Series 3651

DESCRIPTION: In May 1872 Congress passed a general mining law called, "An Act to promote the Development of the mining Resources of the United States." This act declared that mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States are free and open to exploration and purchase by citizens of the United States, according to provisions detailed in the law, and also according to local customs and to the rules established by miners in various districts. The law validated the mining districts which had been and would continue to be established to govern mining activity in localized areas. The law authorized mining districts to govern the method of locating and recording claims, and to specify the amount of work necessary to hold the claims in so far as district regulations were not in conflict with the laws of the United States or the laws of Utah (Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations, of the United States of America, 1872, vol. XVII, chap. 152). At least 90 mining districts were organized in Utah Territory and by-laws for many of these were filed in the General Land Office in Salt Lake City. These are contained in the book and file which comprise this series. Each set of by-laws defines the boundaries of the mining district and designates the name by which it was to be called. By-laws define the responsibilities of a mining district recorder, designate his term of office, provide for his election, and specify amounts he can charge for his services. Additional district officials may be authorized. By-laws specify how records should be kept and designate who had access to them. They detail requirements for marking, recording, and working mining claims.

ARRANGEMENT: Some mining district by-laws were recorded in a hard bound book (box 3) and others were filed (boxes 1 and 2). No order is apparent for entries in the book, but each set of filed by-laws was assigned a number. By-laws are arranged sequentially by assigned number, which initially was also alphabetical, but later not so.

RESEARCH NOTE: This series notes a beginning date of 1872 because that is when Congress passed a general mining law authenticating the already established practice of organizing mining districts to manage local mining activity. Many of the by-laws filed with the General Land Office were created and adopted before that date.

RELATED RECORDS: The records for many mining districts organized in Utah Territory are currently in the custody of Utah State Archives. They are identified with each district as an independent agency. Utah law required that mining district by-laws also be recorded by the county recorder of the county in which the mining district was located (Compiled Laws of Utah, 1876, Chapter 10).

FINDING AIDS: This series includes an index which alphabetically lists the districts and identifies their file number. By-laws recorded in the book are alphabetically indexed on the inside cover of the book.

CUSTODY HISTORY: By-laws for Utah mining districts were filed with the General Land Office during the territorial and early statehood periods. This federal agency later became the Bureau of Land Management. When mining districts became obsolete as independent agencies, the Bureau of Land Management no longer had any legal requirement to maintain them. Thinking of their historical value, the state director of the Bureau of Land Management transferred custody of the files to Utah State Archives in November 1966.

PROCESSING NOTE: Mining district by-laws were processed in March 2002 by Rosemary Cundiff. At that time an original microfilming of the by-laws was deaccessioned and new microfilming was requested.

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

GAPS: In a number of cases the General Land Office created files for particular mining districts, but no by-laws were received. Empty folders, which were inscribed "no by-laws on file," have been identified in the container list.

CONTAINER LIST