Clifton Mining District (Utah). Recorder Miners meeting minutes, 1869-1932.

The Clifton Mining District, organized in October 1869 in the Deep Creek Mountains of western Tooele County (Utah), included the mining camps, Clifton and Gold Hill. Travelers and prospectors found an abundance of mineral deposits in the Deep Creek Mountains, and according to established precedent, mineral deposits in the public domain were free and open to exploration, and locators of the same had exclusive right of possession. In local areas miners organized mining districts and elected district recorders to oversee mining operations and keep records of claims. Congress validated these precedents by passing a federal mining law in 1872 (See Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations, of the United States of America, 1872, vol. 17, 1872, chap. 152). Beginning with a meeting to organize a district, claim holders in Clifton and Gold Hill gathered at annual and special meetings to elect recorders for the district, to establish or review district by-laws, and to address otherconcerns. By-laws books contain the minutes of miners' meetings and copies of district by-laws as they were adopted and revised. Of particular interest, Clifton District miners' meeting minutes contain details of a controversy over the recordership of George W. Brown (1874, 1883). Miners in the district questioned and investigated his competence and integrity.