We have added a new way to browse and explore patents: by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Administrative Area. To give context to this new feature, we wrote this handy explanation. Summary Nearly a quarter of a billion acres – about one-eighth of the landmass of the USA – is administered by the BLM. These public lands & resources contributed…
Understanding Townships
This entry focuses on a part of our earlier discussion, Understanding Location Data. For greater context on what we will be addressing, please read that post first. One of the more confusing aspects of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the concept of “townships.” A “township” can refer to two different things. Both are part of the PLSS measurement system but have…
Ralph H. Cameron and the Grand Canyon
Claim #AZAZAA-016017–01 Coconino County, Arizona The creation of National Parks are often met with some resistance from local interests, but few saw a more bitter battle than between Ralph H. Cameron and the federal government over the creation of the Grand Canyon National Park. Cameron had mining claims on prime land along the rim which predated the designation of the…
Understanding Location Data
Claims handled by the Bureau of Land Management are not mapped by latitude and longitude, as many maps now use. Instead, many of these claims harken back to an older form of surveying called the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), a measurement system that may seem confusing to the uninitiated, but was a great step forward in the time that it…
Welcome!
We are excited to have launched The Land Patents! There are many public land patents across the US. Yet, few people are able to discover the “who,” “what,” and “where” of public land patents. While this is a matter of public record, we aim to make it a matter of a simple search to answer all these questions and more!…