Oregon Historical Mining Information

Oregon DMA, DMEA, OME Dockets

According to the USGS (https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ds1004),

"The Defense Minerals Administration (DMA), Defense Minerals Exploration Administration (DMEA), and Office of Minerals Exploration (OME) mineral exploration programs were active over the period 1950?1974. Under these programs, the Federal Government contributed financial assistance in the exploration for certain strategic and critical minerals. The information about a mining property that was collected under these programs was placed in files called dockets. A docket is a collection of material (application, contract, correspondence, maps, reports, results) about a property for which an individual applied for exploration assistance from the Federal Government. Information found in dockets describe where mineral deposits were examined, what was found, and whether it was mined. As such, they provide very useful information to private industry regarding potential and non-potential prospect areas, provide the U.S. Geological Survey with useful information on mineral occurrences that are used in national assessments for particular mineral deposits, and provide other U.S. Federal agencies (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, and Environmental Protection Agency) information relevant to land management, permitting, and leasing."

This list of Oregon dockets is reproduced from the USGS Historical Files from Federal Government Mineral Exploration-Assistance Programs, 1950 to 1974 - All Dockets Listed by [Oregon] County page

Also see USGS Open-File Report 98-464, Mining Properties in Oregon That Were Involved in the DMA, DMEA, OME Mineral Exploration Programs, 1950-1974, by Thor Kiilsgaard, 1998

Disclaimer: Mining sites are included for informational purposes only and should not be used to infer acceptable or permitted land use actions. Interested parties should contact their local land use authority to verify zoning and applicable land use ordinances. Respect the rights of private property owners. Understand that recreation in or around inactive mine sites is extremely dangerous and can result in serious injury or death. Stay out and stay alive! No warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the accuracy or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. These data should not be used for site-specific studies. The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein.

File sizes of scanned dockets vary from less than 1MB to nearly 500MB. Download times for large files will vary based on internet connection speed, network traffic, and computer processor speed. File size is shown, download scan by selecting the property name link. All scans are in Portable Document Format (.pdf) which require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing. If the linked file shows the message: "Multiple files are bound together in this PDF Package" and you cannot see the PDF content, download the PDF file and open it in Acrobat instead of atempting to view the PDF in a browser window.

OR Dockets in Excel spreadsheet format.