Did you know that the County Clerk’s Office has a Recording Department which recorded 9,997 documents in 2020?
Of those documents, approximately 1,800 of them were Property Transfer Deeds, but we also recorded many other document types including Statements of Authority, Death Certificates, Liens which were added, changed, or released, Homeowners Association declarations, county and municipality ordinances, and declarations, plat maps and deposited survey maps, military discharge documents (which we record at no charge to the Veteran and keep confidential), and mining documents.
The Chaffee County Vote Camp was a fun and productive offering for voting in the 2020 election. Set up in the park across from the Chaffee County Clerk and Recorder’s office at 104 Crestone Ave., Salida, it showed that even though the Clerk and Recorder’s office deals with serious topics, they can also show some personality.
The mine documents are especially interesting. The oldest one that we have on file is from May 16, 1887, and is written in careful looping old-fashioned script and with the official stamp, hand-drawn with the word “seal” printed inside it.
Some of the interesting names of mines that we have on file include the Kerr Lode, Fluoride Lode, Arkansas Lode, Chieftain Lode, Etta B Lode, the Frankie Lode, Hope Placer, Emancipator Lode, Last Chance Lode, Lost Wonder Lode, Grouse Lode, Juniper Lode, Glencoe Lode, North Pekin Lode, and Highland Mary Lode– to name just a few.
We’ve had the public ask what types of documents we record and the answer is – almost everything.
Recording a document with our department puts your document on file for posterity and makes it publicly accessible, so excluding certain sensitive documents which are recorded through the court system, we are able to record almost any document as long as it has a 1” margin at the top, a margin of at least ½ inch on the left, right, and bottom, and the correct recording fee is provided.
We can record everything from your real property transfer to your Great Aunt Ada’s super amazing no-raisin cookie recipe. Just keep in mind that Great Aunt Ada might have something to say about you sharing her recipe with the world!
It is very easy to record a document with the Clerk’s Office. We accept recordings in person, by mail, and by e-recording. The base recording fee depends upon the document type and how many pages it contains, but on average a one-page document costs $13 to record.
Once the Clerk’s Office has recorded a document it becomes publicly available for anyone to view for free at www.ICounty.org and you can even download or print a copy from the comfort of your own home for $0.25 per standard page. All recorded documents of the county have been digitized and indexed.
Our current project in the Recording Department is to move the physical Deposited Survey Plats to our online platform and make them searchable. Deposited Surveys are informative maps that are created for property improvement or clarification purposes and are used by surveyors and title researchers, but are not required to go through the Board of County Commissioners approval process.
In the past, these deposited surveys were logged and retained in our vault but were not easily accessible. We are now bringing all of the information and images over to our ICounty.org website along with a “Key Word” index in order to make it easier for the general public to access this useful document type.
The Recording Department is eager to assist with your recording or research needs and we are excited to continue to provide additional resources to the public on an ongoing basis.
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