Prospectors Research Tools

[Clay Diggins]

Prospector's Research Tools

I haven't been around much this summer and with the desert prospecting season just starting it's a good time to show off what I did this long hot summer. I have been working with a few friends on a new non-profit organization to give you a single place for all your land research.

The result is MyLandMatters.Org. This is the gateway to your land information repository. Maps, books, tutorials, community resources and quality, easy-to-access information about the land around you.

No ads, No memberships, No log-in required.

This past spring while sitting around with some friends we came to the conclusion that most of the important and useful things that we want to know about the land around us was difficult to locate and tough to understand. Despite the many sources of information there was no single place to find the information available.

We decided we could do something about that. We agreed to put our time and energy into creating a single place that anyone could find the answers to questions about the land.

It's a big project. It has taken a lot of work, learning and resources to get things started. But after six months of long days, and more than a few nights, the Land Matters repository is ready for you to use.

Land Matters is all about the land. You can find Land Status Maps, Active Mining Claims Maps (with live direct links into the current LR2000 claims database), A great collection of mining books, Land Laws, Geology books and maps, Forest Travel Plans and a whole lot more.

Land Matters is for land users. Our collections are guided by community input. That's you. Let us know what kind of material you would like to find in our Library or a particular map you would like to see. Help us build Land Matters to best serve the community.

We've already got a lot of things that prospectors have been asking for - the claims maps alone were almost universally requested. Land Matters isn't just for prospectors and miners. But you can help prioritize our efforts and drive the content of Land Matters. Prospectors now have a unique opportunity to help guide and build an information resource designed by prospectors and for prospectors.

We are just getting started filling the Library but there will be hundreds of books, maps and items added in the next few weeks. We've even got a Newsletter so you can get regular updates about new additions to the Land Matters repository.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Here are a few good places to start:

Tutorials - the current focus is on understanding Land Status.
Maps - We all like maps and we've got some you will love.
Library - search for something.

Heavy Pans
Barry & Leigh

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[TheGoldProspector]

I haven't been around much this summer and with the desert prospecting season just starting it's a good time to show off what I did this long hot summer. I have been working with a few friends on a new non-profit organization to give you a single place for all your land research. The result is MyLandMatters.Org. This is the gateway to your land information repository. Maps, books, tutorials, community resources and quality, easy-to-access information about the land around you. No ads, No memberships, No log-in required. This past spring while sitting around with some friends we came to the conclusion that most of the important and useful things that we want to know about the land around us was difficult to locate and tough to understand. Despite the many sources of information there was no single place to find the information available. We decided we could do something about that. We agreed to put our time and energy into creating a single place that anyone could find the answers to questions about the land. It's a big project. It has taken a lot of work, learning and resources to get things started. But after six months of long days, and more than a few nights, the Land Matters repository is ready for you to use. Land Matters is all about the land. You can find Land Status Maps, Active Mining Claims Maps (with live direct links into the current LR2000 claims database), A great collection of mining books, Land Laws, Geology books and maps, Forest Travel Plans and a whole lot more. Land Matters is for land users. Our collections are guided by community input. That's you. Let us know what kind of material you would like to find in our Library or a particular map you would like to see. Help us build Land Matters to best serve the community. We've already got a lot of things that prospectors have been asking for - the claims maps alone were almost universally requested. Land Matters isn't just for prospectors and miners. But you can help prioritize our efforts and drive the content of Land Matters. Prospectors now have a unique opportunity to help guide and build an information resource designed by prospectors and for prospectors. We are just getting started filling the Library but there will be hundreds of books, maps and items added in the next few weeks. We've even got a Newsletter so you can get regular updates about new additions to the Land Matters repository. Check it out and let me know what you think. Here are a few good places to start: Tutorials - the current focus is on understanding Land Status. Maps - We all like maps and we've got some you will love. Library - search for something. Heavy Pans Barry & Leigh

Jesus! Sounds amazing. Lets see how it runs with thousands hitting your page at once

Thanks!

 

[goldenIrishman]

WHEW!!!!! I'm so glad you let the cat out of the bag at last Barry! I've had a hard time not spilling the beans on this one because of how important a site this is going to be for all outdoors people. Keeping it to myself was hard to do and even more so when I had guys pumping me for information on this project! Thank you for your efforts on behalf of all outdoors people as well as allowing me to help beta test the site.

