59 P. 1111 | Or. | 1900
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is a suit to enjoin a trespass on a placer mining claim. The facts are that, in 1869, Moses Lee, F. Gf. Robinson, L. F. Robinson, G. W. Robinson, O. H. Robinson, and Joshua Fawcett located seven placer mining claims on Glees Creek, in Douglas County, being a claim for each, and an additional one as a discovery claim, in accordance with the local laws and customs of the mining district in which they are situated. In May, 1872, these several claims passed into the possession of the plaintiff by purchase from G. Thompson, Amos Thompson, and James Thompson, since which time he has been in possession, claiming to be the owner, and has performed, or caused to be performed, labor thereon to the amount and value, as found by the trial court, of $100 each year. In June, 1896, the defendants, claiming the ground in question to be unoccupied mineral lands of the United States, entered upon and located the same in pursuance of the laws of congress, and commenced work thereon ; whereupon the plaintiff brought this suit, and, it resulting in a decree in his favor, the defendants appeal.
It is claimed that the plaintiff’s possession did not prevent an entry and location by the defendants, because it was not founded upon a valid location. But the evidence shows that, at the time of the location of the several mining claims, notices were posted on each claim, and subsequently recorded in the record of the mining district ; and the plaintiff testifies that the claims were marked on the ground by monuments, so that the boundaries thereof could be readily ascertained, and that Thompson, from whom he purchased, showed him the lines of the separate locations. We think, therefore, the court was clearly right in finding that the claims were located, and their boundaries marked on the ground, in accordance with law.
