ABSTRACT
On June 18,1866, Senator James McDougall rose in debate on the bill which eventually became the Mining Law of 1866 to express his support for an amendment offered by Senator George Williams of Oregon. The amendment would have struck nearly all of the substantive details of the bill, reported by the Committee on Mines and Mining, to authorize development of the minerals owned by the United States. Had Senator Williams's amendment been accepted, essentially what would have remained was a straightforward declaration allowing persons free access to explore and occupy federal mineral lands:
The development of federal minerals had quickly brought Senator McDougalPs state, California, to prominence and swept it to statehood shortly after the treaty with Mexico had secured its territory for the United States. A staunch friend of the minerals industry, McDougall argued vigorously against encumbering the brief declaration of free access with more detail. He articulated his concern about the detailed superstructure of the committee's bill this way: "[T]his might be called ca bill to promote litigation, create controversy, and occasion difficulties.5... Here is a bill providing a policy full of machinery very ingenious, but which, like some of those machines that are intended to secure perpetual motion, will run but a short time.552
