Just wanted to let you know that a response such as yours for a vendor kind of took me by surprise! It's very uncommon today to find a company that sincerely stands behind their product and REALLY listens to their customers. Very nice change from the norm.

I've been using Mines and Minerals for a few months now and found it to be a great research tool. Whether you're a prospector, rockhound or relic hunter, this is a MUST HAVE research tool. We all know a lot of prime areas are in close proximity to mines and associated mineral deposits. If you spend hours going over topo maps and rock books etc, and then hit the road looking for sites, you're going to be doing a lot of field work. And at today's gas prices anything to cut down costs for fuel is great! This product will do that. I estimate I've saved at least 20 gallons of gas in the last month alone. That's about $59 saved! Not to mention saving that most precious commodity time. I think your product has just about paid for itself. Great product easy to use, excellent customer service. What more can you ask for?

D Huntzinger

I've been prospecting for over 25 years. I will have to say that all the research I've done would have been so much easier if I had your software program a long time ago. The software is excellent. The program really increases your chances of having a productive outing. Thanks again for the excellent product.

George C.
Gastonia, North Carolina  

I'm still learning the ins' and outs' of  this fine database. So far I've located a number of prospects that are in the realm of hearsay and legend. I have actual photos of the terrain and access to the sites mapped. The biggest single thing about this database is that its all accessible from home or anywhere else that internet access is available. For me to otherwise research this information would require going to the county seats where it is all stored and looking through every page, coping the data by hand or paying for the county to sell me a copy. I have done this many times until recently. This fine database has saved a lot of expense just in fuel needed to go to the research sites. Now this money can be spent on fuel to go to the actual prospect and find what is there. It would be really great if you could expand the database to include other items of interest.

David W.
Modesto, CA

First let me say, I have been playing with the program and I really like it. It works real good in conjunction with DeLorme© Topo USA V5.0 West. Don't get me wrong, Terra Server does a good job of showing a map, but if you don't know where it is at, it doesn't do much good. By searching the Lat./Long. on Topo USA I can zoom out to see where I am at.

Now, my reason for this note is to suggest that you put the 'county' numbers in the index. How do I know what county number 032 is? A cross reference from number to county would be real helpful. Thanks for hearing my suggestion.

Ron K.
Carson City, NV

Ron's comments / suggestions are well taken. The Topo-Aerial images he refers to are provided by Terra Sever-USA™ Web Services as a courtesy by the USGS. Each map image is a small portion of a full-size USGS map. The map name and size can be found in each Database. The 'Coordinate Window' feature of the Mines and Minerals v1.0 program allows for easy transfer of location coordinates into all mapping applications on the market today.

Ron's other comment applies to the MAS Database only. The MRDS Database notes the Counties by name. This issue continued to bother us, and after responding to Ron we continued to do additional research. We found the answer and are providing this link MAS Database 'County Index'. This index and other upgrades will be available in the new version of Mines and Minerals. "Please note the County Index may take a few moments to load"

I've found your product interesting. Packed with the info that I'm sure most other prospectors, whether it be for minerals or historical locations appreciate. The only improvement I would like to see is that the locations be organized not only by state groups, as you've already done, but broken down by counties also. This would make the application quite a bit more "user friendly" in my opinion. The reason being is, I more often than not pick a locale to explore. If your software was arranged by county then I could much more quickly get a list of reasonably close site info and maps together prior to the trip. As it is now it requires hours to put that list together.

But please don't get me wrong, you've shaved off days, weeks, months and in many cases years of collective research gathering. I know, because I've been on the trail of "westward expansion" for over 25 years and have visited many sites throughout California, Nevada and Arizona along with some in Mexico. The dollars I invested in ghost town books, old periodicals, magazines, newspapers and historical books pretty much has been met by your product in one fell swoop!  

I still "crave the flavor" of those old publications but my time is shorter now than before, and I can make good use of your product today. If you do decide to improve it, and my suggestion is used let me know, you'd have another sale. I hope my input has helped. Thanks and have a great day!

Bob D.
Golden Valley, Arizona 

We  provided Bob with a 'step by step tutorial' as to how he can use the Search and Filter features that are built into the program to accomplish his research needs. The Search and Filter features are a 'key part' of our software. He responded in kind as follows.
 

Thanks for your help, I'll apply your solution this evening when time allows and I'm sure it'll work fine. I think you've got a WINNER here! Thanks again for doing business the correct way, REAL customer support! WOW. 

We say, Thank you Bob for voicing your concern and giving us those great kudos about  our software  program. In the next program upgrade the 'county' issue will be addressed. All 'county codes' in the MAS database will be replaced by actual county names. We have recently listed a website link to access these codes, MAS Database 'County Index'.