State Ex Rel. Evans v. Click

McFADDEN, Justice.

The defendants-appellants are residents of Montana doing business in Idaho as a mining partnership. In 1969, they commenced dredge mining activities on unpatented federal land in the St. Joe National Forest (now the Idaho Panhandle National Forest.) The mining claims are located adjacent to Sherlock Creek, a tributary of the St. Joe River.

In 1972, the plaintiff-respondent State of Idaho commenced an action against the appellants seeking to enjoin their mining activities under the Idaho Dredge and Placer Mining Protection Act, I.C. § 47-1312 et seq., until they secured a…