Finding a Gold Claim

There are a few very important elements when locating a gold claim and these include:

• The discovery or exposure of gold.
• Noticeably and manifestly marking the boundaries of the claim that is on the ground so the claim can be readily identified. 
• Putting the notice of location in a conspicuous area, in most cases this has to be done in the actual area the discovery was made in.
• Recording an faithful copy of the location in a reputable office; this can normally be done in the County Recorder’s office in the county that the claim was found in. there are some other areas and states in which this can be recorded in the Bureau of Land Management.

Trying to find gold?
The Federal mining law does not need the notice of location to be posted or recorded; the only exception to this is Alaska. Nonetheless, almost all the individual states and places in which the mining laws apply have required there to be posting and recording. Because of this one should be sure to look into the requirements very carefully. The requirements obviously vary depending on the state one is living in, however in most cases a location notice will need to have the following information: the date; the name or names of the prospector or locator; the name of the claim; if it is a placer or lode type; the mineral claimed; the distance that has been claimed throughout the course of the vein, every way from the point of discovery and the direction, or the acreage that has been claimed as well as the legal depiction by specific areas of the section, township and variety; the connection by the direction and distance as precisely as can be done from the point of discovery to a permanent, known of, prominent and natural landmark or object like that that of a hill, bridge, boulder, stream, intersection etc. In situations in which a placer claim is located through legal subdivision it is not necessary to for there to be any tie in.