Stephen Johnson Field

“ As thus appears, the sole question presented for our determination is whether a corporation created under the laws of one of the states of the Union, all of whose members are citizens of the United States, is competent to locate or join in the location of a mining claim upon the public lands of the United States in like manner as individual citizens. ”

“ They are little more than aggregations of individuals united for some legitimate business, acting as a single body, with the power of succession in its members without dissolution. We think, therefore, that it would be a forced construction of the language of the section in question, if, because no special reference is made to corporations, a resort to that mode of uniting interests by different citizens was to be deemed prohibited. ”

“ The objection to this construction, arising from the fact that the section gives force, in the location of claims, to the rules and customs of miners, so far as applicable, when not in conflict with the laws of the United States, does not strike us as of great weight. A corporation interested in mining may be represented by an officer or agent at any meeting of miners called together to frame such rules and regulations in their mining district. Corporations engaged in other business are constantly represented in this way at meetings called in relation to matters in which they are interested. ”

“ In many states they are formed under general laws by a very simple proceeding,-by an instrument signed by the proposed members agreeing to thus unite themselves, stating their number, the object of their incorporation, the proposed capital, the number of shares, the period of duration, and the officers under whose direction their business is to be conducted. ”

“ Aliens, or citizens of different states, are not less susceptible of these apprehensions, nor can they be supposed to be less the objects of constitutional provision, because they are allowed to sue by a corporate name. ”

“ It is in that respect unlike grants of land for homesteads and settlement, indicating in such cases that the grant is intended only for individual citizens. The development of the mineral wealth of the country is promoted, instead of retarded, by allowing miners thus to unite their means. ”