30 U.S.C. § 38 : US Code - Section 38: Evidence of possession and work to establish right to patent

Search 30 U.S.C. § 38 : US Code - Section 38: Evidence of possession and work to establish right to patent

Where such person or association, they and their grantors, have
held and worked their claims for a period equal to the time
prescribed by the statute of limitations for mining claims of the
State or Territory where the same may be situated, evidence of such
possession and working of the claims for such period shall be
sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto under sections
21, 22 to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 48, 50 to 52, 71 to 76 of
this title and section 661 of title 43, in the absence of any
adverse claim; but nothing in such sections shall be deemed to
impair any lien which may have attached in any way whatever to any
mining claim or property thereto attached prior to the issuance of
a patent.