As has already been stated the rights of a locator of an unpatented mining claim are only the rights of usage of the property, and are lost by abandonment.1

Such a thing as a conditional abandonment can not be recognized. Where the owner allows strangers to hold a claim under color of title, standing by and intending to resume work only in case its development shows pay, his action amounts to abandonment.2

Lapse of time, though not conclusive, is an incident tending to prove abandonment.3 Proof that a stranger had relocated ground as abandoned does not prove that it was in such condition.4