Digital mine claim density map for Federal lands in Montana, 1996

Open-File Report 98-489
By:  and 

Links

Abstract

This report describes a digital map and data files generated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to provide digital spatial mining claim information for Federal lands in Montana as of March, 1997. Statewide, 159,704 claims had been recorded with the Bureau of Land Management since 1975. Of those claims, 21,055 (13%) are still actively held while 138,649 (87%) are closed and are no longer held. Montana contains 147,704 sections (usually 1 section equals 1 square mile) in the Public Land Survey System, with 8,569 sections (6%) containing claim data. Of the sections with claim data, 2,192 (26%) contain actively held claims. Only 1.5% of Montana’s sections contains actively held mining claims. The four types of mining claim are lode, placer, mill, and tunnel. A mill claim may be as much as 5 acres or 1/128th (0.78125%) of a square mile. A lode claim, about 20 acres, would cover 1/32nd (3.125%) of a square mile. Mining claim data is earth science information deemed to be relevant to the assessment of historic, current, and future ecological, economic, and social systems. The digital map and data files that are available in this report are suitable for geographic information system (GIS)-based regional assessments at a scale of 1:100,000 or smaller. Campbell (1996) summarized the methodology and GIS techniques that were used to produce the mining claim density map of the Pacific Northwest. Campbell and Hyndman (1997) displayed mining claim information for the Pacific Northwest that used data acquired in 1994. Appendix A of this report lists the attribute data for the digital data files. Appendix B contains the GIS metadata.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Digital mine claim density map for Federal lands in Montana, 1996
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 98-489
DOI 10.3133/ofr98489
Year Published 1998
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Spokane, WA
Contributing office(s) Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Description Report: 9 p.; README; Dataset: E00.Z file; Additional datatsets: .TAR file; Map: .TAR file
Country United States
State Montana
Additional Online Files (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details