Blue Bell Mining District (Utah). Recorder Location notices, 1896-1897.

The development of the cyanide process in the early 1890s and the construction of the first commercial cyanide mill in Mercur stimulated mining activity and prompted the organization of several new mining districts. The Blue Bell District was organized in southeast Tooele County in 1896. Records kept by the Blue Bell Mining District recorder include only notices of location for claims staked in the district. According to federal law, mineral deposits in the public domain were free and open to exploration, and locators of the same had exclusive right of possession. Local mining districts managed mining operations and recorded claims. (Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations, of the United States of America, vol. 17, 1872, chap. 152). Each notice of location recorded in the Blue Bell District includes a detailed description of the claim and the names of locators. The names of claims are printed boldly at the top of each page and each is signed and dated by the district recorder.