Thatcher

The plaintiffs in error held under a valid location of the mining ground in controversy made prior to the year 1908, and the defendant in error under a location of the same ground made by her on the first day of January, 1909. The record shows that the plaintiffs in error did not commence to perform the required annual assessment work upon the claim until the 31st day of December, 1908, at which time they commenced the sinking of a hole in the ground, and put up a tent for the workman, who, upon the conclusion of his work for that day, left his tools in the hole with the intention of resuming the work the next morning; and the plaintiffs in error offered to prove upon the trial of this action, which was ejectment, that their work was resumed and $100 worth of work actually performed by them under the location held by them. Acting upon the theory that under the law governing Alaska the plaintiffs in error had no right to continue their work after the expiration of the year 1908, and that their rights had become forfeited by their failure to complete $100 worth of work upon the claim during that year, the defendant in error located the same ground in the morning of January • 1,…