The Origins of Environmental Activism, 1840–1889 57
to make and publish such rules and regulations
as he may deem necessary or proper for the care
and management of the same. Such regulations
shall provide for the preservation, from injury or
spoliation, of the timber, mineral deposits, natu-
ral curiosities, or wonders within said park and
their retention in their natural condition. The sec-
retary may in his discretion, grant leases for build-
ing purposes for terms not exceeding ten years,
of small parcels of ground, at such places in said
park as shall require the erection of buildings for
the accommodation of visitors; all of the pro-
ceeds of said leases, and all other revenues that
may be derived from any source connected with
said park, to be expended under his direction in
Sec. 2. That mining-claims upon veins or
lodes of quartz or other rock in place bearing
gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other
valuable deposits heretofore located, shall be
governed as to length along the vein or lode
by the customs, regulations, and laws in force
at the date of their location. A mining-claim
located after the passage of this act, whether
located by one or more persons, may equal, but
shall not exceed, one thousand five hundred feet
in length along the vein or lode; but no loca-
tion of a mining-claim shall be made until the
discovery of the vein or lode within the limitsthe management of the same, and the construc-
tion of roads and bridle-paths therein. He shall
provide against the wanton destruction of the fish
and game found within said park, and against
their capture or destruction for the purposes of
merchandise or profit. He shall also cause all per-
sons trespassing upon the same after the passage
of this act to be removed therefrom, and generally
shall be authorized to take all such measures as
shall be necessary or proper to fully carry out the
objects and purposes of this act.Source: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. 17 (Boston:
Little, Brown, 1873), 42nd Cong., 2nd sess., chap. 24, May
1, 1872, pp. 32-33.Document 51: Mining Act (1872)
In the 1870s the United States was not only eager to have settlers move into its western territories, it was
also anxious to exploit the natural wealth of the region. The giveaway provisions of the Act to Promote the
Development of the Mining Resources of the United States, like those of the Homestead Act [see Document
42], were designed to encourage settlement as well as resource development.
The 1872 Mining Act ended the governmental practice, which had been in effect since the colonial period,
of charging a royalty for taking minerals from public lands. It allowed prospectors and speculators to stake
claims to any public lands containing hard rock minerals (i.e., gold and silver as opposed to oil and gas, which
are found in shale), even if the land contained only trace amounts of the minerals. As long as the claim holder
made at least $100 worth of improvements on the land annually or obtained a patent for the land, all other
individuals were excluded from the land. The Mining Act, with only minor revisions, remains in effect today
and continues to govern land use in much of the West. Efforts to truly modernize this law, which would entail
reforming the claim-patent system and increasing the fees for mining on public lands, have encountered strong
opposition from mining interests.Be it enacted... , That all valuable min-
eral deposits in lands belonging to the United
States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby
declared to be free and open to exploration and
purchase, and the lands in which they are found
to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the
United States and those who have declared their
intention to become such, under regulations pre-
scribed by law, and according to the local cus-
toms or rules of miners, in the several mining-
districts, so far as the same are applicable and
not inconsistent with the laws of the United
States.