The following notice of formation was signed and notorized on 10/03/2011 and acknowledged by the Board of County Commissioners of Josephine County, Oregon on 10/11/2011.

Certificate of Jefferson Mining District Establishment
Notary Acknowledgment
 
 
 

State of Oregon            )
                                    ) 
Josephine County         )
 
 
 

Being the Law and Needs of Mineral Estate Grantees are not feasibly accommodated by any other Establishment over the geographic area sought to be served, in pursuance to a call made August of the year 2011, miners from far and wide held a miners congress at Pottsville, Oregon, on September 2, 2011, for the purpose of establishing a Mining District, to provide Guards for their future livelihood.

After exhaustive inquiry it was moved and carried to create and name the Miner's government:

It was moved and by unanimous vote, to determine the District boundary approximate the State of Jefferson. Upon due diligence, the boundary of the Jefferson Mining District is settled, to wit:

Commencing at about 37° 59' 45” N. Lat., 123° 01' 16” W. Lon., known as Point Reyes; thence,
Due East to a point at about 37° 59' 45” N. Lat., 118° 33' 45” W. Lon., North of Pizona; thence,
Northward to a point at about 43° 55' 47” N. Lat., 118° 33' 45” W. Lon., North of Coyote Cr., and Malheur River confluence; thence, 
Westerly to a point about 43° 55' 47” N. Lat., 124° 08' 49” W. Lon., West of Goose Pasture; thence,
Southerly along the coast to the point of beginning.

On motion of Dave McAllister, : ida-lee: family of reman was elected the Recorder. 

On motion of Curtis Bunch, subject to formal organization, Kerby Jackson was chosen for the interim, chairman.

Kerby Jackson motioned postponing further appointment of officers pending formal Organization at a regular meeting, unanimously agreed.

Upon motion of Hal Anthony tabling the creation of any rules until after such formal organization, carried by unanimous vote.

The Recorder will Seal a certificate memorializing these solemn Acts of this Miner's Congress Assembled to be posted for public notice at Josephine County, Oregon, the Seat of the Jefferson Mining District, or recorded at the County in the Book and for the purpose as available.

Meeting adjourned.

In the last ten years mining has come under increasing attack from extreme environmental, as well as tribal special interest groups and last, but not least, federal and state agencies. Most of the mining opposition today is centered around the small-scale miner. These miners number in the thousands and come from every walk of life. While many of these miners hold regular jobs and practice their mining as a supplement to their regular income, and some for purely recreational purposes, there are a large percentage of them who depend on mining as their sole income.

Most of the present-day anti-mining sentiment is centered in the Northwest states of Washington, Oregon and California. The opposition to mining normally consists of well organized and well funded organizations. By contrast, miners are, for the most part, unorganized and lacking the funding needed to combat the assault on their mining rights and property.

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GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- An effort by hundreds of Oregon and California miners to form a mining district the size of the mythical State of Jefferson is moving forward.

Today, representatives of the Jefferson Mining District presented their notice of formation of the District to Josephine County Commissioners. The group had hoped to have the document filed with the County Clerk's Office as a public record. Instead, they had to settle for getting it into the Commissioner's journal.

"They are at the moment the custodians of the mining records," says miner Kerby Jackson, "but obviously, this is an authority they've lost over the years. If you go back to 1892, they talked about it then. They seem to have lost that authority somewhere over that period."

Webmaster's Note: Contrary to the news item, the Jefferson Mining District is not merely "proposed" or simply "moving forward", but was officially established by miner's meeting on September 2nd, 2011. The admitted "lack of authority" of a county clerk to record a mining district notice is an interesting illustration of the uniqueness of the Mining Law when meeting Statutory Laws.