claim-jumper

[ kleym-juhm-per ]

/ ˈkleɪmˌdʒʌm pər /

a person who seizes another's claim of land, especially for mineral rights.

Origin of claim-jumper

First recorded in 1825–35

claim-jump·ing, noun

clag, claggy, claiborne, claim, claim check, claim-jumper, claimant, claimer, claiming race, claimsman, clair

Asked the claim-jumper's friend in feigned surprise, wishing that he had kept quiet.

Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up |Clarence Edward Mulford
But Alice was no claim-jumper—so long as the notice of ownership was plainly posted.

Alice Adams |Booth Tarkington
I just bet I could kill you at forty paces, if you were a claim-jumper and looked at me the way Hank looked at you!

Polly and Eleanor |Lillian Elizabeth Roy
He dared the shotgun the night they run that claim-jumper off.

Vandemark's Folly |Herbert Quick

The claim-jumper dropped what was left of his burden and went hopping on, acquiring stone bruises with every leap.

Rimrock Trail |J. Allan Dunn