Excerpt from United States Mineral Lands: Laws Governing Their Occupancy and Disposal The motive underlying the earliest congressional legislation touch in the public mineral lands was to secure a revenue therefrom. To this end the system of leasing the lead and copper mines was adopted in 1807, with its attendant agencies, accountings, etc. After a trial of nearly forty years the system was pronounced a failure, and in 1846 the mines were offered at sale, with a preference right in those who had leases or were in the occupation of the mines. When the gold mines of California were discovered, and the varied mineral wealth of the Pacific coast was brought to the attention of Congress, several revenue bills were introduced, at different times, and earnestly debated. But the notorious failure of the lease system in the Mississippi Valley, and the difficulties in the way of securing a revenue otherwise, gave success to the friends of free mining in 1866. Except in a few states, the object of congressional legislation, since 1866, has been to prevent the disposal of mineral lands to states and railroads, or in large quantities to individuals. Exploration of hidden mines is encouraged, and no efforts are used to compel miners to ex pend money in securing government title. The mining law of May 10, 1872, is essentially a poor man's law, and has been the source of incalculable wealth to the country, and indirectly of vast revenue to the government. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.