Wyoming. The requirements in this state are the same as in Colorado, except that the name of the discoverer must also appear, suggesting that the locator and discoverer may be different persons.1

353. Second group:

New Mexico provides for the posting, in some conspicuous place on the location, of a notice in writing, stating: (1) the names of the locators; (2) the intent to locate the claim; (3) a description by reference to some natural object or permanent monument. A copy of this notice as posted must be recorded.2

Arizona requires the posting, at the point of discovery on the surface, of a plain sign or notice, substantially conforming to the certificate to be recorded, which must contain: (1) name of claim; (2) name of locator; (3) date of location; (4) number of feet in length and width on each side of the center of the shaft; (5) the general course of lode or premises; (6) locality of the claim with reference to natural monuments.3

Idaho is the only state in this group. Its laws provide for the posting of two notices:

(1) At the time of the discovery, when a monument must be erected at the place of discovery, upon which the locator must place his name, the date of discovery, and the distance claimed along the vein each way from such monument;

(2) At the time of marking his boundaries he must post another notice, the requirements of which are much more elaborate, and a substantial copy of which must be recorded.1

355. Liberal rules of construction applied to notices. The statutory requirements found in the first group of states, and the first requirement in the third group, are nothing more than the perpetuation of the system in vogue during the early history of the mining industry of the west. They preserve the simplicity of the primitive system and recognize the fact that miners are unacquainted with legal forms, and usually are out of reach of legal assistance. A sample of these preliminary notices may be found in the reports of any of the mining states. A case involving the following notice, arising under the statute of Colorado, heretofore referred to, reached the supreme court of the United States: “Hawk "Lode. We, the undersigned, claim fifteen hundred feet "on this mineral-bearing lode, vein, or deposit,”— dated and signed by the locators. It was contended, and the court below held, that the notice was insufficient because it failed to designate the number of feet on each side of the discovery point. The supreme court of the United States ruled, however, that as the law did not require the linear distances from the discovery monument to be stated, the notice and its posting was a valid appropriation of the lode to the extent of seven hundred and fifty feet on each side of the posted notice. In construing these notices, both the courts and land department have been uniformly liberal. As they are generally made by unlettered men, it would be productive of a great hardship if prospectors should be held to technical accuracy in their preparation. If they are sufficiently certain to put an honest inquirer in the way of ascertaining where the lode is, that is sufficient."

When we deal with cases, however, arising under laws similar to those found in Arizona and New Mexico, and provisions like those of Idaho, in reference to the second

1 Carter v. Bacigalupi, 83 Cal. 187, 193.

2 Erhardt v. Boaro, 113 U. S. 527.

3 Prince of Wales Lode, 2 Copp's L. O. 2; Carter v. Bacigalupi, 83 Cal. 187, 193; Gird v. California Oil Co., 60 Fed. 531, 544; Book v. Justice M. Co., 58 Fed. 106; Doe v. Waterloo M. Co., 70 Fed. 455.

notice required by that state to be posted, we encounter a different element. Where the posted notice is the basis of the one to be ultimately recorded, the provisions of the federal law are operative, and the posted notice must contain the requirements of that law as to the contents of the record.

A notice might serve the purpose of a notice of discovery manifesting an intention to locate, and be wholly insufficient as a notice of perfected location which is to be recorded.1

In the absence of a state statute or local rule requiring it, the posted notice need not contain any reference to natural objects or permanent monuments, but the recorded notice must contain such description."

If a statute or local rule prescribes the form of a notice to be posted, and provides that a copy of such notice shall be recorded, if such notice does not contain the requirement of the federal statute it is an insufficient record. The supreme court of California has said, that where district rules provide for the recording of a copy of a posted notice, such record is sufficient; but this must not be understood as sanctioning a rule, that if a posted notice. does not contain the facts required by section twenty-three hundred and twenty-four of the Revised Statutes, providing for the contents of the record, that the record of such posted notice is sufficient. Neither a local rule nor a state statute can dispense with the plain requirements of the federal law.1

356. Place and manner of posting.-Most of the state laws requiring notices to be posted fix the point of discovery as the place of posting. Naturally, this will be on the lode, or in such reasonable proximity as will identify it.

1 Doe v. Waterloo M. Co., 70 Fed. 455, 458; Gleeson v. Martin White M. Co., 13 Nev. 465; Gird v. California Oil Co., 60 Fed. 531, 536.

2 Brady v. Husby, 21 Nev. 453; Poujade v. Ryan, 21 Nev. 449; Southern Cross M. Co. v. Europa M. Co., 15 Nev. 383.

3 Carter v. Bacigalupi, 83 Cal. 187.

See, post, art. ix.

In California, a local district custom required that a notice of location of a quartz claim should be in writing, “and posted conspicuously in a conspicuous place upon the "claim located, at or near the lode line of said claim."

The supreme court of that state held, that such a notice, written on one side of a sheet of paper which was folded with the writing inside and placed upon a mound of rocks three feet high, underneath two flat rocks, with a margin of the paper exposed to view, the rest being obscured by the two stones which covered it, was a conspicuous posting in a conspicuous place, and satisfied the rule.'

An artificial mound of rocks on the line of a lode is a conspicuous object which would naturally attract the attention of one seeking information as to a former location of a lode, and the slightest examination of the mound would result in the discovery of a written notice.

In another case in the same state, it was held, that a written notice placed in a tin can, and the can placed in a mound of rocks, was sufficient posting.2

It is manifest, that some precaution should be taken to protect the notice from destruction by exposure to wind and weather.

In the absence of any specific direction in the state statute or district regulation prescribing the manner of posting, any device adopted, which would enable one seeking information in good faith, to discover the existence of the notice, should be sufficient. The posting of such a notice after a bona fide discovery is an appropriation of the territory specified for the period allowed by local rules or state legislation for the performance of the remaining acts required to complete the location, and the appropriator is entitled during that period to be protected in his possession against all comers.1

'Donahue v. Miester, 88 Cal. 121.

2 Gird v. California Oil Co., 60 Fed. 531, 544.

3 Id.

Erhardt v. Boaro, 113 U. S. 527, 537; Marshall v. Harney Peak Tin M. & M. Co., 1 S. Dak. 350; Omar v. Soper, 11 Colo. 380, 387.

ARTICLE VI. THE SURFACE COVERED BY THE LOCATIONITS FORM AND RELATIONSHIP TO THE LOCATED LODE.

2 360. The ideal location.-When we speak of an ideal location, we mean one which not only responds to all the requirements of the law, but one which confers upon its possessor the greatest possible property right, and conforms to the judicial theories of what constitutes the highest type of a perfected location. The ideal is rarely encountered in the practical mining world, but it furnishes a convenient standard with which the every-day location may be compared, enabling us to show to what extent a departure from the ideal diminishes the property rights which are susceptible of acquisition under a location of the highest possible type.

The ideal location must have for its basis an ideal lode, such a one as we have described and illustrated in a preceding section. With this assumed, we should describe the highest type of a location as a rectangular parallelogram, the lines crossing the apex of the lode at right angles to the general course of the vein, termed in law the end lines, the extremities of which are equi-distant from the center of the vein, the side lines parallel to the course of the vein, that is, equi-distant throughout from a line drawn through the center of the apex on its longitudinal course; such a location as is represented in figure 5.2 Without intending to enter into a discussion at this time of the extralateral right, we may say that this form of location confers upon the possessor the greatest