Mining Claims

Mining Claims were relatively inexpensive to file. On publicly owned land your claim entitled you to the mineral rights on the parcel you were filing on. Larger, better financed operations when possible, would purchase the land and mineral rights outright.

With the start of World War II many gold mining claims were shut down. Miners who were mining for gold were not exempt from military service, while other miners were given an exemption. This was because other metals were required for the war effort and the country had plenty of gold because the United States was still on the gold standard. Below are mining and water claims filed by date.

The archives are updated several times a year as well as the Index. Check the date “updated” on the Index for the last date this archive was updated.

Helpful Hint: The PDF Index below can be viewed in your computer browser and searched by keyword without downloading the file by using Control F on your keyboard when the file is open. This function is very helpful with these large files in finding a specific person, subject, place, etc. The Control F Function does not work on photographs or the text embedded in the photo.

Helpful Hint: Check the index for an overview of Mining Claims and then look up the claim you are interested in by year and scroll through the dates!