Las Vegas Sun

April 24, 2024

In this Dec. 23, 2013 photograph, In this Dec. 23, 2013 photograph, Amite County Chancery Clerk Ronnie Taylor shows how use of land records by the large number of leasing agents that have flocked to the county's antebellum courthouse in Liberty, Miss., has caused additional wear on the ledgers. Taylor hopes to have enough funds to put all of the records on electronic file to make searching easier and to preserve the ledgers. The agents review a variety of records to determine land and mineral rights to property that might be on or along the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale formation that may hold billions of barrels of oil.

Rogelio V. Solis / AP

In this Dec. 23, 2013 photograph, In this Dec. 23, 2013 photograph, Amite County Chancery Clerk Ronnie Taylor shows how use of land records by the large number of leasing agents that have flocked to the county's antebellum courthouse in Liberty, Miss., has caused additional wear on the ledgers. Taylor hopes to have enough funds to put all of the records on electronic file to make searching easier and to preserve the ledgers. The agents review a variety of records to determine land and mineral rights to property that might be on or along the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale formation that may hold billions of barrels of oil.