Co., 96 U. S. 211, 24 L. Ed. 628. These obligations upon which the money was received by the county being authorized by the law, and the county having defaulted in payment, a money judgment must be rendered upon the bonds unless some good defense is shown. It is claimed that the act under which the bonds were issued is unconstitutional, as being in contravention of article 26 of the constitution of Ohio, which provides that all laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation throughout the state. Since the decision in Hixson v. Burson, 54 Ohio St. 470, 43 N. E. 1000, there can be no question as to this law falling within the category of those condemned as attempts to enact special legislation, when general laws having a uniform operation throughout the state can only be passed. Hixson v. Burson expressly overruled the prior decision of the Ohio supreme court in State v. Board of Franklin Co. Com'rs, 35 Ohio St. 459, holding legislation of the character of that now under consideration to be valid. The latter decision was the declared law of the state when these bonds were issued. As late as Wilkes Co. v. Coler, 180 U. S. 506, 21 Sup. Ct. 458, 45 L. Ed. 642, Mr. Justice Harlan, speaking for the supreme court, said:

"It is a settled doctrine in this court that the question arising in a suit in a federal court of the power of a municipal corporation to make negotiable securities is to be determined by the law as judically declared by the highest court of the state when the securities were issued, and that the rights and obligations of parties accruing under such a state of law would not be affected by a different course of judicial decisions subsequently rendered, any more than by subsequent legislation. Loeb v. Trustees, 179 U. S. 472, 21 Sup. Ct. 174, 45 L. Ed. 280, and authorities there cited."

Up to the time of the issue of these bonds, acts similar to the one under consideration had been upheld by the supreme court of Ohio. The fact that the plaintiffs below purchased the bonds after the decision in Hixson v. Burson cannot affect its title as a bona fide holder if the bonds were issued under a law held to be valid at the time of the issue. Gunnison Co. v. E. H. Rollins & Sons, 173 U. S. 255, 19 Sup. Ct. 390, 43 L. Ed. 689.

It is further contended that the bonds are of no validity, as they are issued in violation of the guaranties of the constitution of the United States against taking private property without compensation, and depriving any person of property without due process of law. This argument is aimed against the feature of the law which undertakes to provide for assessments upon the property abutting upon the improvement. A similar question was before the supreme court in Loeb v. Trustees, 179 U. S. 488, 21 Sup. Ct. 174, 45 L. Ed. 280. In that case it was held that, even if the assessment was invalid because of the constitutional objection raised, the law could stand as valid, authorizing the making of obligations of binding force upon the township. Finding in this law authority to issue the bonds for purposes held to be lawful at the time the authority was granted, and the bonds having been issued accordingly, they became the obligations of the county, irrespective of the question-not herein involved -of the validity of any attempted assessments to pay the bonds. As was said by Mr. Justice Harlan in Loeb v. Trustees, supra:

"The rellef asked and the only relief that could be granted in the present action is a judgment for money. If the township should refuse to satisfy a judgment rendered against it, and if appropriate proceedings are then instituted to compel it to make an assessment to raise money sufficient to pay the bonds, the question will then arise whether the mode prescribed by the third section of the act of 1893 can be legally pursued, and, if not, whether the laws of the state do not authorize the adoption of some other mode by which the defendant can be compelled to meet the obligations it assumed under the authority of the legislature of the state. All that we can now decide is that, even if the third section of the statute in question be stricken out as invalid, the petition makes a case entitling the plaintiff to a judgment against the township. Whether a judgment, if rendered, could be collected, without further legislation, depends upon considerations that need not now be examined."

What we hold is that the bonds in suit constitute a valid obligation of the county, upon which a judgment may be rendered in favor of the holder. Whether the same can be compelled to be paid through the assessments provided for in the act, or whether there exists legislation under which the commissioners can be required to levy a general tax for the payment of such judgment, are questions not made in this record, and upon which we express no opinion.

OREGON KING MIN. CO. v. BROWN et al.

(Circuit Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. October 6, 1902.)

No. 816.

1. MINING CLAIMS-MARKING LOCATION-STATUTORY REQUIREMENT.

Rev. St. § 2324 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1426], which provides that in marking a mining claim "the location must be distinctly marked on the ground so that its boundaries can be readily traced," does not require the boundary lines to be indicated by physical marks or monuments, nor define what kind of marks shall be made, nor on what part of the ground claimed; but any marking, whether by stakes, mounds, monuments, or written notices, whereby the boundaries can be readily traced, is sufficient.

