Excelsior Iron Min. Co. v. Justheim

ELLETT, District Judge.

The dispute between the parties herein involves the question of the right to mine a portion of one of the massive Utah iron ore bodies. The ore body in question is an oval-shaped continuous mass of magnetite lying in a trough-like depression, the bottom which is relatively flat. During the year 1871 some of the predecessors in interest of the plaintiff herein made a valid placer location upon a 40-acre parcel of ground on the northern portion of this ore body, hereinafter referred to as the Armstrong placer; and at the time when application was made for patent, the…