History of the Dockets

Defense Minerals Administration (DMA), Defense Minerals Exploration Administration (DMEA), and Office of Minerals Exploration (OME), covering the entire United States, and previously stored at Suitland, Maryland, were transferred to the Spokane office of the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 1993. Also, DMA, DMEA, and OME files previously held at the USGS National Center at Reston, Virginia, and those formerly held at USGS field offices at Denver, Colorado, Menlo Park, California, and Knoxville, Tennessee, were transferred to Spokane.
An unknown number of dockets previously held at U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) field offices in California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington were relocated to Denver, Colorado, where, on termination of the USBM in 1995, the files were placed in the Denver Records Center archives. Dockets formerly held by the USBM, as were those formerly held at different USGS field offices, are essentially duplicates of the Suitland, Maryland, files.
Basic data from each file was entered into a computerized database that allowed ready identification and storage location of each file. In 2009, funding for data rescue was secured and the entire collection was scanned. In 2014 all original materials were returned to the National Archives and Records Administration storage facility in Seattle, Washington.

Docket Scans

The entire collection of dockets was scanned using optical character recognition, when possible, and converted into Portable Document Format (.pdf) files that require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing. The file size of a scanned docket varies from less than 1 megabyte (MB) to 500 MB, based on the amount of information contained in the original docket and how many (if any) oversized maps are included in the scan.
Scan capture resolution ranges from 600–1,200 dots per inch (dpi) depending on original document quality. Oversized maps were scanned at higher resolutions. Original dockets are composed of vintage 1950–1970 era paper, carbon-paper copies, mimeograph copies, linen, mylar, and other fragile and sometimes poor quality media. Overall, most all documents are clear and legible. Scans include all docket material including hand-written notes and oversized maps that may have been hand drawn and colored (not OCR captured).

How do I get a scan of a docket?

File sizes of scanned dockets vary from less than 1 MB to nearly 500 MB. Download times for large files will vary based on Internet connection speed, network traffic, and computer processor speed.