Help with staking mining claim

[ELKAHOLIC]

I have a spot I would like to stake a mining claim on. I'm really confused on how you can set the boundaries of the claim. I know the township and section of the area but how do I find the quarter sections? Does the claim have to follow the lines of the quarter sections? My nephew and I were want to claim together so we can claim 40 acres. I live in Montana if it matters.

Any help would be great as I'm really stressing over how you figure your claim boundaries and describe them on paper.

Thanks

 

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[mofugly13]

It really is quite a process to do all of the legwork. Do those of you with a lot of experience go straight to the County Recorder first and foremost? Myself, I went to LR2000, and looked at all of the claim names, and owners names, in the section I was interested in. Then, I took THAT info to the County Recorder to search Claim Locations by owners names. This way, I'm only looking at the claims in the area of interest, not throughout the County. Is that how it's done? How do you search county records without knowing something about the existing claims? Are you searching every single location notice, and weeding out only those in the SecTwpRng that you are looking to claim, or is there a way to narrow down what you are looking for?

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[bobw53]

How do you search county records without knowing something about the existing claims?

Yes, do the research you can at home first.. LR2000, which I had to watch a tutorial on how to use.. Landmatters
has the same info (current claims) but they only update twice a month I think... I'm saying "only" like its a bad
thing.. The fact that its there at all is fricken awesome.

So, if you are about to head out to the clerk's office, I would check the LR2000, since that should be most current..
I'm not sure how nice the BLM is in your neck of the woods, but a call to the land law officer might not be the worst
idea to see if they have claims that haven't shown up on the LR2000 yet...

Depending on how your county is set up... They may let you search by Township, Range, Section.... Here its pretty
neat, EVERYTHING is by T,R,S... EVERYTHING... It was neat when I bought this building, the survey was by PLSS,
it was pretty much exactly how you would describe a load claim... My property at home is The East Half of blahblahblah...
20 acres, 660x1320.

I took THAT info to the County Recorder to search Claim Locations by owners names. This way, I'm only looking at the claims in the area of interest,

Unfortunately, if you are only looking at the claims that are already on the LR2000, you may miss something that is new that the BLM hasn't
received info on, or they are taking their sweet ass time updating the info they already have. That's also why you need boots on the ground,
markers can go up and you don't have to file for quite some time. What sucks about that is if you want 20 acres, and somebody has staked
out 160 around the 20 you want.... You've got to go look at ALL the possible corners.... Which could quite honestly be impossible....

If you are lucky, the county will let you search by T,R,S... OR... maybe they will let you search by document type.. "location notices". "L/N" here.

It really is a pain in the butt.. I can't imagine how difficult it all was before the internet.

 

[Goldwasher]

Before the internet it sure was hard to paper claim........

With land matters you can zoom right to the area in question. if it shows claims in an area click the info key. Get some names and go to the county. Platting a map of compiled claims is pretty easy.If they follow the survey. Big chance you will see who is over filing who. You can also see what is open. The BLM file online only goes down to the first subdivision.

The file at the county has the description and map.

If the area has no claims shown you need to make sure its public lands , open to claim, or is it even mineral in nature.

One of the things I tell newbies that are thinking about joining a club. Club claims are usually in a known gold producing area. there will be other claims. ( it's the main gripe of rec club haters they have all the ground ...boo hoo.. even though it isn't true) once on a club claim they will usually see other claim signs. They can take down the serial number and use it for online searching. They can even contact the owner.Ask permission to prospect there. It's a good way to familiarize your self with mining claim geography.. As you get more experience it helps you fill in the blank spots on the map. You will start to see how the subdivisions work.

I've gotten permission to work on several claims from taking a pic on my phone of a claim sign and looking up the owner. I got a year lease in Grizzly Flat on a cold call. The lease amount was super cheap too.

Once you have a name county record searches are very easy.

 

[oneguy]

I did a little more "legwork" today myself using Landmatters and found 39 placer and 30 lode claims in the area I'm interested in (about 4 mile area). But with that said, and what I've learned from you guys, I managed to write down some names and addresses of the placer owners and several are right here in my Podunk town!!! I'll run their names by my "mentor" who has mined and owned several claims on this river for 35+ yrs and he'll most likely tell me their ok and if so I'll call them and see if they may sell or possibly allow me access for a small fee? If nothing there I guess I'll get the legal description(s) and re-learn my map reading skills and beat more brush looking for markers...........then try and find something open? My mentor just got back from Dawson City so I'll bug him after he recoups from recovering an excavator he left up there......

