Bunker Hill & S. Mining & Concentrating Co. v. Empire State Idaho Mining & Developing Co.

BEATTY, District Judge.

The question involved in this action is the right of possession of or title to an underground portion of a mineral-bearing ledge, which is claimed by plaintiff through its own*190ership of the Stemwinder mining claim, and by defendants through their ownership of the Last Chance and Emma mining claims. It involves the settlement of an underground mining conflict based upon surface rights. The mining law, as authoritatively interpreted, proves in many cases most cruel to important mining interests. Priority has become the chief element of value in a mining location. However…