Welcome v. Jennings

OPINION BURKE, Justice.

This appeal involves a dispute between two claimants over the exclusive right to possess and extract minerals from certain overlapping mining claims. We affirm the decision of the superior court.

I

In April 1983, George Jennings went to some mining claims near Petersville hoping to find work. 1 At the site, Jennings found lapsed stakes and location notices. The notices had been posted by the Bird Creek Mining Company, a business owned by Earl Ray and David Tallman. Jennings spent most of the summer on the claim and decided to locate the claim if no one else claimed the…