Monumental Mining District (Utah). Recorder

In 1897 the Utah Legislature enacted a mining law which made county recorders responsible for recording location notices and other mining related documents. Since this had been a primary function of mining districts, most districts ceased to function as independent agencies after that date. However, miners in the Monumental Mining District reconvened in November 1908 in the wake of booming oil speculation in the area. They revised the original by-laws and reorganized the district for the purpose of managing oil exploration. The district probably ceased to function when the oil boom subsided (1912).

The original by-laws of the Monumental Mining District specified that the district recorder was to record upon the books of the district, all notices of location and to provide a certificate of the same with his name and seal. District by-laws required that each claim be recorded within 60 days after location, and that at the time of recording, each claim was to be marked with a stake or monument of stone at each corner.

In addition to expanding the boundaries of the district, revised by-laws required that each claim be recorded by the county recorder within 30 days. New by-laws established regulations for oil drilling and set up committees to coordinate oil-drilling activities. In order to address problems posed by lack of water and the remoteness of the oil fields from markets, Monumental miners determined that road and reservoir construction would be counted as annual assessment labor.

Originally, an annual meeting of all miners in the district was set for the first Saturday in January. At each annual meeting the miners were to elect a district recorder and transact district business. When the district reorganized in 1908 mining district recorders were no longer responsible for recording documents, but miners of the district elected a president and secretary. They appointed an arbitration board to resolve disputes and decreed that board decisions were legally binding. They appointed a committee to oversee the construction of a road from Bluff to the oil fields.

In 1897, two years after the organization of the district, the Utah Legislature enacted a mining law which transferred responsibility for recording location notices and other mining documents to county recorders (Laws of Utah, 1897, chapter 36, "Mining Claims". All books previously kept by district recorders were to be deposited in the office of the county recorder. Miners in the Monumental District reorganized in 1908 for the purpose of managing oil exploration in the area. The San Juan oil boom had subsided by 1912, so the district had probably ceased to function by that year. The Utah Legislature did not completely abolish mining districts as independent agencies until 1933. Revised Statutes published that year state that at the termination of office of any mining district still holding office, the district should be abolished and the office should remain vacant (Revised Statutes of Utah, Annotated, 1933, 55-1-7).