Best way to get/buy a mining claim in California?

[Hoser John]

Taint' easy that's for sure and with all the new fees now pretty expensive and throw in property taxes on Usuary Rights just now plain outrageous.
First pick your area--you already did. Hit the lousy inaccurate LR2000 as free and is what the others use to base their info upon anyhow. Pick your 10 ten and hit the area with feets on the ground to check for new claim signs and then off to the county recorders office to see whatzup. You'll thusly see if filings proper,time constraints met,taxes paid and if a legal claim or not. You'll be down to 1 or 2 spots by this time and thats good. Now claim them both-but do not file--and mine them both for at least a month to properly acess their holdings. Then file with the county as you have 90 days for county and BLM filings. BACKDATE to at least 85 days prior to filing to prevent the claimscamming dogs from stealing your claim from you as there are now programs that scan the records daily to steal new claims. You did the honest legal work and outta nowhere your ripped off by paperclaimers. It was meant to be work as a discovery and monument is a legal requirement of ALL claims and to play the game ya' must do the time-lotza luck keeping it-John

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[Hefty1]

Either el dorado national forest or by north Yuba area close to Downieville. I know this much, and that's all I know, lol.

Is there any open land or claims still? Who knows

Now call the BLM in sacramento and order the maps of the areas you want.

[Hefty1]

John...Lol
I was going to get to that after he got his maps and picked a section, example sec 26, easier to find claims by sec.

[Fullpan]

The gulch I refered earlier to comes into the N. Yuba from the south. Park along hwy 49 1/4 mile downstream of ""Union Flat" campground which is about
halfway between Downieville and Sierra City. You have to wade the river and hike up the gulch approx. 1/3 mile to clear the active claim "Bent Tree" ,
CAMC297037. You now should be in 20N 11E Sec. 33 40NWNE (S-ABLE #EEK CAMC263408 Loc. Date:6/23/1994 STATUS: Abandonded). Anybody
want to check it out?

[Hefty1]

The gulch I refered earlier to comes into the N. Yuba from the south. Park along hwy 49 1/4 mile downstream of ""Union Flat" campground which is about
halfway between Downieville and Sierra City. You have to wade the river and hike up the gulch approx. 1/3 mile to clear the active claim "Bent Tree" ,
CAMC297037. You now should be in 20N 11E Sec. 33 40NWNE (S-ABLE #EEK CAMC263408 Loc. Date:6/23/1994 STATUS: Abandonded). Anybody
want to check it out?

Looks to be open for claiming...check with the county recorders office...parcel APN 008-050-016?

[TerryC]

Check with my brother, Timc. He has the LR2000 site figured out! Knows it front and back and upside down. He'll show you how to claim your own. TTC

[Terry Soloman]

Taint' easy that's for sure and with all the new fees now pretty expensive and throw in property taxes on Usuary Rights just now plain outrageous.
First pick your area--you already did. Hit the lousy inaccurate LR2000 as free and is what the others use to base their info upon anyhow. Pick your 10 ten and hit the area with feets on the ground to check for new claim signs and then off to the county recorders office to see whatzup. You'll thusly see if filings proper,time constraints met,taxes paid and if a legal claim or not. You'll be down to 1 or 2 spots by this time and thats good. Now claim them both-but do not file--and mine them both for at least a month to properly acess their holdings. Then file with the county as you have 90 days for county and BLM filings. BACKDATE to at least 85 days prior to filing to prevent the claimscamming dogs from stealing your claim from you as there are now programs that scan the records daily to steal new claims. You did the honest legal work and outta nowhere your ripped off by paperclaimers. It was meant to be work as a discovery and monument is a legal requirement of ALL claims and to play the game ya' must do the time-lotza luck keeping it-John

This is great advice from John. Never, ever, buy a gold claim without walking the lines and sampling it. Ever wonder where the term, "Buying a pig in a poke" comes from? I get calls every week from uninformed victims who bought gold claims on ebay, and want me to go sample and mark the corners for them. In most cases (97-percent so far), I refuse the jobs because I already know who sold them the claim, that there isn't any gold there, or that four other people have been sold the same claim. Be Careful!

