claim jumping
Mining rights theft
Claim jumping is taking over someone else's mining claim, especially one they've staked but temporarily left unworked.
The practice was common during gold rushes when prospectors marked territory they intended to mine.
The term extends to any opportunistic seizure of something another person established or discovered first: She accused her colleague of claim jumping after he pitched her idea to the boss.
- prospectorOne seeking valuable deposits
- goldElement seventy-nine
- gold rushMass migration seeking ore
- mineOre excavation site
- stakeSharpened post or share
mining rights · trespass · theft · frontier · Wild West · rush · territory · encroach · land grab · swindle · poach · squatter · deed · boundary · outlaw · vigilante · frontier justice · dispute
- Westernscowboys, western, outlaws, sheriffs, western novels
- frontierfrontier, pioneer, pioneers, settlers, settler
- Gold RushCalifornia Gold Rush, gold miners, gold mining, gold flakes, gold nuggets
- frontier crimescattle rustling, horse theft, train robbery, stagecoach robbery, bank robbery
- Gold Countrygold mines, gold panning, Sutter's Mill, gold nuggets, forty-niners
- KlondikeKlondike, stampeders, sourdoughs, sourdough, prospectors
claim, jump, claims, claimed, claiming, claimant, claimants, reclaim, reclaimed