THE CALIFORNIA BANK RING 
 
 AGAINST THE 
 
 SUTRO TUNNEL. 
 
 Washington, D. C., March 17,1874. 
 
 Hon. 
 
 My Dear Sir : Please allow me to call your immediate 
 and earnest attention to Senate Bill No. 16, now pending 
 before the House, which will probably come up in the next 
 morning hour, and which is evidently intended to aim a 
 blow at the rights of the Sutro Tunnel Company. 
 
 For eight years past a number of the mining companies 
 on the Comstock lode, at the instigation of the California 
 Bank, have evaded the law by refusing to take out patents 
 to their mines, holding that, because they have not accepted 
 patents, they are not bound by the provisions of the Sutro 
 Tunnel act. 
 
 Many have made applications, but have purposely neg¬ 
 lected to take any further steps to perfect their titles, while 
 others have received their patents, but it can no longer be 
 shown that they have formally accepted them, for the only 
 evidence to that effect, the duplicate receipts, have been 
 stolen from tbe register’s office at Carson, and the register 
 in office at the time has disappeared. 
 
 Section 1 of Senate Bill No. 16, referring to mining 
 claims, patents for which have been applied for, and the 
 proof not perfected in one year, provides that “in default 
 of which the proceedings for patents so had by such appli¬ 
 cant shall be considered void and without effect.” 
 
 The objects which it seems to me are sought to be at¬ 
 tained by this clause are threefold: 
 
1. To allow the acceptance of the terras of the Sutro 
 Tunnel act, implied by an application iov patents, to become 
 void by the operation of law, so that it shall no longer be 
 evidence of such implied acceptance. 
 
 2. To allow not only the application, but all the proceed¬ 
 ings for patent so had by such applicants to become void 
 and without effect , which might be construed to make void 
 also the proceedings for patents already issued, especially 
 in those cases where the duplicate receipts have been stolen. 
 
 3. To enable these parties to speedily secure a new patent 
 without the Sutro Tunnel clause, should they, towards the 
 end of the session, succeed in smuggling in a repeal of the 
 Sutro Tunnel act at so late an hour that Congress could 
 not correct the error before another session. 
 
 4. To allow them, in a new application for patents, to 
 enlarge and float the boundaries of their claims further 
 east, in order to cover the country in which late develop¬ 
 ments give every reason to suppose that the Sutro Tunnel 
 will make large and independent discoveries of lodes. 
 
 It is in this subtle and underhanded manner that the 
 “California Bank ring” will carry out their boast that “they 
 will set aside a law of Congress” and rob the Sutro Tunnel 
 Company of its vested rights; for openly they dare not and 
 cannot succeed in accomplishing that purpose. 
 
 For all these reasons I would respectfully ask that, as a 
 matter of justice, and in order to protect us, an amendment 
 to this bill be adopted, declaring “that nothing therein 
 contained shall apply to the Comstock Lode or impair the 
 rights granted by the Sutro Tunnel act.” 
 
 And furthermore, after all the repeated attempts on the 
 part of the California Bank ring to interfere with the vested 
 rights of the Sutro Tunnel Company, and in order to stop 
 forever the underhanded machinations of these parties, they 
 should be compelled by law to take out patents for their 
 mines within a reasonable time. 
 
 Another amendment to Senate bill Ho. 16, offered to-day, 
 declaring that such mines on the Comstock Lode shall be 
 open to relocation, for which patents are not applied for 
 
3 
 
 within six months, and the title perfected within six months 
 additional, would have that effect, and would at the same 
 time secure to the Government the price of the land , which has 
 been withheld from it for a number of years. 
 
 I hope that with these amendments this bill will be allowed 
 to pass; for if it thus becomes a law , it will no longer per¬ 
 mit these parties to set at defiance the will of Congress. 
 
 The important bearing these amendments have will 
 become evident to you when the bill comes up, for the 
 California Bank ring has already' beaten the alarm, and the 
 telegraph has been set in motion, and hundreds of its 
 lobby agents and hirelings are at their work trying to 
 defeat the amendments or the bill itself. 
 
 This will be the moment to act; for if the friends of right 
 and justice will show an earnest determination, these amend¬ 
 ments will be adopted, and the intention of the law so long 
 evaded will at last be carried out. 
 
 I am, sir, very truly, yours, 
 
 Adolph Sutro, 
 General Superintendent. 
 
 For convenience of reference, section one of Senate Bill 
 16 is here printed; also the two amendments which have 
 been offered thereto, which should be adopted: 
 
 S. 16. 
 
 Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
 the United States of America in Congress assembled , That 
 where applications for patents for mining-claims have been 
 filed in the proper district land office, and legal notice 
 thereof given without the appearance of an adverse claim¬ 
 ant, and in which cases no further proceedings have been 
 had for the purpose of perfecting title, such applicants shall 
 make final proof and payment on said claims within one 
 year from the date of the passage of this act; and in cases 
 of like applications for patents hereafter filed, the applicants 
 shall, in the absence of an adverse claim during the notice, 
 
4 
 
 make said final proof and payment within one year from 
 the date of filing such application, in default of which 
 THE PROCEEDINGS FOR PATENT SO HAD BY 
 SUCH APPLICANTS SHALL BE CONSIDERED 
 VOID AND WITHOUT EFFECT. 
 
 Insert at the end of section one as follows: 
 
 Provided , That nothing herein contained shall affect or 
 make void the proceedings for patents had or made by 
 applicants for claims or mines on the Comstock Lode, in 
 the State of Nevada, nor shall it be construed to repeal, 
 impair, or in any way affect the provisions of the act grant¬ 
 ing to A. Sutro the right of way, and other privileges, to 
 aid in the construction of a draining and exploring tunnel 
 to the Comstock Lode, in the State of Nevada, approved 
 July twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six. 
 
 , And provided further , That all persons, companies, or 
 corporations owning claims or mines on said Comstock 
 Lode shall make application for patents within six months 
 from the date of the passage of this act, and in the absence 
 of a bona fide adverse claim during the notice make final 
 proof and payment, and file a receipt for such patents in 
 the same manner as hereinafter provided, within six months 
 from the date of filing such application, or if already filed 
 from the date of the passage of this act, and in default 
 thereof, or in default of filing with the register of the land 
 office at Carson City, in all cases where patents have al¬ 
 ready been issued, an acknowledgment of the receipt of such 
 patent, subject to the conditions therein contained, within 
 ninety days from the passage of this act, such claims or 
 mines shall be open to relocation by other parties, in the 
 same manner as if no location of the same had ever been 
 made, always subject, however, to the conditions of the 
 Sutro Tunnel act, approved July twenty-fifth, eighteen 
 hundred and sixty-six. 
 
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