64 Minn. 37 | Minn. | 1896
Stated briefly and according to their legal effect, the material facts are as follows: The Virginia Iron Company, being the owner of a tract of land upon which it was believed there was a body of iron ore under the surface, executed what is known as a “mining lease,” permitting the lessees “to explore for,” mine, and remove iron ore from the land, upon payment of a royalty upon each gross ton removed. The- words “explore for,” as used in mining leases, have a well-defined meaning, to wit, “The examination .and investigation of lands by means of test pitting, drilling, and boring, for the purpose of discovering the presence of iron ore thereunder, and the extent of the ore body therein.” Under and in pursuance of the terms of this lease, the lessees employed plaintiffs’ assignor to perform certain labor upon the land “in exploring the same for iron ore.” This labor consisted in drilling or boring a hole in the ground 6 inches in diameter and 160 feet deep. For this labor the plaintiffs claim a lien on the interest of the Virginia Iron Company in the land, under the provisions of C. S. 1891, §§ 6230, 6233. Upon these facts it must be assumed that this hole was drilled solely for the purpose of discovering whether there was ore on the land, and, if so, whether there was a sufficient quantity of it to make mining profitable.
Section 6230, above cited, which is section 2 of the lien law of 1889,
The old lien law gave a lien only for labor or materials for buildings or their appurtenances upon the land, and not for improvements on the soil itself.
The right to a lien does not depend upon the size or shape of the excavation, but upon the purpose for which it is made. If it was made in digging a cellar under a building, opening or constructing a mine, or other similar purpose, these might well be considered acts done in making improvements upon the land, for which the party performing the labor would have a lien. The same would be true of labor performed in “stripping” a mine preparatory to getting out the ore, which was the case in Kinney v. Duluth Ore Co., 58 Minn. 455, 60 N. W. 23. But the hole drilled by plaintiffs’ assign- or was not made.for any such purpose. It was not made for the purpose or in the progress of any improvement upon the land.
This construction finds support in the language of section 5 of the act (G-. S. 1894, § 6233). That section was intended, we think, to give a lien upon the interest of the owner of the land, under certain circumstances, for every kind of labor or material (with certain specified exceptions) for which a lien was given by sections 1 and 2 of the act. The legislature, however, did not repeat the enumeration contained in the prior sections, but described them generally, as “every house, mill, manufactory, or other building, or appurtenance, and every structure or other improvement mentioned in sections one and two of this act,” — thus showing that the things which were in mind in the enumeration in section 2 were improvements upon the land.
Judgment affirmed.
Laws 1889, c. 200.
G. S. 1878, c. 90, § 2.