Local musuems and historical societies are a good starting point.  If you go to a gold show, for the western states at least there are usually books at the vendors on gold production and areas in the state.  Most states will have a geological/mineral dept. that will have records going back decades, I know some are online.

Thank you Arthur. As I live in Florida any online stuff helps as I am always researching somewhere else.

Online research can be difficult. I assume that you have found http://www.mindat.org/, huge database and it helps to have a mine name to start with but there are many different ways to search like by commodity. One way to find mine names is to check topo maps of the area you are looking at and if you can locate the older topo maps sometimes good info gets left off of the newer maps.

     Tim, here are some other places to look besides the on line.

 

     Most of my research material came from used book stores, antique stores, mining shops, yard sales, the Public Library, and gifts from friends.

 

     When at the Library ask if they have an archives room where the old books are kept. One of the best gold spots that I have worked was found in archives in an 1800's Gov. Bulletin. ( and it was not in the state I was doing the research in )

 

     As for myself, the older the material the better. Hope that helps.       Ron

Thank you gentlemen. Any pointers are accepted.

Tim,
Research is just that. You will most likely hit a few road blocks along the way but never let the detour you. If you have a spot and you get told there is nothing on the area, it just means that it hasn't been found yet.
I agree with everything I have seen posted here. Never stay in the box its just to confining.
When I started doing research on an area i could find nothing at all for years except tales of robberies, murder and what not between a few Miners and some bad guys. One day it dawned on me to look up the information from the territorial Judge that heard the cases. Man talk about a lot of great X marks the spot info. Judges kept pretty dang good records and when a trail was about a Mining dispute they are pretty descriptive.
I knew a guy that wrote a couple of books about secret nugget patches here in Arizona that got most of his info from sitting in the Prescott Costco all day long watching the people that came in. If he saw someone that he felt was a prospector, a couple of pieces of pizza or a hot dog later he was pumping them for info.
It's ok to do research but great research pays.....

Morn'n folks,

About the LR2000. I've been using it quite a bit to find closed placers in my area and then pinning them on google earth with co-ord., serial # and source #. I'm wondering if a placer designated as closed on lr2000 could have been refiled on using the same co-ords but under a different name. Is that possible? Is more research required on a certain claim listed on the lr2000 as being closed? Does a person have to actually go to the location to see if there are new claim markers/discoveries at the site. Hate to waste time/gas going to a possible dig spot to find out it has been claimed and not updated yet on lr2000. I'd like to find out if a claim is closed/abandoned first. If there are valid claim markers I wouldn't mess with it. I have found claim markers in jars and old prince albert tobacco cans nailed on trees from the early to mid 1900's in Idaho County. Which reminds me, I have to check on the Coyote #1 (prince albert can). Very secluded, hard to find but easy to get to. I'm fairly sure it would be abandoned but I wonder if I could still find paper on it. I believe that's forest service ground though. All this research stuff is pretty new to me.

thanks

Vince,

Yes, a new claim can be filed on the "closed" area, with a new name or the same name. In fact, BLM does not care if you file over an existing claim, they will take your money and record it, say thank you very much and it is up to you and the other claim owner to take it to court and straighten it all out.

Yes, you have to go there and look for existing claims. But even if you do not find claim markers there could be a valid claim there. Makes it kinda hard to research but,,,,, you gotta do your due diligence or risk filing an invalid claim from the git-go. You can get copies of the Notice of Location for claims at the County Recorders office or the BLM,,,, but you have to go to the office in person.

Here is a quick rundown on the steps to file a claim:

1) Locate a "valuable deposit". In other words,,,,, find some gold.

2) Stake the Claim. According to the state requirements.

3) File a "Notice of Location" with the County. (CA, within 90 days, WA, within 30 days,,,,, state requirements vary)

4) File the "Notice of Location" with the BLM within the same 90 days.

There is more to each step but theses are the basics. If you do not do these steps in this order, technically speaking, your claim is not valid from the beginning.

good luck! Jere.

What Jere said also brings up another aspect of "research" Many county recorders are now on-line. It is a great place to check if an area is claimed or not. While lr2000 is a good starting point, it can be up to 6 months out of date. And as stated, BLM will take your money even if the area is already claimed, so checking with the County is a MUST

Thanks Jere and Michael. Good information. Much appreciated.

 

The Cottonwood BLM office is about an hour and a half. What I'll do is find an interesting CLOSED claim on lr2000 and print out that information, pin it on Google Earth and print that out and take it all to BLM and see what I find out there. Regardless of what I find at BLM I'll then go to the site and see what signage I can find. Or should I go to the site and see what is there first? Somewhere along the line I'll know if the site is available......I think. LOL.  Dang! Just want to find a spot to camp that has a little color and invite you folks over. Nothing better than swapping lies over a camp fire with a lil beverage, camp coffee in the morn'n and finding a lil color during the day. And somewhere along in there is gonna be a steak and tatters.

 

Yesterday I got some great information, including the GPAA Chapter Formulation & Bylaws, from Eric Whitmore, President , Snake River Chapter GPAA. Thanks again Eric. He gave me a contact for starting a new GPAA chapter. Going to look into the Formulation & Bylaws and see the what-for, where, when and how of starting a new chapter. So, if anyone has any suggestions, ideas, advice, pointers, WARNINGS (haha), anything, please send it my way. Don't know how much time and energy (& money?) it will take but got to take the first step. I've watched so many Youtube videos from folks all around this area so I'm pretty sure there will be some interest. Some of them have there own claims but some are like me and looking for a place to go play in the creek.

 

thanks again for all the replies

Vince,
I have given up on the LR2000 being completely up to date. In a couple of cases some friends used the LR and a trip to the BLM to look at a few closed claims only to find out they had been re-claimed once they got to the site.
That being said, I spend time using Mine Cache to look at a claim then use the LR2000 link within Mine Cache to do a second check on the status then head out to the location to assure that both are up to date. If open I'll prospect then and there and eval the claim at that time to figure out if I want to claim the dirt or not. I almost always have stakes and markers with me.
I have found it much easier than a trip to BLM or the county recorders office first. Plus it get me out into the field and I never know what I will find on my way to or from a potential claim site. Been a few times I was heading to A and ended up claiming B.

Thanks Kevin, good advice.

Take the information I find on the internet and print it out. Print off the map locations and put it all in my folder with the mining guide and take a road trip and see what's there. At the very least it'll be a fun weekend. When the snow melts of course.

One of the things I like about the LR2000 is the history it shows of folks that were there back then. I know/knew some of those old timers and there kids/grandkids are friends of mine. I also like to ride or hike into those old sites and dig around for bottles or whatever.

Hey, thanks for all the videos you put out. I really enjoy'em.