the interstices, it would all be in a melted state from the top tap-hole to the bottom, thus not only consuming an unnecessary amount of sulphur in keeping up the heat, but likewise giving, by overheating, a bad chocolate-brown color to the sulphur. This quality would hardly be salable, even for sulphuric acid. Many stalls or heaps, say ten, after having been loaded, can be attended by two men, one in the daytime, the other at night. As soon as the operation is over, which takes about a month, both apertures are opened, to allow a current of air to pass through the apparatus. Otherwise it would not cool for a month; but by this precaution it can be discharged in a few days. A modification of this process is the following: Before loading the stall, a number of iron bars are set obliquely from the inclined bottom, against the front wall, in which a single tap-hole is located at the lowest point of the pit. To force the liquid sulphur to run to this point, the bottom of the furnace is inclined, from both sides, toward a central line, and from the back toward the front, thus making a sort of trough, dipping forward. These bars form a complete grate, the space underneath remaining empty when the stall is filled with ore. The .cone above the walls of the stall is, in this case, made much higher than in the method described above. The smelted sulphur collects continually on the clean bottom beneath the grate, and is from time to time tapped into wet molds, or into a basin with water. The crude sulphur obtained by any of the above methods must of course be refined, if intended for other use than that of its manufacture into sulphuric acid. But as it is not likely that refined sulphur can be profitably made in our western districts for years to come, I omit treating the subject in this report. 453 CHAPTER XVIII. THE MINING LAW. The following is the text of the proposed new mining law.* It embodies much that I have advocated in former reports, and I think it will be approved by the large body of practical miners in the United States, who, whatever criticisms they may make upon particular provisions, must agree in commending the tone which mining legislation has assumed, and the character of the protection offered to their property. This law aims to offer means for a fair adjustment of thousands of claims upon all kinds of mining property, and lying between men of every class and nationality. Probably the most eager curiosity in reading it for the first time will be directed, not to the sections which prescribe how mines may hereafter be taken up, but to the inquiry, how the law affects present interests, and the disputed points of the past. The first section will be distasteful to some. None but citizens, and those persons who declare their intention to become such, can have any ownership in the virgin mines of the public domain, except by purchase of United States patents from citizens. If rumor is true, this will be a blow to some of the Mormon miners who have thought to air their supposed independence of our Government by refusing to become citizens. This provision, which is of course most natural and proper, is continued from the former law, where it has already made trouble for those who were anxious to reap without being willing to sow. Probably à large proportion of the Chinese will also be debarred from ownership, as they are not citizens. But this provision does not prevent any one who is willing to become a citizen, from taking up mines. If I read the civilrights bill correctly, any person in the world may become a citizen of the United States, all sectional or State laws to the contrary notwithstanding. 66 The section giving absolute title to a certain surface and all veins topping" within vertical lines drawn from the boundaries of that surface-claim, is necessary to prevent special litigation. On the subject of tunnels the law follows a course contrary to the views I have held, and I still feel confidence enough in the strength of my position to believe that this section will be annulled by the practice of miners and eventually by Congress. Let us take the case of a hill in which a very promising mine is discovered. Instantly some sharper claps down a tunnel-claim, and by that act he invalidates or threatens to invalidate every discovery made on that hill within 3,000 feet of his location. The prohibition to work the hill continues six months at least, and longer if he begins work. I call it prohibition, because it is such if the law is effective. But I look upon this section with less alarm than I otherwise should feel, because I know that it will be very limited in its action. Very few of the innumerable tunnel-claims are ever prosecuted 10 feet into the hill. Others, and perhaps most of them, even if carried on, would come to nothing. Take the Emma Hill in Little Cottonwood. The tunnels there must run about parallel to the veins, and a tunnel that would intersect more than one would have to be very long. * Since passed and signed by the President. The text here given is that of the final form of the law. But the Emma Hill offers an example showing how hurtful this section of the law could be if it were effective. The mines in Little Cottonwood depend for their future upon pockets,,bulges, or other enlargements of veins, and these enlargements show no sign at the surface. A tunnel might strike one of these and draw out the whole wealth of a mine, while the true owners would be working patiently down, unable to immediately prove that their narrow seam had any connection with the immense mass which was making the tunnel-owners rich. The Emma itself could have been worked for two years through a tunnel before the real owners found their way into the bonanza. I cannot agree with the provision in section 5 to allow owners who have abandoned a mine to resume work without relocation. Something is needed to prevent a man whose whole time is spent in Utah from holding claims in California, Oregon, Montana, and all the other Territories. If the recorders cannot make yearly inspection the owners should be required to swear each year to having performed the work required. I am sorry to see, too, that there is no provision for the use of timber, and but a very incomplete settlement of the important questions of waterpower and drainage. Nevertheless it is certain that the present law is a great advance on anything we have had. Our legislators have no more puzzling task than to adjust the claims of miners. If their measures sometimes bear hardly on those who cherish vague but golden dreams of wealth, it must be remembered that their object is not to deny riches to any, but by early prescription of legal means to prevent conflict. The law, indeed, is made in the interest of the disputing claimant as much as in that of the actual holder, for in exact terms he finds clearly indicated what he can or cannot do; and if he is wise and honest he may save himself expense. The following is the text of the new mining law: Be it enacted, &c., That all valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and purchase, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase, by the citizens of the United States and those who have declared their intention to become such, under regulations prescribed by law, and according to the local customs or rules of miners, in the several mining districts, so far as the same are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States. SEC. 2. That mining claims upon veins or lodes of quartz or othér rock in place bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable deposits, heretofore located, shall be governed as to length along the vein or lode by the customs, regulations, and laws in force at the date of their location. A mining claim located after the passage of this act, whether located by one or more persons, may equal, but shall not exceed, fifteen hundred feet in length along the vein or lode; but no location of a mining claim shall be made until the discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the claim located. No claim shall extend more than three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, nor shall any claim be limited by any mining regulation to less than twenty-five feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse rights existing at the passage of this act shall render such limitation necessary. The end lines of each claim shall be parallel to each other. SEC. 3. That the locators of all mining locations heretofore made, or which shall hereafter be made, on any mineral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the public domain, their heirs and assigns, where no adverse |