Prospectors Research Tools

Clay Diggins

Silver Member
Nov 14, 2010
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The Great Southwest
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
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. :thumbsup:

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
 

Upvote 12
Updates and Alabama Geology

As promised the County Recorder links on the Oregon Claims map are now up and working, links from the map let you click through to either the current BLM LR2000 report on the claim or to the County Recorder's website.

I just finished up the Alabama geology. It's a doozy! The folks in Alabama have some real interesting geology. Check it out!

More new stuff tomorrow. :laughing7:

Heavy Pans
 

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More Alabama Gold

Land Matters has some new resources in the Library to go along with that great Alabama Geology map!

Just go to any search box in the Library and type in Alabama and you will see four new results:

Gold Deposits of Alabama 1930 George Adams

Mineral Resources of the Upper Gold Belt 1896 William Brewer

The Lower Gold Belt of Alabama 1892 William B. Phillips

Sketch of the Geology of Alabama 1892 Eugene Allan Smith

That should keep you busy for awhile! :thumbsup:

Lot's more to come

Heavy Pans
 

Washing State Mining Claims map is now up!

The Washington mining claims map is current as of today October 12th. :thumbsup:
County Recorder links are going up as I type this.

There are 3,597 mining claims in Washington. You can access the current LR2000 report on all of them by clicking on the map. :thumbsup:

Next up for claims is Colorado!
 

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Yay Colorado!
 

The Washington mining claims map is current as of today October 12th. :thumbsup:
County Recorder links are going up as I type this.

There are 3,597 mining claims in Washington. You can access the current LR2000 report on all of them by clicking on the map. :thumbsup:

Next up for claims is Colorado!

Yes! Thank you.
 

Nevada Geology Map

I hope everyone had a gold filled weekend?

With the desert season started here we are involved in a new deposit, updating claims maps and software for FootPrints and preparing more books and maps for Land Matters. Busier than a cat on a hot tin roof. :laughing7:

The Nevada State Geology map is up and working. More state's geology coming later this week!

Colorado folks are going to be happy soon - Colorado active claims and much more are coming very soon. Keep a watch here. :thumbsup:

Heavy Pans
 

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Have you considered mailing letters explaining the website and its historic, geologic and practical uses to High Schools, Community Colleges and Universities? Also directly to the History and Geology / Earth Science teachers and Professors. Its going to be a lot of work but thousands of letters can potentially increase to millions of hits over time.

I don't know how keen you are on ad revenue but with a steady flow of academic visitors, its pretty easy to figure out your ad base, the rest of us would be miners of course. :)

There are also awesome ad generators that read your history quickly as a page loads and pops up an ad based on those searches.

Just an idea. :)
 

A very kind thought/gesture NT.

Hopefully the site can recieve Millions of hits this first year alone.
 

Yay Barry! co-lo-ra-do!!
Went digging myself after work Friday and then spent sat afternoon teaching kids to pan :-D
 

Have you considered mailing letters explaining the website and its historic, geologic and practical uses to High Schools, Community Colleges and Universities? Also directly to the History and Geology / Earth Science teachers and Professors. Its going to be a lot of work but thousands of letters can potentially increase to millions of hits over time.

I don't know how keen you are on ad revenue but with a steady flow of academic visitors, its pretty easy to figure out your ad base, the rest of us would be miners of course. :)

There are also awesome ad generators that read your history quickly as a page loads and pops up an ad based on those searches.

Just an idea. :)

Thanks for the suggestions NeoTokyo! :thumbsup:

We are always looking for more ways to get land users and researchers involved in Land Matters. We are already discussing coordination with other non profit organizations. Your idea of doing a mail campaign is a good one and would probably get a good response. We are really short on time and funds right now but mail contact, when we are able will be a consideration.

Ad revenue is something else entirely. We hope to keep Land Matters Ad free. That's a tough way to go I know but an ad free website is much faster and more responsive to the users. We designed the entire site to be as fast as possible, putting ads on would make it as slow as the slowest ad provider. I think you already know how much that can get in the way of rapid page loads.

Allowing ads also presents problems with our status as an educational charity. Having Monsanto, Sierra Club or the New York Times advertisements popping up would do little for our goal to educate and inform. We want to be a neutral place where the facts are available to all sides in an issue. Credibility and neutrality is essential if an organization is to play the role of presenting a common base of factual information.

I personally think we won't make much progress against fake "science" unless we can rely on our own sources of factual information. Selling Walmart TVs or car insurance doesn't improve an organizations credibility.

We've already had a huge, and growing, response to Land Matters. Hits certainly do matter in advertising world but the important hits for us are those that inform and educate our users.

Heavy Pans
 

Washington and Utah Geology Maps

It's been a really busy week in Clay's world but I did manage to get a few more maps started in addition to the new Colorado Claims Map,

Land Matters Washington State and Utah State Geology maps are up and running. :thumbsup:

Here's the link to the new Colorado Claims Map for those of you who haven't read the Colorado Prospectors Research Tools thread.

We've got several other State Geology maps requested so keep a look out for the upcoming Tennessee and Maine geology maps and maybe a few surprises!

Heavy Pans
 

That co claims map already has me starting to build a new list of places to go sample!
 

Awesome stuff. I can definitely see utilizing this valuable resource!
 

Barry your so busy with My Land Matters when will find the time to relax and enjoy the outdoors? :thumbsup:

I wish it was just Land Matters, this is the busy season for FootPrints and our main prospector just returned from a week at the new prospect. I barely have time to sleep.

That being said I know you have been really busy with life too. You thinking it's time for a nugget hunt on the hill? :occasion14:

Heavy Pans
 

I wish it was just Land Matters, this is the busy season for FootPrints and our main prospector just returned from a week at the new prospect. I barely have time to sleep.

That being said I know you have been really busy with life too. You thinking it's time for a nugget hunt on the hill? :occasion14:

Heavy Pans

Barry,

I know your busy with FootPrints and My Land Matters. For any of you that have not gotten a copy of FootPrints for the area of which you prospect you need to take a look at FootPrints. Do you Google search for, "FootPrints, Gold Mining" and there you will find MinerDiggins website. It's a piece of software that will benefit the prospector.

I hope to to go north sometime in November to the hill Barry as the weather is getting nice. Still finishing up some items with my fathers estate. Damn gov, banks, trust funds, etc. sure make us bend over backwards. Lost track of how many death certificates we have had to mail out. Trust funds requires a death certificate for each sibling to file individually.
 

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I'm so happy I stumbled upon this, great work!!

Is there going to be a footprints for anywhere in WA?
 

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