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OPEN LETTER TO CLAIM HOLDERS AND PATENTED MINERAL LANDHOLDERS
In 1980, I was part of a three man team that wrote a history of mining in the California Desert. Dr. Gary L. Shumway from Cal State Fullerton secured a contract to write this history for the BLM, who was studying mining as part of its mandate to document the California Desert Conservation Area. Dr. Shumway’s bid was accepted by the BLM to conduct an historical overview of 200 years of mining history within the five desert counties of Imperial, Inyo, Kern, San Bernardino, and Riverside. Dr. Shumway learned of Larry Vredenburgh’s interest and work on San Bernardino and Riverside counties, and Larry was given responsibility for writing about the mines within those two counties. I met Dr. Shumway in August of 1978 and was given the task of writing the histories for Imperial, Inyo and Kern counties.
The contract with the BLM included a request to make recommendations as to the relative value and ranking of historic mining sites within the California Desert Conservation Area. This part of the contract I wrote, and subsequently released separate from Desert Fever as Preserving Our Mining Heritage: The California Desert. The contract with the BLM called for the submission of a final report to them in early 1980. Dr. Shumway asked for, and received permission to retain the copyright on Desert Fever and it was published by The Living West Press in 1981. Desert Fever was printed in a limited numbered edition of only 1000 copies and received critical acclaim within the mining history profession. The first edition sold out in approximately 1985. Copies of the original first edition can be found in the Bancroft Library, The USGS Library in Reston, VA, and within the private libraries of many mining exploration companies.
However, the legacy of Desert Fever is currently being maligned and attacked by the very agency which sought its creation. While the recommendations are still pertinent in today’s environment, none of them to date have ever been implemented. The California Desert Conservation Area was upgraded to the status of a National Park, and yet the mining history values within the East Mojave National Park have yet to be interpreted and respected.
The BLM is embarking on a strategy to eliminate mining history from the lands they manage on behalf of the American people. Under the guise of safeguarding the public from themselves, they are inventorying mining sites and ranking them, not for the purpose of explaining the rich history of mining in the American West, but for the elimination of “hazards†and reclaiming the lands to pre occupancy levels. They believe that any mine opening within general range and popularity by the visiting public is automatically a public safety hazard and they propose sealing and closing these “books†of mining history.
Isaiah once lamented that one cannot read a sealed book. (Isa 29:11) By backfilling historic mines throughout the West, the BLM is sealing up a valuable legacy and burning books. The information contained in mines is priceless. Sealing them up is tantamount to book-burning. The BLM is twisting mining law on its ear and engaging in a war of intimidation against mining claimants who chose to keep the pre-1976 mining shafts open and accessible on their claims. BLM is actually suggesting that claimants are responsible for any and all liability on their claims unless they agree to allow the BLM to seal up shafts.
BLM is interpreting FLPMA as requiring claimants who deny BLM permission to seal shafts to be required to file a plan of operations and to post reclamation bonds for the shaft’s closure after the claim is relinquished. The BLM is quick to cite regulations, policy, public safety, environmental protection, love of bats, and just about anything as an excuse to eradicate mines and their history. But they utterly fail to take into account the historic preservation laws they must follow and by which they must abide.
A pre-1976 shaft is more likely than not an historical artifact and as such is protected under Federal laws. Backfilling a shaft impacts the integrity and significance of a mining site, making it illegible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. If a private party were to take or destroy an NR eligible site on public land, they would be subject to fines and imprisonment. Why then can the BLM do the taking and destroying and get away with that which a private party cannot?
Announcing the Adopt a Dump and Save a Shaft Programs
The NHMI (National Historic Mining Initiative) needs your help. Instead of calling into the BLM with the location of a shaft that needs fixing fast, we encourage you to contact us instead. We will compile an inventory of mining sites, shafts, dumps, and artifacts that need preserving. The inventory will include documentation, photographs, ore samples, assays, and the exact location of the cultural resource. Volunteers will be solicited to advise us of any vandalism or effort on the part of the BLM or state agencies to close, reclaim, backfill, or otherwise tamper with the historical/geological/biographical and legal history of the shaft and associated sites. Mining historians fear that at the current rate of reclamation, it will only take a few more years to complete eradicate the history of mining from the landscape of the American West. The BLM and State Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Programs are under the mistaken notion that they have a mandate to erase mining history and reclaim pre-1976 mining areas to a pre-occupancy status. They claim that they are “white-hat†agencies doing the public good. The sad fact is the good guys don’t always wear white hats. We will defend claimants who deny BLM/State Agency permission to seal shafts and wish to preserve access to the history on their claims. We extend this offer to any private landowner of mineral patents as well. DO NOT sign permission waivers until you contact us. For more information, contact
NHMI
c/o Russ Hartill
140 W 9000 S Suite 1
Sandy, UT 84070
In 1980, I was part of a three man team that wrote a history of mining in the California Desert. Dr. Gary L. Shumway from Cal State Fullerton secured a contract to write this history for the BLM, who was studying mining as part of its mandate to document the California Desert Conservation Area. Dr. Shumway’s bid was accepted by the BLM to conduct an historical overview of 200 years of mining history within the five desert counties of Imperial, Inyo, Kern, San Bernardino, and Riverside. Dr. Shumway learned of Larry Vredenburgh’s interest and work on San Bernardino and Riverside counties, and Larry was given responsibility for writing about the mines within those two counties. I met Dr. Shumway in August of 1978 and was given the task of writing the histories for Imperial, Inyo and Kern counties.