Now.... The rest of you go check it out!!!!! If you're not impressed with how easy it is to find info and move around the site there's something wrong with ya!!!! I'd be willing to wager that it's going to be one of your "Go-To" sites! As it grows it can only get better and better for everyone. Don't be shy about letting Barry know what you'd like to see included in future updates.

 

[Clay Diggins]

I knew you could do it Jeff! Thanks for all your help.

Jeff has been a big help in testing the new site over the last few weeks. This project was a long time in the making and there have been several other TNet members lending a helping hand out of sight. Heck our own Bejay is a founder and the Chairman of the Board of the Land Matters nonprofit! Are you out there tonight Bejay? Take a bow buddy!

The point is in the long term this project is all about those who use it. We need everyone's opinions and ideas about what this library and map repository should have in it. It doesn't matter whether you like to prospect, offroad, hike or rockhound. Land Matters wants to know what map you could really use or which books you would like us to find and put in the Library.

All the members of TNet can have an influence on what is stored and available in the Land Matters Repository. Check it out and let us know what you like and what you would like it to be.

Heavy Pans

 

[SLNugget]

Congrats on the new site. Does it replace FootPrints and FootPrints Updates?

 

[timberjack]

Wow- great tool! Thank you to all that have worked on it!

 

[AzViper]

Barry, like Jeff I had a hard time not forwarding links of the new site. When you first sent me the links to the new site all I could say was WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW... Although I could not spend the time needed to look it all over due to the situation at home I do plan on having a good look in the weeks and months ahead. Barry and BeJay you both are truly an inspiration to Tnet forums. If any of you have every seen Footprints then you have a good idea whats in store for you with My Land Matters. We are so lucky to have access to such a great website full of information to pour over.

There is NO question that this threads should be a sticky. Hopefully those in charge at Tnet will either make the thread a STICKY or place a direct link on Tnet Forums for "My Land Matters" It's a tool for everyone, no fee's, no joining, just great information for all to use and enjoy...

Barry & Leigh thank you for the kind words in the email I received from you both, really helps a lot...

Keith

 

[Clay Diggins]

Congrats on the new site. Does it replace FootPrints and FootPrints Updates?

Hi Stan, I hope you get some good use out of the Land Matters website. It should help you study those areas to the west of where you have been mining the last few years.

The FootPrints prospecting program is alive and well. We'll be announcing the availability of some requested program upgrades in the next couple of weeks and we are already beginning to plot out the new claims that pop up this time of year.

I'd like to be clear that FootPrints is produced by a mining group I'm involved in. The nonprofit educational charity Land Matters is created and supported by several people besides myself - most of whom have no association with the group that produces FootPrints.

FootPrints is a high level prospectors mapping program. FootPrints is self contained on your computer and doesn't need an internet connection to operate. It has many custom made mapping layers and enables you to draw, measure, make notes and print the maps you create. FootPrints is the only source of claims mapped to their actual boundaries.

Land Matters is strictly an online program - no internet connection = no information available. Land Matters is intended to be an easily accessible repository of public information about the land. It does not even attempt to bring the level of detail or the custom made mapping that FootPrints has. Although it has a lot of information for prospectors it's mission is much broader than just a prospectors research tool.

We work with a lot of government agencies and use a lot of public information in our research. We have been seeing an accelerating trend of removing public information from the public's reach. This has been particularly severe in the world of government maps.

Some of you remember the geocommunicator BLM mapping program? It was a loss when most of the mapped information there was removed in May 26th of 2011. That was just the first in an increasingly long list of removed information. This problem is spreading fast, the geocommunicator was a loss for prospectors looking for easy access to claims information. Last week the National Atlas was taken down permanently, hundreds of useful maps were lost. These were all maps that were paid for by taxpayers and are by law free to the public. The National Atlas was the "go to" source for government information.

At Land Matters we are trying to preserve the public access to this information. Many of those maps and documents are being hosted directly on Land Matters now and the maps we are streaming from the government map servers are all scheduled to be hosted on the Land Matters servers. Hopefully we can get the bulk of these maps and documents onto Land Matters before they are removed from public use on the many scattered government sites.

Although not intended as such you might view Land Matters as filling the gap between entertainment sources like Google Earth and the higher level mapping on the FootPrints programs. That is a huge gap to fill but we've designed Land Matters to be very scalable so as long as it has the support of it's users we will continue to put all the relevant information in that we can.

