What is Claim Stakes?

You ask for THE figurative image and there would be many of them, however the origin of the expression is from the gold rush when people would stick a stake in the ground to claim a piece of land.

I don't know the answer..

Well a homesteader is were a pioneer or persone makes there claim and that is were they live there.

If it is someone else's land you cannot claim it and there is pretty much no land left that no one owns. However if you do discover gold and it is not owned by a person and determining on how long...

They put their belongings where they want to stake the claim. they start mining for sometime and it's their claim