Custer County, ID Mining Claims & Land Ownership Map
Current BLM claim data, land ownership layers, and rockhounding-ready backcountry navigation for Custer County, ID — built for the field.
Custer County, ID Mining Claims & Land Ownership Map
Current BLM claim data, land ownership layers, and rockhounding-ready backcountry navigation for Custer County, ID — built for the field.
Custer County encompasses the rugged heart of central Idaho, defined by the towering Sawtooth and White Cloud ranges and the upper Salmon River basin. Renowned for historical placer gold dredging along the Yankee Fork and high-grade silver lodes in Challis and Bayhorse, Custer County attracts gold panners, suction dredgers, and mineral collectors. Public domain lands managed by the Salmon-Challis National Forest and the BLM Challis Field Office offer expansive mountain territory for small-scale prospecting outside established claim lines.
Geologically, Custer County features complex structural faulting, Eocene Challis Volcanics, and intrusive batholith stocks. Hydrothermal fluids penetrated Paleozoic metasediments and volcanic host rocks, creating rich silver-lead-zinc replacement deposits, fluorite veins, and gold quartz lodes. Fluvial erosion and Pleistocene glaciation weathered these hard-rock deposits, concentrating heavy placer gold across expansive alluvial bench gravels along the Yankee Fork, Loon Creek, and the main Salmon River.
For lapidary collectors, Custer County’s mineralized country yields prized gemstone specimens, including star garnets, agates, chalcedony geodes, smoky quartz, and amethyst. Successfully navigating Custer County requires precise boundary verification. Active unpatented placer claims line major river channels, while lode claims cover alpine slopes, intermingling with private patented holdings and wilderness boundaries. Utilizing a live Custer County mining claims map enables prospectors and rockhounds to inspect current BLM MLRS records, confirm open public domain land, and navigate mountain access routes legally and safely.
3,017
Current / Not-Closed Custer County, ID Claim Records
27,645
Historical Custer County, ID Claims
853
Custer County, ID Rockhound Hotspots
31,515
Total Custer County, ID Claims & Hotspots
756
Metallic Sites
97
Non-Metallic Sites
Notable finds: Fluorite · Gemstones
| Material | Sites Recorded |
|---|---|
| Fluorite | 17 |
| Gemstones | 1 |
2,725
Lode Claims
102
Placer Claims
| Claim Type | Current Claims |
|---|---|
| Lode Claims | 2,725 (96.4%) |
| Placer Claims | 102 (3.6%) |
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Official Prospecting Resources for Custer County, ID
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Staked Maps isn't crowd-sourced guesswork. Current and historical claim boundaries are parsed directly from the Bureau of Land Management's Mineral & Land Records System (MLRS), which replaced the legacy LR2000 mining claim system in 2021, and kept in sync with our database on a regular schedule. Rockhound Hotspots draw from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS), cross-referenced by material so you can see exactly what's been found at a given site. For legal filings, always confirm current status directly with your BLM state office of record; Staked Maps is a research and navigation tool, not a substitute for the official record.
Directly from the Bureau of Land Management's official MLRS (Mineral & Land Records System) case-recordation records, synced into our database on a regular schedule — not scraped or crowd-sourced.
Staked Maps displays the status reported by BLM. Records with a case disposition of Active are labeled Active; historical records come from BLM's closed-claims dataset. These statuses are research information, not a Staked Maps legal determination of claim validity, discovery, ownership or compliance. Verify the current record through MLRS before acting on it.
Free users can search by county. Paid plans add search by claim serial number, plus each claim's full legal (aliquot) description and BLM records link.
Staked Maps currently tracks 3,017 current federal mining claim/site records and 27,645 historical claim records from BLM MLRS, plus 853 Custer County, ID mineral-occurrence records derived from USGS MRDS.
A premium map layer of documented mineral occurrences, prospects and mines sourced from USGS MRDS and labeled by material where available. These records are research leads, not a directory of verified public collecting sites.
Yes — the live map covers all of Idaho, not just Custer County. Other Idaho counties with a dedicated page: Owyhee County, Idaho County, Shoshone County and Lemhi County.
Custer County Clerk & Recorder is Custer County, ID's primary office for filing and researching mining claims — see the Official Filing & Information Links section above for the direct link and more resources.
Regulatory and editorial content last reviewed against official records · Source: Custer County Clerk & Recorder · USGS MRDS
Information hosted on Staked Maps is compiled from publicly available data streams provided by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and relevant state geographic clearinghouses. Staked Maps accepts no liability for the content of this geospatial data, or for the consequences of any real-world exploration, land entry, or staking actions taken on the basis of the information provided via this application interface.
Staked Maps makes no warranty, expressed or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, nor assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the pinpoint accuracy, reliability, completeness, latency, or programmatic utility of these geospatial data layers, or for the improper interpretation of these data grids.
These mapping layers and related graphics are visual convenience aids only; they are not legal documents and must never be used as such. The data may not be used to legally determine title, mineral ownership, valid description boundaries, jurisdictional authorities, or land restrictions in place on public or private land. Natural backcountry hazards may or may not be depicted on topographies, and land users are strictly mandated to exercise caution. Federal records are dynamic and change constantly. The end-user is exclusively responsible for validating current land classifications with local BLM field offices and managing compliance accordingly.