

The period to be fixed by the gold commissioner in whose district the claim is situated. "Locality" shall mean the territory along a river (tributary of the Yukon) and its affluents. "Mineral" shall include all minerals whatsoever other than coal.

1. Bar diggings. A strip of land 100 feet wide at highwater mark and thence extending along the river to its lowest water level.

2. The sides of a claim for bar diggings shall be two parallel lines run as nearly as possible at right angles to the stream, and shall be marked by four legal posts, one at each end of the claim at or about high water mark; also one at each end of the claim at or about the edge of the water. One of the posts shall be legibly marked with the name of the miner and the date upon which the claim is staked.

3. Dry diggings shall be 100 feet square and shall have placed at each of its four corners a legal post, upon one of which shall be legibly marked the name of the miner and the date upon which the claim was staked.

4. Creek and river claims shall be 500 feet long, measured in the direction of the mineral course of the stream, and shall extend in width from base to base of the hill or bench on each side, but when the hills or benches are less than 100 feet apart the claim may be 100 feet in depth. The sides of a claim shall be two parallel lines run as nearly as possible at right angles to the stream. The sides shall be marked with legal posts at or about the edge of the water and at the rear boundary of the claim. One of the legal posts at the stream shall be legibly marked with the name of the miner and the date upon which the claim was staked.

5. Bench claims shall be 100 feet square.

6. In defining the size of claims they shall be measured horizontally, irrespective of inequalities on the surface of the ground.

7. If any person or persons shall discover a new mine and such discovery shall be established to the satisfaction of the gold commissioner, a claim for the bar diggings 750 feet in length may be granted. A new stratum of auriferous earth or gravel situated in a locality where the claims are abandoned shall for this purpose be deemed a new mine, although the same locality shall have previously been worked at a different level.

8. The forms of application for a grant for placer mining and the grant of the same shall be according to those made, provided or supplied by the gold commissioner.

9. A claim shall be recorded with the gold commissioner in whose district it is situated within three days after the location thereof if it is located within ten miles of the commissioner's office. One day extra shall be allowed for making such record for every additional ten miles and fraction thereof.

10. In the event of the absence of the gold commissioner from his office for entry a claim may be granted by any person whom he may appoint to perform his duties in his absence.

11. Entry shall not be granted for a claim which has not been staked by the applicant in person in the manner specified in these resolutions. An affidavit that the claim was staked out by the applicant shall be embodied in the application.

12. An entry free of $15 shall be charged the first year and an annual fee of $100 for each of the following years:

13. After recording a claim the removal of any post by the holder thereof or any person acting in his behalf for the purpose of changing the boundaries of his claim shall act as a forfeiture of the claim.

14. The entry of every holder for a grant for placer mining must be renewed and his receipt relinquished and replaced every year, the entry fee being paid each year.

15. No miner shall receive a grant for more than one mining claim in the same locality, but the same miner may hold any number of claims by purchase and any number of miners may unite to work their claims in common on such terms as they may arrange, provided such agreement be registered with the gold commissioner and a fee of $5 paid for each registration.

16. Any miner or miners may sell, mortgage or dispose of his or their claims provided such disposal be registered with and a fee of $5 paid to the gold commissioner, who shall thereupon give the a.s.signee a certificate of his t.i.tle.

17. Every miner shall during the continuance of his grant have the exclusive right of entry upon his own claim for the miner-like working thereof and the construction of a residence thereon, and shall be ent.i.tled exclusively to all the proceeds realized therefrom, but he shall have no surface rights therein, and the gold commissioner may grant to the holders of adjacent claims such rights of entry thereon as may be absolutely necessary for the working of their claims upon such terms as may to him seem reasonable. He may also grant permits to miners to cut timber thereon for their own use upon payment of the dues prescribed by the regulations in that behalf.

18. Every miner shall be ent.i.tled to the use of so much of the water naturally flowing through or past his claim and not already lawfully appropriated, as shall in the opinion of the gold commissioner be necessary for the working thereof, and shall be ent.i.tled to drain his own claim free of charge.

19. A claim shall be deemed to be abandoned and open to occupation and entry by any person when the same shall have remained unworked on working days by the grantee thereof or by some person in his behalf for the s.p.a.ce of seventy-two hours unless sickness or other reasonable cause may be shown to the satisfaction of the gold commissioner, or unless the grantee is absent on leave given by the commissioner, and the gold commissioner, upon obtaining evidence satisfactory to himself that this provision is not being complied with, may cancel the entry given for a claim.

20. If the land upon which a claim has been located is not the property of the Crown it will be necessary for the person who applies for entry to furnish proof that he has acquired from the owner of the land the surface right before entry can be granted.

21. If the occupier of the lands has not received a patent thereof the purchase money of the surface rights must be paid to the Crown and a patent of the surface rights will issue to the party who acquired the mining rights. The money so collected will either be refunded to the occupier of the land when he is ent.i.tled to a patent there or will be credited to him on account of payment of land.

22. When the party obtaining the mining rights cannot make an arrangement with the owner thereof for the acquisition of the surface rights it shall be lawful for him to give notice to the owner or his agents or the occupier to appoint an arbitrator to act with another arbitrator named by him in order to award the amount of compensation to which the owner or occupier shall be ent.i.tled.

SOME THINGS WORTH KNOWING.

Some of the miners who have recently returned from the mines say that those who wait until the Spring before going to Alaska will make a mistake, as there is room on the Yukon and around Dawson City for 5,000 miners. During the Winter months they can occupy themselves taking out the frozen earth, and thus have it ready for was.h.i.+ng in the Summer.

The most trustworthy estimates agree that over $5,000,000, in nuggets and gold dust has been the value of the output of the Alaska mines during the year.

It is estimated by many that in the mines already being worked on the Klond.y.k.e alone there is over $50,000,000 worth of gold in sight, and that this will all be mined in a year.

A new field, rich in gold, and that has not yet been worked, has been discovered near the mouth of the Tananar River, which is a tributary of the Yukon, and is the second largest river in Alaska.

There is hardly any darkness in Alaska in the Summer season. One can see to read at 10 o'clock at night and at 2 in the morning.

Both the Chilkoot and White Pa.s.ses are practically on the boundary between the United States and Canadian territories. They are in the same lat.i.tude and are only twenty or thirty miles apart. After reaching the head of navigation, the Juneau parties bound for the Yukon turn west through the mountains by Chilkoot Pa.s.s. If they used the White Pa.s.s they would turn east and circ.u.mvent the mountain on the east side. The White Pa.s.s has not been utilized by mining parties, the Chilkoot being the usual route, and the Chilkat Pa.s.s, further north, being used to a much less extent.

There is no abatement of the Klond.y.k.e fever in Seattle, and it appears to be extending all over the Northwest. Hundreds are being liberally grubstaked and experienced miners are in active demand. From $500 to $600 is given them and they share half their finds.

The first mining company to file articles of incorporation is the Alaska and Yukon Exploration and Trading Company, Limited. The capital stock is $200,000, fully subscribed.

Every claim within miles of the Klond.y.k.e is taken up, and nearly 5,000 people are at the new diggings. Those who got in late have gone further to the northeast of the Klond.y.k.e, looking for new locations, and the matter of hunting gold in Alaska has resolved itself into a proposition of finding a mother lode and new pockets.