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Show 566 WESTERN WILDS. not open to homestead or preemption entry. Nor can they be sold in quantities as other lands, nor does a land grant convey them to a railroad or other grantee. Nor is any distinction made by Govern-ment between its surveyed and unsurveyed mineral lands. In cases of doubt or dispute the law leans to the side of the pros-pector. The decisions of the Department bear strongly against other than miners' titles to lands supposed to be mineral, it being the de-clared policy of the United States to encourage mining development in all proper ways. ( See decision of the Commissioner- General in regard to the town site of Deadwood, Dakota.) Land once surveyed and thrown open to settlement will be with-drawn from market at any time before vested rights accrue, upon proof that it is mineral- bearing. That land is within a known mineral region, is held presumptive proof that it is mineral land; the burden of proof is on those who seek to show that it is not. The miners of each district may make local laws not inconsistent with those of the United States, or of the State or Territory; and these local laws will be enforced by the courts. Similarly a State or Territory may make any laws not inconsistent with the ownership of mineral lands by the United States. When a patent has been granted, a mine is real estate in fee simple, and subject to local tax, lien, mortgage, and execution, the same as other real estate. Before a patent is granted, the title is still in the United States ; the miner has but a possessory right, and, in strict-ness of law, only his improvements could be taxed. Where a tunnel is run for the development of a lode or for pros-pecting, the owners thereof have the right to all veins or lodes cut by it, and all within three thousand feet from the starting- point of the tunnel and lying on its line, not previously known to exist; and locations within such limit by other parties, after the tunnel has been commenced, are invalid. But to secure such rights the tunnel must be driven with reasonable diligence ; and a cessation of work thereon for six months forfeits the right to undiscovered veins on its line. If applicants for patents complain that fees and publication charges are exorbitant, the Commissioner- General has power to limit such charges, or to designate another paper than the one first selected by the Register. Where two or more veins, separate at the surface, run together below, the oldest title holds the property. , Where two veins cross, |