Charlestone Stone Products Co., Inc., a Corporation v. Cecil D. Andrus, Secretary of the Interior, and United States of America

The Cause:

Cecil D. Andrus, for the defendants-appellants, as Secretary of Interior, (Secretary) appeals the judgment of the District Court holding valid and granting access to certain placer sand and gravel mining claims located in the Las Vegas Valley in Nevada. We affirm.

The Secretary on November 17, 1965 initiated a contest complaint against the plaintiff-appellee Charlestone Stone Products Co., Inc. (Charlestone), attacking the validity of Charlestone’s placer mining locations for sand and gravel numbered 1 through 22 and numbered 12A and 13A. The Administrative Law Judge found Claims 9 and 10 to be valid. On cross-appeals, however, the Secretary’s Board of Land Appeals (Board) found only Claim 10 to be valid. Upon judicial review, the District Court, believing an injustice had been accomplished, held that “at least the claims 1 through 16” were valid. It also held that Charlestone should be granted access to Claim 22 in order to utilize, in the operations of the valid claims, the water produced from a well driven on Claim 22.

Issues on Review:

While the Secretary asserts the issues on review in different terms, we deem the pertinent issues to be:

(1) Whether, upon…