Location Certificates, Claim Jumper Options

[Gold Hill Miner]

I have a mess. BLM did a meets and bounds survey in my area and changed my property lines after 150 years. I have been on the same claims for over 26 years. In the last year I have uncovered every original property marker according to my deeds from the 1800's. Someone intentionally obliterated all of them. Now that same person is trying to prevent me from getting any corrections with violence. BLM recorded no evidence of almost all of them in their survey in 2003. They reset markers. After a year and a half of trying to figure out what happened I realized I just had to prove my shafts and tunnels to the mines have not moved. I own 3 seperate pieces of property. On 2 of those properties I own the mineral rights and the surface rights. On one I own all the mineral rights and only some of the surface rights. If I fix the one with the partial surface rights all the rest will fall back into place. My question is, do I just need the location certificates to get BLM to make the correction. Surveyors say" BLM changed your property lines now live with it." No one will pay any attention to the mine shafts and tunnels which I do not understand. The claim jumping started around 2001. I would not have noticed but the whole area burned in the Fourmile Fire including my home and all my land. When I came home to rebuild my lines had moved. In Boulder County you can encroach on someones land for 18 years and then it is yours. The fire happened only 10 years after the encroachment started. The claim jumper figured I would never know. I still have time to fix this. Boulder County had the location certificates and everything measures correctly according to the certificates and plats according to my property description. Do I need new ones? BLM has now given the claim jumper our property without verifying the shafts, tunnels and location certificates. The claim jumper had 4 structures in trespass on one claim and moved his property lines so he would not have to purchase his trespass issues. No one at Boulder county will help and BLM wants me to file a protest against their 2003 meets and bounds survey. BLM also pinned my horseshoe pit pins almost 100' away from the real line. Help! Even lawyers want me to file quiet title actions in federal court. BLM says they have no money to fix anything and I am just getting a run around.

[CP]

Hi Gold Hill Miner, been a while since we'd heard anything in this thread. Sorry to hear you're still having difficulties figuring this problem out in the field.
No I wouldn't think that a properly amended survey of any age would just be disregarded, that just isn't how the survey world works. Claim owners wouldn't need to "relocate" because of water either.
There could have been a severe error in the old amendment to the survey possibly, that could cause it to be repined.
Again just wondering, I don't have all the info to work with so just offering possibilities.
Another thought, is there any chance that the newer survey in 2003 done by BLM serves a completely different purpose unrelated to your patented mining claims in that area?

[Gold Hill Miner]

Hi Gold Hill Miner, been a while since we'd heard anything in this thread. Sorry to hear you're still having difficulties figuring this problem out in the field.
No I wouldn't think that a properly amended survey of any age would just be disregarded, that just isn't how the survey world works. Claim owners wouldn't need to "relocate" because of water either.
There could have been a severe error in the old amendment to the survey possibly, that could cause it to be repined.
Again just wondering, I don't have all the info to work with so just offering possibilities.
Another thought, is there any chance that the newer survey in 2003 done by BLM serves a completely different purpose unrelated to your patented mining claims in that area?

Yes, the reason they did this cadastral survey was to identify the BLM pockets of land for disposal. They ended up re- pinning every claim corner over 1/2 half the mountain section they were working on. Unfortunately I found the claim that caused several other to move 50-100' down a mountain off their shafts and tunnels. After the BLM survey Corner #1 of said claim is now pinned #4, Corner #2 is now #3. Like turning a page in a book. What a complete disaster across the rest of the mountain.

[Gold Hill Miner]

Yes, the reason they did this cadastral survey was to identify the BLM pockets of land for disposal. They ended up re- pinning every claim corner over 1/2 half the mountain section they were working on. Unfortunately I found the claim that caused several other to move 50-100' down a mountain off their shafts and tunnels. After the BLM survey Corner #1 of said claim is now pinned #4, Corner #2 is now #3. Like turning a page in a book. What a complete disaster across the rest of the mountain.

What is the easiest, most simple way to show BLM? Besides a 5 minute jaw dropping visit to said claim. They also won't look at GPS coordinates that match all county records, the location certificate, or the mineral survey. This claim was amended in 1902. The first Location was done in 1895. I found the pre amended location cert., not the 1895 mineral survey. I was hoping BLM re-pinned the claim in the pre amended position because there may have been an old marker still in place. I am waiting for the original patent package from WA.

[Gold Hill Miner]

What is the easiest, most simple way to show BLM? Besides a 5 minute jaw dropping visit to said claim. They also won't look at GPS coordinates that match all county records, the location certificate, or the mineral survey. This claim was amended in 1902. The first Location was done in 1895. I found the pre amended location cert., not the 1895 mineral survey. I was hoping BLM re-pinned the claim in the pre amended position because there may have been an old marker still in place. I am waiting for the original patent package from WA.