30 U.S.C. § 26 : US Code - Section 26: Locators' rights of possession and enjoyment

Search 30 U.S.C. § 26 : US Code - Section 26: Locators' rights of possession and enjoyment

The locators of all mining locations made on any mineral vein,
lode, or ledge, situated on the public domain, their heirs and
assigns, where no adverse claim existed on the 10th day of May 1872
so long as they comply with the laws of the United States, and with
State, territorial, and local regulations not in conflict with the
laws of the United States governing their possessory title, shall
have the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the
surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all
veins, lodes, and ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or
apex of which lies inside of such surface lines extended downward
vertically, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart
from a perpendicular in their course downward as to extend outside
the vertical side lines of such surface locations. But their right
of possession to such outside parts of such veins or ledges shall
be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical planes
drawn downward as above described, through the end lines of their
locations, so continued in their own direction that such planes
will intersect such exterior parts of such veins or ledges. Nothing
in this section shall authorize the locator or possessor of a vein
or lode which extends in its downward course beyond the vertical
lines of his claim to enter upon the surface of a claim owned or
possessed by another.