Spring fever...

We should be armchair prospecting but we’ve got a lot going on and weather has turned nice! That usually means, at least for us, getting out in the forest and doing some tromping around.

We’re still not at liberty to discuss our current mission, but it does include prospecting of a slightly different nature.

We’ve had a recent rush of emails. Spring fever in prospecting also means people planning their vacations, looking to secure their little piece of the Black Hills. In some instances they want a claim of their own; others are looking to rent or lease for a few days at a time. They all have a story and our common interest in prospecting binds us into a nice little community.

Other emails regard those who have, or almost have, invested in claims sold over the internet.

I’ve discussed this multiple times and won’t get into all the detail, but warn you to check with us at hillshistory1876@gmail.com or the Montana-Dakota Bureau of Land Management to make sure they are valid claims before you buy. We have three recent examples of those being dupped:  1) claim was staked in an area with a Public Land Order withdrawing minerals, 2) claim was staked in an area unlikely to produce gold, and 3) paperwork at BLM was not maintained and selling parties cannot quit claim an expired claim.

 

We are still watching the lode claims being staked in the Rochford area and have noticed that although they put stakes on the ground across both private property and placer claims (mineral trespass), those conflicting claims are not being filed at BLM.  We’ll give them to benefit of doubt and say they are diligently researching infringement on other’s rights.

This brings up another subject! Do not, and we repeat… do not remove location certificates, corner posts, or any claim marker on the ground. Even those markers on private property should be left alone. If it makes you feel better, maintaining those markers is evidence of mineral trespass! We don’t remove another parties paperwork or monument even when we KNOW they have fraudulently overstaked us.

So with temps in the 50s today, we’re off to look for outcrops!