Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

PROTECTION OF THE LIVES OF MINERS IN THE
TERRITORIES.

1. In each organized and unorganized Territory of the United States wherein are located coal mines, the aggregate annual output of which shall be in excess of one thousand tons per annum, the President shall appoint a mine inspector, who shall hold office until his successor is appointed and qualified.

Such inspector shall, before entering upon the discharge of his duties, give bond to the United States in the sum of two thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties.

2. No person shall be eligible for appointment as mine inspector under section one of this act, who is not either a practical miner or mining engineer and who has not been a resident for at least six months in the Territory for which he shall be appointed; and no person who shall act as land agent, manager, or agent of any mine, or as mining engineer, or be interested in operating any mine in such Territory shall be at the same time an inspector under the provisions of this

act.

3. It shall be the duty of the mine inspector provided for in this act to make careful and thorough inspection of each coal mine operated in such Territory, and to report at least annually upon the condition of each coal mine in said Territory with reference to the appliances for the safety of the miners, the number of air or ventilating shafts, the number of shafts or slopes for ingress or egress, the character and condition of the machinery for ventilating such mines, and the quantity of air supplied to same.

Such report shall be made to the governor of the Territory in which such mines are located and a duplicate thereof forwarded to the Secretary of the Interior, and in the case of any unorganized Territory directly to the Secretary of the Interior.

[blocks in formation]

Notification of

mines.

4. In case the said mine inspector shall report that any coal mine is not properly constructed or not fur- unsafe condition of nished with reasonable and proper machinery and appliances for the safety of the miners and other employees it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to give notice to the owners and managers of said coal mine that the said mine is unsafe and notifying them in what particular the same is unsafe, and requiring them to furnish or provide such additional machinery, slopes, entries, means of escape, ventilation, or other appliances necessary to the safety of the miners and other employees within a period to be in said notice named, and if the same be not fur

Two shafts for each mine.

Ventilation to be provided.

Penalty for failure to comply.

Furnace shaft.

Construction of escape shafts.

Speaking-tubes.

Safety catches.

nished as required in such notice it shall be unlawful after the time fixed in such notice for the said owners or managers to operate said mine.

5. In all coal mines in the Territories of the United States the owners or managers shall provide at least two shafts, slopes, or other outlets, separated by natural strata of not less than one hundred and fifty feet in breadth, by which shafts, slopes, or outlets distinct means of ingress and egress shall always be available to the persons employed in said mine. And in case of the failure of any coal mine to be so provided it shall be the duty of the mine inspector to make report of such fact, and thereupon notice shall issue, as provided in section four of this act, and with the same force and effect.

6. The owners or managers of every coal mine at a depth of one hundred feet or more shall provide an adequate amount of ventilation of not less than fiftyfive cubic feet of pure air per second, or thirty-three hundred cubic feet per minute, for every fifty men at work in said mine, and in like proportion for a greater number, which air shall by proper appliances or machinery be forced through such mine to the face of each and every working place, so as to dilute and render harmless and expel therefrom the noxious or poisonous gases; and all workings shall be kept clear of standing gas.

7. Any mine owner or manager who shall continue to operate a mine after failure to comply with the requirements of this act and after the expiration of the period named in the notice provided for in section four of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined not to exceed five hundred dollars.

8. In no case shall a furnace shaft be used or for the purposes of this act be deemed an escape shaft.

9. Escape shafts shall be constructed in compliance with the requirements of this act within six months. from the date of the passage hereof, unless the time shall be extended by the mine inspector, and in no case shall said time be extended to exceed one year from the passage of this act.

10. A metal speaking-tube from the top to the bottom of the shaft or slope shall be provided in all cases, so that conversation may be carried on through the

same.

11. An approved safety catch shall be provided and sufficient cover overhead on every carriage used in lowering or hoisting persons. And the mine inspector shall examine and pass upon the adequacy and safety of all such hoisting apparatus.

12. No child under twelve years of age shall be employed in the underground workings of any mine. And no father or other person shall misrepresent the age of anybody so employed.

Children under

twelve not to work under ground.

violation.

Any person guilty of violating the provisions of this Penalty for section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not to exceed one hundred dollars.

13. Only experienced and competent and sober men shall be placed in charge of hoisting apparatus or engines. And the maximum number of persons who may ascend or descend upon any cage or hoisting apparatus shall be determined by the mine inspector.

