Curious Case of ‘The Derby’
Put into ‘Evidence’ What lease is being referred to here in this letter from E.M. Sanford to George...
Yavapai County Treasurer’s Deed
No Redemption In 1947, A Treasurer’s Deed to the Highland Pines ‘premises’, Mineral Survey 2424 was issued and...
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Stonewall Loeb George U. Young was an Arizona politician and a strategic planner who aligned his goals with...
A land patent to Air.
First Impressions The U.S. land patent 818945, is in essence a quitclaim deed to nothing~that exists nowhere. Amongst...
U.S. Patent Deed to Highland Pines
The Puritan #3 and the Protection No. 2 Lode Claims The original application for U.S. mineral land patent...
Renting the Lowry Claims
The Golden Rule The Derby, the Madizelle property and the Lowry claims are all one and the same....
The Rule of 3: No. 1
Puritan, Peno Alto, Derby Creating is fun, creating in three’s is even more fun! The rule of three...
What’s Done in the Dark
How the Derby became the Madizelle Derby Mining Company, a corporation, by George U. Young its president, (E.M....
Entitlement to a Mineral Patent Under the Mining Law of 1872: Mineral Survey 2424
“U.S. Department of the Interior Memorandum M-36990, November 12 1997, Entitlement to a Mineral Patent. Introduction and Overview...
25 Mining Claims Bought & Paid: July 1, 1920, Madizelle Mining Company, United States Land Office
Attorney in Fact Department of the Interior Mineral Entry No. 045620, United States Land Office Phoenix Arizona, Application...
Madizelle Mining Company, claimant 419.692 Acres of Land: $2,100.00
IN RE Mineral Application Proof of Sums Paid ‘To the Receiver of the Local Office for Land’, $2,100.00...
Survey of Lode Claims for Patent: Royal A. Johnson, 1892
Important to Mine Owners Circular regarding Locations of Lode Claims, and the Survey of Same for Patent. Department...
Romancing The Stone: M. Ellen Young
Mary Ellen Young was wife of George Ulysses Young. On April 11, 1907, about 90 days out from...
OHIO Lode Claim @ Lowery-Hill Mine: Norman Hale & S.P. Hill, 1901
LODE-VEIN LOCATION Norman Hale and ‘S.P.’ Hill Notice of Mining Location dated January 21st, 1901 for the OHIO...
MINING SCAMS: Department Mines & Mineral Resources, ARIZONA
“A time honored method to bulk the public of millions of dollars is the ubiquitous mining swindle.” –...
Puffing & Bluffing: ‘Madizelle Group’ Sold in 1911?
There are seemingly endless examples of the twenty year long elaboration provided by George U. Young, such as...
The Cook’s are Booked
Pre-Mineral Survey 2424 Final entries that would one day become the foundation for J.J. Fisher and Frank S....
Land Conscience
Thievery Corporation ‘There is one part of the surveying business that Benson had down pat, and he has...
‘Brevity is the Soul of Wit’
Retracement Surveyor Beware, Fraudulent surveys may be anywhere The recent article in the July/August issue of American Surveyor...
Royal A. Johnson U.S. Surveyor General Arizona Territory 1892 Instructions for Deputy Mineral Surveyors
“Before undertaking any official business, you are expected to make yourselves throughly familiar with the mining laws, and...
SKULDUGGERY ‘The Derby Mining Claims’: Progress Report Dec. 14, 1906
A fictitious ‘progress report’ on The Derby Mining Claims Thumb Butte District Yavaai County, Arizona, U.S.A. by Booth,...
Protection Lode Claim
This is the Notice of mining location for the lode claim ‘Protection’. It does not say Protection #1,...
Madizelle x the All
A confidence game: The Story of the Madizelle swindle. Base of operation, The (former) Derby Mining Company, Prescott...
Protection #3 x Humbert x Protection #2
The most easterly 50’ of the depicted Protection #3 would actually be the Humbert lode, senior in right....
Humbert x Italian
There is a location notice recorded for the Humbert lode claim dated Jan 8, 1904, located by George...
Peno Alto No. 2 x Penos Alto No. 1
Similarly, the Peno Alto No. 2 lode was located before the 1906 Penos Alto No. 1 clim, in...
Highland x Penos Alto No. 1 x Peno Alto No. 2
Highland Lode: The location notice of mining location for the Highland lode claim shows it was located by...
Penos Alto No. 1 x Highland x Happy Strike
Is the Penos Alto No. 1 valid if located in 1906, well after the Happy Strike, but purportedly...
IRON MASK x IRON MASK
Mineral Survey 2424 is comprised primarily of these amended notice of location records, that are still inconsistent with...
