Prospector's Research Tools


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With the desert prospecting season just starting it's a good time to show off what I did this summer. I have been working with a few friends on a new non-profit organization to give you a single place for all your land research.

The result is MyLandMatters.Org. This is the gateway to your land information repository. Maps, books, tutorials, community resources and quality, easy-to-access information about the land around you.

No ads, No memberships, No log-in required.

This past spring while sitting around with some friends we came to the conclusion that most of the important and useful things that we want to know about the land around us was difficult to locate and tough to understand. Despite the many sources of information there was no one place to find the information available.

We decided we could do something about that. We agreed to put our time and energy into creating a single place that anyone could find the answers to questions about the land.

It's a big project. It has taken a lot of work, learning and resources to get things started. But after six months of long days, and more than a few nights, the Land Matters repository is ready for you to use.

Land Matters is all about the land. You can find Land Status Maps, Active Mining Claims Maps (with live direct links into the current LR2000 claims database), A great collection of mining books, Land Laws, Geology books and maps, Forest Travel Plans and a whole lot more.

Land Matters is for land users. Our collections are guided by community input. That's you. Let us know what kind of material you would like to find in our Library or a particular map you would like to see. Help us build Land Matters to best serve the community.

We've already got a lot of things that prospectors have been asking for - the claims maps alone were almost universally requested. Land Matters isn't just for prospectors and miners. But you can help prioritize our efforts and drive the content of Land Matters. Prospectors now have a unique opportunity to help build an information resource designed by prospectors and for prospectors.

We are just getting started filling the Library but there will be hundreds of books, maps and items added in the next few weeks. We've even got a Newsletter so you can get regular updates about new additions to the Land Matters repository.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Here are a few good places to start:

Tutorials - the current focus is on understanding Land Status.
Maps - We all like maps and we've got some you will love.

Library - search for something.

Barry & Leigh

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I will have to check this baby out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all involved!!!!

Prickly Paul

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Thanks for the encouragement everyone! We've had really great feedback so far. We've got more new stuff for prospectors added on the site today.

We have added a mining claims map for Oregon. This was our first request from the public. :)
The county recorders don't show up in an information return just yet but that should be working tomorrow. In the meantime enjoy the claims maps - Oregon was just updated this afternoon (October 7).

Second request was a geology map for Alabama. That should be available tomorrow.

Wasn't that easy? :D

Send us your requests and we'll do our best to make it available soon.

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All the states with claims will be mapped. It takes a few days to build the grid for each state's Land Survey the first time so it's a slow process. We will be building them in the order requested. Seems the folks in the Northwest got their requests in early so the next claims map we are working on is Washington State.

Right now Nevada is just behind Colorado but that can change as we get closer to scheduling time for them. ;)

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Clay I have to say your the man on gold mining research. Ive always been impressed at how much you help out new prospectors.

I never go out on a new adventure without doing research on it. research gives you a great edge.

AzNuggetBob

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Thanks Bob, I've always appreciated you sharing your knowledge here too. It's still out there and there is plenty for everyone who willing to do the work. Research is just a part of the skills of a successful prospector but it's a critical skill.

We've got the Washington State claims map up and running. It's current as of yesterday. There are 3,597 mining claims in Washington. You can access the current LR2000 report on all of them by clicking on the map.

Next up for claims is Colorado. :D

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With the desert prospecting season just starting it's a good time to show off what I did this summer. I have been working with a few friends on a new non-profit organization to give you a single place for all your land research.

The result is MyLandMatters.Org. This is the gateway to your land information repository. Maps, books, tutorials, community resources and quality, easy-to-access information about the land around you.

No ads, No memberships, No log-in required.

This past spring while sitting around with some friends we came to the conclusion that most of the important and useful things that we want to know about the land around us was difficult to locate and tough to understand. Despite the many sources of information there was no one place to find the information available.

We decided we could do something about that. We agreed to put our time and energy into creating a single place that anyone could find the answers to questions about the land.

It's a big project. It has taken a lot of work, learning and resources to get things started. But after six months of long days, and more than a few nights, the Land Matters repository is ready for you to use.