In the meantime your FootPrints programs will continue to be updated and improved.

 

[SLNugget]

Thanks for the very detailed explanation Barry. And for LandMatters. I am sure I will be using it extensively along with FootPrints. You guys done good!

 

[cazisme]

I hope you can get a contract to dredge all the mercury out of our streams! I suppose you could sublet out the work to other dredgers.

 

[Clay Diggins]

More Mining Claims

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! We've had really great feedback so far. We've got more new stuff for prospectors added on the site today - more about that at the end of this post.

Keith (AzViper) actually gave us a lot of encouragement at a critical time in the creation process. Considering his own important personal concerns lately this speaks a world about the quality of individual he is. We are very lucky to have such a great mix of individuals on TNet.

We have added a mining claims map for Oregon. This was our first request from the public.
The county recorders don't show up in an information return just yet but that should be working tomorrow. In the meantime enjoy the claims maps - Oregon was just updated this afternoon.

Second request was a geology map for Alabama. That should be available tomorrow.

Wasn't that easy?

Send us your requests and we'll do our best to make it available soon.

 

[goldenmojo]

Barry thanks to you and all involved in this site. The info looks very useful and I am sure I will be using it often. Anything for NF or MF American is greatly appreciated. I am going to make a donation to the effort and suggest all do so too.

GM

 

[KevinInColorado]

Colorado, Colorado! (Pretty please)
PS footprints for Summit County Co would rock!

 

[NeoTokyo]

Awesome site!

But how can you forget the Golden State?! Please add California.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Hey Neo...

I'm sure that Clay is working on getting the California claims map ready to go. Please keep in mind that due to the size of the state as well as the great number of claims it has within its boundaries that this is going to be a LOT of work to get California set up. It takes a LOT of code to get even a small state to display the claims correctly so I'm sure you can imagine how much more is required for California. Clay and the team want to make sure that everything is good to go before they post it to the site. That way they can ensure that the information displayed will be correct. Accuracy of the information presented is one of the most important things they're striving for.

Eventually all states that have claims will be posted to the site, but if it's to be done right it's going to take some time.

 

[AzViper]

I have owned an operated a number of websites. Getting everything to open and run correctly is the key. As Jeff has said it's going to take time to input, position, spell check, etc.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Jesus! Sounds amazing. Lets see how it runs with thousands hitting your page at once

Thanks!

You are welcome TheGoldProspector!

We were of course worried about the load. The response has been huge and the server has been pounded almost continuously since we went public. So far the server hasn't broken a sweat. We tried to design the whole system to be very robust. Premium server with premium connection and a lot of very lean, fast custom code.

It all seems to be working as planned. Let me know if anyone experiences a slowdown or bad page loads.

Heavy Pans

 

[NeoTokyo]

Oh I understand, I was just putting it out there in hopes that it would be the next state in line.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Barry thanks to you and all involved in this site. The info looks very useful and I am sure I will be using it often. Anything for NF or MF American is greatly appreciated. I am going to make a donation to the effort and suggest all do so too.

GM

You are welcome goldenmojo. I'll pass on your thanks to our little crew!

If you type "american river" into any Land Matters Library search box you will get two very important results for the Middle and North Forks.

Geology and Mineral Deposits of the Colfax and Foresthill Quadrangles, California by Deb Chandra 1961
and
The Auriferous Gravels of California, Geology of their occurrence and methods of their exploitation by John Hammond Hays 1890

Those are about 5 Mb each to download.

The Chandra geology was so important we made a database of it and included the whole book in our North and Middle Fork FootPrints maps. The geology information we made into one of the eight geology layers on those maps. Good Stuff!

The Hays Auriferous Gravels of California is part of the California Geologists report for 1890. There are quite a few of these annual reports in the Library. We've got more of those as well as several important books about the American rivers scheduled for inclusion in the Library soon. Check back often for updates.

Heavy Pans

 

[CApicker]

Very nice!!! I am a map freak and love looking for strange and cool maps. One I found that I always go to that is loaded with layers of info that can be added on top of each other and viewed simultaneously is Caltopo.com. I commonly layer a current satellite view on top of a map from the late 1800's or early 1900's to see where the river used to run years ago.
Not sure if some of the historical overlays can be used in the "Historical Maps" section?
Love this site great work!