Will, Trace , here . A re you where you can talk? ”
“ Affirmative , old man, what ’ s up? ”
“ I may have found the mother lode, Will. I am going to give you some township and range information. Can you get on the Bureau of Land Management ' s website and check for current claims? ”
“ Can do , amigo . F ire when ready. ”
“ Okay, sections sixteen and twenty - one , T ownship thirty - six north, R ange twenty e ast. Got that? ”
“ Got it. ”
“ Second thing, Will . C all the county clerk at the Okanogan County courthouse and have them run a claim search on any claims filed in the last ninety days in the sections I just gave you. Also, we need to see if there are any patented claims in those sections . ”
“ Can I get in on this, Trace? ”
“ You ’ r e already in, p ard . Just call me back when you have any claim information. ”
“ On it , and thanks, Trace . ”
Back at the W , I started formulating a claim - staking program. This would have to be kept very, very , quiet. There ’ s no shortage of slime ball s and crooks in the mining game .
I plotted the bearing of the vein and figured about three claims in width and ten claims in length should cover the vein structure. Each lode claim is allowed to be a maximum of fifteen hundred feet in length by six hundred feet wide, equaling a little over 20 acres. In total, I was looking at staking about 619 acres, just less than a full section.
Rather than stake the claims myself, I wanted a registered surveyor to do the job. And I knew just the fellow , Ken Hodg es . Ken ’ s office was in Chelan , Washington, only a couple of hours from the Sullivan Mine. We ’ d worked together on a number of claim - staking projects in the past . H e ran a first - class operation and documented everything , i ncluding photographing the front page of a local newspaper alongside each location monument . So , there ’ d be no doubt as to when th e monument was staked. Ken also used state of the art GPS equipment and could tie each location monument and claim stake to within about two centimeters.
As an independent third party, Ke n would be able to testify to the validity of my claims , should the need arise. I knew of a number of low - life scum suckers who routinely over - staked new claims . They hop ed for an out - of - court cash settlement , o r ,
even better, a court - appointed fractional claim interest.
One of the worst bottom dwellers , Cyrus 't he Virus ' McSweeny , i mmediately c ame to min d . The Virus operated out of Spokane under the name of Columbia Resources, LLC. It was rumored he also owned interests in offshore holding companies.
Cyrus ’ s resume was colorful, to say the least. H e wrote the book on pump - and - dump stock scams. And he ’ d been accused, more than once , of naked short selling , selling shares he didn ' t own , via his offshore accounts. His favorite scam , however, remained over - staking newly staked mining claims .
A lways on various agenc ies radars, h is only pinch , so far , was for income tax evasion . The judge gave him five years at the federal pen , in Sheridan, Oregon .
The Virus could smell a new mineral discovery . I figured it was just a matter of time .
Will called back just before I headed down to the W ' s dining room for a celebratory st e ak and a good bottle of Washington State wine .
“ Howdy, Will . W hat did you find? ”
“ Good news, Trace. No current claims in sections sixteen or twenty - one . Sullivan Mining Company staked most of both sections in the late eighteen hundreds , but those claims are all long since closed. No p atented ground , either. You ’ re good to go. ”
“ Great news, Will. I ’ m going to call Ken Hodg es in the morning and get him and his crew up here ASAP . ”
“ Good plan, Trace. Listen , if you need me to come up, just give me a holler. ”
“ Okay, Will , and thanks. ”
Th e next morning I called Ken ’ s office in Chelan and filled
“ Affirmative , old man, what ’ s up? ”
“ I may have found the mother lode, Will. I am going to give you some township and range information. Can you get on the Bureau of Land Management ' s website and check for current claims? ”
“ Can do , amigo . F ire when ready. ”
“ Okay, sections sixteen and twenty - one , T ownship thirty - six north, R ange twenty e ast. Got that? ”
“ Got it. ”
“ Second thing, Will . C all the county clerk at the Okanogan County courthouse and have them run a claim search on any claims filed in the last ninety days in the sections I just gave you. Also, we need to see if there are any patented claims in those sections . ”
“ Can I get in on this, Trace? ”
“ You ’ r e already in, p ard . Just call me back when you have any claim information. ”
“ On it , and thanks, Trace . ”
Back at the W , I started formulating a claim - staking program. This would have to be kept very, very , quiet. There ’ s no shortage of slime ball s and crooks in the mining game .
I plotted the bearing of the vein and figured about three claims in width and ten claims in length should cover the vein structure. Each lode claim is allowed to be a maximum of fifteen hundred feet in length by six hundred feet wide, equaling a little over 20 acres. In total, I was looking at staking about 619 acres, just less than a full section.
Rather than stake the claims myself, I wanted a registered surveyor to do the job. And I knew just the fellow , Ken Hodg es . Ken ’ s office was in Chelan , Washington, only a couple of hours from the Sullivan Mine. We ’ d worked together on a number of claim - staking projects in the past . H e ran a first - class operation and documented everything , i ncluding photographing the front page of a local newspaper alongside each location monument . So , there ’ d be no doubt as to when th e monument was staked. Ken also used state of the art GPS equipment and could tie each location monument and claim stake to within about two centimeters.
As an independent third party, Ke n would be able to testify to the validity of my claims , should the need arise. I knew of a number of low - life scum suckers who routinely over - staked new claims . They hop ed for an out - of - court cash settlement , o r ,
even better, a court - appointed fractional claim interest.
One of the worst bottom dwellers , Cyrus 't he Virus ' McSweeny , i mmediately c ame to min d . The Virus operated out of Spokane under the name of Columbia Resources, LLC. It was rumored he also owned interests in offshore holding companies.
Cyrus ’ s resume was colorful, to say the least. H e wrote the book on pump - and - dump stock scams. And he ’ d been accused, more than once , of naked short selling , selling shares he didn ' t own , via his offshore accounts. His favorite scam , however, remained over - staking newly staked mining claims .
A lways on various agenc ies radars, h is only pinch , so far , was for income tax evasion . The judge gave him five years at the federal pen , in Sheridan, Oregon .
The Virus could smell a new mineral discovery . I figured it was just a matter of time .
Will called back just before I headed down to the W ' s dining room for a celebratory st e ak and a good bottle of Washington State wine .
“ Howdy, Will . W hat did you find? ”
“ Good news, Trace. No current claims in sections sixteen or twenty - one . Sullivan Mining Company staked most of both sections in the late eighteen hundreds , but those claims are all long since closed. No p atented ground , either. You ’ re good to go. ”
“ Great news, Will. I ’ m going to call Ken Hodg es in the morning and get him and his crew up here ASAP . ”
“ Good plan, Trace. Listen , if you need me to come up, just give me a holler. ”
“ Okay, Will , and thanks. ”
Th e next morning I called Ken ’ s office in Chelan and filled
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