I know more now than yesterday so thanks again for the info guys (you were right.....it IS a steep learning curve)!!!!!!!

 

[Goldwasher]

When I was green, I WANTED it to be easy.. There HAD to be a way to do this that was easy... And there isn't.. I was just pointing that out.. over and over again..

If you are lucky, the ladies down at your clerk's office are as nice as the ones here.. My first trip down (its actually north) to the clerks office was a
"test run".. I told them what I wanted to look up and that I had no idea how to do it.. So one of the nice ladies sat me down at the terminal, and showed
me how to use their "program" that had to be from 1984.. Anything older than that, and I had to dig through the PILES and PILES of books.. Everything is
cataloged in the computer, but if you want the documents, you have to dig for the older stuff...

That first trip was an eye opening experience... I didn't know what I was looking for, I didn't know what to expect, I don't think I had ever seen a claim filing
before... I got some documents printed out and headed home to do some more research...

The second and subsequent trips to the clerks office, I was better prepared.. I had a list... And a notepad.. Copies are $1 each, they won't let you photograph
the documents, but I did find out that they will e-mail them for free... I also figured out that I could search by township and range, which makes things easier, and
I also figured out that its really easy to jot down the exact locations of placer claims on a notepad... Not so easy with the load claims though.

From what I've gathered, every county clerks office is different, they all have different systems and computer programs, some have NOTHING online, some have
it ALL online... Where I go, you can get a summary online, but you can't search by Township and Range like you can down at the clerks office. Also the county
I deal with only has 11,000 residents, so it doesn't take too long to go back 60-90-120 days for new filings and see whats new... The BLM out here also seems to
be rocket fast. I can put my stuff in the mail, and its up on the LR2000 within hours of them receiving it.

The BLM folks are pretty nice here also... The local office, they haven't a clue about mineral rights claims.. I found that out the hard way.. The couple of people
up in Santa Fe that actually deal with this stuff are very nice, and as helpful as they can be.. I've heard that isn't the case in every state.

Once you are comfortable with the "system", its not bad... You don't have to like it, its really sort of stupid, but its what we have to work with..

One layer on landmatters that is REALLY handy, and can help keep you from chasing something that you can never have, is the "land manager" level..
Yellow is BLM (you can slap a claim down there), I think green is forest service (never had to deal with it) and the purple is state... If it doesn't have
a color, its private. Then you can dig into the plat maps... If its state, did the federal government grant the mineral rights when they gave it
to the state?? You can get all the plat map stuff online, and they aren't like a regular map.... Its a MAP!! I know how to read a MAP!!, yeah well,
I had to download the cheat sheet, its not a normal map... But they can lead you to all kinds of neat and interesting and historical stuff. The will
also lead you down the road of figuring out who owns the mineral rights...

I only know enough to keep myself out of trouble.. And it was SOOO confusing at first.. Its a steep steep learning curve, but once you "get it", its
really not that bad, its still a bit confusing and convoluted, but at least you will know which direction to head in.

Good luck, you'll find some good ground that's open.

"The BLM out here also seems to
be rocket fast. I can put my stuff in the mail, and its up on the LR2000 within hours of them receiving it."

Man we wish.

When I lived in Big Sky Montana had a population of less than a million. Any search Oneguy goes should be much easier than California. Any filing made should update quickly even by mail.I don't know about New Mexico.

I will not mail to the blm. Mainly because the state office is so close. The benefit of going to the counter is that they open your file and update while you are there. Or so it seams I am not responsible for logic vortexes.
I guess they kinda have to do their job when their employer is standing right in front of them..

Claim improvements are ongoing so the requirement is fulfilled early in the year. But, I still wait until August to do filings. I would not sleep until I saw my serial registry update with my our SMW. Considering this is California I'm not leaving it up to chance.


"Oh, sorry we lost your mail....."

If I did mail it would be in early July

 

[oneguy]

When I lived in Big Sky Montana had a population of less than a million. Any search Oneguy goes should be much easier than California.

Oh yes!!!! Also the county I live in has lousy gold except for 2 areas so that really narrows it down...............