9. SAME-RECORD OF LOCATION NOTICE-OREGON STATUTE.

Under St. Or. Oct. 14, 1898, providing for the recording of notices of the discovery and location of mining claims, it is not essential to the validity of a location that the record should be a literal copy of the notice posted on the claim, but it is sufficient if it is a substantial copy.

In Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Oregon.

See 110 Fed. 728.

Cotton, Teal & Minor, for plaintiff in error.

Dolph, Mallory, Simon & Gearin and Albert Abraham, for defendants in error.

Before GILBERT and ROSS, Circuit Judges, and HAWLEY, District Judge.

ROSS, Circuit Judge. The Oregon King Mining Company, the plaintiff in error, commenced proceedings in the United States land office at The Dalles, Or., to procure a patent for a certain mining claim, called the "Silver King." At the time of its application the company was in possession of the claim, and is so still. The defendants in error contested the application, and, in support of their adverse claim, commenced, pursuant to the provisions of section 2326 of the Revised Statutes [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1430], the present action in the court below to determine the conflicting claims to the ground, in which action judgment passed for the plaintiffs therein, the defendants in error here.

The plaintiff in error claims the ground by virtue of a location thereof made on the 24th day of June, 1898, by one G. M. Wilson. The defendants in error claim it under a location made on the 31st day of January, 1899, by T. J. Brown and Columbus Friend. Substantially the same ground is covered by both locations. That made by Wilson he called the "Silver King Mining Claim," and that made by Brown and Friend was called by them the "St. Elmo Mining Claim." The case shows that Brown, in connection with Friend, first undertook to locate the ground in controversy on the 10th day of March, 1897, but it is conceded that he did not make any valid location thereof prior to January 31, 1899, so that, if the location made by Wilson on June 24, 1898, was valid (to whose rights the plaintiff in error succeeded), the plaintiff in error is entitled to the property; it having entered into the possession thereof under Wilson's location, and having since retained such possession and worked and developed the claim, expending in such work and development a large sum of money.

At the time of the making of the location by Wilson there was no statute of the state of Oregon requiring any record to be made of a mining location, nor did any statute of that state then add to the requirements of the Revised Statutes of the United States in the matter of the making of locations of mining claims. But by an act of the legislature of Oregon approved October 14, 1898, and which took effect January 1, 1899, it was provided that any person who is either. a citizen of the United States, or has declared his intention to become such, who discovers a vein or lode of mineral-bearing rock in place upon unappropriated public land of the United States within the state of Oregon, may locate a claim upon such vein or lode so discovered by posting thereon a notice of such discovery and location, which notice shall contain: First, the name of the lode or claim; second, the name or names of the locator or locators; third, the date of the location; fourth, the number of linear feet claimed along the vein or lode each way from the point of discovery, with the width on each side of said vein or lode; fifth, the general course or strike of the vein or lode, as near as may be. The boundaries of the claim are by the act required to be defined so that they may be readily traced, and they are required to be marked within three days after the posting of such notice by six substantial posts, projecting not less than three feet above the surface of the ground, and not less than four inches square or in diameter, or by substantial mounds of stone, or earth and stone, at least two feet in height. By section 2 of the act such locator is required to file for record with the recorder of conveyances, if there be one, otherwise with the clerk of the county wherein the claim is situated, a copy of the notice so posted by him upon the lode or claim, within 30 days after the date of such posting, which notice is required to be immediately recorded by the officer. By section 3 of the act the locator is required, within 90 days from the date of posting his notice of discovery, to sink a discovery shaft upon the claim located, to a depth of at least 10 feet from the lowest part of the rim of such shaft at the surface, or deeper, if necessary, to show by such work a lode or vein of mineral deposit in place, with a provision to the effect that a cut or crosscut or tunnel which cuts the lode at a depth of 10 feet, or an open cut at least 6 feet deep, 4 feet wide, and to feet in length along the lode from the point where the same may be in any manner discovered, shall be deemed equivalent to such discovery shaft, and with a provision to the effect that such work shall not be deemed a part of the assessment work required by the Revised Statutes of the United States.