Puritan x Puritan 2
The original Notice of location for the Puritan No. 2 lode claim has the 1500’ distance running an...
Protection #2 x Puritan
The Protection #2 is platted at 950.8’ x 533.5’ by J.J. Fisher, however the lode location notice provides...
Knocker Doom x SunnySide x Great Eastern x SunnySide
The Knocker Doom Lode claim dated September 7, 1906, takes in 1500’ x 600’, 400’ east and 1100’...
Great Eastern x Surenough Lode Claims: Conflicted Locations
Point of Discovery The Great Eastern lode dated September 1, 1901, is depicted on M.S. 2424 at roughly...
IONA LODE CLAIM CONFLICTS: Puritan, Puritan No. 2, Happy Strike and Peno Alto No. 2
M.S. 2424 The Mineral Survey of record clearly does not accurately account for these pre-existing senior rights when...
The Graft Checklist
Information required when considering the purchase of mining properties: 1. Name of Property 2. Location 3. Acreage. 4....
Isabella Lode Claim: Thumb Butte Mining District
This mining claim, the name of which is the Isabella Mining Claim, situate on lands belonging to the...
Mineral Survey 2424 MS: Sheet 2 ‘The Derby Lodes’
Patented in 1921 via serialized United States Mineral Patent # 818945 to ‘Madizelle Mining Company’, was the mining...
Claim Jumping’ & Stock Chiselin’
The popular ‘camp’ off of the gully at issue. Claimed by many, but conquered only by Young.
Assessor’s Record Maps: Highland Pines
The original Yavapai County Assessor’s ‘maps‘ relating to the various PLATS of record for ‘Highland Pines‘ are conflicting...
Field Notes: Mineral Surveys, Mining Claims
Below is photograph of a fictitious corner of a theoretical mining claim, that is way outside of it’s...
This is not the same ‘Mill’ site:
This is a photograph of George U. Young standing next to a Mill, presumably in the Thumb Butte...
‘Yavapai County will be well represented in the edition as Mr. Young wields a facile pen.’
‘Geo. U. Young is back in town again. Mr. Young, in addition to his business as mining sale...
Dummy Locator: ‘..concealed interests, fraudulent locations, invalid in its entirety’
“If a locator has knowledge of a concealed interest and is a party to the use of dummy...
Prospectus: Madizelle Mining Company’s property, 1917
In the letter below from F.J. Kilner at the Empire State Building in Spokane Washington, dated May 14,...
Arizona ‘Mineral Surveys’
A list of some very interesting records to pay special attention to, Mineral Surveys in Arizona from the...
Highland Park, AZ Thumb Butte Mining District B.L.M. ‘Master Title Plats’
This is the filed original Master Title Plat of record with the Arizona Bureau of Land Management for...
George U. Young’s ‘Mammoth Mines’, Youngberg, Arizona, ‘Goldfield’: MS1130 & MS3886 -CANCELLED
Cancelled notations by the Arizona State director’s on the face of the original 1894 Plat of the Claim...
Madizelle Mining Company, 1908 Articles of Incorporation; ‘Philadelphia’
What happened to the Derby Mine? The name of the corporation is (now) Madizelle Mining Company. A serialized...
T.C. Hill Camp, Ideal Camp, Lowry Camp, Derby Camp or Madizelle Mining Camp? Take your pick…
From the Camp: Fred J. Smith did not exist at the property until late in 1911, when he...
Puritan NO. 3 Amended Location Certificate, Law of 1899, George U. Young 1903
The only certificate of record for the referenced Puritan No. 3 lode claim of U.S. Mineral Survey 2424,...
The Ideal Mining Company’s Property: ‘about six miles west of Prescott’
The Land Frauds are Run Down… “T.C. Hill was in town yesterday from his mining camp about six...
Office of George U. Young: President and General Manager Young Mines Company Ltd., Madizelle Mining Co.
Letter of December 16, 1920, to caretaker of the land Fred J. Smith at Prescott, during the land...
AMENDED LOCATION NOTICES: (q) RELOCATION
“An amended location notice relates back to the original location notice date. No amendment is possible if the...
John J. Fisher: United States Deputy Mineral Surveyor, Prescott, Arizona
Appointment of John ‘J.J.’ Fisher, United States Deputy Mineral Surveyor Prescott Arizona. J.J. Fisher is one of the...
George U. Young: Mines & Mining Stock Bought and Sold, 1904 Letter
Mining the Investor letter dated November 21, 1904, from George U. Young via ‘Camp’ at Derby Mine stock,...
Fake Gold Mines
The Mining World: The images above were taken by a well known photographer in Prescott during the early...