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.

[Gene Kooper]

Given the information that you have provided in this thread, I was able to figure out the claim name and mineral survey number for the claim with the shaft. Since you already have issues with a trespasser, I won't discuss them here. Your plat is available on the GLO Records web site and a color scan can be downloaded at no charge. I also have a copy of the field notes. If you do not have the original location certificate, the field notes include a certified copy of the amended location certificate, which lists the Boulder County Book and Page for the 1895 original location certificate. There is a nominal fee for the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder's office to make the copy.

I would be happy to assist you with additional research to correct the problem. One option to "fix" your problem is to request the BLM look at the merits of conducting a corrective dependent resurvey of their 2003 dependent resurvey. There are known issues with mineral surveys done at the time your survey was conducted. In 2003, the BLM was not aware of these issues. They are aware of them now.

One last thing....From reading your posts you have hired a surveyor for this project. It is not my intent for you to pay two surveyors. Any assistance I may provide you and/or your surveyor will be as a professional courtesy.

Please feel free to contact me at (303) 989-5424 or cekooper@gmail.com. Any provided information will be held in strict confidence.

[Gold Hill Miner]

Given the information that you have provided in this thread, I was able to figure out the claim name and mineral survey number for the claim with the shaft. Since you already have issues with a trespasser, I won't discuss them here. Your plat is available on the GLO Records web site and a color scan can be downloaded at no charge. I also have a copy of the field notes. If you do not have the original location certificate, the field notes include a certified copy of the amended location certificate, which lists the Boulder County Book and Page for the 1895 original location certificate. There is a nominal fee for the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder's office to make the copy.

I would be happy to assist you with additional research to correct the problem. One option to "fix" your problem is to request the BLM look at the merits of conducting a corrective dependent resurvey of their 2003 dependent resurvey. There are known issues with mineral surveys done at the time your survey was conducted. In 2003, the BLM was not aware of these issues. They are aware of them now.

One last thing....From reading your posts you have hired a surveyor for this project. It is not my intent for you to pay two surveyors. Any assistance I may provide you and/or your surveyor will be as a professional courtesy.

Please feel free to contact me at (303) 989-5424 or cekooper@gmail.com. Any provided information will be held in strict confidence.

[Gold Hill Miner]

Thank you! I will call in the next few days. I have everything. Plats, exact measurements and more ariels. I have physically learned to read the monuments and have measure a whole mountainside. Almost every claim has been pinned 75-100' feet down the mountain. We have proof of the trespasser bulldozing markers. That will be BLM's problem. I also have a center line pin survey for the road ass.