DCHP-1 Online
lay ((n.)) Placer Mining, Hist. 
1 n. a lease to work a gold claim for a share, usually half, of the proceeds.
- 1898 Some of these lay holders say they have not made wages, and many of them claim they have not even made expenses.
- 1926 Ole had been offered a lay on a supposedly rich piece of ground, and he was violently agitated at the prospect of acquiring it. "Working on lay" was the Yukoner's manner of saying working on a percentage.
- 1958 He began by acquiring half of Thirty Eldorado for a few groceries. He made no move to mine it, but instead let a section of it out on lease or "lay," as it was called, to Charley Myers and Dick Butler, receiving from them a percentage of the take.
2a n. the actual land covered by such a lease.
- 1899 The number of applications quite exceeded the number of lays to be let, and all through the winter the laymen on Bonanza were the envy of their fellows.
2b n. a mining operation carried out on such a lease.
- 1898 The layman on a Rich Hill claim is rocking out the refused dirt of last year's lay and is making $100 a day.
- 1898 Some of these lay holders say they have not made wages, and many of them claim they have not even made expenses.