Lode Surveys

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Phillips Lode Survey, 1874

 

The 1872 General Mining Act allowed US citizens who followed the procedures outlined therein to file a claim, provided the minerals were on public lands. There are two kinds of claims: lode and placer.[1]

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Whale Lode Survey, 1875

 

The first step in the process of obtaining a lode claim certificate was to provide a drawing of the lode claim area, usually done by a surveyor, that would outline the area in which the miner intended to extract minerals.

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Present Help Mine Survey, 1880

 

Here we have examples of surveys for the Phillips Lode in 1874, the Whale Lode in 1875, and the Present Help Lode from 1880.

[1] US Bureau of Land Management, “Mining Claims and Sites on Federal Lands,” May 2011, https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/MiningClaims.pdf.