Inherited minerals - Discovering "lost" ownership

John W. Dietrich · 2017-06-14T21:16:36Z

My sister and I inherited some minerals in Billings and McKenzie Counties a few years ago from our stepmother, who got them from our grandmother, who got them from our grandfather, who died in 1963. Good old grandpa was active buying minerals in North Dakota and elsewhere way back in the fifties. Although some of these producing interests did correctly find their way to us, I believe there may be others that are rightfully ours that we know nothing about. Twice in the past two years we have discovered producing wells, in Burke County and more recently in Dunn County, completely by accident. It seems that all it takes is a slight misspelling of a name, and funds quickly go to "suspense," and then to a state's Unclaimed Property coffers. My question is this: is there a way to research individual state or county mineral ownership records? I know in North Dakota you can research documents that have been recorded, but what about old mineral rights acquired forty or fifty years ago or those where a name could have been misspelled? By sheer luck we have found wells that are producing $$$ for us now, and I am sure that there are other hidden mineral rights and leases out there that I don't know about. Has anyone else had this problem, and what have you done about it? Thanks!

Shales Bakken Shale

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