14. The inspector may enter and inspect any coal mine in his district and the work and machinery belonging thereto at all reasonable times, but so as not to impede or obstruct the working of the mine; and to make inquiry into the state of the mine, works, and machinery, and the ventilation and mode of lighting the same, and into all matters and things connected with or relating to the safety of the persons employed in or about the same, and especially to make inquiry whether the provisions of this act are complied with;

And the owner or agent is hereby required to furnish means necessary for such entry, inspection, examination, and inquiry, of which the said inspector shall make an entry in the record in his office, noting the time and material circumstances of the inspection.

15. In all cases of fatal accident a full report thereof shall be made by the mine owner or manager to the mine inspector, said report to be in writing and made within ten days after such deaths shall have occurred.

Men in charge of hoisting apparatus.

Inspection, how and when made.

Owners to furnish means for.

Fatal accidents to be reported.

Injunction to

mines.

16. As a cumulative remedy, in case of the failure of any owner or manager of any mine to comply with prevent working of the requirements contained in the notice of the Governor of such Territory or the Secretary of the Interior, given in pursuance of this act, any court of competent jurisdiction, or the judge of such court in vacation, may, on the application of the mine inspector in the name of the United States and supported by the recommendation of the Governor of said Territory, or of the Secretary of the Interior, issue an injunction restraining the further operation of such mine until such requirements are complied with, and in order to obtain such injunction no bond shall be required.

17. Wherever the term "owner or manager" is used in this act the same shall include lessees or other persons controlling the operation of any mine.

And in case of the violation of the provisions of this act by any corporation the managing officers and superintendents, and other managing agents of such corpora

"Owner or manager" "defined.

Inspector's salary, etc.

Territorial statute to supersede this law.

tion, shall be personally liable and shall be punished as provided in act for owners and managers.

18. The mine inspectors provided for in this act shall each receive a salary of two thousand per annum, and their actual travelling expenses when engaged in their duties.

19. Whenever any organized Territory shall make or has made provision by law for the safe operation of mines within such Territory, and the governor of such Territory shall certify said fact with a copy of the said law to the Secretary of the Interior, then and thereafter the provisions of this act shall no longer be enforced in such organized Territory, but in lieu thereof the statute of such Territory shall be operative in lieu of this act. Act of March 3, 1891, ch. 564, secs. 1-19; 26 Stat. L. 1104; Supp. to Rev. Stats., Vol. 1, pp. 948-950.

LAND OFFICE REGULATIONS.

MINERAL LANDS OPEN TO EXPLORATION, OCCUPATION, AND PURCHASE.

1. It will be perceived that by the foregoing provisions of law the mineral lands in the public domain, surveyed or unsurveyed, are open to exploration, occupation, and purchase by all citizens of the United States and all those who have declared their intentions to become such.

STATUS OF LODE CLAIMS LOCATED PRIOR TO MAY 10, 1872.

2. By an examination of the several sections of the Revised Statutes, it will be seen that the status of lode claims located previous to the 10th May, 1872, is not changed with regard to their extent along the lode or width of surface.

3. Mining rights acquired under such previous locations are, however, enlarged by such Revised Statutes in the following respect, viz. : The locators of all such previously taken veins or lodes, their heirs and assigns, so long as they comply with the laws of Congress and with State, Territorial, or local regulations not in conflict therewith, governing mining claims, are invested with the exclusive possessory right of all the surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, lodes, or ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside of such surface lines extended downward vertically, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicular in their course downward as to extend outside the vertical sidelines of such locations at the surface, it being expressly provided, however, that the right of possession to such outside parts of said veins or ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn downward, as aforesaid, through the end lines of their locations so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins, lodes, or ledges; no right being granted, however, to the claimant of such outside portion of a vein or ledge to enter upon the surface location of another claimant.

4. It is to be distinctly understood, however, that the law limits the possessory right to veins, lodes, or ledges, other than the one named in the original location, to such as were not adversely claimed on May 10, 1872, and that where such other vein or ledge was so adversely claimed at that date, the right of the party so adversely claiming is in no way impaired by the provisions of the Revised Statutes.

5. In order to hold the possessory title to a mining claim located prior to May 10, 1872, and for which a patent has not been issued, the

« ForrigeFortsett »