Series 20084

A separate agency history is available.

DESCRIPTION: Utah county recorders are required by law to keep abstract records which show every conveyance, encumbrance or other recorded instrument for each tract (Utah Code, Annotated, 1953, 17-21-6). The Garfield County recorder created a similar record for the mining claims in the county. He or she created these abstracts on preprinted forms using a separate page for each claim. The top of each page names a particular claim, identifies which mining district it is in and who located it. Each page also indicates the date of original location and where notice of that location was originally recorded. In the body of the page the recorder has created a chronological list of all official activity relating to the claim. The record for each action includes the names of grantee and grantor, and the date, book, and page number on which documents relating to that action were recorded. These actions include, but are not limited to, affidavits showing proof of labor, maps, relocation notices, deeds, leases, and agreements.

ARRANGEMENT: The Garfield County recorder has grouped the abstracts alphabetically according to the first letter or first two letters of the claim name. He or she grouped abstracts in the first book alphabetically according to the first letter of the claim name, but subsequently created new books for each few letters of the alphabet and grouped claims according to the first two letters of the claim name. For example, Book H-K contains four sections for claim names beginning with the letter K. Section K(a-f) contains claims beginning with the letter K and a second letter a-f. Section K(g-l) contains claims beginning with the letter K and a second letter g-l, and likewise sections K(m-r) and K(s-z).

RESEARCH NOTE: It appears that the recorder first began to make abstracts of older claims in one book and abstracts for those more recently recorded in another book, and then decided to merge the two. Separate books are overlapping and identical in content form. Claims in Book 1 begin with the letters A-Q and were located before 1945. Most were located in the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries. Subsequent books for separate letters begin with claims located in the 1950s, but also include many claims located earlier.

RELATED RECORDS: Garfield County mining abstracts reference MR 1 (Mining Record Book 1), which is MINING NOTICES OF LOCATION, series 20082 . It contains only notices of location for placer petroleum claims recorded 1907-1911. The abstracts also reference WCMR (White Canyon MINING RECORDS), series 20081. Other books in which mining records were recorded are in custody of the Garfield County recorder.

FINDING AIDS: The county recorder created an index for each section containing more than a few abstracts, by alphabetically listing claims and identifying the page number within the section where the abstract is found. The recorder has numbered pages in each section separately.

PROCESSING NOTE: Garfield County mining abstracts were microfilmed by Garfield County in June 1998 and processed by Rosemary Cundiff in October 2001.

PREFERRED CITATION: Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

GAPS: Even though the first book includes only claims beginning with the letters A-Q, it appears that there are no gaps.

CONTAINER LIST