Legal & Ethics

This database documents the historical landscape of Grant County, New Mexico — including mines, ranches, ghost towns, cemeteries, and lost places. Many entries name locations that look like they invite a visit. Most of them don't, legally. Read this before you go.

The four laws that matter most

1. Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA, 16 USC 470aa)

On any federal land — BLM, Forest Service, NPS — disturbing, removing, or even defacingany artifact more than 100 years old is a federal felony. The 100-year line moves every year. Today (May 2026), anything from 1926 or earlier is covered. That includes "just a button," "just a horseshoe nail," "just a broken bottle base." First offenses can be prosecuted up to a $20,000 fine and 1 year imprisonment; commercial cases can hit $100,000 and 5 years. The case law is not friendly to the "I didn't know" defense.

2. Active mining claims — federal land, private property

A mining claim on BLM land is private property under the General Mining Act of 1872 (30 USC 22). The fact that the surrounding land is "public" does not make the claim public. Trespass on an active claim is trespass. Before any visit to a mine site, look up the claim status in the BLM LR2000 database (reports.blm.gov) and the county records.

3. New Mexico Cultural Properties Act (NMSA 18-6-1 et seq.)

New Mexico extends ARPA-like protections to state and (in many cases) private land — including unmarked graves and ranch cemeteries. The state Office of Archaeological Studies has jurisdiction over disturbed sites. Do not dig at any cemetery, marked or unmarked. Photograph headstones, record the inscription, leave the ground undisturbed.

4. NAGPRA + ancestral Apache, Pueblo, and Mimbres sites

Grant County sits on lands historically used by Chiricahua and Mimbreño Apache groups, by Mimbres and other Mogollon-tradition Pueblo people, and by the Spanish and later Anglo settlers. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA, 25 USC 3001) governs treatment of any Native human remains and associated funerary objects on federal or tribal land. If you find what looks like a burial or ceremonial site, photograph it, mark the coordinates, and report to the local BLM office — do not collect, do not post the coordinates publicly.

The rules we follow on this site

• Photograph, don't collect. Every artifact moved erases context for the next researcher (and probably violates one of the laws above).
• We don't publish exact coordinates for sensitive sites. Some entries — Native burials, intact homestead caches, unrecorded cemeteries — show only a low-confidence coordinate or none at all. That's deliberate.
• Verify before you visit. The land status notes on individual entries are research aids, not legal advice. Confirm current ownership via the Grant County Clerk and BLM LR2000 before any trip.
• Contribute corrections via /contribute. The fastest way to improve a "Lost place" or "Needs source" entry is to bring a citation.
• All public-domain text on this site is licensed CC-BY-4.0. Excerpts of third-party sources are reproduced under fair use for criticism, comment, and scholarship.

Useful references

• BLM mining-claim lookup: reports.blm.gov (LR2000)
• NM cultural properties: NM Historic Preservation Division
• Federal ARPA text: 16 USC 470aa (Cornell LII)
• Grant County Clerk records: county clerk's office in Silver City, NM

This page is a research aid, not legal advice. When in doubt, ask a lawyer or the local BLM / USFS office before you go.