OUTLINE FOR PRELIMINARY REPORT ON MINERAL 



CLAIMS. 



Professor E. F. Schramm. 



In 1914 there were 163 national forests in the United States 

 covering a gross area of 185,511,957 acres. The majority of 

 these forests are located in mountainous or semi-mountainous 

 regions, which contain a considerable portion of the mineral 

 wealth of the country. There is not a national forest in the 

 United States that does not contain mineral wealth of some kind, 

 and in the mountainous areas of the reserves the professional 

 miners and prospectors are found assiduously prosecuting the 

 search for precious, semi-precious, and non-metals. 



The United States Mining laws and regulations thereunder 

 provide for the restoration of mineral or agricultural lands to the 

 public domain, if located on the national forests and proven to 

 be of more value for mineral or agricultural purposes than for the 

 timber contained thereon. Because of this provision, the forest 

 ranger, guard, or other field officer is frequently called upon to 

 give preliminary reports upon newly established and unproven 

 mineral claims. 



The following outline for reporting on mineral claims is com- 

 piled with the hope that it may prove of some benefit to state or 

 federal employees on national forests, to miners, or others who 

 are asked to make a non-technical preliminary report on mineral 

 claims, but who are not acting in the capacity of experts or pro- 

 fessional geologists. The brief notes in this outline are intended 

 only for the guidance of one who is called upon to make the first 

 and preliminary report on the mining property to guide those in 

 authority in determining whether a final detailed technical report 

 should be made by a geologist, mining engineer, or mineral ex- 

 pert. 



If the examination and report on the claim are made for the 

 state or the United States Government, the examiner should 

 specify in the heading of the report the name of the depart- 

 ment or bureau under whose direction the work is being done, 

 giving the land district and case designation if the claim is under 

 litigation. If the examination is made for the United States 

 Forest Service the name of the national forest on which the 



