Hough v. Hunt

This is a contest for a mining claim located upon the public land of the United States.

The plaintiffs had been in possession of a quartz-mining location for several years. The ground had been previously worked as a placer claim by one Borland, who, after having made a lode location, sold and conveyed it to plaintiffs. They proceeded to work upon it, spending, as the court found, about one thousand dollars in the development of the mine. They sunk a shaft upon the supposed lode some twenty-five feet, put up a winze, etc., and built a shed over their shaft. In 1898, however, according to the…