Land Matters is all about the land. You can find Land Status Maps, Active Mining Claims Maps (with live direct links into the current LR2000 claims database), A great collection of mining books, Land Laws, Geology books and maps, Forest Travel Plans and a whole lot more.

Land Matters is for land users. Our collections are guided by community input. That's you. Let us know what kind of material you would like to find in our Library or a particular map you would like to see. Help us build Land Matters to best serve the community.

We've already got a lot of things that prospectors have been asking for - the claims maps alone were almost universally requested. Land Matters isn't just for prospectors and miners. But you can help prioritize our efforts and drive the content of Land Matters. Prospectors now have a unique opportunity to help build an information resource designed by prospectors and for prospectors.

We are just getting started filling the Library but there will be hundreds of books, maps and items added in the next few weeks. We've even got a Newsletter so you can get regular updates about new additions to the Land Matters repository.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Here are a few good places to start:

Tutorials - the current focus is on understanding Land Status.

Maps - We all like maps and we've got some you will love.

Library - search for something.

Barry & Leigh

Wow very profesional web page------ Im impressed and I look forward to,,, "digging it"

Prickly Paul

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More Land Matters Updates:

The Colorado Mining Claims map is up and working.

There are 12,990 claims in Colorado as of October 21.
10,708 are Lode Claims
1,545 are Placer Claims
720 are Millsite claims
17 are Tunnelsite claims

We have rearranged how the claims maps work. Dolan Dave was one of our beta testers and as usual he had a good idea. Why not split up the Lode Claims and Placer Claims? And so we have. Brilliantly obvious - Thanks Dave!

We've also added a claims name display on the map for the Placer Claims when you zoom in. Let us know how you like the changes. If this way is better for users we'll change the existing and future claims maps to work the same way.

Colorado came first in votes for claims maps this time. I'm guessing they may have a bigger population than Nevada? :lol:

Those Nevada prospectors are determined though. There might only be a few people in the whole State of Nevada but I'm guessing you all voted 3 times? Nevada claims map is next in line to be finished. ;)

To keep you busy in the meantime I put up a Nevada State Geology map. These State geology maps are pretty basic right now but we will be adding more layers to them as time permits. We host the geology and claims on our own servers so it takes a while to build the databases. Check back often for new additions.

Don't be afraid to poke around in the Library. It's a good place to find useful things.

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More Land Matters Map Updates:

Several people requested Tennessee Geology so that was near the top of our list. This was a tough map to make, ALL of the government data was broken. We reassembled, fixed and cleaned up the data over the last three days. Enjoy Tennessee!

Skip pointed out that a Maine Geology map was a good idea too so that's up now.

The geocommunicator internet feed went down again this weekend. I went ahead and hosted the Grazing Allotment Map on our servers rather than hope and wish they would bring the map back.

These government map services are very unreliable, particularly on weekends. Part of our goal at Land Matters is to host this public information from our own servers. Our own servers are much faster and don't disappear at odd times - or permanently like the geocommunicator claims maps in 2011 or the removal of the 100's of National Atlas maps at the end of September.

Let us know what you think of the new maps or let us know what you would like to see in the Library or Maps.

Much more coming very soon. thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

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As requested the Nevada claims map is going live in a few minutes. Careful - this is a big one. It opens with just the placer claims shown to save on bandwidth. If you've got a slow internet connection you might consider zooming in before you turn on the 182,000 plus lode claims. :o

The BLM LR2000 data dump was updated yesterday November 2, 2014. As always please remember this is only a snapshot of the BLM case file status at one point in time. You can check current claim status for any claim on the map but you won't see new ones until the next update. This map doesn't show the actual location of a claim - only the assigned 1/4 section in the BLM claims case files. This is a research tool only - the rest of your required due diligence is up to each individual prospector. All that being said it's still pretty cool getting this stuff for free - consider a donation to keep the servers up and running. ;)

While you are there check out the Nevada Geology, Land Management map (included on the claims map) and the Wilderness map.

This was a tough map to build - California is going to be much harder. Only about 1/3 of California is surveyed. Makes it tough to put those claims in sections when there is no survey.

If you aren't interested in Nevada we just put up the Idaho geology - also by request.

Find a good spot and go play in the dirt. :)

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