It appears from the record that the claim in controversy is located upon a large hill, devoid of timber and of vegetation, except a scanty growth of grass, on which a vein of mineral-bearing rock crops out and is clearly visible for a distance of more than 400 feet. It appears that this ledge was known to persons living in the vicinity thereof prior to the coming into the country of either Brown or Wilson, but apparently was not much thought of. About the Ist of March, 1897, Brown went to the vicinity for the purpose of making a visit to Friend. During the time of that visit the two made a trip to a sheep ranch, on their way to which Brown found float from the ledge, and stopped and began to prospect it. Friend said that it did not amount to anything, but Brown continued to examine the ledge while Friend proceeded to the sheep camp; and during his absence Brown erected a monument on the ground, and wrote out a notice of location in behalf of himself and Friend, which he placed in the monument, and took some of the samples of the rock to Friend's house. Shortly after this, and without doing any work upon the claim, Brown left the country, and remained away until about the Ist of September, 1897, when he returned with a man named Allen, whom he sought to interest in the claim; but after putting in some shots in the ledge and making some tests of the rock (which they made at the house of a Mr. Furnall, where they were staying), Allen concluded that it was not rich enough, and declined to take any interest in the claim. Brown and Allen then left. In September, 1897, Wilson, who had been out prospecting, stopped at Furnall's house; and on that occasion Furnall picked up a piece of rock from this ledge and said, "Here is a piece of rock I can either pan or mortar up and wash gold out of it." Wilson asked where the rock came from, and Furnall pointed to the hill where the ground in controversy is located. When Wilson left for his home he took with him a piece of the rock which Furnall gave him, and during the succeeding winter had it assayed, with the result that it showed a high value in gold. About the Ist of June, 1898, Wilson returned to the neighborhood with John Knight and J. F. Hubbard; first going to the house of Furnall, and afterwards to that of Friend. From there, Wilson, Knight, and Hubbard went up the hill in search of the ledge from which the rock given him by Furnall was taken. They found it, and also the monument and notice erected and posted by Brown in behalf of himself and Friend in the preceding year. Wilson and Hubbard and Knight thereafter from time to time did work upon the ledge, consisting of small cuts, and took ore therefrom, which upon assay showed considerable value in gold and silver, and on the 24th day of June, 1898, put up at the east end of the Silver King claim a mound of rock taken from one of the cuts made by them, in which they placed a notice reading as follows:

"State of Oregon, County of Crook-ss: Know all men by these presents that I, the undersigned, has this 24th day of June, 1898, claimed, by right of discovery and location, 1,500 feet of linear and horizontal measurement in length, and 600 feet in width, a quartz ledge along the vein or lode thereof, 1,500 feet of said claim lying and being in westerly direction from the mound of stone of the discovery monument, with all dips, spurs, variations, and angles; said claim being more particularly described as follows: Situated on Sec. 30, T. 9, R. 17 E., Crook county, Oregon, near the Trout creeks. This claim shall be known as the 'Silver King. Also I claim all water right to work the same.

"Witnesses:

"J. F. Hubbard.
"John Knight."

"Discoverer:
"G. M. Wilson.

There was evidence given on behalf of the defendant (plaintiff in error) tending to show that Wilson, Hubbard, and Knight then stepped to the west, intending to measure 1,500 feet, and in the west end set in the ground a juniper stake, about 4 inches square, so that it stood up out of the ground about 4 or 42 feet, -the stake being set about on a line with the ledge; that on the east side of the stake they marked, "Silver King 1,500 feet easterly," and on its south side, "300 feet southerly," and on its north side, "300 feet northerly." Shortly after this the party left the country, and returned about the Ist of August of the same year, and sunk a shaft on the vein about 6 by 4 feet, and to a depth of 9 or 92 feet. Wilson and Hubbard then left, leaving Knight at the claim for the purpose of shipping some ore therefrom to the smelter at Tacoma, which he did, to the extent of 5 tons, during the month of September, and from which was realized about $125 per ton. A few days after getting this return, Knight went back to his home, at Pendleton, Or. In the early part of February, 1899, he returned to the claim, and found Brown in possession; Brown having been informed during January, 1899, by Mrs. Furnall, of the result of the ore shipment by Knight. Brown, contending that Wilson had no right to make a location of the ground in controversy, proceeded on the 31st day of January, 1899, to locate the same ground in behalf of himself and Friend; undertaking to mark and stake the boundaries thereof, and placing in the monument at the east end, alongside of Wilson's monument, a notice in these words and figures:

"Location Notice.

"State of Oregon, County of Crook: Know all men by these presents that we, the undersigned, have this 31st day of January, 1899, do locate this ledge of mineral-bearing quartz, commencing at this monument of stone, running 1,500 linear feet in a westerly direction to a stake. We also claim 300 linear feet on each side of center line along this ledge, with claim all dips, spurs, angles, and variations, being particularly described as follows: Sec. 30, T.