The contract with the BLM included a request to make recommendations as to the relative value and ranking of historic mining sites within the California Desert Conservation Area. This part of the contract I wrote, and subsequently released separate from Desert Fever as Preserving Our Mining Heritage: The California Desert. The contract with the BLM called for the submission of a final report to them in early 1980. Dr. Shumway asked for, and received permission to retain the copyright on Desert Fever and it was published by The Living West Press in 1981. Desert Fever was printed in a limited numbered edition of only 1000 copies and received critical acclaim within the mining history profession. The first edition sold out in approximately 1985. Copies of the original first edition can be found in the Bancroft Library, The USGS Library in Reston, VA, and within the private libraries of many mining exploration companies.
However, the legacy of Desert Fever is currently being maligned and attacked by the very agency which sought its creation. While the recommendations are still pertinent in today’s environment, none of them to date have ever been implemented. The California Desert Conservation Area was upgraded to the status of a National Park, and yet the mining history values within the East Mojave National Park have yet to be interpreted and respected.
The BLM is embarking on a strategy to eliminate mining history from the lands they manage on behalf of the American people. Under the guise of safeguarding the public from themselves, they are inventorying mining sites and ranking them, not for the purpose of explaining the rich history of mining in the American West, but for the elimination of “hazards†and reclaiming the lands to pre occupancy levels. They believe that any mine opening within general range and popularity by the visiting public is automatically a public safety hazard and they propose sealing and closing these “books†of mining history.
Isaiah once lamented that one cannot read a sealed book. (Isa 29:11) By backfilling historic mines throughout the West, the BLM is sealing up a valuable legacy and burning books. The information contained in mines is priceless. Sealing them up is tantamount to book-burning. The BLM is twisting mining law on its ear and engaging in a war of intimidation against mining claimants who chose to keep the pre-1976 mining shafts open and accessible on their claims. BLM is actually suggesting that claimants are responsible for any and all liability on their claims unless they agree to allow the BLM to seal up shafts.
BLM is interpreting FLPMA as requiring claimants who deny BLM permission to seal shafts to be required to file a plan of operations and to post reclamation bonds for the shaft’s closure after the claim is relinquished. The BLM is quick to cite regulations, policy, public safety, environmental protection, love of bats, and just about anything as an excuse to eradicate mines and their history. But they utterly fail to take into account the historic preservation laws they must follow and by which they must abide.
A pre-1976 shaft is more likely than not an historical artifact and as such is protected under Federal laws. Backfilling a shaft impacts the integrity and significance of a mining site, making it illegible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. If a private party were to take or destroy an NR eligible site on public land, they would be subject to fines and imprisonment. Why then can the BLM do the taking and destroying and get away with that which a private party cannot?
Announcing the Adopt a Dump and Save a Shaft Programs
The NHMI (National Historic Mining Initiative) needs your help. Instead of calling into the BLM with the location of a shaft that needs fixing fast, we encourage you to contact us instead. We will compile an inventory of mining sites, shafts, dumps, and artifacts that need preserving. The inventory will include documentation, photographs, ore samples, assays, and the exact location of the cultural resource. Volunteers will be solicited to advise us of any vandalism or effort on the part of the BLM or state agencies to close, reclaim, backfill, or otherwise tamper with the historical/geological/biographical and legal history of the shaft and associated sites. Mining historians fear that at the current rate of reclamation, it will only take a few more years to complete eradicate the history of mining from the landscape of the American West. The BLM and State Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Programs are under the mistaken notion that they have a mandate to erase mining history and reclaim pre-1976 mining areas to a pre-occupancy status. They claim that they are “white-hat†agencies doing the public good. The sad fact is the good guys don’t always wear white hats. We will defend claimants who deny BLM/State Agency permission to seal shafts and wish to preserve access to the history on their claims. We extend this offer to any private landowner of mineral patents as well. DO NOT sign permission waivers until you contact us. For more information, contact
NHMI
c/o Russ Hartill
140 W 9000 S Suite 1
Sandy, UT 84070
I should have something ready to roll up by the end of the week.
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