I have converted the Deed to text. There may still be some errors. For the original deed Click Here.
This is my commentary. Jed Margolin June 14, 2022.
Washoe County, Nevada
Deed No. 6821 New Series
Sale of property from the Central Pacific Railroad Company to Thomas Fitch.
July 16, 1890
Filed August 22, A.D. 1890, at 10 min past 3 P.M.
... the following described tract of land, situate, lying and being in the County of Washoe, State of Nevada to wit: the South West quarter (SW ¼) of Section No. Twenty Five (25) in Township Twenty one (21) North, of Range Twenty three (23) East, Mount Diablo Base and Meridian, containing One Hundred and Sixty (160) acres, according to the United States surveys;
The current Washoe County APN is 079-150-12.
Thomas Fitch paid $240.
This deed contains a fair amount of history, presumably to establish the chain of ownership and trusteeship.
It starts in 1870 with the Central Pacific Railroad Company conveying land to Trustees as security for $10M in bonds with an interest rate of 6%. This was land that the Central Pacific Railroad received as a land grant as part of the payment for building its section of the Transcontinental railroad. They also received payment for each mile of track they put down.
The first Trustees were Charles Crocker and Silas W. Sanderson.
Charles Crocker was one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Crocker
Silas W. Sanderson was a Justice (and for a time Chief Justice) of the California Supreme Court. In 1870, he resigned from the court to head the legal department at the Southern Pacific Railroad, a post he held for the next 16 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Sanderson
By the time of this deed (1890) the Southern Pacific Railroad had effectively taken over the Central Pacific Railroad. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Pacific_Railroad
On August 14, 1871, Charles Crocker resigned as Trustee. The story was that he was leaving California and didn’t know when he was coming back, if ever. By an amazing coincidence it was also the year he became president of the Southern Pacific Railroad. (Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Jr. and C. P. Huntington had purchased the Southern Pacific Railroad in September 1868.)
Mark Hopkins replaced Crocker as Trustee. Hopkins had been another one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hopkins
Hopkins died six years later and was replaced by David D. Colton:
Whereas subsequently, to wit, on the 29th day of March, 1878, said Mark Hopkins departed this life; and whereas on the 2nd day of April, 1878, Silas W. Sanderson, the surviving Trustee under said conveyance, did, pursuant to the terms and conditions thereof nominate David D. Colton, of the City and County of San Francisco, and State of California, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mark Hopkins;
Colton was chief legal counsel for the Central Pacific Railroad: https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/16605/
Unfortunately, Colton died later that year (October 9, 1878).
He was replaced as Trustee by James O’B. Gunn, whose full name was James O’Brien Gunn. Here is his obituary from the San Francisco Call in 1912: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23938521/james-ob-gunn-sf-pioneer-banker/
He was the secretary and treasurer of the Union Iron works until it was bought out by Charles Schwab of the Bethlehem Steel Company (who does not appear to be related to Charles Schwab of today’s Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.). Gunn was later the president of the Mechanics Savings bank which he merged with the Bank of Italy (San Francisco). The Bank of Italy was founded in 1904 by Amadeo P. Giannini. After another merger it became today’s Bank of America.
And Gunn was a director of the Central Pacific Railroad.
In June 1886 Silas W. Sanderson died and was replaced as Trustee by William E. Brown:
... on the 24th day of June, 1886, said Silas W. Sanderson departed this life, and whereas, on the 29th day of June 1886, the surviving Trustee under said conveyance, did, pursuant to the terms and conditions thereof, nominate William E. Brown, of the City and County of San Francisco, State of California, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of said Silas W. Sanderson
From Gilded-Age Entrepreneurs and Local Notables: The Case of the California “Big Four,” 1861-1877 by Evelyne Payen-Variéras we learn that William E. Brown had been the private secretary to Leland Stanford when Stanford was governor of California. At the Central Pacific Railroad, Brown was a finance guy. This is worth reading: https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/6507?lang=en
From http://cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/CPRR_Deed_1890.html this is another Deed naming James O’B. Gunn and William E. Brown as the Trustees Click Here. From this Deed it is apparent that the recital of the history of the Trustees is boilerplate and is probably on all of the Central Pacific Railroad’s deeds of that period.
James O’B. Gunn and William E. Brown were the Trustees at the time of this sale to Thomas Fitch.
