Waskey v. Hammer

Background

This case arose from a fight over overlapping placer mining ground in Alaska between two claimants. One claim, the Bon Voyage, was first located in 1902 by J. Potter Whittren and included the only known mineral discovery. Whittren later reduced the claim’s lines in 1903 to eliminate a slight excess of area, and that change left his earlier discovery outside the new boundaries. Whittren then made a later discovery inside the readjusted lines while serving as a United States mineral surveyor. In 1904 B. Schwartz located the Golden Bull, which overlapped the Bon Voyage. The dispute went to trial, a verdict was directed for the plaintiffs, and the lower courts entered and affirmed judgment for the plaintiffs.

Reasoning

The Court considered two main issues in plain terms: whether losing the only prior discovery destroyed the original claim, and whether a mineral surveyor could validly locate a claim. The Court held that excluding the only discovery from the claim meant the original location was lost and the land became open to new claims. The Court also found that United States mineral surveyors fall within a statutory prohibition on certain government-related employees acquiring interests in public land. Because the later discovery inside the readjusted lines was made while Whittren was a mineral surveyor, the Court treated the readjusted location as void under the statute.

Real world impact

The decision means that when a claimant’s adjustment leaves the only discovery outside the claim, the location is lost and the ground is open for others to claim. It also makes clear that mineral surveyors are barred by the statute from creating valid new locations while serving in that role, and acts in violation of that prohibition are void.