README.txt

Digital Databases Containing  Mining Claim Density 
Information for Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, 
Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, 
Utah, Washington, and Wyoming Created From the BLM Mining 
Claim Recordation System: 1996

by Paul C. Hyndman(1) and Harry W. Campbell(2)

Open-File Report 99-325

1999


This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for 
conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards or 
with the North American Stratigraphic Code.  Any use of 
trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes 
only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

These databases, identified as Digital databases containing  
mining claim density information for Arizona, California, 
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, 
Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming created 
from the BLM Mining Claim Recordation System: 1996, has been 
approved for release and publication by the Director of the 
USGS.  Although the databases have been reviewed and are 
substantially complete, the USGS reserves the right to revise 
the data pursuant to further analysis and review.  The 
databases are released on condition that neither the USGS nor 
the U.S. Government may be held liable for any damages 
resulting from their use.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

(1) U.S. Geological Survey, Spokane, WA 99201
(2) Retired, U.S. Geological Survey, Spokane, WA 99201

QUICK START

For those already familiar with Adobe Acrobat Reader and who 
have Version 3.0 or higher on their computer, go directly to 
the file OF99-325.PDF.


INTRODUCTION

This Open-File report describes digital databases of mining-
claim density databases for 13 western states.  These 
databases should contribute to research into the 
interrelationships of mining claim activity with physical 
geology and social concerns.  The text documents on this disc 
(OF99-325.txt, OF99-325.PDF) serve to 
introduce and describe the data.  There is no paper map 
included in the Open-File report.

These mining claim density databases were created from data 
obtained in March of 1997 from the Mining Claim Recordation 
System (MCRS) of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  These 
databases provide mining claim density information in a 
tabular form.  They quantify the status of mining claim 
activity for 1996 and include information on mining claim 
activity since 1976.  The databases contain information 
identifying 1) the general location of mining claims within 
the Public Land Survey System (PLS), 2) the number and type 
of claims (lode, placer, mill site, tunnel site), and 3) the 
status of the claims (open is held, closed is no longer held 
by a claimant).

BLM is the official land and mineral ownership record-keeping 
agency for the Federal government.  It maintains a cumulative 
computer listing of all unpatented mining claims on Federal 
lands, by meridian, township, range and section, in the MCRS 
in accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976 (FLPMA).  All unpatented mining claims located after 
1976 must be recorded at the appropriate BLM state office.  
Location notices recorded with BLM are stamped with a serial 
number and placed into a folder.  Amendments, proofs of 
labor, notices of intent to hold, notifications of change of 
address, quitclaim deeds, and any other correspondence 
relating to a claim are placed into the folder.  This entire 
package is referred to as a case file and is stored in 
serial-number order in the Dockets section of each BLM state 
office.  A case is considered closed after relinquishment 
of a mining claim or after a formal BLM decision declares a 
mining claim null and void has been issued and the appeal 
period has expired.  Otherwise, a case or mining claim is 
open.

The BLM officially releases mining claim data updates on a 
quarterly basis.  However, a lag time is involved between the 
time a mining claim is recorded at a BLM office and the time 
the data is entered into the MCRS database.  A March, 1997, 
quarterly data release should include any claims submitted 
toward the end of 1996 which would not have been included in 
a December, 1996, quarterly release. 

Each statewide database was processed using the methodology 
outlined by Campbell (1996).  Computer programs were written 
to analyze and summarize the data according to number, type, 
and status of mining claim within each section of the PLS. 

 The accuracy of the mining claim density databases depends 
on the accuracy of the MCRS.   Possible sources of error in 
the MCRS may be due to erroneous locations submitted by a 
claimant or typographic errors during data input.  These 
possible sources of error are difficult to quantify but are 
considered insignificant.

A source of error in the mining claim density database 
involves the accuracy of the physical location of a claim.  
The individual databases represent the physical location of a 
claim only to the section of the PLS first described in the 
MCRS database even though the claim may occur in several 
sections.  The MCRS database may describe the physical 
location of a claim as being in several adjoining sections 
and may provide subsection detail.  The decision was made to 
record the mining claim density information to the section 
because the section is the basic unit of the PLS.  This 
decision also ensured an accurate count of mining claims by 
eliminating multiple counting of those claims occurring in 
several sections.

A geographic information system can be used to combine each 
database with its respective digital public land survey (PLS) 
to create digital mining claim density maps.   An example of 
a digital mining claim density map,  'Digital mining claim 
density map for Federal lands in the Pacific Northwest: 
1996,' was created by Campbell and Hyndman.  Such digital 
maps should be useful in determining the nature and magnitude 
of mining claim activity on Federal mineral estate in each 
State.  In addition, the digital maps should be useful in 
determining interrelationships with geologic, political, and 
sociologic concerns from other sources.  Additional 
potentially useful information is available in the BLM 
digital mining claim database but is not included in the 
digital products presently being released.  Figure 1 in 
OF99-325.PDF displays the general 
distribution of mining claims in 11 of the Western States 
(open shown in black and closed shown in gray).  


OBTAINING DIGITAL DATA

An official quarterly release of BLMs MCRS database for an 
individual State is available by specific request from the:

United States Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
Mining Claim Recordation System Coordinator
Denver Federal Center, Building 50
Denver, CO 80225-0047  

The 13 digital mining claim density files created for this 
report are available in dBase 3 (Borland International, 
Scotts Valley, California) format and in fixed length ASCII 
format from http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1999/of99-325 .  
The databases and this report 
were compressed into the file OF99-325.EXE, a self-
extracting file created by WinZip version 6.3 (Niko Mak 
Computing, Mansfield, Connecticut).

The files for this report can be obtained over the Internet 
at URL http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1999/of99-325

MINING CLAIM DENSITY DATABASE CONTENTS AND SPECIFICS

The mining claim density databases are provided in dBase 
version 3 format and in ASCII text format.  The contents 
consist of information pertinent to the distribution, type, 
and status of mining claim activity in each of the 13 States. 
Table 1 in OF99-325.PDF contains a list of 
the ASCII and Visual dBase 5 files, this report, and their 
sizes. Table 2 in OF99-325.PDF shows the 
fields, structure and descriptions in the mining claim density 
databases.  Table 3 in OF99-325.PDF contains 
a list of Principal meridians of the PLS and the Federal 
Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code of each meridian.  
This code is incorporated into the MTRS field in the databases.
Table 4 in OF99-325.PDF displays the 
cumulative number, type, and status of mining claims for each 
state.  This table is provided to give a sense of the 
information contained in the databases and to enable the user 
to view one possible output of the data.  Table 5 in 
OF99-325.PDF displays the maximum number of 
claims identified in a section, by type, in each database.


METADATA

Metadata for this report are contained in OF99-325.txt, OF99-325.PDF, and OF99-325.EXE.