Thomas Fitch was an American lawyer and politician. He had quite a life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fitch_(politician)
In 1863 he went to Virginia City, Nevada, where he was the editor of the Virginia Daily Union. That is where he met and gave advice to Samuel Clemens who was a young reporter for the rival newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise. When Samuel Clemens started to write fiction he wanted to keep it separate from his work as a reporter. That is when he started using the pen name Mark Twain.
Fitch was a delegate to the Nevada state constitutional convention which was held in July 1864.
In 1865 he became the Washoe County District Attorney.
He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the Forty-first Congress of the United States, serving from March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871. (See Note 1.)
He defended President Brigham Young of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other church leaders when Young and his denomination were prosecuted for polygamy in 1871 and 1872.
He also successfully defended Virgil, Morgan, and Wyatt Earp along with Doc Holliday when they were accused of murdering Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury during the October 26, 1881 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
The Wikipedia article is worth reading.
The Deed contains a curious exception.
Excepting and reserving however, for Railroad purposes, a strip of land four hundred feet wide lying equally on each side (sige?) of the track of the Railroad of said Company or any branch Railroad now or hereafter constructed on said lands, and the right to use all water needed for the operating and repairing of said Railroad which rises on said land and the right of way to conduct water rising on other land, across said land in pipes or aqueducts for said purposes; and subject also to the reservation and condition that the said purchaser his heirs and assigns, shall erect and maintain good and sufficient fences on both sides of said strip or strips of land.
In 1890 the Central Pacific Railroad still went through Wadsworth, only 4 miles away. It was in 1902 that the Central Pacific decided to realign sections of the original route. The realignment eliminated the need for Wadsworth and the community was bypassed. In 1904 all of Wadsworth's facilities were moved to a new location east of Reno (now Sparks).
Gold was not discovered in Olinghouse until a few years later so it would not have been to go to Olinghouse.
I will guess that the Central Pacific/Southern Pacific wanted to keep its options open in case they decided to put in a railroad starting at Wadsworth and going North to Oregon.
It’s a little late to put a railroad on the property now. It would be a short trip going from one side of the property to another.
It doesn’t look like Fitch did anything with his property. Why did he buy it?
I will make some guesses.
1. It was 4 miles from Wadsworth where the railroad went. Wadsworth had become a small but successful town. One would expect it to grow in years to come. The property was a good investment. No one could have foreseen that 14 years later Edward H. Harriman (who had become President of the Central Pacific) would pull the plug on Wadsworth.
2. Fitch was friends with Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker (the owners of the Central Pacific Railroad). He might have gotten a whiff of a plan to build a railroad from Wadsworth to Oregon. Or maybe one of these friends simply told Fitch he should buy this land.
3. Fitch had spent time in Virginia City when the Comstock was riding high and Virginia City was the largest city in Nevada. Perhaps he thought there might be some gold or silver in the Pah Rah Range where the property is.
4. Fitch had spent his life moving around. Maybe he just wanted some land to call his own, maybe to leave to his children and grandchildren.
I have noticed some things about the Deed.
1. It seems odd that a Commissioner of Deeds for the State of Nevada was living in San Francisco.
Benj, T. Tuttle, a Commissioner of Deeds for the State of Nevada, duly appointed, commissioned and sworn, and residing in the City and County of San Francisco, State of California
2. The County Recorder really did sign his name as “Jno. B. Williams, County Recorder.” He did it here, too: https://fromthepage.com/unr/wcr-inventory/wcr-3
3. Nowadays, because few people still write in script (other than to sign their name) I suspect that few people can read it either. Plus, the writer would have gotten at most a B in penmanship, probably a B-.
The writer forms his/her “p” differently from what I have seen before. This word:
is “pursuant”.
And BTW, through an improbable series of events, as I write this in June 2022, I own this property. And I live in the Virginia City Highlands, about 5 miles outside of Virginia City where Thomas Fitch had lived for a time.
Before my community got started in the 1970s this land was used by the people of Virginia City for recreation, such as hunting and camping.
Thomas Fitch might have camped out on the land where my house now is.
