Multiple Use, Inc. v. Rogers C. B. Morton, Secretary of the Interior

Before BARNES and KOELSCH, Circuit Judges, and FIRTH, District Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment rendered by the District Court on cross-motions for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The subject of this litigation is a mineral patent application (No. Ar. 034305) concerning the so-called Robe-Roy, Martin-Missing Link placer mining claims (originally filed in 1896 (on 20 acres), in 1915 (on 20 acres), and in 1933 (on 40 acres), respectively).

One of the earlier claimants, by obtaining quit-claim deeds from some locators and instituting quiet title actions against others, claimed by an amended location notice filed on July 15, 1962, with the deletion of overlapping locations, an area of between 103.18 (or 130.18) and 160 acres.

While ' in earlier days (prior to 1896) much placer gold had been removed from the Lynx Creek area near the claims here described, there was no placer gold located, save in miniscule amounts, from 1896 to March, 1960.

On March 25, 1960, the Secretary of the Interior (in Contest Ar. 10388), charged that a valid discovery of minerals sufficient to support a mining location did not exist within…