Harold E. L. Barton v. Rogers C. B. Morton, Secretary of the Department of the Interior of the Unitedstates of America

Appellant and another applied to the Department of the Interior for patents to two lode mining claims. The applications were denied and the claims held void on the ground that applicants had not shown discovery of a valuable mineral deposit as required by the applicable statutes. 30 U.S.C. §§ 22 , 23, 29, 35. Appellant filed this action to obtain judicial review of the Department’s ruling. The district court gave judgment for the Government. We affirm.

The general legal standards to be applied are well established. “[T]he only statutory standard has been and still is the ‘discovery’ of ‘veins or lodes’ containing ‘valuable deposits’ of the named metals or others.” Converse v. Udall, 399 F.2d 616, 619 (9th Cir. 1968). Appellant relies upon recognized glosses upon this statutory standard. Thus, the cases have held that whether a valuable deposit has been discovered is a factual question to be resolved by asking whether “a person of ordinary prudence would be justified in the further expenditure of his labor and means, with a reasonable prospect of success, in developing a valuable mine . . . .” Castle v. Womble, 19 Interior Dec. 455 , 457 (1894), approved in Chrisman v.…