Jed Margolin
42
C.P.R.R. Co, et al [See Note 2]
to
Thomas Fitch
Deed No. 6821 New Series
To all to whom these Presents shall Come: The Central Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation duly incorporated and organized under the laws of the State of California, and James O’B. Gunn, of the City and County of San Francisco, State of California, and William E. Brown, of the City and County of San Francisco, and State of California, Trustees of all the lands of the said Central Pacific Railroad Company, lying in the State of California and Nevada, and the Territory of Utah, which remained
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unsold on the 1st day of October, A.D. 1870, send Greetings, Whereas, on the 1st day of October, A.D. 1870, the said Central Pacific Railroad Company conveyed all its lands lying in the States of California and Nevada and the Territory of Utah. there unsold, of which the lands hereinafter described were and are a part, to Charles Crocker and Silas W. Sanderson, to hold in trust as security for the payment of Ten Thousand Bonds, for the sum of One Thousand Dollars each, dated on the 1st day of October A.D. 1870, and payable twenty years from date, with interest at the rate of six per cent per annum, made and issued by the said Central Pacific Railroad Company; and Whereas, said Deed of Trust among other matters, provided that the said Central Pacific Railroad Company should have the sole and exclusive control and management of said lands, with full power to make sales of the same upon such terms and conditions as might, from time to time, be agreed upon between the said Railroad Company and the said Trustees; and that when such sales had been made, and the purchase money fully paid, the said Company and the said Trustees should unite in a conveyance of the lands so sold to the purchaser or purchasers thereof, which conveyances should absolutely and forever release the lands so conveyed from every(?) and all liens or incumbrance for or on account of said Bonds And Whereas, on the 14th day of August, 1871, Charles Crocker, one of the trustees, being about to depart from the State of California, to be absent for an indefinite period, did resign his trust, under said conveyance of the 1st day of October, 1870; and whereas on the 15th day of August, 1871, the said Silas W. Sanderson, the remaining trustee under said conveyance did, pursuant to the terms of his trust, nominate Mark Hopkins of the City of Sacramento, and State of California, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of said Charles Crocker; and whereas, on the 21st day of August 1871, the Board of Directors of the said Central Pacific Railroad Company pursuant to the terms of said trust, and ratify and approve said nomination, and did appoint said Mark Hopkins to fill
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said vacancy; and Whereas subsequently, to wit, on the 29th day of March, 1878, said Mark Hopkins departed this life; and whereas on the 2nd day of April, 1878, Silas W. Sanderson, the surviving Trustee under said conveyance, did, pursuant to the terms and conditions thereof nominate David D. Colton, of the City and County of San Francisco, and State of California, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mark Hopkins; and whereas, on the 3rd day of April, 1878, the Board of Directors of said Central Pacific Railroad Company, pursuant to the terms of said conveyance, did ratify and approve said nomination and did appoint said David D. Colton, to fill said vacancy; and Whereas, subsequently to wit: on the 9th day of October, 1878, said David D. Colton departed this life; and whereas, on the 28th day of October 1878, Silas W. Sanderson, did pursuant to the terms and conditions thereof nominate James O’B Gunn, of the City of Oakland, and County of Alameda, and State of California, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of said Davis D. Colton; and whereas, on the 13th day of November, 1878, the Board of Directors of said Central Pacific Railroad Company, pursuant to the terms of said conveyance, did ratify and approve said nomination, and did appoint said James O.B. Gunn to fill said vacancy; and whereas, subsequently, to wit, on the 24th day of June, 1886, said Silas W. Sanderson departed this life, and whereas, on the 29th day of June 1886, the surviving Trustee under said conveyance, did, pursuant to the terms and conditions thereof, nominate William E. Brown, of the City and County of San Francisco, State of California, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of said Silas W. Sanderson; and whereas, on the 8th day of July, 1886, the Board of Directors of the said Central Pacific Railroad Company, pursuant to said conveyance, did ratify and affirm said nomination, and did appoint said William E. Brown to fill said vacancy; And Whereas the said Railroad Company has sold all right, title, and interest that it now has, and may hereafter acquire from the Government of the United States, in and to the lands hereinafter described pursuant, to the foregoing conditions, to Thomas Fitch for the sum of Two Hundred and Forty (240) Dollars, which sum has been
45
by him fully paid to the said James O’ B. Gunn and William E. Brown, Trustees as forsaid; Now therefore in consideration of the promises, and the said sum of Two Hundred & Forty (240) Dollars, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, the said Central Pacific Railroad Company, and the said James O’B. Gunn as William E. Brown, Trustee as aforesaid, so assign, transfer and setover to the said Thomas Fitch and his heirs and assigns forever, all right, title and interest that the said Company, and the said Trustees now have, or may hereafter acquire from the Government of the United States, in and to the following described tract of land, situate, lying and being in the County of Washoe, State of Nevada to wit: the South West quarter (SW ¼) of Section No. Twenty Five (25) in Township Twenty one (21) North, of Range Twenty three (23) East, Mount Diablo Base and Meridian, containing One Hundred and Sixty (160) acres, according to the United States surveys; together with all of the privileges and appurtenances thereinto appurtaining and belonging, Excepting and reserving however, for Railroad purposes, a strip of land four hundred feet wide lying equally on each sige {side?} of the track of the Railroad of said Company or any branch Railroad now or hereafter constructed on said lands, and the right to use all water needed for the operating and repairing of said Railroad which rises on said land and the right of way to conduct water rising on other land, across said land in pipes or aqueducts for said purposes; and subject also to the reservation and condition that the said purchaser his heirs and assigns, shall erect and maintain good and sufficient fences on both sides of said strip or strips of land.
