Beaver Lake Mining District (Utah). Recorder Mining records, 1872-1897.

The Beaver Lake Mining District, organized on 2 September 1872, was one of several mining districts organized in Beaver County in the early 1870s. One of Utah's major mineral belts extends through the Wah-Wah and Tushar Mountains of Beaver and Piute Counties. Mining in this area prospered throughout the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Utah miners organized local districts according to established custom and federal law which allowed individuals to claim mineral deposits in the public domain (Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations, of the United States of America, vol. 17, 1872, chap. 152). Local district recorders kept records of claims. Beaver Lake mining record books primarily contain notices of location for claims within the district. Each location notice identifies the claim by a unique name and provides a description of its dimensions and location. Location notices also include the names of locators, dates of discovery and filing, and the signature of the miningdistrict recorder or his deputy. In addition to notices of location, Beaver Lake books also include a few notices of location for mill sites and some 'non-forfeiture' notices filed by miners wishing to maintain claims during the years Congress temporarily suspended the annual labor requirement (1893-1894). A copy of by-laws as revised and adopted in May 1893 appears at the beginning of Book C.