At a miners' meeting of the miners of Bannack District, held on the 19th day of October A. D., 1862, for the purpose of forming and passing laws for the government of the District, the following laws and regulations were reported by the Committee, and adopted and ratified by the people.
Claims.
Sec. 1. Claims on Grasshopper Creek shall be fifty feet on the creek, and
extending across the stream from base to base, of the mountains, including all
old beds of the creek or stream.
Sec. 2. Gulch claims shall be 100 feet in
length, on the gulch, and extending on over one foot on each side.
Sec. 3.
Lode claims shall only be had on well defined Quartz Iodes, and shall be 100
feet on the lode, and 25 feet on each side, including all spurs and branches.
Sec. 4. Each miner may hold, by pre-emption, one claim on the creek, one
Gulch claim, one lode claim, and one patch or hill claim, and working one shall
be considered as working all.
Sec. 5. All claims shall be staked with the
name of the owner with the length and breadth of the same, and the date of
staking, and when in company with others, shall have also the names of the
company with whom he is working.
Sec. 6. Claims shall be worked or
represented at least each five days, excluding Sunday, hut working claims held
in company shall be considered as representing all claims of the individual
members of the company, if property is staked and worked.
Sec. 7. All claims
shall be recorded by the individual holders of the same, with their own names,
provided not heretofore re- corded by individual members, within the next six
days, from and after the passage of this section, and all taken hereafter,
within six days after staking, or shall be forfeited, and no claim shall be
recorded or held by a company name.
Sec. 8. When no claims exist on the
Creek, any person or persons wishing to turn the stream, or flume it to work the
bed of the same, may claim one hundred and fifty feet, each, of said unclaimed
ground, and hold the same, provided work be commenced within ten days, from
staking, and prosecuted faithfully to completion, but said work shall be
continuous, but not one day in ten.
See. 9. All persons residing and working
their home, within the limits of this District, which shall extend from the line
of the lower district, to the head of the Grasshopper Creek, and its branches,
and three miles on each side of said creek, and be known as Bannack District,
shall hold their claims without working the same, from the 15th day of November,
next, to the first day of May, following, and all laws for forfeiting claims
held as above shall be suspended for and during that time.
Sec. 10.
Purchased claims shall be held in the same way, as pre-emption claims, but no
individual shall be allowed to bold more than one claim by purchase, besides his
pre-emption, except in Lode Claims, and any person having heretofore purchased
more than that number, shall be allowed ten days from this date to sell and
dispose of the same.
Sec. 11. Any person making a new discovery of diggings
of any kind, or lode claims, shall be entitled to hold one extra claim, as a
discovery claim, without working the same.
Sec. 12. Building lots may be
taken 50 feet in front, and 150 feet deep, and by recording the same, each
individual may hold one lot and no more, as real estate, and may sell, trade or
barter, the same, or build upon it at his option.
Sec. 18. The fees of the
recorder shall be fifty cents, for each pre-emption recorded, and for all deeds,
bills of sale, or mortgages recorded, one dollar for each one hundred words to
be recorded, and no deed, bill of sale, or mortgage, shall be held good against
third party, unless recorded.
Sec. 14. Any person owning a dry claim, may
pre-empt any unpre-empted ground on the creek, for a water claim, for the
purpose of washing his dirt, whether by cradle or sluice, and may hold same as a
water claim, by recording and improving the same, within the ordinary time for
other claims.
Sec. 15. When any person has gone for provisions, intending to
return, two months from this date, shall be allowed to return, before forfeiture
of their claims.
Sec. 16. In all trials before the miners, which may be
presided over by the President of the District, the losing party shall pay the
President the sum of Five Dollars for his services.
Sec. 17. The President
may, at any time he may think proper, appoint a Sheriff to act in any case
pending, or being commenced.
At a meeting of the miners of Bannack District, held on the 26th day of April, 1863, passed the following Laws:
Sec. 1. The President of the District shall have power to hold a trial,
whenever it may be necessary to settle disputes, either about claims or any
other disputed business matters, and may summon a jury to try such dispute. The
decision of such jury to be final, and may appoint a Sheriff to carry out the
decision of such trial, who shall have power to take any property to pay the
judgment of the President.
Sec. 2. Each miner shall have the right to hold
one claim, and no more, on each Quartz Lode, and they shall be held for one
year, as real estate, to give time for machinery to arrive here.
Sec. 3. All
trials shall be, as, near as possible, in accordance with the common law of the
land.
At a meeting of the miners of Bannack District, held May 23rd, 1863, the following Laws were reported by the Committee and adopted by the people.
Art. 1. The officers of the District shall be President, Miners' Judge,
Sheriff and Coroner.
Art. 2. It shall be the duty of the President to preside
at all business meetings of the District, and to act as Judge, with power to
call a jury, in cases regarding mining claims, the parties litigant mutually
agreeing thereto.
Art. 3. It shall be the duty of the Judge to preside over
all trials of cases in the District, except in mining cases, where parties
litigant agree to refer to the President, and when called upon, to issue such
process to bring parties into Court, as is common and right in such cases, also
to keep a docket and make an entry therein of all suits brought, with the
judgment or verdict rendered, also to have a jury of not less than four nor more
than eight impaneled, when requested so to do, by either plaintiff or defendant,
and receive for his services the sum of $5.00 for presiding at each and every
suit, together with 25 cents for all oaths administered, and the issuing of each
and every writ in the case.
Art. 4. It shall be the duty of the Sheriff to
serve all writs and executions, and carry out the awards of the Court, and do
all other acts appertaining to his office, and shall receive for his services,
for attendance in Court, during trial, $2.50; serving warrants, $1.00; serving
summons, 50 cents, and 25 cents each for summoning witness and jurors, and 25
cents mileage.
Art. 5. It shall be the duty of the Coroner, in all cases of
violent or accidental death, to summon a jury of six persons over which he shall
preside, in examining into the causes and circumstances attending the death of
the person over whom the inquest is held, and when called on, the Sheriff shall
act as the officer of the inquest to summon jurors, and witnesses, and shall
receive for the service the usual fee -- while the coroner shall receive for his
services on each and every inquest, the sum of $8.00.
Art. 6. In each and
every suit, witnesses shall receive Two Dollars, and jurors Three Dollars,
except in cases where the trial shall last for more than one day, when
additional fees will be allowed.
Art. 7. In all criminal cases, the
punishment to be inflicted shall explicitly set forth in writing the verdict of
the jury.
Art. 8. All civil suits shall be commenced by complaint set ting
forth in plain, simple language, the cause of action and remedy sought.
Art.
9. All attachments may issue when the complainant shall make oath before the
Judge, that he has reasons to believe that the defendant intends to leave the
district, or turn over his property with intent to defraud, and may be served on
any property in defendant's hands, or to garnishee debts in hands of others, and
shall hold good till five days after final judgment.
Art. 10. In all suits
and cases, not herein provided for, the Common Law shall be adopted.
The idea of an eight hour law came to the people in Montana, early in its history. At a miner's meeting, White District, April 28th, 1864, ''Non-residents of District shall represent each and every claim, every seventh day -- said day's work shall be eight hours' labor."