In Testimony Whereof the said Central Pacific Railroad Company has caused these presents to be signed by its 3rd Vice President and its Secretary, and sealed with its Corporate Seal, and the said James O’B. Gunn and William E. Brown, Trustees, have subscribed their names and affixed the seals this Sixteenth day of July, A.D., 1890. A. N. Towne 3rd Vice President C.P.R.R Co. E.D. Miller, Jr. Secretary C.P.R.R. Coo. Jas O’ B Gunn (Seal) } Trustees W.E. Brown (Seal }
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State of California } S.S.
City and County of San Francisco }
On this Sixteenth day of July in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety, before me Benj, T. Tuttle, a Commissioner of Deeds for the State of Nevada, duly appointed, commissioned and sworn, and residing in the City and County of San Francisco, State of California, personally appeared the within named A.N. Towne, 3rd Vice President of the Central Pacific Railroad Company; and E.D. Miller, Jr., Secretary of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, who are both personally known to me to be the said officers of the said Central Pacific Railroad Company respectively, and the individuals described in and who have executed the within instrument, as such officers of said Company, and they each severally and personally, them and there acknowledged to me that they executed the said within instrument as the free act and deed of the said Central Pacific Railroad Company, freely and voluntarily, and for the uses and purposes therein mentioned, also at the same time and place as the foregoing, personally appeared before me the within named James O’B. Gunn and William E. Brown, Trustees, whose names are inscribed to the within Instruments as parties thereto, personally known to me to be the individuals and Trustees described in and who executed the within Instrument as said Trustees and they each severally(?) and duly acknowledged to me that they executed the same, as said Trustees freely and voluntarily, and for the uses and purposes therein mentioned. In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my official Seal, at the City and County of San Francisco, State of California, this sixteenth day of July A.D. 1890.
(Seal)
By T. Tuttle, a Commissioner of Deeds for the State of Nevada residing in the City and County of San Francisco, State of Cal.
Recorded at request of Thomas Fitch. Filed August 22, A.D. 1890, at 10 min past 3 P.M.
Jno B. Williams, County Recorder
The reason Fitch’s term as Congressman started on March 4 was because in September 1788, after the necessary nine states had ratified the new Constitution, Congress (still operating under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union) set March 4, 1789, as the date "for commencing proceedings" of the newly reorganized government and thus of the terms of their successors.
The 20th Amendment to the Constitution (ratified in 1933) changed it from March 4 to January 3 for members of Congress and to January 20 for President and Vice-President. The 20th Amendment did other things as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
This bugs me.
C.P.R.R. Co., opal? ohal? epal? It would make sense if it was “et al” but the second letter doesn’t look like “t”.
However, this is one of numerous references to “the Central Pacific Railroad Co. et al”
according to the United States survey and con-
veyed to her by the Central Pacific Railroad
Co. et al July 2, 1877. Fractional Lots num-
This is from the actual document: https://fromthepage.com/unr/wcr-inventory/wcr-2/display/1592026
So it is almost certainly “C.P.R.R. Co., et al”
Washoe County APN 079-150-12 160 acres
If you are wondering where this property is, it is on Olinghouse Road, just off of SR 447, which is the Road to Burning Man.
The satellite imagery has not been updated in years so it doesn’t show the Dodge Flat Solar farm on 079-150-11 and other parcels that was put in recently.
.end