[Hoser John]

BLM maps are same same as LR2000 based, I have claims for over 20+ years NOT listed yet. I'd laugh but sic sic sic. Feets on the ground will find all claims NOT listed and ALL claims begin and end at the local yokel recorders office,hence your holy grail of info. Mark even gave ya' the parcel number and you are miles ahead of the game,ya owe him a bign' indeed. Ask and ye shall receive in many ways here with the "old" crew of helpful members-kudos-John

[Fullpan]

Now, where are we? If I was a newbie with a bad case of the fever, I would make plans to spend a weekend in the "Union Flat" campground, which allows
sat. and sun. to actually prospect this gulch(knowing we've had a dry year, i know gulches may not have water). On monday i'll be ready to knock on the county recorders office door if i did good in the gulch. I now have the info I need using overlays on google earth, the free website BLMLR2000, and Hefty's
info on county parcel numbers(APN). If the recorders clerk isn't too busy, she(or he) can help you get the paperwork done. You now have located your own
mining claim. There is a lot more to do(see above) but you can now drive home with satisfaction, and make additional plans. Pretty simple, huh?

[TimC]

I have demystified the BLM LR2000 system. Without leaving your computer, you can find detailed info about what areas are available, who used to claim the area, who holds the present claims, and much more info. In any SW state. The cost comes to about $200 total to file a claim. $140 a year fee to keep it. (Less per year if you file a waiver, it's in the LR2000.) This year ALOT of claims will become available, because the fee schedual changed. Great for the one or two claim miner. TKC

[TimC]

I mentioned, yesterday, how the miner with just a few claims wanted is a winner this year. Try to follow me. Up until this year, a group of claim holders with eight claims in a block, with the sides or ends common to the eight, just had to pay $140 per year maint. on the entire block of eight claims. This year each 20 acre parcel requires the $140 dollar fee. That brings the cost per year to $1260. Many of the claim holders sent in their $140 for the block of eight claims by Sept. 1st, leaving a balance of $1120 not paid. Because the whole payment was not received by 9/1 the claims were not valid after the 1st. The process rolls on to close the claims. The claimholders still have a chance to save their claims, but it becomes very costly. The claims have to be re-filed as though they are new claims, with each 20 acre claim costing the County filing fee and the BLM fee of $189. After the math you see that re-filing the eight claims will cost $1616. The maint. for the eight claims will be $1260 for the year. So to re-claim the eight and pay the next years maint. comes to.... lets see, $2876. That's not pocket change. To sum it all up, the claim sales speculater will go out of business leaving a vast number of closed claims. I know also how to check for up-to-date activity for current claim paperwork filed.

[Fullpan]

TimC, do you see a conspiracy behind this, or just a scheme for more revenue?

[TimC]

Fullpan, you may be right on both counts. Some things still have to be considered. Many, not all, of the multiple claim holders were filing waivers on their claims even though they had more claims than the regs. allowed for waiver claims. Also, how many of them do you really think actually did the work as their waiver claimed? I know of one person with many claims being denied the waiver filing and then the claim became available... too much cost. Sometimes bending the regs. too much can have the roof cave in on you, no pun intended.

[Fullpan]

I'm thinking more along the lines of the BLM being influenced by the enviros and Agenda 21 to eventually force abandonment of all claims.

[TimC]

I don't think so. The change in the fees benifits the coffers of the Gov't. The SW states (minus CA) are very pro miners. The local revinues of the miners from out of state plus the tourists looking for old west flavor put alot of money into the local businesses. Nevada is more public land than private. Mining is a big deal for money. You can't farm the desert without water that is very costly. With the US in the squeeze that it is in, I expect the tree huggers will be cut down, pun intended. TKC

[trinityau]

Hello all, I hope that the few people out there that have the LR2000 and the GeoCommunicator figured out also know that nothing has been updated for almost two years now. The information that is still onsite is almost always wrong. Anybody that is wanting a claim and is new to mining of any type needs to join a club and see what mining is all about. Once you even know what type of mining you will be interested in then that will make a big difference in the type of claim you will be looking for. When you get to that point then you can start figuring out a location for the type of mining to be done. Once you learn how to find claim information at the county recorders office (the only real smart way to get info on a claim) and you determine that the ground is open then you can sample it. By this I mean go to the site and sample in a way appropriate to the type of mining to be done, ie. detecting, panning, sluicing, hi banking, dry washing, dredging. If that sampling day rings your bell then you can get the paperwork from the County Recorders office and stake your claim. Now you have 90 days to play with your new ground. You have 90 days to decide if this is the claim you want. If it is then you can send the bucks of to the BLM and become a claim owner. If it is not then save your money until you find that piece of ground that fits your dreams. For you summer campers this is also one of the easiest ways to get a campsite on the National Forest in a gold bearing area without paying outrageous fees and having time limits for your summer vacation.

Anyone that is wanting to buy a claim online without seeing it or sampling it is living in a dream and you deserve whatever you get, or do not get. After almost forty years of mining I can tell you that buying a claim usually leaves a bad taste in your mouth and not because of dishonest people but the misconceived ideas that you have about this particular claim. If you are new to mining I still think joining a club first and learning the ropes is the way to go. It takes a few years to become a miner or prospector, not just a decision reached within a few moments. Like I said above I have been mining for over forty years and I am still learning and would not even begin to set myself up against some of my relatives that mined gold in California for over ninety years, their entire lives.

