Am I missing some thing? Options

[AuRush69]

I was under the impression the maximum Area for a placer claim was 160 acres for an 8 person (or more) Association.

Which would be 1/4 of a section.

So i'm lookin @ google earth this morning again , and i find an active claim that appears to be consuming 3 quadrants in 3 different sections (all of which connect @ a point.) which would be 480 acres

so i fire up the baffling LR2000 site, punch in the serial # and sure enough , 8 claimants listed, each of which has one each of the 3 quadrants listed, right there in the records. Now i'm talking Quadrants of Sections not fractions of Quadrants here,

all under a single Claim Serial #, not multiple claims.

How can this be a Valid claim? , or am i missing something ??

[CP]

Thank you Astrobleme and excellent answer to the question!