Richmond Mining Company v. Eureka Mining Company/Opinion of the Court

by Morrison Waite

United States Supreme Court

103 U.S. 839

Richmond Mining Company  v.  Eureka Mining Company

Upon the facts set forth in the preceding statement we have had no difficulty in reaching the conclusion that the judgment of the court below, sustaining the title of the Eureka company, was right. To our minds there cannot be a doubt that the compromise line was intended to fix permanently the boundary between the mining properties of the two companies at that point. The Richmond was to confine its workings to the north and west of the line, and the Eureka to the south and east. The Eureka had already got its patent for the Champion claim, which must have been older than the Richmond, for the Richmond location was bounded on the Champion, and by this patent was permitted to follow throughout their entire depth all veins, lodes, ledges, and deposits, the tops of apexes of which came to the surface within the lines of its survey. It is evident, also, that the Richmond company was seeking a similar patent for its Richmond claim, as by the terms of the settlement the Eureka was to withdraw its opposition, and in due time such a patent was obtained. The Eureka company also pushed forward its applications for patents to its other claims, and in the end got them all in the same form and with grants of the same privileges. In this way the companies secured from the United States the right to work the entire metal-bearing rock from the quartzite to the shale between the end lines of their patented surveys extended downwards and following the dip of the mineralized limestone zone. Their patents are all alike and their rights under them the same, save only that the Eureka is confined in its operations to the southeasterly side, and the Richmond to the northwesterly side of the agreed line.

In establishing this line it is to be presumed that the parties had in view the peculiar character of the property about which they had been contending. They were settling, as between themselves, their rights to mining property and for the purpose of carrying on mining operations in that locality. They must have known perfectly well from the observations they had already made, that but a small part of the immense mineral deposit in that zone would probably be found between the exposed surface of the limestone and the quartzite immediately underneath. What they wanted was to fix as between themselves their rights in following what is called in the findings 'the zone of metamorphosed limestone,' so as to reach the anticipated deposits in the depths below. A compromise which only settled their controversies to what was directly under the surface would not have accomplished this. The Richmond wanted to be relieved from all embarrassments in getting under the Lookout, and it is to be presumed the Eureka wanted similar privileges under the surface for the Champion and its other claims. For this purpose the parties had to secure the necessary grants from the United States, and the fair inference from what was done is that the Eureka was not to be interfered with in getting what it could on the south and east of the line, and the Richmond was to have the same privilege on the north and west.

The language used is to be construed with reference to the peculiar property about which the parties were contracting. Whether the limestone was or was not within the meaning of the acts of Congress and the understanding of miners, a single vein, lode, or ledge, it was all mineralized or metal-bearing rock as distinguished from the barren walls in which it was enclosed. It descended into the earth on an angle, and unless parties in working it could follow its course as it went down they could not avail themselves to the full extent of the wealth it contained. When, therefore, we find parties contending about their rights to its possession and finally agreeing on a line of division between themselves which shall be continued downwards towards the centre of the earth, the conclusion is irresistible that the line was to be extended downwards through the property in its course towards the centre of the earth. Anything less than this would make their settlement a mere temporary expedient to get rid of a present difficulty and leave their most important rights as much in dispute as ever. Such, we cannot believe, was the understanding.

This disposes of the case. The Richmond company is in no condition to dispute the validity of the Eureka's patents for the At Last and the Margaret because the end lines of the surveys are not parallel, as it has agreed with the Eureka, for a consideration, not to work in the limestone to the south and east of the compromise line. Upon the face of the patents the United States has granted to the Eureka the right to all veins, lodes, and deposits the tops or apexes of which lie on the inside of its surveys as patented, throughout their entire depth and wherever they may go, provided it keeps itself within the end lines of the surveys. The finding that the ground in dispute is within the end lines and that the apex is within the surface lines settles the rights of the parties between themselves as well under their patents as under their compromise agreement.

Judgment affirmed.

Notes