Jackson County, OR Mining Claims & Land Ownership Map
Current BLM claim data, land ownership layers, and rockhounding-ready backcountry navigation for Jackson County, OR — built for the field.
Jackson County sits at the epicenter of Oregon’s gold rush history, where panners made the state's initial placer finds along Jackson Creek and Rich Gulch in late 1851. Early strikes around Jacksonville quickly spread throughout the Rogue River basin, giving rise to legendary diggings along Sterling Creek, the Applegate River, and the rich quartz pockets of Gold Hill. Decades of heavy hydraulic mining swept through these drainages, leaving behind extensive gravel workings that still yield coarse placer gold today.
The geology across Jackson County is defined by the mineral-rich metasedimentary rocks of the Applegate Group, cut by gold-bearing quartz veins and ancient bench gravels. Public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest spans much of the county's mountainous terrain. Because active claims tightly line major drainages like Sterling Creek, Forest Creek, and the Little Applegate River, verifying exact PLSS section boundaries is critical before stepping into the creek bed.
Staked Maps overlays live BLM record data and high-resolution topographic maps directly over Jackson County's historic gold districts. By parsing standard government PLSS legal descriptions down to precise 20-acre and 40-acre grid boxes, panners and detectorists can instantly distinguish active unpatented claims from open public domain land. Save complete county maps to your device for full offline GPS tracking in deep river canyons where cell service fails.
496
Current / Not-Closed Jackson County, OR Claim Records
6,181
Historical Jackson County, OR Claims
625
Jackson County, OR Rockhound Hotspots
7,302
Total Jackson County, OR Claims & Hotspots
619
Metallic Sites
6
Non-Metallic Sites
Notable finds: Agate · Quartz Serpentine · Feldspar
| Material | Sites Recorded |
|---|---|
| Agate | 4 |
| Quartz Serpentine | 1 |
| Feldspar | 1 |
259
Lode Claims
236
Placer Claims
| Claim Type | Current Claims |
|---|---|
| Lode Claims | 259 (52.3%) |
| Placer Claims | 236 (47.7%) |
View Free Version · Premium Plans
Save any map area while you have cell service, then navigate active BLM mining claims, surface-management boundaries, and optional layers like elevation contours, roads, and creeks — with zero connectivity out in the field. Offline downloads are included on every paid plan. See plans below →
Official Prospecting Resources for Jackson County, OR
Jackson County Clerk’s Office & Recording Page
Link: https://jacksoncountyor.gov/.../recorded_document_research_and_copies.php
What it is: The official local county recording office located at the Courthouse in Medford, OR.
Use case: Recording new mining location notices, filing annual Affidavits of Assessment (Proof of Labor), and researching local recorded mining claim documents and property deeds in Jackson County.
BLM Medford District / Oregon-Washington Mining & Minerals
Link: https://www.blm.gov/.../mining-and-minerals/about/oregon-washington
What it is: The official Bureau of Land Management portal for the Medford District and Oregon/Washington State Office.
Use case: Verifying federal public domain land status, reviewing surface management regulations on BLM Medford District lands, and accessing federal annual maintenance fee guidelines.
USFS Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Official Portal
Link: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/rogue-siskiyou/natural-resources
What it is: The official U.S. Forest Service portal for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest (headquartered in Medford, OR), which manages the vast majority of Jackson County’s mountainous forest land.
Use case: Reviewing Forest Service prospecting rules, submitting Notices of Intent (NOI) or Plans of Operations for surface-disturbing equipment, and checking active fire or road closures.
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Single State, Tri-State and All-West all unlock the exact same features — nothing is pay-gated between them, they differ only in how many states you get.
Paid plans renew automatically at the monthly or annual rate you choose until you cancel. Cancel anytime and keep access through the end of your paid period. See our Terms of Use.
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 496 current federal mining claim/site records and 6,181 historical claim records from BLM MLRS, plus 625 Jackson County, OR mineral-occurrence records derived from DOGAMI MILO-4.
A premium map layer of documented mineral occurrences, prospects and mines sourced from DOGAMI MILO-4 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 Oregon, not just Jackson County. Other Oregon counties with a dedicated page: Baker County, Grant County and Josephine County.
Jackson County Clerk’s Office & Recording Page is Jackson County, OR'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: Jackson County Clerk’s Office & Recording Page · DOGAMI MILO-4
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.