Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Go to the county assessor's office and look up the property and its history of ownership or who currently pays taxes on the property. Look through the deeds as to every transfer of the property [going from now backward in time].

It may be very easy or next to impossible, depending upon how old the first severance of the mineral rights occurred. Mr. Shers' answer gives you the right principle - a title search back in thime to see when the mineral rights were severed, and to whom, and then forward in time to see who owns the mineral rights now. However, this is a job for a professional title searcher. I've been able to get the clerks at the Recorder's Office in smaller counties to give me referrals to independent title searchers, some of whom have retired from local title companies. You can also hire a title company to do searches. In California, this work is not usually done by lawyers, although you may need a lawyer's assistance to study defects in the chain of title, such as missing or contradictory records. A big problem is that small, early mining companies frequently went broke, merged, changed their names, etc., and also some of the property descriptions refer to no longer existent landmarks.

Your local office of any of the major title companies, such as Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, First American Title, etc., can research and give you that information, though they will generally charge you for the service. Depending on why you need the information, and whether there is the prospect of a transaction that would generate escrow fees or title insurance premiums, they might do it for free. A good local real estate agent in your area could tell you which local office of the title companies are the most user-friendly for this kind of question.