Curious Case of ‘The Derby’
Put into ‘Evidence’ What lease is being referred to here in this letter from E.M. Sanford to George...
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...
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...
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...
Land Conscience
Thievery Corporation ‘There is one part of the surveying business that Benson had down pat, and he has...
Imperial Entanglements
However rich Arizona mines have been, there is a suspicion that, before the days of copper, their net...
‘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...
Italian x Italian
Considering mineral survey 2424 far as any Italian lode claim is concerned…We are presented with the most recent...
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...
Land Conscience: The ‘Missing’ Mineral Surveys of Arizona
Missing Mineral Surveys Notes & Plats (Bureau of Land Management February 1st 1986) Arizona
‘Original Surveys’ :…’eliminated incentives that encouraged fraud and corruption.’
From the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management module on ‘Original Surveys’: The Interior Department...
Upper Working Shaft (Not Italian): On Windy Ridge Dr @ ‘Horse Corral’ near 1066 N. Skyline Drive
A nice rock pile and ‘upper working shaft’ beside the home at 1066 N. Skyline Drive in Prescott,...
How to Correctly Interpret the Fictitious and Falsified Plat and Field Notes Returned By the U.S. Deputy Mineral Surveyors: Knocker Hermann
Aha…a clear and present ‘cloud on the monuments‘ themselves.
Highland Pines Plat “E” a Portion of Mineral ‘Survey’ NO. 2424: yeah…but not really.
American Title Association Est. 1907, Volume XXXV Number 3, March 1956
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...
The Mining Reporter: 1903 the ‘Groves Case’
Assigned position, vs. actual (legal/monumented) positions on the ground. Vein vs. NO VEIN, tangling up titles.