About Joseph H. Schmaus
Joseph H. Schmaus was born in Townsend, Montana, a small rural farming and ranching community in southwestern Montana. After attending college, he entered self employment business at 21 years of age and by the age of 23 had leased and operating the marina at Tiber Reservoir from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. He operated the marina for approximately two years before moving to the Seattle, Washington area to pursue his other business and life goals.
While in Washington, Schmaus spent roughly a decade working in construction. At the same time, he continued saving and investing his earnings in real estate back home in Montana, gradually acquiring property and building the foundation for his later mining, real-estate and business activities.
His move to the Seattle area was also closely connected to product development. Early on, Schmaus had invented an archery hunting bolt and spent those years working through the design, engineering, sourcing, and manufacturing process necessary to develop the product into a business while living in Washington State. While doing this the owner of the engineering business he hired, All Points Engineering, A.P.E., to help perfect his designs offered Joe a position with the firm in its rapid prototyping division in Woodinville, WA. Joe graciously accepted this position and worked for A.P.E. up and until he moved back to Montana where he started manufacturing his product. Joe subsequently sold that business and shifted much of his attention toward real estate, property development, mining interests, and related business ventures.
Mining Background
Schmaus’s interest in mining began early in life. Raised by his father and two uncles, all World War II veterans, he describes his upbringing as an “old-school education” built around discipline, personal responsibility, hard work, and self-reliance. Stories from his father and uncles included their own experiences with mining and sparked an interest that continued to grow throughout his life.
That interest initially developed through smaller-scale placer gold mining and extensive independent research into mineral properties and historic mining areas. Over time, Schmaus progressed from prospecting and small-scale mining into the evaluation and acquisition of larger mineral properties. In one significant project, he researched and located a productive mineral deposit, acquired the property, secured outside investment, and moved the project into a highly profitable active mine.
Schmaus describes that project as highly successful and credits its development with helping generate renewed mining activity in the surrounding district. The experience expanded his involvement from hands-on prospecting into mineral-property evaluation, mine planning, equipment and processing decisions, financing, land access, and the broader business considerations involved in developing a mining property.
Schmaus’s professional history has been built through work, calculated risk, reinvestment, and persistence rather than inherited wealth or family financing. From construction and product development to real estate, mining, manufacturing, land-access matters, and business ventures, his career reflects a practical, hands-on approach to creating and developing opportunities over time.
Areas of Experience
Mining Properties
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Patented and Unpatented Mining Properties
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Mineral Property Evaluation
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Mine Development Planning
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Equipment and Processing Planning
Land Access
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Easements and Property Access
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Public and Private Road Access
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Historic Road and Right-of-Way Research
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Property and Land-Use Documentation
Project Development
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Business and Property Transactions
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Equipment and Operational Planning
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Infrastructure and Site Planning
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Long-Term Project Strategy
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Intellectual Property Development and Manufacturing
Business Projects
- Property Transactions
- Business Property Matters
- Contractual Disputes
- Commercial Litigation