ABSTRACT
The crown charters of the early American colonies authorized grants of mineral land to adventurers, subject to a perpetual reservation by the crown of a rental consisting of portions of the minerals extracted.2 With the formation of the new nation after the American Revolution, the Land Ordinance of 1785 continued this policy by reserving to the Congress for its disposition one-third of the output from public lands of "all gold, silver, lead and copper mines." With the demise of the Continental Congress, however, this practice ceased.3
