In the case of Montana Mining Company v. St. Louis Mining and Milling Company, 1901, the U.S Supreme Court was tasked with resolving a dispute over mining rights in Montana's Little Ben Mountain. The Montana Mining Co., which had initially discovered valuable mineral deposits on public land, claimed that it had followed all necessary legal procedures to secure its claim under federal law. However, the St. Louis Mining and Milling Co., argued that they were entitled to these same mineral deposits because they had been first to physically extract minerals from this location. The court ruled in favor of the St.Louis company based on their interpretation of an 1866 statute governing mining claims on public lands - specifically section 2322 of Revised Statutes - which stated that "the locators...shall have exclusive right of possession and enjoyment" provided certain conditions are met including marking boundaries clearly and recording their claim within three months after discovery. This ruling emphasized physical extraction as a key determinant for establishing valid ownership over disputed resources rather than simply being first to discover them or file paperwork related thereto.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Montana Mining Company v. St. Louis Mining and Milling Company argued that the majority's decision was inconsistent with previous rulings on similar matters, particularly those involving mining rights under federal law. The dissent emphasized that according to established precedent, a claimant who has complied with all statutory requirements should be entitled to exclusive possession and enjoyment of their mining claim against everyone except the United States government itself. They contended that this principle had been disregarded by the majority's ruling which allowed another party (the defendant) to intrude upon and extract minerals from beneath the plaintiff’s land without any legal right or title to do so. This, they believed, undermined property rights protected by law and set a dangerous precedent for future cases involving mineral extraction disputes.