Geocommunicator?, How the heck.. Options

[NewRockHounder]

http://www.geocommunicator.gov/blmMap/Map.jsp?MAP=SiteMapper

Can this be used to find claims?

If so, can someone try to explain it to me, I can't figure it out for the life of me.

Side note, at the top there's a link for mining claims, doesn't seem to be much help, unless (probably am) doing something wrong.

I think I'm getting somewhere with this, but could still use some help.

[swizz]

http://www.geocommunicator.gov/blmMap/Map.jsp?MAP=SiteMapper

Can this be used to find claims?

Hi NewRockHounder,
geocom cannot be used to find mining claims, what are you looking for?
There is no free online resource that accurately provides this legal information... it changes daily.
Public records contain actual physical claim boundary maps for each individual mining claim. The mapping is required to be submitted to public records by claim owners when they record a mining claim.
Public records which contain each claim owner's info can be viewed and/or copied from the appropriate County Clerk/Recorder's office or Lakewood BLM office. There is usually a small fee charged to physically pull these records for individual viewing/copying. The actual records cannot be removed from the office and must be copied there.
Some County offices have begun to offer this search service online for a nominal fee. Dan has listed Counties that do this in the CP Protected Forum. The online access isn't exactly cheap, depending on the County. I still prefer the old fashoined way... visiting the BLM or County Clerk and spending a little time pulling, viewing, and copying tangible records.
We have many threads regarding land status research as this is the absolute prerequisite to exploration.
It's not terribly complicated to extract public records and determine land status. Do it once and you'll get the hang of it pretty quick. Old timey miners had to do it all the time without any of the conveniences we have today and the channels of record storage haven't changed much. That's how we still roll today. Public records.