Ohio Mining District (Utah). Recorder
Abstract
Biography/History Notes
Ohio Mining District recorders were responsible for recording all mining laws, meeting minutes, location notices for lodes, tunnels, mill, and land rights, and all other matters pertaining to the district. All of these were to be recorded in hard bound books, which were to be open for public inspection only in the presence of the district recorder or his deputy. At first the district recorder's hours were established from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., but at the 1891 miners' meeting the district determined that the recorder's office should be open at all hours of the day or night with a deputy always there if possible. Ohio Mining District by-laws required that all claims be distinctly marked with the written names of the discoverers. Prospectors were required to have the claim recorded within 20 days of discovery and to leave the marker at the site for at least one year. In order to maintain a claim, federal law required the performance of at least $100 worth of labor or improvements annually. The Ohio District required that $50 worth of labor be performed within the first six months. District law also required the district recorder to visit each claim to assess the value of work done. As payment for his services, the recorder was authorized to collect $3 for recording each claim, $2 for each mine or claim site visited to assess the value of work done, and $.50 for issuing certificates.
Ohio Mining District recorders were elected from among the claim holders in the district at annual miners' meetings.
Ohio District recorders appointed deputies to assist in carrying out their responsibilities. In 1897 the Utah Legislature enacted a mining law, which transferred all responsibility for recording mining records to county recorders (Laws of Utah, 1897, chapter 36, "Mining Claims").