Depending on your location you may be able to get a disk from the county recorders office and view the info at home. If this is not something that is offered then you need to expect to spend some time in that Recorders Office and start learning what books to look at. When it comes to getting a real live good paying claim then you are going to have to do some real old fashioned research and you will probably be happier with the outcome. I can tell you that there is a lot of open ground waiting to be claimed, and much of that ground is good paying ground. If you are in a hurry and just want a piece of mining ground then go ahead and give your money away and be happy with what you get. There is usually a very good reason that the claim is be offered for sale. These are just a few of my opinions. I think John could probably expand on this subject a bit more also. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

[Hoser John]

No need for expansion Ray as I think you summed it all up into a nice tidy package- COUNTY RECORDER IS WHERE IT ALL STARTS----AND ENDS-John

[mellowyellow]

Hello all, I hope that the few people out there that have the LR2000 and the GeoCommunicator figured out also know that nothing has been updated for almost two years now. The information that is still onsite is almost always wrong. Anybody that is wanting a claim and is new to mining of any type needs to join a club and see what mining is all about. Once you even know what type of mining you will be interested in then that will make a big difference in the type of claim you will be looking for. When you get to that point then you can start figuring out a location for the type of mining to be done. Once you learn how to find claim information at the county recorders office (the only real smart way to get info on a claim) and you determine that the ground is open then you can sample it. By this I mean go to the site and sample in a way appropriate to the type of mining to be done, ie. detecting, panning, sluicing, hi banking, dry washing, dredging. If that sampling day rings your bell then you can get the paperwork from the County Recorders office and stake your claim. Now you have 90 days to play with your new ground. You have 90 days to decide if this is the claim you want. If it is then you can send the bucks of to the BLM and become a claim owner. If it is not then save your money until you find that piece of ground that fits your dreams. For you summer campers this is also one of the easiest ways to get a campsite on the National Forest in a gold bearing area without paying outrageous fees and having time limits for your summer vacation.

Anyone that is wanting to buy a claim online without seeing it or sampling it is living in a dream and you deserve whatever you get, or do not get. After almost forty years of mining I can tell you that buying a claim usually leaves a bad taste in your mouth and not because of dishonest people but the misconceived ideas that you have about this particular claim. If you are new to mining I still think joining a club first and learning the ropes is the way to go. It takes a few years to become a miner or prospector, not just a decision reached within a few moments. Like I said above I have been mining for over forty years and I am still learning and would not even begin to set myself up against some of my relatives that mined gold in California for over ninety years, their entire lives.

Depending on your location you may be able to get a disk from the county recorders office and view the info at home. If this is not something that is offered then you need to expect to spend some time in that Recorders Office and start learning what books to look at. When it comes to getting a real live good paying claim then you are going to have to do some real old fashioned research and you will probably be happier with the outcome. I can tell you that there is a lot of open ground waiting to be claimed, and much of that ground is good paying ground. If you are in a hurry and just want a piece of mining ground then go ahead and give your money away and be happy with what you get. There is usually a very good reason that the claim is be offered for sale. These are just a few of my opinions. I think John could probably expand on this subject a bit more also. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Great info here thanks..

Yup been mining just short of year. I'm on the fast track. I only work 10 days a month so I have been out a fair amount. Only prob, not a lot of gold! Haha. It's all good, I'm putting in my dues and learn more every trip. Not to mention how much stupid crap I have done out there prospecting. Def a BIG learning curve here.

I want a claim just tough living far away. Sounds like you old timers have a TON of knowledge and I thank you guys for all the advice. Seems the best way is to get out there and pound the dirt.

Still confused on the best way to find out what areas are still open and not claimed in the area where I am looking. Seems BLM2000 have some mixed reviews.

More to come..

Mellow yellow.

[MrLee]

I did a little research and by using the LR2000 system with the Geocommunicator map I was able to plot claims in the area I am researching. It's a small area so pretty easy to do, but I imagine it would take a long time to do in more claimed areas.

[49erjohn]

Hello my brother Mellowyellow, This is what I have been doing to find a claim. I go to the GeoCom and get the plot numbers of the area I want to claim. I then email the BLM office and ask for a list of active and closed clains in that plot. I figure out what claims are in that corner of the plot. Then ask for the serial pages for each claim. In the serial pages there is always a map of that claim. In alot of the closed claims the paper work is right there. Hope this helps...Hello Hoser John!!! a fellow miner JOHN