State v. Praul
State v. Praul
Opinion of the Court
This was an action commenced in the justice court against the appellant for trespass on unenclosed lands, under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 2823, and taken to the superior court on appeal by appellant. A trial was had in the superior
The appellant’s assignments are that the court erred in denying the motion for dismissal, and overruling the defendant’s motion for a new trial. These assignments involve the contention that the so-called Pride of the West mining claim was not shown under the testimony to be a valid mining location, and that the lode claimants, Messrs. Shore and Davis (Ryan’s successors in interest), therefore had no possessory right to the land, and that, therefore, no trespass was committed by the appellant. Conceding the statement of the appellant and the authorities cited by him, to the effect that no location of a mining claim shall be made until the discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the claim located; that veins are collections of mineral matter often closely related to, but differing more or less in character from, the inclosing country rock, usually in fissures formed in those rocks after the rocks had more or less consolidated; and that a vein, as the term is used in the mining law, is a body of mineral-bearing rock, within defined boundaries in the general mass of the mountain, we think there was sufficient testimony in this case to refute the appellant’s contention that there was no vein or ledge within the meaning of the law, and that there was no rock in place shown.
A very clear and comprehensive definition of a vein was
“Q. What do you mean by moraine ledge? A. Well, ground that has been shoved off. There may be a thousand feet or two thousand or a hundred feet. But the ledge has been in its permanent place, only has been shoved off from the vein. I call it a broken ledge. The whole country has been moved. Q. Not just alone that ledge, but the whole country has been moved? A. Yes.”
If there is a well-defined ledge there kept in place by country rock, which the witness testified it had been, it would still be a ledge with rock in place, even though the whole mountain had been shoved to one side by some force of nature; and this was the condition that was proven there,
Rudkin, C. J., Crow, Parker, and Mount, JJ., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.