Homesteading on an old foundation.... ??

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Met one of our neighbors in town the other day. Said he'd found a foundation out in the woods somewhere north of here, and wondered about homesteading it. He said he thought there was a program, or some ruling somewhere, but couldn't find it. It was quite a coincidence, as I have heard the same thing in a couple different places.

Trouble is, both BLM and FS are utterly worthless. They will tell you that there is a program, but they have no info. Of course, they also have a program for finding such foundations and destroying them, which leads me to believe that there IS some way to do this. Since they are so terribly hard to find, the very few that do exist…. I wonder.

I'm looking for any and all suggestions as to where to go for info… Old books don't say much, and generally talk about the old homesteading law that was repealed a couple decades ago. Our library is worthless, but we are going to the State library in Boise next weekend. So - any and all suggestions are welcome!! I have a nasty habit of overlooking the very obvious, so please don't think that I had already thought of it!!!!!

Nope… haven't found a foundation… Just checking because someone else did, and they can't find any info either…

THANK YOU!!!!!!

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 23, 2001

Answers

You could check the Code of Federal Regulations, or the Uniform Commercial Code. The CFR should have a section where all things governing the BLM are delineated. The UCC covers how ALL business in the country, including governmental business, is to be run. There is a search engine for key words on both of these sites as well, but it might be tough unless you search in the proper section. Just do a google search for the sites, or I can tell you that one is run by Cornell University law Library and the other by Mississippi U. Good luck, that's a tough one!

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), April 23, 2001.

Beeeeep! Sorry wrong answer.Thanks for playing.The "Homestead act" was repealed in 1975 or there abouts.Didn't want to give land away to the damned hippies don't ya know.THERE IS NO LAND LEFT THAT YOU CAN "HOMESTEAD".The mining claim loopholes have been tightened and completely closed for the little guys.YOU MAY NO LONGER RESIDE ON A MINING CLAIM.I keep hearing the "If you can find an "abandoned" homestead you can try and claim it story too".No federal agency is going to help you out.I think this is another pipe dream being offered by the folks that run "FREE LAND" ads in magazines.(right next to the x-ray specs.They don't work either)Did you hear the one about the lady that tried to dry her poodle off in the microwave?................

-- greg (gsmith@tricountyi.net), April 24, 2001.

Before I read any of the answers... I am more than fully aware of the Homestead Act, its repeal, and all associated mining laws.... Don't bother going there.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 24, 2001.

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