2.1.2 Staking

Up until 1880, any person who owned farmland in Quebec owned the rights to any underground mineral substances. As long as mining was occasional and small scale, there were no complaints: neither from farmers in the Mauricie region about the bog iron used at the Forges du Saint-Maurice, nor from farmers in the Beauce region about the gold nuggets discovered near the ruisseau Gilbert, nor from other farmers in the Estrie region about copper.

		Claim map taken from the Revised Statutes of the Province of Quebec, 1925.
	Source

		Surveyor’s chain, 20th century.
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With the discovery of asbestos and phosphate deposits in the late 1870s, it became necessary to devise a system to make the subsoil accessible to future mining developers in an orderly manner and to ensure government regulation of its development for legal and tax purposes.

The first Mmining Act in 1880 gave the Government of Quebec ownership over the subsoil of all unowned land and provided terms and conditions of access for prospectors to areas that contained minerals and metals of economic value.

The act authorized the prospector to stake out a parcel of land, a "claim," for a limited period on the condition that he carry out exploratory work.

		Miner’s certificate, 1937.
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Claim post identification tag, 1934. Source

Graphotype, 20th century. Source

Press, 20th century. Source

The prospector usually submitted samples to the Department’s laboratory and, if the results were positive, endeavoured to interest mining developers in his discovery; hence several claims formed the basis of a future mine.

		One-dollar assay coupon .
	Source